Welcome to the Support Site for English A: Language and Literature for the IB Diploma Programme. This Support Site, created by Brad Philpot, offers teachers and students support by providing access to thematic units, practice papers, student examples and discussion groups. New pages appear weekly. Subscribe for only €40 for full access to all content for 365 days.

This section includes a summary of the guide to English A: Language and Literature for the International Baccalaureate Diploma Programme and a course outline, as used by Mr. Philpot with his classes. For a detailed understanding of the guide, see the official, copyrighted document by the IB. 

The IB has two requirements as far as the 'learner portfolio' is concerned: 1) Students must have a learner portfolio and 2) it must include a list of the works explored in class. In theory, the IB can ask for access to the student's portfolio to support IO marks and the predicted grade. In practice, this never happens. The following pages present ways to organise the Learner Portfolio. 

Throughout the Language and Literature course you will engage with a range of texts by doing many activities both in and out of the classroom. You may take notes or make mind maps. You may write a short story or annotate a short story. At some point, you have to decide what to put into your portfolio and where to put it in your portfolio. Here examples of portfolio activities for you to explore.

These units explore a range of literary works. Each unit follows a series of 6 steps (see portfolio workflow) that take about 18-24 lessons (of 50 minutes) to complete. The activities encourage students to engage with the anchor text or 'work' while developing skills for a form of assessment which can be found in the unit title in parentheses: P1, P2, the IO or the HLE. 

These units explore a range of non-literary works. Each unit follows a series of 6 steps (see portfolio workflow) that take about 18-24 lessons (of 50 minutes) to complete. The activities encourage students to engage with the anchor text or 'work' while developing skills for a form of assessment which can be found in the unit title in parentheses: P1, P2, the IO or the HLE. 

Every non-literary text or literary work that you study is an example of a text type, which follows or breaks the conventions of its text type to some extent. In preparation for assessment, it helps to understand the conventions of various text types, so that you can evaluate writers' choices of style and structure. The pages of this Support Site provide you with points of reference for developing an understanding of a range of text types. 

Paper 1 is an unseen, externally assessed exam. At standard level (SL) you have 1 hour and 15 minutes to write an analysis on 1 of the 2 unseen, non-literary texts. At higher level (HL) you have 2 hours and 15 minutes write 2 separate analyses, one on each of the 2 stimulus texts. At both HL and SL, each text is accompanied by a 'guiding question' which asks you to explore both a stylistic feature and theme of the stimulus text. This guiding question forms the main thrust of your analysis. At SL and HL, Paper 1 counts toward 35% of your final grade. This section of the Support Site offers you examples of (marked) student work, skills and practice activities, and general guidance. 

Paper 2 is an externally assessed, comparative essay on two works of literature and 1 of 4 unseen essay questions. Both higher and standard level students of the Language and Literature course and the Literature course receive the same 4 essay questions and have 1 hour and 45 minutes to write their essay. At SL, Paper 2 counts toward 35% of your final grade. At higher level, Paper 2 counts toward 25% of your final grade. The assessment criteria are the same at SL and HL. This section offers you examples of (marked) student scripts, skills and practice activities, practice papers and guidance. 

The following pages include examples of student 'scripts', many of which were written by students under exam conditions. They have been marked according to the assessment criteria by an experienced examiner. Study these examples to gain a better sense of what is expected from you. 

Paper 2 may be one of the most challenging forms of assessment in the Language and Literature course. Even though the exam questions are unknown, you needn't go to the exam room unprepared. There is a lot that you can do to prepare for this exam. These skill-building activities help you prepare for your Paper 2 exam. 

As the title suggest, the HL Essay is only for higher level students. It is a 1,200-1,500-word essay on a literary work or non-literary body of work, which has not been used for another form of assessment. The essay must explore a 'line of inquiry' of choice. The line of inquiry may explore one or more of the seven concepts from this course. 20 Marks are available for this component of assessment (5 marks x 4 criteria) for 20% of the student's final grade. 

The following pages include examples of HL essays. They have been marked according to the assessment criteria by an experienced examiner. Study these examples to gain a better sense of what is expected from you. 

What kinds of skills are needed to write a good HL Essay? Many of the skills that you have learned for your Paper 1 and Paper 2 are also relevant for the HL Essay. You will need to have a strong thesis statement, coherent paragraphs and relevant examples from primary texts. But it's important to design a good line of inquiry, conduct research and cite sources. The following pages help you develop these skills and more. 

The individual oral (IO) is a 10-minute presentation on 1 literary and 1 non-literary work, an extract from each and a global issue, followed by a 5 minute discussion between the student and the teacher. Students speak for 5 minutes on each work, showing how the writer of each text explores the selected global issue. Students select the texts and the global issue and prepare a one-page outline of no more than 10 bullet points. During the exam with their teacher, students must bring the outline and unannotated copies of the extracts. Students must notify teachers of their choices of texts and issues at least one week before the exam. The IO is internally assessed by the teacher, using the assessment criteria. At SL, the IO counts toward 30% of your final grade. At HL, the IO counts toward 20% of your final grade. This section offers you (marked) examples of student performances, skills and practice activities and guidance. 

The individual oral is a performance. As with any performance, there are many skills that contribute to a good performance. What do you need to work on before your individual oral is ready to perform? These pages offer you activities to help you develop your skills for the individual oral.  

Upcoming online workshops for teachers of English A: Language and Literature by Brad Philpot.

Teachers can attend a live online workshop or purchase access to the recordings of a past workshop. 

For a tailored face-to-face or online workshop to your (school's) specific wishes, please send an email to brad@philpot.education for a quote and availability.