English A1 Paper 1 HL May 2011: An Examiner's Observations

Many candidates had trouble with the prose text. They could not grasp the ironic tone, matter, and situation. A lot of them misread it as some kind of an emotional farewell speech, completely overlooking the bitter tone of the narrator. They thought the narrator had a very close and intimate relationship with his students. The narrator’s wife was not discussed in most cases. This is because she is only briefly mentioned in the text, and candidates might have easily overlooked her.

The treatment of the issue of history in the text gave rise to problems among candidates. This, I think, has to do with the fact that it is ambiguously stated by the author. The character Price’s last comments about history were not satisfactorily discussed by most. Most simply did not know what to make of them.

The significance of the parentheses in the text was almost always ignored by candidates. If it was noted, the analysis that followed was usually superficial and ineffective.

Many did not comment on the speech being imaginary. As far as most candidates were concerned, this was an actual speech that the narrator delivered in front of his favourite class.

The poem, a lot more transparent, was less problematic. Even then some candidates failed to appreciate the ambiguous tone of the speaker. Some thought the snow was death itself; some interpreted it to be a Christian poem about the afterlife (this was especially true among Christian candidates). The vagueness of stanzas 4 & 5 gave some candidates problems. Some thought it was a thoroughly pessimistic poem about life, missing the optimistic tone in the last stanza entirely.

Most candidates knew how to structure a commentary (although it largely depends on the centre). The one area that most candidates excel in is “literary terms.” Many centres, I suppose, have advised their candidates to learn them by heart. Quite a few candidates also knew how to incorporate quotes properly into their arguments.

It was clear in some cases that the candidates were prepared only for either prose or poetry. Some centres do this thinking that it will benefit the candidates to focus only on one discipline. There is the general perception that poetry is more difficult than prose, with the result of quite a few centres preparing their candidates only for the latter. This was unfortunate because the prose text was obviously less transparent this year. Many candidates suffered because of this one-sided approach to the paper.

The better scripts were usually the ones discussing the poem. A fair number of candidates were well-prepared for poetry. The one weakness that I tended to come across in poem commentaries was the labelling of poetic devices. Many candidates simply churned out labels (This is an “anaphora,” etc.) without commenting on their effects.

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It Might As Well Be Summer

Last night

there was much rage

at the local laze-park.

The police and the commoners

clashed ideas and heads

in the heat of

social injustice.

And it was only mid-April.

A teenage loner,

much too furious

to play by the rules,

killed six and himself

on a sunny Saturday

in the heat of

social apathy.

And it was only mid-April.

An asylum-seeker,

thrown off balance by

the crooked wheel of Western justice,

set himself alight

burning fierce and bright

in the heat of

social marginality.

And it was only mid-April.

Last night

there was much loose talk

about holiday and future plans

among the clubhoppers

and their ha-ha friends

in the heat of

tropic mid-April.

I said to myself,

“It might as well be summer.”

Copyright Edward C.W. Ong, 2011.

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Language as Hypnotism

Language as Hypnotism

Twentieth-century German philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein (1889-1951) posits that language is a poison that can be used to seduce, mislead and bewitch. Language is a form of hypnotism; it can “put us to sleep” and make us believe what we are seeing and hearing is true. In the witty Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English (2003), James Cochrane argues that “the present political chaos is connected with the decay of language,” and that “political language … is designed to make lies sound truthful and murder respectable, and to give an appearance of solidarity to pure wind” (154). Both men agree that language is a tool of manipulation.

It becomes clear very few of us are aware of this fact going from day to day when we begin to question the platitudes we dispense without a second thought: “Your effort is much appreciated,” “You’re welcome,” “It’ll be dealt with in due course,” “Any inconvenience caused is much regretted,” “Efforts will be made to rectify the mistake,” “My condolences,” “Keep in touch,” “The management will be notified presently” – each and every one of these is essentially meaningless and does not serve to convey information the way we think language should. They exist and are actively used because we collectively agree on their vacuity, which frees the user from specificity and, therefore, commitment.

“Your effort is much appreciated” is an empty expression of gratitude because it allows the “thanker” to acknowledge indebtedness without being specific about what he is thankful for. It is corporate jargon, used by a management that could care less about the individuals who contribute to the company and the specific tasks they perform.

“You’re welcome,” so commonplace an utterance in the English language, could be questioned along the same lines. What exactly do you mean when you say it? Are you implicitly saying you have done the person a big favour and he should therefore be grateful for your generosity?

