One Piece - Freedom and liberation from a totalitarian government. Government propaganda, brainwashing,

Babel by RF Kuang - colonialism and opium addiction spread by the British empire to China. Effect of casual racism and brainwashing towards children, understanding one's own ethnicity and what they stand for.

First things first, what is the IB English Individual Oral?

• It's a 15 minute oral exam.

• The first section is a 10 minute presentation by you, the student, followed by a second section consisting of 5 minutes of questions asked by your teacher.

• The IO is centered around a Global Issue.

• For IB English Language and Literature, you must analyze a literary text and a non-literary body of work.

• For IB English Literature, you must analyze two literary works (one of them must be a work-in-translation).

• Comparison and contrast is not a requirement (unlike in Paper 2)

A strong house requires a stable foundation. And if you want to get a 7 for your Individual Oral, then you must have a strong global issue (GI).

The global issue should* belong to one of the following 5 themes:

1. Culture, identity and community 

2. Beliefs, values and education

3. Politics, power and justice 

4. Art, creativity and the imagination 

5. Science, technology and the environment 

*Actually, that's a lie. According to the current IB English syllabus (First assessment 2021), your global issue doesn't need to belong to any of the suggested themes. The themes are simply suggested by the IB to help you with brainstorming.

First, an excellent Global Issue is one that is relevant to our current society. It must be relatable to many people across diverse cultures and national borders.

Global Issue Examples

To make it clear exactly what we mean, here is a weak global issue as an example…

Chosen ThemePolitics, power and justiceGlobal Issue“Increasingly unaffordable healthcare causing a health crisis in the US”Why it's a bad global issueUnaffordable healthcare is unique to America and a few other countries, so it's not the most global of issues.

Now let's look at an example of a strong global issue…

Chosen ThemeCulture, identity and communityGlobal Issue“Social media leading to negative body image and self-esteem”Why it's a stronger global issueThis is a better GI because it's a contemporary issue and is relatable globally across different cultures and countries.What could be improvedThis global issue is somewhat overdone. Try to be more unique when picking your global issue.

Chosen ThemePolitics, power and justiceGlobal Issue“Increasingly unaffordable healthcare causing a health crisis in the US”Why it's a bad global issueUnaffordable healthcare is unique to America and a few other countries, so it's not the most global of issues.

Now let's look at an example of a strong global issue…

Chosen ThemeCulture, identity and communityGlobal Issue“Social media leading to negative body image and self-esteem”Why it's a stronger global issueThis is a better GI because it's a contemporary issue and is relatable globally across different cultures and countries.What could be improvedThis global issue is somewhat overdone. Try to be more unique when picking your global issue.

If you're stuck on choosing a global issue, check out this detailed lesson on choosing your global issue. We also include 25 global issue starters to get your creative juices flowing.

What does the IB actually require?

The IB English syllabus states that you can pick any global issue for your Individual Oral, as long as the global issue satisfies all three of these criteria:

• It's pervasive and experienced all over the world in (pretty much) every country.

• It has a big impact on people.

• It affects people in common, everyday scenarios and environments.

The IB provides five categories, like "Culture, identity & community" and "Politics, power & justice".

According to the current IB English syllabus (First assessment 2021), Global Issues do not have to belong to any of the 5 categories. The category is irrelevant; the categories are merely provided by the IB as a starting point for you to start brainstorming.

As an example, the global issue in the exemplar IO doesn't belong to any of the five default categories. Instead, it belongs to its own category: Economics, ethics and society. And that's fine according to the syllabus.

With that said, here are 25 starting points for a global issue: use this list as inspiration, you'll definitely want to add your own twist and make them more specific to your own texts--they're quite general and vague out-of-the-box.

The List

Culture, identity & community

• The threat of cultural homogenization in the face of globalized popular culture.

• How forced migration leads to the loss of cultural identity and heritage.

• The harmful effects of social media usage on body image and self-esteem.

• How consumer culture promotes frivolous lifestyles.

• How sporting culture shapes national identity.

Beliefs, values & education

• Unequal access to education perpetuating poverty and wealth inequality.

• The impact of propaganda and misinformation on public beliefs and social harmony.

• The harmful effects of extremist ideologies on political division and democracy.

• Social tension caused by conflicts in religious belief.

• How formal education can lead to rigid ways of thinking, limiting innovation and creativity.

Politics, power & justice

• The violation of fundamental human rights leading to the oppression of individuals and communities.

• The impact of globalization on the sovereignty of nations and their political systems.

• The perpetuation of social inequality and injustice through political corruption.

• The challenge of balancing national security and civil liberties in the face of terrorism and security threats.

• The effect of systemic racism on unjust and unfair treatment under the law.

Art, creativity & imagination

• Balancing the protection of creative works with the public's right to access them in the digital age.

• The negative impact of digital sharing on the protection of intellectual property rights.

• The impact of censorship on artistic freedom and creative expression.

• The challenge of balancing artistic freedom with social responsibility and cultural / religious sensitivity.

• The restrictions placed by copyright on the free expression of musicians and artists.

Science, technology & the environment

• The impact of climate change on global food security.

• The challenge of balancing technological innovation with ethical considerations and social responsibility.

