In our first year of IB Language & Literature, we had six units with three focusing on literary works, and three focusing on non-literary works. Most of the works that we had studied followed the global issue of gender inequality, and the theme of feminism in society. These works helped us to broaden our understanding about these global issues, how it is common in our everyday lives, and how we can be affected by it.

Literary Works

The three literary works that we studied this school year were A Doll’s House, Antigone, and Persepolis. Each work similarly follows the theme of feminism through different period of times, contexts and perspectives. The work that has the greatest impact on me is A Doll’s House. Although the play was taken place in 1879, several aspects of gender inequality in the play stills exists in our world today. A Doll’s House mainly focuses on the protagonist, Nora, and the antagonist, Torvald, Nora’s husband. This play demonstrates an example of a dysfunctional relationship, as Nora was constantly under Torvald’s shadow, and had to follow by his rules and anything that he tells her to do. Overtime, Nora found it frustrating to stay with Torvald, and eventually found her own freedom and courage to be on her own. Torvald is an example of toxic masculinity, while being condescending towards Nora and making her feel less important than him. This issue can be often seen in our society today, though this topic is widely focused on now compared to the time when the play was set.

Non-Literary Works

The three non-literary works that we studied this school year were the Liza Donnelly cartoons, Ilona Granet signs, and Volodymyr Zelenskyy speeches. The Liza Donnelly cartoons and Ilona Granet signs that we had analyzed mainly follows the theme of feminism; however, the Volodymyr Zelenskyy speeches mainly follow the themes of politics and war. The work that has the greatest impact on me is the Liza Donnelly cartoons. Following the theme of feminism, the cartoons that we had studied focus on issues that women would encounter when doing common tasks. Donnelly’s cartoons are made to be able to connect to the audience and let them relate to them to understand global issues that are happening around them. Although feminism is the main theme shown throughout her cartoons, there are also other themes such as racism, which can be shown in the cartoon, “You’re Not Trying”. These themes are common in our surroundings, which would allow us to better understand Donnelly’s message, as well as why she had chosen to create the cartoons with certain themes that individuals might not be comfortable to easily talk about.

This year, we did one IB assessment, which was the individual oral (IO). I focused on the global issue of societal expectations, and my global issue was “how societal expectations shape children’s perspectives on their future careers.” The literary extract that I had chosen was Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi, and for my non-literary extract, I chose Liza Donnelly’s cartoon, “Women Astronauts”. Throughout the process of planning my outline and practicing for my oral, I felt that the time went by very quickly and I felt really rushed as I had multiple tests from other classes that I needed to study for as well. During the oral, I felt that I did better on the 10 minute presentation than I had initially expected. During the 5 minute questions and answers part, I was quite struggling as I had to be put on the spot to answer the questions, without being able to brainstorm or think about how or what I should answer beforehand. Despite the small challenges that I had encountered, I think that I did quite well on my overall oral, and I feel relieved that I have already completed it.

In the following year, the second year of IB Language & Literature, we are going to be having three more IB assessments: the HL Essay, Paper 1, and Paper 2. We have done several essay summatives and practices during the first year of Language & Literature, which I have found beneficial for me as I got to learn more about how I can create a well-developed essay. Although personally I think that my essay writing is not very strong, I can still identify improvements that I had made from the first essay that I had written and the last essay that I had written in the first year of L&L. To further improve on essay writing, I found that reading books had really helped me, as well as being able to identify errors that I had made in my previous essay writings. Doing these activities would help me improve more and make me more prepared for the upcoming IB assessments next year.

In our last unit for our first year of IB Language & Literature, we focused more on a current event which was the war that has been occurring between Ukraine and Russia. We viewed this event mainly through Ukraine’s perspective, specifically through the president, Volodymyr Zelenskyy, with his speeches targeted towards different countries. We learned about the use of different rhetorical devices in his speeches, understanding more about how Zelenskyy is able to appeal more to his targeted audience, and how he is able to let others understand more about Ukraine’s current issue through the perspective of Ukrainians. Comparing to our previous units, this unit does not focus as much on feminism, but more on politics and war.

One of the first assignments that we had worked on this unit was to identify ethos, pathos, logos in our lives. We came up with an argument that we think is important to us, and used the rhetorical devices—ethos, pathos, and logos—to make our argument convincing. We had to explain our appeal, as well as why it is the appeal that we chose. For my argument, I came up with “more school food choices during lunch”, then explaining the different appeals that can be used to make my argument more convincing.

Throughout the unit, we analyzed more of Zelenskyy’s speech individually, starting with his speech to the Israeli Knesset. We had to read through Zelenskyy’s speech to identify the purpose of his speech, how he attempted to persuade Israel to get what he wants, how and why he appeals to the different rhetorical devices, and how persuasive we think the speech is and why.

