<p>hi u guys, i have my external IB eng a1 oral commentary coming up in two weeks. I really wanna do well on it, but im starting to panick BIG TIME! do any of you have some good tips about how to go about preparing? I have about 25 extracts to prepare for, i usually know exactly what to say but i get very very very tongue tied and nervous when i start talking into the tape recorder. i forget everything i had in mind, my language becomes an embrsmnt , i end up saying things witch i pity my teacher for haveing to listen to, i loose my place in the notes tht i wrote in the 20 mins prep time and take forever to find the quotes im looking for. do u guys have any suggestions, or maybe a way tht u go about when doing orals or this type of presentation in general?</p>
<p>come on plz help....</p>
<p>Try not to look at the tape recorder, and remember that it's evaluating the teacher, not you.</p>
<p>It might help to do practise commentaries. Maybe do up a little template, like, "If it's a poem, I'll begin with it's place in the context of the author's other works, then go onto the structure, style..." Make lots of notes, and don't rub out anything, just put a line through it because it might come in handy during the questions or otherwise when you run out of things to say.</p>
<p>I wish you luck. I was scared to death of mine, and it went alright. Even after I accidentally said Keats instead of Shelley ;)</p>
<p>Mine was terrible so I'm sorry if i just add to your panic.
The secret is... do practices -record them- beg ur teacher to listen to them and give you feedback.
We had to do that (wid 50 extracts 2 prepare 4) and I lazed around because I was all like- please, i can nail this... no problem (i usually get 7's on my written commentaries- especially poetry)- but trust me... it helps to feel like the mike is normal. I managed to panic and ramble and choke up and i actually even started crying right as my teacher pressed stop because I was so dissapointed.
All the best- what is it you guys have to prepare? I have a couple commentary outlines we did in class- and a few I prepared with friends and myself if you want help with Yeats, Hemingway, Dickinson, Plath, Johnson, or Shakespeare (Hamlet only).</p>
<p>My first one was pretty good, just be prepared with all th e symbols, foils and the blah about the stories and youll do fine.</p>
<p>umm thanx a lot to everyone. The things i have to prepare for are plath, dickinson, macbeth and great expectations....what do commentary outlines look like... my teacher isnt really giving me much help she just keeps saying random comments about each commentary i do for practice. right now i keep getting 6s but i really want tht seven. I wish there was a formula because there kind of is one for the written commentaries and i always manage to do really really well on those.</p>
<p>I haven't done any orals yet... but here is where you can find people who have: <a href="http://www.ibscrewed.net%5B/url%5D">www.ibscrewed.net</a> (definetly helpful). If you need any more advice, I would try there.</p>
<p>o ok..lol tht site is kinda funny...sums it all up id say</p>
<p>o wow this site is so great</p>
<p>Yeah, IBScrewed is great, I'm a regular there. I would advise all IB students from CC to also visit IBScrewd!</p>
<p>I did my oral commentaries as December exams. I had Hamlet, Midsummer Night's and War Poetry. It went quite well actually. I always went with the SCASI format - Setting, character, action, style, idea. In that order and I just expanded from there. I would include, before jumping in to SCASI, intro to the passage, and putting it into context -- if Macbeth, when it happens, the overall plot up to and after that point. Why the passage is signficant. Symbols, etc. And if it's a play, don't forget to talk about the "putting it on stage" effect. And yes, practice makes perfect! Practice with your friends, etc - we prepped every passage together as a study group thing and then each person could take up a passage and do a quick commentary on it, etc. Hope this helps.</p>