Semester: ONE Date: 25 November 2021

Subject: English LL Teacher(s): Zhiman & Bassam

Year: MYP4 DEADLINE: 26 at 12:00 AM

Unit Title: Non-fiction texts

(News reports, autobiography, biography, open letter, and diary)
SOI: Perspectives formed about what ‘courage’ may look like can be influenced by both one’s
perspective, and the point of view of others.
Key concept(s): Perspective
Global Context: Personal and cultural expression
Assessed Criteria: A (all strands)
ATL skills: Communication skills, Thinking skills, Self-management skills

Task1: Biography analysis

Criterion used for this task is A

Instructions:
● Use correct sentence structure
● Avoid Fragments
● Your answers shall be between 80-200 words
● Use punctuation wisely
● Use as many terminologies as you can
● Avoid using contractions (isn’t), informal phrases (give up) and self-pronouns (I, WE,
YOU, US, YOUR and OUR) except agreeing or disagreeing.

Step 1 read the biography below and answer the following questions

Nelson Mandela was born in 1918 in the village of Mvezo in South Africa. His father, Gadla Henry
Mphakanyiswa, was an important man. He worked for the king and was the chief of the village.
Nelson’s mother was called Nosekeni Fanny.

Nelson Mandela’s father Gadla was a proud and fair man. He always tried to do the right thing for
his people. Because of this, he argued with somebody and lost his money and his important job in
the village. After this the family moved to Qunu, another small village. Nelson Mandela had a very
happy childhood. He went to the local school and was a good student. But when he was ten years
old his father died, and his cousin King Jongintaba told Nelson to come and live with him. Nelson
had to say goodbye to his family.

When Nelson was nineteen he went to Healdtown College in Fort Beaufort. He moved to Fort Hare
College and then went to live in Johannesburg, where he worked as a policeman. But Nelson
wanted to become a lawyer. So he went to law school and later set up the first black law firm in
South Africa. He married a woman called Evelyn, and they had four children. At this time in South
Africa life was very difficult for black people. There was a system called ‘apartheid’. Many black
people could not vote, and they could not travel around their country. They could only go from
their home to work. They had to live in ‘townships’ with other black people. The land here was not
good. They had no running water, no telephones and no electricity. Mandela spent a lot of time
talking with his friends about life in South Africa. They hoped all people in South Africa would one
day be free and equal.

Nelson Mandela first became interested in politics when he was at Fort Hare College, and in 1944
he joined the African National Congress (ANC). Life for black people in South Africa was getting
worse all the time. Apartheid laws were getting more severe. The ANC tried to help black people.
Mandela became well known because he organized a Defiance Campaign with the ANC. He told
black people not to obey the laws of apartheid. Thousands of people took part in the Defiance
Campaign. The government did not change its apartheid laws, but the ANC grew stronger. People
around the world started to hear about it. After the Defiance Campaign, Mandela was put in
prison for a while. But he went on fighting for freedom for black people.

In 1957 Mandela and his wife Evelyn were divorced, and in 1958 Mandela married Winnie
Madikizela. They lived in the black township of Soweto and had two daughters. But in 1960 the
ANC was banned, and in 1963 Mandela was put in prison for life. He was sent away to an island
where he could not see his family.

During the 1970s and 1980s there were many riots and protests in South Africa. Many young black
people wanted to fight apartheid. The government tried to stop these protests with force. The
police and army killed thousands of people. But people in other countries were also speaking out
against apartheid. The United States and European countries passed sanctions against South Africa
(‘sanctions’ are laws that punish a country). During this time a campaign to free Nelson Mandela
also started up. Around the world there were protests. People marched in the streets shouting
‘Free Mandela!’. The South African government saw that Mandela was the only man who could
change things in the country. Mandela had talks with South Africa’s new leader, President de
Klerk. In February 1990 President de Klerk freed Mandela after 27 years in prison. De Klerk
promised to free 374 political prisoners. He said that the ANC and other banned organizations
would be legal again. And he said that the government would work on a plan to let all South
Africans vote.

In 1991 Mandela became president of the ANC, and in May 1994 he was elected President of
South Africa. Apartheid finally came to an end. In 1996 a new constitution was signed, giving
freedom of speech for all.

Mandela worked very hard for peace in South Africa. In 1990 he travelled around 14 countries,
meeting lots of interesting people including President George Bush Senior and Margaret Thatcher.
In December 1993, together with de Klerk, he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.

Nelson Mandela is now 90 years old. He retired from public life in 2004. He lives a much quieter
life these days, although he still does a lot of charitable work. He lives in Qunu, the village where
he grew up, with his third wife Graca Machel (he and Winnie Mandela separated in 1992). I admire
Nelson Mandela very much because he worked so hard for his people and chose to use peaceful
methods of protest. He fought to change South Africa into a country where people of different
races could live together and have equal rights.
Now read the following questions carefully.
Q1/Identify elements typical of biography writing that the biographer uses in the extract.
Q2/ How does the extract differ from the autobiography?
Q3/How is the structure and the language features of the biography?
Q4/ What do the details tell you about the character of biographee? Justify your answer by
evidence.

