As of this week, I have started my language and literature course in IB. Already through the activities in class and the information I have leant about my peers, I realise that people use so many different terms and words to define, explain and express themselves. I have also seen the way others interpret this information and what assumptions this has lead them to about the person. For example, my teacher mentioned he loved mountains and I have inferred that he is probably and outdoors-type person who enjoys nature.
I think this course is well suited towards me because I thoroughly enjoy the subjective and inquisitive nature of literature, trying to see the many ways in which we can analyse a writer’s work. I am also looking forward to the more application side of the language course as we try and explore the numerous ways in which people use their different forms of language to communicate different things.
My goals for this course are:
- To gain a better understanding of the framework of my generation. I believe that by studying language and literature, I can see the portrayal of characters and situations which depict or contrast modern day values, giving me a better sense of who I am in regards to the time I am living in.
- To deepen my appreciation of literature by exploring more. I think that reading several literary texts and analysing them, I will gain a better appreciation for all the finer details the author chose to include. I have noticed that when I understand a classic book, I am less intimidated to engage in the themes and question the book, which helps progress my learning.
I had a very memorable experience last year in my GCSE English class which lead me to believe this course is right for me. I have never been a huge fan of classic books, but we studied “To Kill a Mockingbird” in my class. I realised that my skills from the language aspects of the course has allowed me to better understand Atticus’ position as a lawyer while the literary knowledge I had allowed me to flesh our characters and themes of the book. The combining of my language and literary knowledge allowed me to learn so much that I ended up loving the book (even though it is a classic)! I’m hoping that this course can also help me produce more moments where I can see the maturity and transformation of my English skills.