“It’ll be dealt with in due course” is a favourite among civil servants and bureaucrats. It is procrastination dressed up fancily. The same goes for “The management will be notified presently” and “Efforts will be made to rectify the mistake.” Note the passive. Who will be doing the notifying? Who will be making the efforts? It is unstated. Who exactly in the management will be notified? What will be done to rectify the mistake? It is not specified. The passive is the civil servant's best friend.

My favourite, “Any inconvenience caused is much regretted,” is so ambiguous it should be labelled “For Existentialists Only." What inconvenience does the utterer have in mind? Having wasted my time? Having caused my blood pressure to rise and brought me close to the brink of an aneurysm? Having made me swear at little children? How could he have any idea of the extent of my inconvenience? “Much regretted” is a typical example of meaningless language. Ask yourself what it could possibly mean. Is the utterer sincerely remorseful? If he is, what is he going to do about it?

As for the obligatory “My condolences” and “Keep in touch,” what can one really say? What in the Lord’s good name is a condolence anyway? What do you mean when you utter it? Are you in fact saying: I’m glad it’s your husband who died, and not mine? “Keep in touch” keeps things between fair-weather friends vague and simple. It does not say who or how. No-one is to be held accountable.

In most cases, hypnotic language is innocuous. When it, however, finds its way into the political arena (why do we unthinkingly say “arena,” which originally means “a sandy place”?) or the corporate world, it allows liars and wrongdoers to get away with murder – literally. The next time you pick up a newspaper, look out for “collateral damage,” “free peoples of the world,” “team-player,” “downsizing,” “friendly fire,” “outplacement,” “anger management,” “racial purge,” “human resources,” “helpdesk” (where there is neither help nor desk), “customer service,” “credit facility,” “multi-tasking,” “head-hunter,” “national security,” “mission statement,” “paradigm shift,” “quantum leap,” “international diplomacy,” “common denominator,” “social welfare,” and “military coalition.” Take them apart and take a good look at the vacuum inside.

Cochrane, James. Between You and I: A Little Book of Bad English. Lodnon: Icon Books, 2003.

Heaton, John and Judy Groves. Introducing Wittgenstein. London: Icon Books, 1995.

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Take Note, Grammar Slackers!

The insistence of “progressive” teachers of English not to teach grammar explicitly in the classroom is the cause of the degeneration of language use among speakers of the language. There is no other explanation. Teachers are reluctant to talk about the “continuous tense” and the “auxiliary verb” out of fear of being labelled “old-school” and “conservative.” As a result, a whole legion of young English teachers has shied away from the explicit teaching of grammar, producing learners who parrot McD’s slogan “I’m lovin’ it” without knowing why they are saying it, and why it is ungrammatical.   

It is not because of pedantry that I am preaching the active learning of grammar. Learning grammatical terms and rules makes one aware of their proper usage, and more importantly, the logic of linguistics. A learner who can spot and explain the difference between “I have done” and “I did” is one who is conscious of the mechanics of the language he uses. This is an essential quality; it enables the learner to produce clear, dignified speech.

On the other hand, a learner who does not see the absurdity of “party’s” as a plural, “I’ve done my work yesterday,” and “If I would win the lottery…” is one who deserves to be derided, and if he should protest that he does not see why these things should matter, we should turn to his English teacher and give him/her a piece of our minds.

EO

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20 Books You Must Read Before You Croak: Book 5: The Makioka Sisters (1957) - Junichiro Tanizaki.

What is the book about?

The four Makioka sisters lead very complicated, strenuous lives, although on the surface nothing much ever happens to them. Part of a fading Japanese aristocracy in the years leading up to World War II, they cannot escape the wide net of the family name--something always brings them back to the reality of "being a Makioka." Running out of money, living in falling-apart houses, growing older beneath the sunlight of the modern world, they do their best to preserve the rituals of the past. The two older sisters work diligently to arrange a marriage for the third sister, Yukiko. Desperate to find someone to take care of her, they keep lowering their standards. One night they find themselves out with a drunk, selfish crackpot who has no money, but who is supposed to be related to a man who works for an important utility company. The fact that he is even a candidate for their sister's hand is a sign of how far they have fallen.

