COD 2020 - S680

The identity question and homoeroticism in John Knowles’ A Separate Peace (Set text for IGCSE Literature 2020/2021)

IGCSE Literature teachers and Literature lovers seeking to revisit one of John Knowles' classics from an innovative perspective

1 sessions, start: 16-Apr

Course detail

Year: 2020
Level: Secondary
Language: English
Status: Postponed
Lugar: ESSARP - Deheza 3139, CABA
Facilitator/s: Ms. Julia Fernández Armendariz, Mrs. Maria Victoria Llera
Print course
ESSARP Schools
Free of charge
Exams Schools
ARS 1200.00
Non affiliate
ARS 1200.00

Sessions


Sessions Dates Start Finish
1 16 April 2020 05:30 pm 08:30 pm

Facilitator/s

Julia Fernández Armendariz

Julia Fernández Armendariz graduated as an English teacher from IES en Lenguas Vivas Juan R. Fernández, where she also completed specialisation courses in English Literature and British History. She holds a BA in Education from Universidad Nacional de Quilmes and a Postgraduate Certificate in English Studies from The University of Nottingham, England. Her areas of specialty include Postcolonial Studies, Border Theory and Historical Fiction. She teaches Literature II and Cultural Studies at IES en Lenguas Vivas "Juan R. Fernández", and English Literature and Culture at ENS en Lenguas Vivas "Sofia B. Spangenberg". She also works at Secondary school level.

Maria Victoria Llera

Victoria Llera is a Graduate Teacher of English from I. E. S en Lenguas Vivas "J. R. Fernández" and holds a BA in English Language from the University of San Martín. She is currently specializing in English Literature II and Literary Movements of the Twentieth Century at the I.E.S.L.V. “Juan Ramón Fernández” while teaching IGCSE/AS at Colegio Jesus Maria, Recoleta. She has taught IB Language B and has been working at the University of Buenos Aires, School of Philosophy and Letters, teaching language and delivering courses on Postcolonial Literature for the last six years.
IGCSE Literature teachers and Literature lovers seeking to revisit one of John Knowles' classics from an innovative perspective
- To explore John Knowles’ A Separate Peace by considering the context of production and what characterization may be portraying about American society during the Second World War.
- To discuss main themes as well as rhetorical devices that further meaning in the literary work.
- To look into key passages through detailed readings to study how Knowles constructs semantic fields to build up tension and/or foreshadow events.
- To share teaching strategies regarding the approach to IGCSE component 3 essay or passage-based questions.
- Presentation of the historical and social context of the United Stated in the 1930/40s, considering how world events involving warfare inevitably affect and mirror human relationships.
- Introduction to the bildungsroman genre as well as Knowles’ choice of a historical novel to express the concerns of the time.
- Discussion of the main themes of identity, codependency, duplicity and hidden feelings by studying the bond between Phineas and Gene.
- Debate on the notion of homoeroticism and how it applies to the relationship between the main characters.
- Analysis of revealing extracts with a focus on how Knowles constructs meaning through language and key symbols.
- Presentation of the historical and social context abovementioned.
- Study of key extracts and strategies to approach a passage-based question.
- Discussion of the main themes, symbols and overall concerns of the literary work.
- A revision of possible general questions to shape students’ answers when attempting to address exam questions without an extract.
- Bell Bryant, Hallman. Understanding A Separate Peace: A casebook to issues, sources and historical documents. Connecticut: Greenwood Press, 2002.
- Bloom, Harold (ed.) John Knowles’s A Separate Peace: Blooms Guides. New York: Infobase Publishing, 2008.
- Chevalier, Jean and Alain Gheerbrant. Dictionary of Symbols. London: Penguin Books, 1996.
- Knowles, John. A Separate Peace. New York: Scribner, 1959.
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