IB Individual Oral Presentation (IOP)

The IOP constitutes: 15% of your final IB mark next year

15% of your ENG3UE Colonel By mark this year (Summative)

Choice of Topic: You may choose or formulate a topic that reflects a personal interest stimulated by your study of Orwell’s 1984 or Miller’s The Crucible. Topics must be approved in advance, and the same topic may not be covered by more than one student.

Your study may reflect:

  • the cultural setting of the work

and related issues

  • thematic focus
  • characterization
  • techniques and style
  • the author’s attitude to particular elements of the work
  • interpretation of particular elements from different perspectives

Activities (format):

Oral Exposés:

  • an introduction to a writer, a work, a text
  • an explanation of a particular aspect of an author’s work
  • the setting of a work against a social or political background
  • a study of the use of a particular image, idea, or symbol
  • a comparison of two passages, two characters, or two works
  • a commentary on an extract from a work

Role Plays:

  • a monologue by a character at an important point in the work
  • reminiscences by a character from a point later in life
  • an author’s reaction to a particular interpretation of his or her work

a role play must include a rationale explaining purpose and desired effect

Structure:

  • 10 – 13 minutes long. You must present for at least ten minutes.
  • Organize your presentation with a coherent plan
  • Use appropriately formal diction, delivery style, and extrapolate
  • You are strongly encouraged to provide visual materials to support your presentation, especially quotations from the text (properly formatted in MLA style)
  • Your presentation is a literary analysis and thus must be well grounded in the text; i.e. if you are focusing on a historical or social topic you must make clear and direct links with the text itself.

Evaluation: see IB rubric

Presentation dates: Presentations will begin mid to late May. Dates will be assigned randomly after any conflicts with IB exams have been addressed. See Managebac for details.

Topics:

Possible presentation topics include (but are not limited to):

Orwell’s 1984

Orwellisms in our society

Orwell’s use of satire and/or irony

Atmosphere, mood, and/or imagery

Symbolism

The book(s) within the book

Orwell’s life and the novel

The role of surveillance technology

Sexual politics

A thematic study (student choice of theme)

The role of Fear

Narrative structure

Narrative perspective (Winston as protagonist)

NEWSPEAK and the role of language

Ethnic cleansing

Crimes against humanity

Argentina and “the disappeared”

McCarthyism

Brainwashing experiments (Montreal)

China’s Cultural Revolution

Kosovo conflict

Pinochet in Chile

War Measures Act (Canada)

Cambodia / Vietnam

Child soldiers

RCMP abuse of power

The Taliban

Recent or current Political Events (e.g.Egypt; Libya, North Korea)

Historical influences, including:

Use of propaganda during or pre-WWII

Russia and Stalin

Marxism

Spanish Civil War

Hitler

Hitler Youth

Nazism

Political Purges

Mussolini

Internment of Japanese Canadians in WWII Concentration / forced labour camps

Miller’s The Crucible

Biographical study of Arthur Miller and links to the play

Miller’s definition of tragedy

The Crucible – why drama not a novel?

The Crucible as allegory

History of Salem Witch Trials

The (Political) Role of Fear

McCarthyism

Staging the play and possible impact(s) on narrative elements

The Role of women

Satire in the play

Miller’s style in the play

Character comparisons

John Proctor as tragic hero

Proctor’s transformation throughout the play