NEWS AND UPDATES

OIB Revision Days

On warm, sunny days in early April and May, the Terminale class attended the annual OIB revision days, first for English Literature and then for History-Geography.

The Literature revision weekend was conducted by Paddy Salmon, renowned in the OIB world and former head of the SIS English Department, who now runs OIB revision courses from his home in Normandy. Paddy’s wealth of knowledge and insider tips helped the students to see the exam through the eyes of an examiner and understand the expectations that little bit better. The students, Mrs Besic and Mrs King enjoyed hearing his perspective on the texts and his unique anecdotes about the early days of the OIB. The contents focused on the written examination with the students writing individual and group essays, planning their own OIB-style questions and discussing a range of practical criticism texts.

The History-Geography revision days were conducted by Mrs Rattier and Mr Shepherd, who took turns to revise key sections of the HG OIB course with the students and carry out simultaneous oral exam practice with each student. Last minute details and questions were supplied with the ultimate goal of getting students to form their own “Big Picture” view of the syllabus. Students participated in activities to add to their knowledge, plan and correct essays, and build their discursive skills with intricate string discussions which became quite knotty!

It wasn’t all hard work though. The afternoons were fueled by a pizza lunch and frequent tea breaks. Since the venue doubles as a childcare centre on Wednesdays, student let off steam through revisiting their childhood:  table tennis and building blocks were by far the most popular activities. The future engineers and architects just had to fight off the other students who tried to destroy their towering creations.

The purpose of the revision days was to kickstart the revision period, as well as to help the students see where they need to focus their revising. Paddy was very impressed by the group as were all of the teachers. Revision days 2018 were a great success.