Two/
Read the following paragraph and then answer the questions.

(More than a century earlier, the French economist Antoine-Augustin Cournot had pointed out
that problems of economic choice were greatly simplified when either none or a large number of
other agents were present. 16 Alone on his island, Robinson Crusoe doesn't have to worry about
others whose actions might affect him. Neither, though, do Adam Smith's butchers and bakers.
They live in a world with so many actors that their actions, in effect, cancel each other out. But
when there is more than one agent but not so many that their influence may be safely ignored,
strategic behavior raises a seemingly insoluble problem: "I think that he thinks that I think that he
thinks," and so forth.)

(By his late twenties, Nash's insights and discoveries had won him recognition, respect, and
autonomy. He had carved out a brilliant career at the apex of the mathematics profession,
traveled, lectured, taught, met the most famous mathematicians of his day, and became famous
himself. His genius also won him love. He had married a beautiful young physics student who
adored him, and fathered a child. It was a brilliant strategy, this genius, this life. A seemingly
perfect adaptation.)

Questions:
● Identify which type of non-fiction text is this.
● What are its features/elements/characteristics? (of the type of non-fiction text you
identified.)
● Discuss your perspective to the character being described in the second paragraph. How
did the writer present this character to you? What is your opinion about this character
from reading this paragraph?

Criterion A: Analysing
Level Level Descriptor Task-Specific Clarification
The student does not reach a standard described The student does not reach a
0 by any of the descriptors below. standard described by any of
 the descriptors below.
The student: The student:
i. provides limited analysis of the content, context, i. provides limited analysis of
1-2 language, structure, technique and style of text(s) the content, context,
and the relationship among texts language, structure,
ii. provides limited analysis of the effects of the technique and style of text(s)
creator’s choices on an audience. and the relationship among
iii. rarely justifies opinions and ideas with texts of biography and also
examples or explanations; uses little or no the paragraphs of the second
terminology question.
iv. evaluates few similarities and differences by ii. provides limited analysis of
making minimal connections in features across the effects of the creator’s
and within genres and texts choices on an audience when
analysing the biography.
iii. rarely justifies opinions
and ideas with examples or
explanations; uses little or no
terminology in their analysis
of the biography and second
question
iv. evaluates few similarities
and differences by making
minimal connections in
features across and within
genres and texts when
comparing between
biography to autobiography

The student: The student:

i. provides adequate analysis of the content, i. provides adequate analysis
3-4 context, language, structure, technique and style of the content, context,
of text(s) and the relationship among texts language, structure,
ii. provides adequate analysis of the effects of the technique and style of text(s)
creatorÕs choices on an audience and the relationship among
iii. justifies opinions and ideas with some examples texts of biography and also
and explanations, though this may not be the paragraph of the second
consistent; uses some terminology question.
iv. evaluates some similarities and differences by ii. provides adequate analysis
making adequate connections in features across of the effects of the
and within genres and texts. creatorÕs choices on an
audience when analysing the
biography.
iii. justifies opinions and ideas
with some examples and
explanations, though this may
not be consistent; uses some
terminology in their analysis
 of the biography and second
question
iv. evaluates some similarities
and differences by making
adequate connections in
features across and within
genres and texts when
comparing between
biography and autobiography
The student: The student:
i. competently analyses the content, context, i. competently analyses the
5-6 language, structure, technique, style of text(s) and content, context, language,
the relationship among texts structure, technique, style of
ii. competently analyses the effects of the text(s) and the relationship
creator’s choices on an audience among texts of biography and
iii. sufficiently justifies opinions and ideas with also the paragraph of the
examples and explanations; uses accurate second question.
terminology ii. competently analyses the
iv. evaluates similarities and differences by making effects of the creator’s
substantial connections in features across and choices on an audience when
within genres and texts. analysing the biography.
iii. sufficiently justifies
opinions and ideas with
examples and explanations;
uses accurate terminology in
their analysis of biography
and second question
iv. evaluates similarities and
differences by making
substantial connections in
features across and within
genres and texts when
comparing between
biography and autobiography
The student: The student:
i. provides perceptive analysis of the content, i. provides perceptive
7-8 context, language, structure, technique, style of analysis of the content,
text(s) and the relationship among texts context, language, structure,
ii. perceptively analyses the effects of the technique, style of text(s) and
creator’s choices on an audience the relationship among texts
iii. gives detailed justification of opinions and of biography and also the
ideas with a range of examples, and thorough paragraph of the second
explanations; uses accurate terminology question.
iv. perceptively compares and contrasts by ii. perceptively analyses the
making extensive connections in features across effects of the creator’s
and within genres and texts. choices on an audience when
analysing biography.
iii. gives detailed justification
of opinions and ideas with a
range of examples, and
thorough explanations; uses
accurate terminology in their
analysis of biography and
second question
iv. perceptively compares
and contrasts by making
extensive connections in
features across and within
genres and texts when
comparing between
biography and autobiography