P1 Help for P1 commentary as well as IOP/IOC needed. URGENT!

[Guest Aniruddh]

Hey Guys,

 

Our teacher gave us the poem 'The Visitor' by Gibbons Ruark and after a discussion on it for a couple of classes she told us to write a commentary on it and turn it in on Monday, so I have the weekend to write it. The problem is, I have never done lit before, the closest thing to the commentary that I've done is the style analysis in IGCSE (EFL) so I have no idea as to what is the requirement. I've been searching all over the internet, but there are different answers. Some say that you make a thesis and then support it by exploring the effects the literary devices create while others say that you just explore the literary devices (so, no thesis) and it can just be a running commentary at a line by line basis. All the contradicting answers have only made me more confused, so if someone here really understands the purpose of the commentary, please help me out! Also, what must be the length of the commentary? Our teacher said that about 2 sheets (4 sides) is decent, but people go on to write 6-7 sheets (which is not expected of us right now), but that seems like a LOT. Again, after searching on the internet, 1000 words seems to be the ideal word count, so if someone could confirm that for me I'd be very grateful.

 

I have another question, but this one is related to English in general. My vocabulary is horrible. It's not that I can't strike conversations, it's just that there are so many words randomly used by my teacher in the class that seem to be normal, but I don't know their meaning. I read a lot (3 full length novels in a week if time permits) but since I am very impatient I never bothered to look up the meanings of words I don't know, and people only told me that it IS very important in like 10th grade. I know it's my mistake, but since then I'm using a software called Anki to make flashcards for all the new words I encounter, but I still can't use those words in conversation. I know their meanings if I come across them somewhere but I can't remember them during conversation. Any help regarding that would be highly appreciated.

 

Oh, and one last problem. This one's actually bothering me since I was a kid. I speak very fast. I've never counted how many words per minute, but I am willing to wager it's in the 300-450 wpm range. I've tried a lot to speak slowly, but I just can't and I messed up the practice IOP we had in the front of the whole class (I was prepared with 12 minutes worth of material, but I spoke for only like 3-4 minutes) and this had a big impact on my morale. I have been made fun of cos of this and I've always ignored it, but now that orals are a part of my grades, I need to improve this. The thing is, I speak finely when I'm alone (like I said I was prepared with 12 minutes worth of material in my IOP, but that was 12 minutes at 'alone time speed'), but when I'm speaking to someone, my speed just triples. This is even worse when I'm in front of a group - I feel like I've just run a marathon and I start speaking at speeds that rival F1 cars.

 

I really really want a 45 (to make up for my mediocre IGCSE grades) in IB and the only subject that is worrying me is English (Lit.), and maybe TOK as well because of the presentation, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Thanks,

Aniruddh

Edited August 15, 2014 by Aniruddh

[Amen]

Well, a couple of tips....:

 

1. I cannot comment about the word length, it really depends on the person. I wrote 7-8 sides for English lit examination. But really, the length of the answer doesn't matter. It's the quality of your analysis that matters. Yes, on average people are expected to write 900-1000 words. As for the analysis method, it is up to you. But having researched on the same, I find that you are at a disadvantage if you use the line by line method. It could mess up your organisation a little because  in a number of poems you find that a certain literary device is repeated more than once throughout the poem. And so you start off talking about it in the beginning, then you again spot it later in the poem and you mention it again. No, it creates a sort of disorganized impression. You could start of with a thesis and the general impression of the poem. The next entire paragraph could talk only about theme. How it is developed throughout the poem. Then your third paragraph talks about mood, how it changes throughout the poem. Now that you have discussed the main and general aspects about the poem - move on to other nitty-gritties that are left over. Like literary devices, poetic structure etc.etc.etc... Then as you near your conclusion, you again look at the poem as a whole and you can mention inner/allegorical, deeper meaning that the poet is trying to convey (IB really loves that!)... And wrap up with the effect the poem had on you. So you go from general to specific to general.....

 

2. As far as your vocabulary is concerned... I do find that your reading habits and the effort that you are putting in to at least familiarize yourself with new words is remarkable. But, it is natural for your mind to forget these words over time. Don't just rely on a software to make flashcards... write down those words... find a dictionary and thesaurus, to understand the meaning. Rewrite those words again and again. Write down dozens of sentences using them. You could daily spend one hour writing ... just write on anything ... it need not be any paper 1 essay... it need not be any IB related thing. But just write on anything, you could practice those general essays (argumentative/discursive/narrative tasks) that you did in Paper 2 for IGCSE EFL. Then, once those words are very much part of your mind, start using them for P1 commentaries.... I know sometimes one does get tempted to use software and technology to help us do some of the work... but unfortunately to get words and vocabulary into your mind, you need to go old school.... pick up a pen and write down words, write down sentences out of them and then write down essays out of them. Just keep writing everyday.Show your work to your teachers, they will greatly appreciate the initiative that you take. You will see your vocab improve in a few weeks and you can write your commentaries confidently and score full marks for the language criterion. Also if you are applying to US/Canadian unis, you will probably have to write the SAT Reasoning Test for which you will be learning new words and enriching your vocabulary, the prepping for SAT-I itself greatly improves your vocabulary as you will come across a list of new words to learn for the Writing Section.