• The effect of automation and artificial intelligence on employment and the workforce.

• The challenge of balancing economic growth with environmental conservation and preservation.

• Technology companies violating the privacy of individuals.

The IB English syllabus states that you can pick any global issue for your Individual Oral, as long as the global issue satisfies all three of these criteria:

• It's pervasive and experienced all over the world in (pretty much) every country.

• It has a big impact on people.

• It affects people in common, everyday scenarios and environments.

The IB provides five categories, like "Culture, identity & community" and "Politics, power & justice".

According to the current IB English syllabus (First assessment 2021), Global Issues do not have to belong to any of the 5 categories. The category is irrelevant; the categories are merely provided by the IB as a starting point for you to start brainstorming.

As an example, the global issue in the exemplar IO doesn't belong to any of the five default categories. Instead, it belongs to its own category: Economics, ethics and society. And that's fine according to the syllabus.

With that said, here are 25 starting points for a global issue: use this list as inspiration, you'll definitely want to add your own twist and make them more specific to your own texts--they're quite general and vague out-of-the-box.

The List

Culture, identity & community

• The threat of cultural homogenization in the face of globalized popular culture.

• How forced migration leads to the loss of cultural identity and heritage.

• The harmful effects of social media usage on body image and self-esteem.

• How consumer culture promotes frivolous lifestyles.

• How sporting culture shapes national identity.

Beliefs, values & education

• Unequal access to education perpetuating poverty and wealth inequality.

• The impact of propaganda and misinformation on public beliefs and social harmony.

• The harmful effects of extremist ideologies on political division and democracy.

• Social tension caused by conflicts in religious belief.

• How formal education can lead to rigid ways of thinking, limiting innovation and creativity.

Politics, power & justice

• The violation of fundamental human rights leading to the oppression of individuals and communities.

• The impact of globalization on the sovereignty of nations and their political systems.

• The perpetuation of social inequality and injustice through political corruption.

• The challenge of balancing national security and civil liberties in the face of terrorism and security threats.

• The effect of systemic racism on unjust and unfair treatment under the law.

Art, creativity & imagination

• Balancing the protection of creative works with the public's right to access them in the digital age.

• The negative impact of digital sharing on the protection of intellectual property rights.

• The impact of censorship on artistic freedom and creative expression.

• The challenge of balancing artistic freedom with social responsibility and cultural / religious sensitivity.

• The restrictions placed by copyright on the free expression of musicians and artists.

Science, technology & the environment

• The impact of climate change on global food security.

• The challenge of balancing technological innovation with ethical considerations and social responsibility.

• The effect of automation and artificial intelligence on employment and the workforce.

• The challenge of balancing economic growth with environmental conservation and preservation.

• Technology companies violating the privacy of individuals.

Comics are a sequence of images that transforms them into understandable moving processes.

As the first 8 panels are in a muddy colors, it provides the readers the feeling of the country before they got wealth- similarly to black and white photos. Then on panel 9, the author used more colors as it's outdoors, providing a contrast on how well the living conditions were before the events of the comic happened.

Graphic

Novels:

A Crash

Course

In 1893 The Ivory Coast was colonized by the french, The African population did try to resist against the French, But was stopped when their leader was captured.

The Ivory Coast is relatively rich due to their exports. But the wealth is not really distributed well. The country was also caught up in a lot of civil wars.

• p. 17: “That mouth of yours is bigger than a cow’s behind… Look at that butt it is as flat as a pancake.”

• 
  Discuss each of the parents’ roles in this story. Would you consider them good parents? Loving parents? Why or why?

• On page 15, Aya reflects on the beer commercial for Solibra and wonders, “Why anyone would think of beer as a vitamin.” Why might they? Do you think this is a productive angle for selling beer?

The panel of the huge group of people looking at Aya's Father's Televison connects to the problem of the inequal wealth spread. Aya's father being a manager at a factory has much more wealth compared to the neighbouring people, meaning that he was able to afford the TV. The huge number of people all gawking at the televison shows a bigger picture of how little people in the Ivory Coast was able to afford luxuries.

Advertising started to become more localized and culturally relevant. Brands began to recognize the importance of connecting with the Nigerian audience through ads that resonated with their everyday experiences and aspirations.

On the second page, first panel, there is a wide shot of the entire group of people seeing the advertisement campaign for a local beer brand with a popular cyclist as the face of the campaign (page 1, panel 1).

This further shows that advertisements became more localized as it is an advertisement for a brand that people enjoy, with a celebrity that people love. Before the 1970s advertisements are simple, with voiceovers. The reason why her friends and family being excited to to see the advertisement is not only because that this is one of the first advertisement of this scale, it is culturally relevant and resonates to their household because of the reasons mentioned above. Additionally, Dago, the cyclist/celebrity in the advertisement, zooming pass a bus, can also symbolize that the people can be seen outside of their community, which resonates to its audience.

The emanata on the first page showing the TV and the ad on it that occupies the entire page, synchronizing with the narration introducing the relatively high social status of the protagonist's father, also showcases people's craving for fashionable lifestyle and substantive monetary gratification, as all friends and family members gathered around to watch a single advertisement that could not be engaging at all.