Junichiro Tanizaki wrestled throughout his career with the idea of a country where tribes of aristocrats live as relics, grasping at the past through gestures, manners, small and intricate private laws. The narrative suspense of The Makioka Sisters is rooted in this single-minded nostalgia, this strict attention to the details of domestic life as the outer world becomes more and more incomprehensible. Pages are devoted to musing about whether Yukiko should "risk" meeting a potential husband when there is a spot above her eye--maybe she should play it safe and go to the doctor about it; maybe the potential husband will interpret it as bad luck. Tanizaki manages to make the struggle over this small, dark spot wildly compelling.

If epic literature is based in the dramatic and forward-moving narrative of a male hero's journey, The Makioka Sisters is a female epic of inaction--trying to figure out what to wear, crying for no reason at the same time every afternoon. With each perilous, pathetic step, the sisters are heroes setting out for the new world. They are like Odysseus, except without the ship and without the sea. (Amazon.com review)

Why this book?

I have long been a fan of Japanese literature and culture, but it was only very recently that I discovered Tanizaki and his magnum opus. I had been aware of the existence of the book, but had been intimidated by its size (530 pages) and ignored it for a long time. When I finally geared myself up for it, I combed through the first few chapters looking for surreal imagery – something I had come to expect of Japanese literature after having read the entire oeuvre of Murakami’s – and found myself disappointed. The novel is a straightforward account of the ups and downs experienced by the Makioka sisters, with every event and detail spelt out in painstakingly descriptive language. The novel had first struck me as a “soap opera” (Vikram Seth’s “A Suitable Boy” certainly is one), but here is the surprise: the more I read of it, the more addictive the book became. The addiction became so acute that, by the time I was a quarter of the way into the book , I had to continue reading deep into the night to find out whether Yukiko’s next miai would be a success, or if Sachiko would finally get to please everyone by doing the right thing. (Curiously, the Amazon.com review does not mention Sachiko, the middle sister who is in fact literally the middle-woman and the main protagonist of the novel.) Even though it is a novel of some 500 pages, you will wish it could be another 500 pages longer when you get to the final page. This is largely due to Tanizaki’s unhurried style of story-telling. His language is unpretentious, clear, and evocative of a realism that breathes so much life into the characters that they become your confidants, your own family members. You end up rooting for Yukiko, being frustrated along with Sachiko, and sympathising with the rebellious youngest sister Taeko.

The novel is more than just about women who are desperate to get married and preserve their family tradition. In a more subtle context, Tanizaki also discusses pertinent issues such as change, decay, loss, and nostalgia. The novel was written during WWII, a time of great consternation for Japan and its rival China. Ordinary Japanese people had nothing to gain from the war; life as they knew it had to continue regardless. But life was no longer as they knew it: the harmony they lived in before the war was now a thing of the past. The feudal Japan they embraced had crumbled, and a new, militant Japan was on the rise. The only way for them to preserve some of life’s dignity was to reach back into the past and relive the glory of the olden times, or like the Makioka sisters, hold on to traditional values despite social change and pressure.

The novel is an endearing look at Japanese society and culture before it was irreversibly altered by the war. There is a sense of melancholy that permeates it, as if the author, while composing it, were aware of the transience of life and attempting to come to terms with it. Happiness does not last, neither does peace (of mind). Nature, for example, is a constant threat to peace. Disturbingly, there is a chapter on a great flood that reminds one of the recent tsunami disaster in north-eastern Japan. Life is a fragile gift.

What would be a good book to read after this?

Japanese literature is more than just Haruki Murakami. For traditional Japanese literature, try the incomparable Natsume Souseki (“Kokoro,” “I Am a Cat”), Kawabata Yasunari (“Snow Country”), Mishima Yukio (“The Temple of the Golden Pavillion”), and Akutagawa Ryunosuke (“Rashomon”).

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Untitled Poem by Rory Rohan Westerman

My mind is smitten by thoughts
Too proud and too stubborn to become dreams
As if they held knowledge
That dreams are just thoughts
Easily and often forgot
Lost in the depths of slumber

Rory Rohan Westerman

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20 Books You Must Read Before You Croak: Book 4: "The Sea, the Sea" - Iris Murdoch

What is the book about?