 

3. Even I used to have the problem of speaking too fast. It really isn't any disorder, it just comes from nervousness. You need to practice your IOPs in front of some good friends (who don't laugh at you but can give positive criticism). Or if you have a pet, you can recite your IOP in front of it! It really helps. You need to find ways to boost confidence. Maybe when you talk you presume that you might end up messing up and thus you talk too fast to finish off and wrap up the presentation and escape. At the beginning of grade 11 I used to do that for my first few practice IOPs and TOK presentations and it greatly affected my grades. The unfriendly, hostile stares of my classmates further demotivated me and it would result in me performing worse and worse in successive presentations. But then I found that I was nervous because I wasn't really sure of my material and my analysis, I wasn't confident about the content I was delivering. I also thought I was boring the audience out. This made me work very hard and produce a thorough, detailed, organised presentation for my final IOP. I was so sure of what I was saying that even if anybody made any rude faces or guffawed while I was talking, it didn't affect me. Because I knew what I was saying was correct and made sense. I also used multimedia like powerpoint presentations, movie maker etc. When you use these, the audience starts to focus on the screen and they stop observing you and your nervousness. Their focus is diverted to what is on those slides. All you do is support the content on the screens with your talking. Using these strategies, I ended up getting the highest score for my final IOP ... 24/30 and the entire class applauded. And my scores for oral presentations greatly increased. I could talk without speeding up, I could maintain eye contact with the audience and I was extremely confident.

 

Hope this helps.

All the best!

Edited August 20, 2014 by Amen

[Guest Aniruddh]

It certainly does help, but as I said, I have been talking fast since forever. It's natural - that's how I speak and hence I am not able to pronounce many words properly. Being in front of a group makes it worse, but it's there even when I am not nervous. I've been trying to fix it from a long long time but have never been successful.

[Sandwich]

If you speed up in front of a group it sounds like quite a bit of that can be attributed to nerves. One thing which might help slow you down is just thinking about how the audience is receiving what you're saying. If you're talking that fast, nobody will really be paying any attention to what you're saying - but the whole point of the presentation is that you engage the audience and they understand. Always think to yourself that you're trying to explain something very complicated to an audience. Put emphasis on your words to aid understanding and thinking about the tone of your sentences may also help slow you down because you're really thinking about what you're saying.

 

One thing which often results in people speed reading (and I don't know if you're doing this or not...) is people who've actually just written their whole presentation out word for word. If you're literally reading a presentation off a page then the audience isn't engaging and actually you aren't either! They make for terrible presentations. If you have indeed done this, then change your presenting style and it should help you a lot. Write out prompts - enough that you feel comfortable, so if you lost your place you could look down and see enough to get you back on point (you don't want to get lost or feel nervous that you will get lost!) - but NOT full sentence word for word what you're saying. If you're making it up as you go along, not only will that help you engage people better but it also slows you down and makes you really think about what you're saying. Generally this results in much better audience engagement as well.

 

Line by line versus going thematically just depends on you. Try out both and see which you're more comfortable with and score higher marks with is my advice. You've not got to produce your commentary until the final exam in year 2, so you've got plenty of time to explore your own style. You can score full marks with both styles. I used to go line by line and had no problems with it, for me it resulted in a deeper level of analysis. Other people get lost doing it that way and their essays can sound disjointed and erratic - in which case, try dividing it up using a system and doing theme, then structure, then character, then devices... blah blah. Whatever suits you!

 

Vocabulary I've always picked up from reading and just understanding the context of words, so can't really help with that if it's not working for you!

[Amen]

It certainly does help, but as I said, I have been talking fast since forever. It's natural - that's how I speak and hence I am not able to pronounce many words properly. Being in front of a group makes it worse, but it's there even when I am not nervous. I've been trying to fix it from a long long time but have never been successful.

  Hmm... well if you talk really fast even when you are not nervous... then your speaking fast can probably be considered a habit and not a sign of nervousness. Maybe you have trained yourself since childhood to talk very fast. I guess the only way out then is to break this habit. You need to make a conscious effort to talk slowly and pronounce every single syllable correctly with your friends and parents. Also, you could listen to the journalists on CNN or BBC as they read out the news. How do they speak? Slowly and clearly, keeping in mind the intonation. Repeat and practice after them. Although you have been trying to fix it on your own, I think you should try fixing it by listening to someone who talks clearly talk and by copying their way of talking.

Edited August 20, 2014 by Amen