-              The global issue should have depth. It should be important and should be something that makes you think (insightful and also interesting).

-              The IO needs to have an embedded argument, don’t just state the topic but you have to make an argument about the topic. What are the authors of the text trying to tell you through the text. How are they telling you this through their authorial choices (basically authorial choices are anything that has an effect on the reader).

-              Cause and effect relationship. An example in the text is climate change. What are some of the causes of climate change.

-              The global issue should be complex but shouldn’t be difficult to follow. Try not to confuse the examiner.

-              You would need a repeatable phrase throughout the IO. But not repetition. This should be cohesive and coherent throughout the beginning and the end. e.g., “Generational Poverty and the severe class divide force the poor to repeatedly face uncontrollable hardship”

• Starting with one of the themes would be preferable but not mandatory, while the student must narrow it down.

• That issue must have a strong presence in the literary text and non-literary body of work chosen.

• The literary text and non literary body of work must be chosen from the syllabus, preferably with one of them being translated work written by foreign author.

• Akin to choosing the two works, the global issue must be prevalent worldwide and can be analyzed differently in the two works, though comparison is not required.

Helps us to develop more nuanced analysis, understand each component and help us connect to the global issue better. Also help people be mo0re confident.

The process

List Texts - explore various literary and nonliterary texts

Brainstorm Themes - Identify themes and concepts from your chosen course text that you can connect to various strong global issues

Maintain a Narrow Focus - get feedback and refine your focus on a Global Issue.

Craft the Global Issue Statement - Clearly articulate your focused Global Issue.

Explore Hotspots - Identify key moments and conflicts in your chosen texts that relates to your global issue.

Choose the Extract - Select powerful passages that feature the Global Issue

Annotate the Extract - Identify textual references and pin them to authorial choices.  

Explore the Work (BoW) as a whole - Find moments throghout the chosen texts that link to your Global Issue.

Look for “Signature Moves” - Examine extracts, noting textual references and authorial choices.

• Field of inquiry (general global issue)

• Topic (more specific global issue)

• Narrowed global issue (detailed relationship with the selected abstract)

The extract should include the following features:

• Clearly shows the topic

• Contains various authorial choices with minimal repetition

• Includes nuance and insights about the idea that the author is trying to convey

Next, it is best to include the context and summary of the extract

Then, create the table that contains the following attributes:

• Passage: This is the extract with hotspots that are highlighted. Hotspots are the portion that can be further analyzed.

• Big ideas: These are the ideas that the corresponding hotspots are trying to convey. They must align with specific parts of the passage.

  e.g. Racial slurs and verbal abuse

• Features: These are the authorial choices. Similar to big ideas, they must align with specific hotspots

  e.g. Persoonification

Control of sexuality and reproductive rights

point 1: Medea explores how darkness leads to insight and chaos, pain allows people to shed the illusions of society which bind them

point 2: suffering is entirely internal and psychological, D-503's struggles with his minds. Pain is debilitating

point 2: Medea's struggles are almost all external, pain fuels her thunderous spirit

point 3: D-503 shatters, psychologically and mentally, but it is seen as positive

point 3: Medea's change is a brutal warp as a result of pain, leading to strength and insight which allows her to gain revenge

Comparative Theme 1: How a central emotion in each work drive the development of plots:

Text A: Medea's love for Jason drives her course of revenge.

Text B: Irrational affection for I330 drives D503's derailment from rationality and comfort with One State.

Theme 2: How their respective emotions prevail over conventional ethics

A: Medea prevails over patriarchy and the ethics of maternity

B: D503 breaches the rationality rule of One State

Theme 3: Do the authors depict the respective central emotions as favorable

A: affirms revenge, denounces the slaying of her own children through the Chorus

B: equivocal, open to the interpretation of readers

• medea - sorrow driven rage caused by the prejustice against women, where they are disrespected and medea herself was exiled multiple times

• we - manipulated thoughts and lack of emotions caused by control and punishment from the one state

significance

• medea - to seek revenge and feel emotionally free (freedom)

• we - to discover oneself (freedom + world view change)

drive

• medea - realized the status women has in society, fueled with rage and wanted to seek revenge

• we - D-503 initially opposed to the idea of irrational emotions, but I-330 changed his world view

Medea - fuel personal revenge that destroys a family and a kingdom

We - ignite individual rebellion that threatens an entire dystopian empire

Medea - Medea's intensive emotions drive herself from passive victim to active agent of destruction which overrides reasons and emotions

• Destructive power in patriarchal society

We - The corruption of rationality and emotions shatters D-503’s originaly logical mind and drives him from obedient Number to revolution

• United State’s inability to suppress the human soul.

a hook that explores the topic of the question (can be skipped but enhances the writing if used correctly)

brief summary of the texts in relation to the question (shouldn't be longer than thesis)

a comparative thesis with rich ideas and keywords from the question

Six elements of body paragraph

• Language of the question

• Rich idea

• Textual references

• Authorial choice

• Author-audience relationship

• Comparative phrasing

2025

Image -

It is made to challenge the government’s inadequate response to the HIV/AIDS crisis