"The Sea, the Sea" (1978) is a tale of the strange obsessions that haunt a self-satisfied playwright and director as he begins to write his memoirs. Played out against a vividly rendered landscape and filled with allusions to myth and magic, Murdoch's novel exposes the jumble of motivations that drive her characters - the human vanity, jealousy, and lack of compassion behind the disguises they present to the world. Charles Arrowby, its central figure, decides to withdraw from the world and dwell in seclusion in a house by the sea. Whilst there, by an extraordinary coincidence he encounters his first love, Mary Hartley Fitch, whom he has not seen since his love affair with her as an adolescent. Although she is almost unrecognisable in old age, and totally outside his theatrical world, he becomes obsessed by her, idealizing his former relationship with her and attempting to persuade her to elope with him. His inability to recognise the egotism and selfishness of his own romantic ideals is at the heart of the novel. After the farcical and abortive kidnapping of Mrs. Fitch by Arrowby, he is left to mull over her rejection in an enjoyably self-obsessional and self-aggrandising manner over the space of several chapters. "How much, I see as I look back, I read into it all, reading my own dream text and not looking at the reality... Yes of course I was in love with my own youth... Who is one's first love?" (From Wikipedia).

Why this book?

The Wikipedia summary of the book, while pithy, makes it look like a throwaway comedy of manners. This novel of a whopping 500 pages has more to offer than farcical love affairs. Despite the seemingly light premise, this counts as one of Murdoch’s darker works, serving up weighty issues such as goodness, morality, imagination, fantasy, and myth. The central character Charles is an old dandy with delusions of grandeur who thinks he can innocently retire from the hustle and bustle of the world after a lifetime of tempests. He finds out during his self-imposed exile that the past is a difficult thing to shake off, and that being good is not just a matter of wanting to be. As he slowly and humiliatingly drowns in the sea of past escapades, he comes to the realisation that he has been living a life of egotism – in spite of all his good intentions. Murdoch does not judge her character, nor does she tell us what the alternative is to living a life of egotism. The impression the reader walks away with after 500 pages is that there is NO alternative. We are “doomed” to live our lives out in fantasy rather than reality. One of the final passages reads: “But of course pain remains and will remain. We are conditioned beings who salivate when the bell rings. This sheer conditioning is another of our most characteristic dooms.” In other words, there is very little we can do to escape our egotistical nature. The novel also casts doubt on the ascetic and mystical way of life: Can one truly evade the temptations of earthly life by turning one’s back on them? It is our nature to be self-centred and incline towards vanity, and any attempt to deny this is just a form of self-delusion.

The novel’s title, interestingly, echoes Shakespeare’s “The Tempest,” in which the magician Prospero attempts to transform magic into spirit (a higher phenomenon),  just as Charles attempts to transform the profane into the spiritual.   

The novel’s scope is broad and may strike readers who are not used to Murdoch’s style as meandering and wordy. My advice is: Be patient with the novel and you will be dazzled when you reach the end.

What would be a good book to read after this?

If you fall under the spell of Murdoch after reading this, which is very well possible, I must refer you to two other great (shorter) novels of hers: “The Bell” (1958) and “A Severed Head” (1961). 

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A Glass of Wine - Lim Weijie

Teasing – sensual curves of the bowl –
crystalline clear with resplendent delight.
Moon beams innate, its cosmic glow
intoxicates the soul with its dainty sight.

Delicate, alluring and gentle -
its stem – a harbour for Fancy’s flight.
Holding the planetarium of melodious plot
where dark romance coalesce tonight.

Where will I be, where will I go?
the foot of the champagne flute standing bold.
stem, foot and bowl – its body –
plated with deadly, barbarous gold.

Ominous dollop of darken cumulus,
encroaches the soul of the delicate wine.
Amidst all the ballroom ruckus,
she drops the hemlock during that awkward time.

Oblivious, drowned by her glowing locks,
astral beings sigh with thoughts.
Handsome innocence, he becomes entranced,
unaware, his fate twisted sealed by that perennial
plant.

Darting glance, coquettish smile,
Nudged by her, he drinks the deadly concoction.
Bulging nerves, bloodshot eyes,
he is kissed by her in one swift motion.

Frantic, racing, his legs jolting,
confusion chokes him with its loving notions.
Savouring this kiss with eternal blessings,
she knows the wheel of death is in motion.

A kiss from the rose,
scars the lamb with its deadly thorns.
He gazes at her, a question posed,
life seeps out of him, its warmth torn.

Lying, stroking, gentle with his hair,
she whispers sweet nothings in his ear,
oblivious, confused, he was gripped by fear,
Why do this to me my sweet sweet dear?

