Secondary English
Grade 9 English language acquisition
We jumped into an exciting new unit: "Men vs. Women - is one gender better than the other?". As one can imagine, this topic elicited passionate discussions. We started by discussing what feminism is and what it isn't. I was impressed with their maturity and...
English classes this week
It was a short but sweet week where we enjoyed getting to know how each of us spent the winter break. Experiences ranged from falling off the ski slopes in Austria to chillaxing at home in Sohar. Grade 12 DP students are jogging their memory on Persepolis to make...
House Competition hots up!
Our students were recently surveyed as to what sort of House Competitions they would like to see put on and football was a very popular option! As a result, today saw the first round of an inter-House mini football tournament, organized by Olly Cooper and Orjuwan in...
Grade 12 DP English Language and Literature
Persepolis is a graphic novel by Mariane Satrapi, that depicts her childhood and adult years in Iran during and after the Islamic revolution. We are studying the art form of graphic novels and understanding the novel in its cultural and historical context. Having...
Grade 7/8 Language Acquisition
Students finished their presentations on their explorers. Later, we had heated debate in order to determine the two strongest learner profiles for being a explorer. In the weeks coming up, we are focusing reading comprehension strategies.
Grade 11 DP English
Students continued acting/reading Act 2 of The Crucible. Also, we reviewed and practiced annotation and analytic writing.
Grade 9 English Language Acquisition
What shapes our identity? How do context and points of view influence and change our identity? These are some inquiry questions we are exploring as we read our novel 'Night', a memoir of a holocaust survivor. After having read the first chapter, and in preparation to...
Grade 12 after IOC
Having successfully completed their IOCs last week, grade 12 DP English class worked on reviewing Paper 1 skills this week. Additionally, they have been researching contextual information for their next literary work - 'Persepolis'. I look forward to their...
Grade 12 English survived it!
The grade 12 English class hit the ground running after the week long break. They survived a grueling assessment, Individual Oral Commentary, which tests their ability to think on their feet and express themselves orally by analyzing a pre-studied text. Well done,...
Grade 7/8 language acquisition
In the past couple of weeks, our grades 7 and 8 language acquisition students have learned to use similes and adjectives to 'show' rather than 'tell' something. This culminated in a descriptive writing assessment to finish off our unit on food.
Tragedy and the Common Man
Grade 9 have been enraptured by the dramatic twists and turns of Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons,' but all good things come to an end. Having reached a powerful conclusion, the class is now working on the summative assessment task which turns on Miller's exploration of...
Tragedy and the Common Man
Grade 9 have been enraptured by the dramatic twists and turns of Arthur Miller's 'All My Sons,' but all good things come to an end. Having reached a powerful conclusion, the class is now working on the summative assessment task which turns on Miller's exploration of...
DP English Class
Grade 11 class continues to explore the unit on readers, writers, and texts. We studied and analyzed advertisements on 'blood diamonds'. Then, we chose different text types on the topic of blood diamonds and explored how each text type has specific features that sets...
The effects of mass hysteria
As we continue with our study of Arthur Miller's 'The Crucible', the effects of mass hysteria under theocracy is becoming apparent. What can we do if we lived in a society driven by power, not reason? What can we do in a society where justice is based on a 17...
First unit of study in grade 11 English
Grade 11 DP English Language and Literature course is new for all of us, so we spent the first week learning about the various requirements, assessments, areas of exploration and concepts. The first unit on gender equality and the #metoo movement saw some passionate...
Grade 7/8 Language Acquisition class are continuing with their first unit of study where we are exploring the statement of inquiry, " choices we make about what we eat are influenced by our culture and the context in which we live." Last week, we learned about the...
Burn the witches
Grade 10 English students have started their first drama unit of IGCSE with The Crucible. Set in Salem and heavily inspired by the Salem witch hunt, the play explores the effects of mass hysteria. A play is written to be performed and that's exactly what we do in our...
G12…the outsiders of ABIS
For our final text in Grade 12, we are reading Camus' The Outsider, a brilliantly depressing book to finish off 12 years of education. If you haven't read it and you're looking for something to make you feel like life is meaningless, then this is the book for you....
We Need Your Puzzles!
The Secondary Library has a new feature: The Secondary Puzzle! So far our students have completed two puzzles, which make great brain breaks during a long day of learning and provide super teamwork opportunities. The only problem is that we've run out of puzzles, so...
Carol Ann Duffy’s poetry
Grade 11 students are doing a great job in breaking down and analyzing poetry by Carol Ann Duffy. They first do this in groups and then discuss as a whole class. The discussions are mostly student lead, and I only step in to steer them in the right direction if needed.