Similar to the previous assignment, we analyzed more of Zelenskyy’s speech, identifying the purpose of his speech, how he attempted to persuade his audience, how and why he appeals to the different rhetorical devices, and how persuasive we think the speech is. However, for this assignment, we chose a speech that he has targeted to that we are interested in. I chose the speech “Address by President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelenskyy to the participants of the Group of Seven summit” as I wanted to identify the differences between how Zelenskyy had targeted his speech to an individual country, and how he targeted his one speech to several countries.

In the second unit in our second semester of Language & Literature, we broadened our knowledge of the themes of feminism and war through reading the graphic memoir, Persepolis, written by Marjane Satrapi. Similarly to the previous units that we had gone through, it follows the theme of feminism and how different women are able to handle the societal expectations of them, and how they are able to push their boundaries, setting a new standard for society to view and respect women. However, in Persepolis, it also gives a whole different perspective compared to the different excerpts that we learned about, as it tells the story of how Marjane grew up in Iran, the struggled that she had faced, and major events that had developed her to who she is now.

Throughout the unit, we had to read Persepolis and analyze different parts of the graphic novel, identifying which parts are able to show the themes of youth, women, domestic space, class, war/national strife, and the self. We jotted down our notes in a reading journal, as well as connected each themes to how Satrapi had illustrated it, what graphic novel technique she had used, and what literary techniques it relates to. This was important in the unit as it helped us gain a greater understanding about different themes and ideas that Satrapi intended to share to the readers, and it also helped us to familiarize with graphic novel techniques and literary devices, which is important for our summative paper 1.

Another assignment that we worked on was analyzing specific panels that we had chosen. In this assignment, we were assigned into groups, and we specifically had to choose panels from pages 1 to 40. We also related the panels that we had chosen to one of the themes, similarly to the reading journal. We analyzed how Satrapi portrayed the specific theme into the panels, and what graphic novel techniques she had used to present her ideas better. After the analysis paragraph, we connected the panels that we had chosen to one of our previous units. I connected my analysis to a Liza Donnelly cartoon as they both present similar ideas, in different forms of illustration.

As our summative for this unit was a paper 1 essay, we practiced analyzing a series of panel towards the end of the unit. We distributed our ideas by brainstorming, introduction, and body paragraph 1 to 3. These consist of the different points that we have to include into our paper 1 essays, other than the conclusion of the essay. In the different body paragraphs we needed to analyze graphic novel techniques and literary devices, while making sure to connect our analyses to the guiding question given.

For the first unit in our second semester of Language & Literature, we learned more about sexual harassment and feminism through learning about who Ilona Granet is, and the signs that she had created. This unit has a distinct similarity with the previous units that we had covered, which all had the same topic of learning more about feminism; however, we gained a better understanding of different ways to spread the awareness of sexual harassment and feminism in this unit, which is Ilona Granet’s signs. Throughout this unit, we analyzed the signs that Ilona Granet had created, understanding the different ideas that she is conveying through her illustrations.

During the beginning of this unit, we were introduced to Ilona Granet, the artist who created the signs that we learned about and evaluated throughout this unit. We learned more about her background, her childhood and adulthood experiences, and the reason to why her artworks now all follow the same theme of feminism and harassment through listening to a podcast, the Decoder Ring podcast, where she was being interviewed. As we listened to the podcast, we took notes about important points that she had discussed about in order for us to fully understand her purpose of creating the artworks, as well as the experiences she had faced when growing up which had brought her to work on her artworks.

Throughout this unit, we had analyzed a few of Ilona Granet’s signs by using the PODAHAA method, which is identifying the people, objects, diction and language, artist’s technique, humor technique, artist’s purpose, and association with other works in the signs. A sign that I found the most interesting is from the “Red Riding Hood Travels the World” body of work, where Ilona Granet had created a collection of signs that relate to the concept of the children’s book, “Little Red Riding Hood”. We had to choose a sign from her body of work to analyze, and I noticed that the signs are quite different from her other signs, as it is more difficult to understand if an individual does not know the story of “Little Red Riding Hood”.

For our summative assessment in this unit, we did a 1/2 oral in order to prepare for our individual oral assessment for IB, which was much shorter than the actual oral for IB. For us to understand more about what we should analyze and talk about in our oral, we did a mock oral by analyzing the “Red Riding Hood Travels the World”. We came up with a global issue to discuss about in the oral, how it relates to the signs, identified different literary devices used in the sign, and compared them to how Granet had used them in her other signs.

The three units that we had covered this semester, A Doll’s House, Liza Donnelly Cartoons, and Antigone, had taught about many different aspects about global issues, including gender inequality, racism, etc. For our third unit in Language & Literature, similar to our first unit, A Doll’s House, we learned more about feminism and patriarchy, gender roles, and family obligations through the play, Antigone. Throughout this unit, we had gone through and worked on several different assignments to improve our knowledge and understanding on these global issues, and for us to be able to compare and contrast how these issues are similar or different from the past to the present day.