As his soul slowly disappears,
She slips this message in his ear:
To Lethe you will, this lesson in towed;
That desire is a stranger you think you know.

Lim Weijie 

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20 Books You Must Read Before You Croak: Book 3: "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" - Milan Kundera

What is the book about?

Superficially, it is about several soul-searching characters living in Prague during and after the Communist regime and the Soviet invasion of Czechoslavakia in 1968. Tomas, the novel’s protagonist, is an intellectual who leads a promiscuous life despite being married to Tereza, who does not condemn him for his infidelities and is judgemental of herself instead. Tomas insists that love and sex are two separate entities. He can have sex with half the world, but can love only one woman: his wife. Tereza, however, is insecure about her own body image and fearful of being perceived only as a body by Tomas. Her attempt to find happiness seems to become a reality when she and Tomas move to the countryside, where she devotes her time to caring for cattle and reading. Tomas’ mistress, Sabine, also plays an important role. She is a dissident artist who struggles against the constraints of her puritan background and Communist society. She lives her life to the extreme, taking pleasure in acts of betrayal. Sabine also has another lover named Franz, a professor who has spent his entire life in the academic world. He seeks to break out of that world by participating in protests and marches, which ends badly for him. The last noteworthy character in the novel is Tomas and Tereza’s pet dog named Karenin (of Anna Karenina). He hates being moved around, and finds true happiness when his owners move to the countryside, where he befriends a pig. In the end he succumbs to cancer, but manages to unite Tomas and Tereza before he does so.

Why this book?

This one is for the deep thinkers among you, as it will get you to think about the nature and purpose of life. It is lucidly written, with short, crisp chapters that present one puzzling philosophical thought after another through the lives of the alienated characters. It is composed as a response to Friedrich Nietzsche’s philosophy of “eternal occurrence,” which posits that the universe and all its events have occurred and will continue to recur ad infinitum. This concept places an incredible burden on our lives because we can never break out of the circle of repetition. Kundera proposes the opposite, saying that life is “light” instead. It is light because life happens but once and everything we do is insignificant in the grand scheme of the universe. This “unbearable lightness of being” causes us great suffering because we are made aware of our insignificance and the meaninglessness of existence. We are constantly in search of meaning and happiness when these concepts are in fact quite out of our reach. The author says: “Human time does not turn in a circle; it runs ahead in a straight line. That is why man cannot be happy: happiness is the longing for repetition.” A key passage explains the central philosophy of the novel: “ Einmal ist keinmal (once is nothing). What happens but once might as well not have happened at all. The history of the Czechs will not be repeated, nor will the history of Europe ... History is as light as individual human life, unbearably light, light as a feather, as dust swirling into the air, as whatever will no longer exist tomorrow.” The philosophy is an ultra-pessimistic one, but it remains a challenge for every individual to find his comfort zone despite the lightness of his being. An individual’s struggle may be meaningless but he is nonetheless compelled to struggle.    

What would be a good book to read after this?

Anything by Nietzsche would do. If you are looking for a book that serves up philosophy in easily digestible chunks, try Jostein Gaarder’s “Sophie’s World,” another gem of a book.

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20 Books You Must Read Before You Croak: Book 2: 'Sophie's Choice' - William Styron

What is the book about?

It concerns Stingo, a young American Southerner and an aspiring writer, who befriends the Jewish Nathan Landau and his beautiful lover Sophie, a Polish (but non-Jewish) survivor of the Nazi concentration camps. As the friendship deepens, Stingo learns of Sophie’s trials and tribulations in the Auschwitz camp during WW2, her association with the commander Rudolf Hoss, her (failed) attempt to get her son enlisted in the Lebensborn programme, and the horrific “choice” she had to make when arriving in Auschwitz. Sophie’s affair with Nathan, a self-proclaimed genius of Jewish descent, is tempestuous. Nathan, unbeknownst to Sophie and Stingo, suffers from schizophrenia, and is inclined towards violence. He accuses Stingo and Sophie of having an affair, and threatens to kill them. Stingo tries to save Sophie by running away with her (this is the point where she shares with him the “choice” referred to in the book’s title), but unable to free herself from guilt, she returns to Nathan, with devastating consequences.

Why this book?

