LITERATURE SYLLABUS - 2016
Teacher: Laura Smietniansky
Year: 4th Year Blue and Green
GENERAL AIMS:
To enable students to:
• Understand and respond to literary texts in different forms and from different periods
and cultures.
• Communicate an informed personal response appropriately and effectively.
•
Experience literature’s contribution to aesthetic, imaginative and intellectual growth.
• Appreciate different ways in which writers achieve their effects.
• Express ideas, feelings and opinions in written discourse in an adequate standard of
production.
• Develop their dictionary skills in order to explore how writers use words.
Unit 1: Poetry. Songs of Ourselves II.
• “The clod and the pebble” (W. Blake), “Passion” (K. Raine), “Love III” (G. Herbert),
“Lovers´Infiniteness” (J. Donne), “Tiger in the menagerie” (E. Jones), “lion heart” (A.
Chong), “Heart and mind” (E. Sitwell), “The lost woman…” (P. Beer)
• Literary Analysis: theme & tone, underlying meanings, literary devices: imagery,
metaphors & similes, personification, alliteration & anaphora. Rhyme scheme. Context of
production. Connections among set poems. Personal responses.
• The literary essay: thesis, style, form (Introduction, Body, Conclusion). How to Quote
(Form and Relevance).
• IGCSE Literature Unseen task.
• Extensive Reading: List of books.
Unit 2: Prose. Stories of Ourselves.
• “Sredni Vashtar” (Saki), “The people before” (M. Shadbolt), “To Da-duh, in Memoriam”
(P. Marshall), “Of White Hairs and Cricket” (R. Mistry), “Tyres” (A. Thorpe).
• Literary Analysis: Characters, relationships, situations and themes. Writer´s intentions
and methods through language. Genres.
• The literary essay: thesis, style, form (Introduction, Body, Conclusion). How to Quote
(Form and Relevance).
• IGCSE Literature essay, passage-based and unseen questions.
• Extensive Reading: List of books.
Unit 3: Prose. Stories of Ourselves.
• Revision: “The Phoenix” (S. Townsend Warner), “The Prison” (B. Malamud), “Billenium”
(J. G. Ballard), “Ming´s biggest prey” (P. Highsmith), “Games at Twilight” (A. Desai).
• Literary Analysis: Characters, relationships, situations and themes. Writer´s intentions
and methods through language. Genres.
• Vocabulary: expository terms for logical order (Beginning, Middle and End words),
transition words (Addition, Contrast, Time, Cause and Result, Manner or Method,
Condition).
• IGCSE Literature Unseen task.
•
•
The literary essay: Revision strategies: Checking for Content, Organization and Clarity.
Spelling, Punctuation and Capitalization.
Extensive reading: List of books.
Unit 4: Poetry. Songs of Ourselves II.
• Revision: “Song” (L. M. Wroth), “She was a Phantom of Delight” (W. Wordsworth), “For
my grandmother knitting” (L. Lochhead), “Father returning home” (D. Chitre), “Stabat
Mater” (S. Hunt), “Coming home” (O. Sheers).
• Literary Analysis: theme & tone, underlying meanings, literary devices: imagery,
metaphors & similes, personification, alliteration & anaphora. Rhyme scheme. Context of
production. Connections among set poems. Personal responses.
• Literary Analysis: IGCSE Literature Unseen task.
• The literary essay: Revision strategies: Checking for Content, Organization and Clarity.
Spelling, Punctuation and Capitalization.
Assessment Criteria:
In order to get a pass, students must comply with the following:
• Attendance: 80%
• Assignments: 100%
o Students must bring material every class, comply with everything asked in class
and have a complete notebook with photocopies stuck in it.
• Participation: 80%
Students must pay attention and behave properly in class. They should have a
good use of oral and written language.
• Formal tests (mini tests, quarterlies, etc.): above 7 in all the tests
Compulsory bibliography:
•
Songs of Ourselves Volume II: The University of Cambridge International Examinations
Anthology of Poetry in English. CUP.
•
Stories of Ourselves: The University of Cambridge International Examinations Anthology
of Short Stories in English. CUP.
•
List of books for Extensive Reading.