In the beginning of this unit. the first assignment that we had completed was finding definitions for the different vocabularies used in Ancient Greek dramas. The purpose for this was to familiarize ourselves with the terms used to describe different parts of the play, as well as different characters. Ancient Greek dramas are slightly different from modern dramas, as the time set for both dramas would be different, character behaviors would also be different, and the terms used in the Ancient Greek is not as commonly used in the present. In this assignment, t is important that the definition found for each term was accurate, as there can be several other definitions that do not fit the Ancient Greek definition.

Another assignment that we had completed was reading Antigone, and doing a reading journal to understand and identify different themes shown in the play. Although watching Antigone can also give a brief understanding of the play, reading the play can broaden the knowledge and analysis of the personalities of each character, their actions, and the setting of the play. While reading the play, the themes that we had to identify and take notes on in the reading journal were the relationships between men and women, patriarchy and feminism, citizenship, law and the state, connections between all three units, and what I have found interesting in the play.

Other than individually analyzing Antigone’s background and themes, we had also done context presentations, similar to A Dolls’ House. Different groups were assigned different topics to cover that relates to Antigone, which includes Ancient Greece (in the Classical period), Ancient Greek Drama, Sophocles, Antigone, The Oedipus Cycle (the Theban plays) and Seven Against Thebes, Productions and Adaptations, and Robert Fagles and Translation. For my group, we had worked on explaining the different productions and adaptations of Antigone, and through this process, I had found it interesting about how there are many different depictions of Antigone from different productions.

For the second unit in Language & Literature this year, we learned more about how global issues can be depicted through different illustration of cartoons. The cartoons that we had observed were mainly created by Liza Donnelly, which covers many different aspects about global issues, such as inequality between men and women, racism, etc. Most of the cartoons include techniques such as irony, understatement, and juxtaposition. The purpose of her cartoons are to address the global issues, and to be able to communicate it to others to let other individuals understand different perspectives.

An activity that we did during this unit is learning about cartoon techniques. At the beginning of the unit, we had reviewed different cartoon techniques in order to prepare ourselves to understand how to describe and analyze cartoons using different terminologies describing the technique and style used in different cartoons. The cartoonists’ persuasive techniques that we familiarized ourselves with were allusion, analogy, dark humor, distortion, hyperbole, irony, juxtaposition, labeling, malapropism, metaphor, parody, pun, satire, stereotype, symbolism, and understatement. The different cartoonists’ styles included iconic, and realistic. After reviewing through the different techniques, we did a quiz on kahoot.

Another assignment that we had worked on is reviewing cartoons created by Liza Donnelly. We had analyzed a total of eleven cartoons illustrated by Liza Donnelly, and one of my favorite was analyzing the cartoon, The Feminist Viewpoint. I had found it interesting throughout analyzing this cartoon as my perspective and ideas had changed as I was analyzing it further. At first, I had thought that Harold was a man dressing up as a woman, and I then thought about how Harold might be a transgender woman instead. When analyzing a cartoon, it is important to identify every detail—no matter how small it is. It is important to identify the people, objects, issue, technique, and purpose in the cartoon, and it is equally as important to break down and understand the text in the cartoon, as it is for the illustration. Overall, although I found this cartoon quite challenging to understand at first, the main message that was communicated is an important issue.

An assignment that I had enjoyed working on is creating our own cartoons. For this assignment, we would need to create a cartoon about a current issue or a political topic, including text, as well as different techniques. It has to convey a point, commenting or criticizing about the topic or issue that was chosen for our cartoon. For my cartoon, I had hand-drawn an illustration about a comparison between the treatment of a stray dog and a homeless man, explaining the issue about how passersby would be more willing to help a stray dog, rather than a homeless person.

In the first unit for Language & Literature this year, we had studied and learned about feminism, patriarchy, and gender roles through the play, A Doll’s House. Throughout this unit, we had done a few assignments in order to broaden our knowledge about the issues, and relating it back into A Doll’s House, understanding why and how each character behaves in the way they behave.

One assignment that we did was presentations relating to different themes in A Doll’s House. Each groups had different topics to present about, such as Henrik Ibsen, Norway, A Doll’s House, Realism and Naturalism, Ibsen’s Other Plays, Women in the Victorian Period, Class in Victorian Society. In my group, we presented about Class in the Victorian Society, explaining how people from different classes had different treatments, and how it greatly affected many people.

Another assignment that we had worked on is a reading journal for A Doll’s House. Although we could just watch the play to understand the concept of A Doll’s House, reading the play would also help us understand and analyze the actions and personalities of each character even further. Reading the play would also help us understand different themes shown in the play, by the characters’ actions and dialogue being depicted through text. While reading through the play, we had to analyze different themes shown, such as the relationships between men and women, masculinity and femininity, patriarchy and feminism, class and money, and other events shown in the play that we found interesting. Our analysis of each play would then be written in the reading journal.

Other than analyzing A Doll’s House, we had also taken notes on The Feminist Lens. In this assignment, we learned about definitions relating to feminism, what feminists believe, and our own reflections and opinions. This helped us understand how women who grew up differently, or women with different perspectives, can also have similar ideas and how we can see that they are all treated similarly in a way, just because of their gender.