This is a stupendous book of some 650 pages and can thus be intimidating. But if you are looking for a book with a solid statement about the human condition during WW2 and the scars the war left on the human soul, look no further. Even if you are not specifically looking for something intellectually challenging, there are still plenty of reasons why you should pick it up. The book comments on how history and the individual are intertwined. WW2, a war usually associated with the termination of Jews, is also everyone’s war – in the sense that everyone involved in it, regardless of ethnicity or religion, is indelibly marked. It also testifies to the incredible ability of the human will to survive the most abject of conditions, and conversely, reveals how guilt can wear down an individual’s conscience and leads him/her to self-destruction. It is also an angry book. The author’s ironic portrayals of Nazi officers are full of pent-up anger.

What will I walk away with when I am done with this book?

You will have learnt a great deal about the sufferings of WW2 war prisoners and the human capacity for evil. It is a sombre and upsetting book, with detailed descriptions of the behaviours of Nazi officers which can incense the reader. But that is the whole point of the book: Evil is real and unavoidable.

What would be a good book to read after this?

Undoubtedly, Thomas Keneally’s “Schindler’s List.” Many are familiar with Spielberg’s film adaptation so may not be inclined to read it. Otherwise, Norman Mailer’s “The Castle in the Forest,” a book about the (supposedly fictitious) childhood, adolescence, and rise of Hitler, should fill the gap.

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20 Books You Must Read Before You Croak: Book1: 'The Book of Illusions' - Paul Auster

What is the book about?

David Zimmer loses his entire family in a plane crash and wants to put an end to his life. He is “saved” by a silent comedy which re-instills in him the will to live. He decides to write a book on the star of the film, Hector Mann, a silent comedian who made a dozen films and disappeared without a trace in 1929. His obsession with Mann grows as his writing progresses. After the book sees its publication and Zimmer is known for his in-depth research on Mann’s life, he receives a private invitation to visit Mann in New Mexico. It is there that he learns the truth behind Mann’s staged disappearance, and the string of tragedies that has made up Mann’s life.

Why this book?

Because, to me, it is the definitive Paul Auster work. Most of his devoted fans will point to the “The New York Trilogy,” but for me “TBOI” is up close and personal, and it draws you in like a meticulously paced film noir. Auster is always about the dark side of the moon, and this one is no different. It deals with typical Auster themes such as alienation, isolation, grief, and the prospect of death, but “TBOI” adds another dimension to them. It tackles the ultimate philosophical conundrum: “If life is a series of mishaps and tragedies, why do we bother living it?” The protagonist Zimmer loses his will to live after the destruction of his family, but finds it again in Mann, who, ironically, had lost his will to live back in the day when movies were still silent. Mann’s struggle to exorcise his demons is affectingly portrayed, and the reader gets to see for himself how the utter randomness of the universe can wreck a man’s life and damn him beyond hope of grace, regardless of his intentions and beliefs. The suggestion that we live in a chaotic, godless, indifferent universe is, though disconcerting, something we need to be cognizant of.

What will I walk away with when I am done with the book?

You will not be too complacent. The book’s “message” is such that life is ruled by the principle of randomness. At no point in your life are you completely in control of what is going to happen. It is only an illusion that you are. But does that mean we simply give up living? The book says no. It may be a life-long battle we will all end up losing, but it is our destiny to fight it to our last breath.

What would be a good book to read after this?

Anything by French philosopher/novelist/Nobel Prize-winner Albert Camus. “The Myth of Sisyphus” would be a good place to start. 

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The Ins and Outs of the English A1 Part 2 Oral

It is very well possible that your own English A1 instructor has sufficiently informed you of all the guidelines regarding the Part 2 Oral (Internal Assessment). In that case, all this entry could hope to do is to add to what you already know. The Part 2 Oral is, conventionally speaking, the oral component that terrifies candidates and causes them to perform less well than expected. This is completely avoidable if the candidate bears in mind the following steps:

1. Always read the given passage from beginning to end. This may seem like a given, but when a candidate is under stress, he/she may neglect certain lines/paragraphs without realising it.

2. You may write on the passage, so DO IT. Plan your oral on the passage itself or on another sheet of paper. Always plan for approx. 10 minutes and not less.

3. When you start delivering the oral, state your name, candidate number, the title and author of the passage. Before you start, place the passage back into the original work. Where does it come in? What comes before and after it? This is crucial as it shows you know the work.

4. Start PARAPHRASING the passage. This part should last no more than 2 minutes. Time yourself. An overlong summary will cost you. You should paraphrase the passage from beginning to end, never skipping a speech (if it is a play), a line (if it is a poem), or a paragraph (if it is a novel). You may of course group speeches/lines/paragraphs together which are (thematically) linked.

5. From this point on, there are several approaches, and it greatly depends on what you are comfortable with (or your teacher may have opted for a particular approach). In any case, you should be structured at all times and your points should not be shallow.

-          Speaker/Narrator/Character

-          Tone & mood

-          Style

-          Language/linguistic, dramatic, poetic devices

-          Theme

This is not a strict order, and you should not attempt to discuss all the listed items. You should be selective and decide which are relevant to your passage.

Some candidates opt for the chronological approach, which means they discuss the passage from top to bottom, commenting on the items as they encounter them on the way down. There is nothing wrong with this approach, as long as you remain structured.

6. Needless to say, you must use the correct literary terms and prove your point by referring to the right place. The recommended structure is: Exact line – literary term – its effect – your explanation.

7. Be prepared for a five-minute discussion at the end of the oral.

8. Be fluent but not too fast. Hesitating for a few seconds is fine, but too many long gaps in your oral will give a poor impression. Remember it is recorded.

9. How to get high scores?

- Familiarise yourself with the assessment criteria. What is  your score for the Part 4 oral presentation? If it is low, you will have to work much harder for this one.

- Read the Part 2 works involved IN DETAIL. Your instructor should have discussed the key passages with you in class.

- Do a mock if you can. It will help tremendously.

- Be confident and have a blast!

Questions? Leave them at the bottom of this entry...

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The Madness That Is SMS Language

Very few things get my goat as much as SMS language. This baffling code language consisting of random abbreviations and amputations of decent words has gone too far in my book. Confined to a personal message meant to convery an urgent something, as in "B back a.s.a.p. Pls prep dinner b4 7", it is entirely harmless and may even be practical. But let loose in the formal world of academia, it is an unstoppable plague that threatens the dignity of those who love words simply because they are multi-syllabic and melodious when pronounced.

Jokes aside, the popularity of SMS language among sensible teenagers and adults is so widespread that it is now on the verge of sucking standard language use into its black hole of no return. No retrieval possible. As a result, what you see these days is a whole generation of students (and adults) who have no clue what the apostrophe is meant for. They, foreseeably, also cannot tell the difference between "your" and "you're", "its" and "it's", and "there" and "they're" (Facebook users, are you reading this?). To compound the horror, there exists a legion of SMS fanatics who are beginning to shorten words which common sense tells us can never be shortened. You get head-scratchers like "hav" (for "have"), "tis" (for "this"), "de" (for "the"), "bin" (for "been"), "gud" (for "good"), and, my personal favourite, "fren" (does anyone even know how to spell the original word these days?). Why these words are shortened I have no clue (mental laziness probably has "sumting" to do with it). But it is the fact that somebody actually thought it was possible to shorten them that unnerves me. Allow me to be pedantic (as if I were only about to be), "tis" can NEVER be "this", because "this" actually has the (voiced) "th" sound, and "gud" can NEVER be "good" because "gud" has a short vowel whereas the vowel in "good" is an elongated one ("guud" would be more accurate).

Why is it important to distinguish between "your" and "you're"? Because, as one of the Monty Pythons would say, your mother is a hamster, but you're an enormous cow for thinking you can get away with using SMS language!

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Tricked or Treat

tricked or treat?

little red riding hood went up the hill to fetch a pail of water

but oh it was Halloween as trees bellowed a maniacal laughter

of werewolves and ghouls she disbelieves the most

for fear of those is an absolute no!

along the way came Hansel and Gretel

as they greeted her with smiles most gentle

she walked

they stalked

she nonchalantly hopped

they plot

she trot

maybe just another hop

her sight was robbed like a mental block

as ravens descend upon the block

to sew her eyes close with rusted pins

and needles and strings that pains a tinge

her screams echoed but not even Jack’o

could perceive as Gretel shackled

her lips with chains made of jigsaw puzzles

that paints the street red as it nuzzles

her screams her yells it came from hell

she ran she fell she needed to tell

a door mad thuds a figure appears

obscured by her infallible fear

she wished to be released from this perpetual despair

as she is weak and can only prepare

to slit these voices in her head

her wrist they bloom of magnanimous red

Hush girl now there’s nothing to fear

pain and pleasure have been pals for years

come in now I’ll wipe your tears

for Big Bad Wolf is here my sweet, sweet dear

Count weijicula

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