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ELA 10: World Literature—Semester B

20th century travails, Shmoop style

  • Credit Recovery Enabled
  • Course Length: 18 weeks
  • Course Type: Basic
  • Category:
    • English
    • Literature
    • High School

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Shmoop's ELA 10 course has been granted a-g certification, which means it has met the rigorous iNACOL Standards for Quality Online Courses and will now be honored as part of the requirements for admission into the University of California system.

This course has also been certified by Quality Matters, a trusted quality assurance organization that provides course review services to certify the quality of online and blended courses.

You've met the superheroes of the ancient world, you've pondered the glories of war, and you've cried along with Aristotle at Oedipus the King. Get ready for your dreams to be shattered, Shmoopers, because this second semester of Shmoop's World Literature course takes us into the modern world to reflect on those ideals of old. Spoiler: the death and destruction of war is not quite as glorious in the 20th century.

Our second semester of ELA 10: World Literature provides Common Core-aligned readings and activities that introduce us to men who've turned into bugs, Holocaust survivors in the form of mice (say what?), and speeches and letters written by World War I soldiers. It's getting real up in here.

In this course, we'll roll deep with the likes of All Quiet on the Western Front, Maus, Things Fall Apart, and various speeches and forms of rhetoric, and ask

  • how do you define a hero when you don't know who the enemy is?
  • how do cultures define their identities?
  • how does one deal with the realities of modern war?
  • what exactly should one do once turned into a bug?

And finally, we'll return to that all-important question: what is the use of stories?

P.S. ELA 10: World Literature is a two-semester course. You're looking at Semester B, but you can check out Semester A here.

Unit Breakdown

5 ELA 10: World Literature—Semester B - Rhetoric, Persuasion, and Wisdom in the Modern World

This unit is all about rhetoric, persuasion, and wisdom...or supposed wisdom. We'll read a smattering of rhetorical and persuasive speeches and texts, both ancient and modern, and learn how to close-read rhetorical texts. By the end of the unit, you'll be able to rip apart a speech, explain its rhetorical strategies, and understand how rhetoric and argument shows up in modern media.

6 ELA 10: World Literature—Semester B - War and Disillusionment in the Modern World

What happens when a bunch of European countries with idealistic visions of war gain modern technology? Mass death and disillusionment. Oh, and Erich Maria Remarque's masterpiece All Quiet on the Western Front. We'll explore how Remarque structures the novel to portray a realistic view of war and conduct a short research project on his life. On the flip side, we'll deal with Kafka, another writer exploring disillusionment and isolation through his novella "The Metamorphosis" and other short stories.

7 ELA 10: World Literature—Semester B - Holocaust Stories

In this unit, we'll look at how a number of different media (speeches, oral histories, poetry, memoirs, letters, graphic novels) all explore a single event: the Holocaust. Focusing primarily on Maus and Night, we'll ask how writing about trauma helps survivors to process the event and the different techniques these works use to discuss the experience. We'll wrap up the unit with a multimedia oral presentation on an aspect of the Holocaust.

8 ELA 10: World Literature—Semester B - Things Fall Apart

Get ready to travel out of Europe to Africa...which has been colonized by Europe. In this unit, we'll read Chinua Achebe's exploration of colonial Africa in Things Fall Apart. We'll focus on the literary techniques the work uses—including how it uses characterization and plot structure to draw out its major themes—and how the work is a response to imperial literature. The unit wraps up with a literary analysis paper incorporating original research.

Recommended prerequisites:

  • ELA 10: World Literature—Semester A

    • Sample Lesson - Introduction

    Lesson 7.01: The Holocaust

    This is the gate to the very first concentration camp outside of Dachau, Germany. Arbeit macht frei translates to

    This is the gate to the very first concentration camp outside of Dachau, Germany. Arbeit macht frei translates to "work makes (you) free." How's that for irony?

    (Source)

    You probably already have an inkling what the Holocaust was all about. Millions of Jews and other people the Nazis decided they didn't like were systematically slaughtered during World War II. In this lesson, we're going to fill in the details to turn this inkling into a notion (read: a slightly bigger, more nuanced inkling). After all, how can we appropriately interpret and evaluate Holocaust literature if we don't know anything about the Holocaust?

    We'll start by reviewing some of the major dates, events, and details to fill you in on some of the deets that you simply must know.

    Once we know what went down during this terrible time in history, we'll do some light research to become familiar with some of the more important terms and concepts you'll be seeing over and over again throughout the course of this unit.

    So put your historical context hat on, grab a box of tissues (this is major tear-worthy stuff), and let's get moving.

    Sample Lesson - Activity

    Activity 7.01a: Down to Basics

    To get started, head on over to the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum website and read their article entitled "Introduction to the Holocaust." Click through some of the related articles at the bottom of the page, too.

    As you read, answer the following questions in your own words (no cutting and pasting from the website, obvs).

    1. Why did the Nazis persecute the Jews and other groups, such as the Roma?

    2. What were some of the other groups that the Nazis persecuted?

    3. What were concentration camps? Why did the Nazis build them and send Jews (and others) there?

    4. What happened on May 7, 1945? How did it affect the prisoners who had been in concentration camps?

    5. What happened to Jews who survived the Holocaust after the end of the war?

    6. Why do you think this event is called the Holocaust? (Remember the definition of the Greek word that the article gives at the very beginning.)

    7. And finally: What are some questions this article didn't answer? Write three to five questions that you have about the Holocaust that you hope this unit will answer.

    Comprehension Check Rubric - 10 Points

    Fully CorrectPartially Correct
    Answer

    Written answers are correct and fully formulated.

    (10)

    Written answers are partially correct or only partially formulated.

    (5)

    Sample Lesson - Activity

    Activity 7.01b: Research and Tell

    At the end of this unit, you'll be putting together a multi-media presentation on the Holocaust. So we're going to be slowly working our way through the skills you'll need to pull it all off. On today's schedule: researching and finding visuals on a given concept.

    We'll keep this brief; we're going to give you a term or concept, and you'll need to hit the interwebs to find the following for each one:

    • A basic explanation of the item in question; give us at least two to four sentences on each one
    • A graph/image/short video that provides even more info about the item
    • A brief 50 to 100 word explanation of what your graph/image/video depicts

    Some of these terms might already be familiar to you, so try to find a visual that corresponds with it in a new way you've never seen before.

    Here's a Shmoop-made example of what we're looking for:

    Get the picture? Now it's your turn to hit the net and get researchin'.

    1. Ghettos

    2. Concentration camps

    3. Gestapo

    4. Allied Forces

    5. Anti-Semitism

    6. Aryan

    7. Star of David

    Representing Information Rubric - 25 Points

    OutstandingProficientDevelopingNeeds Improvement
    Content Understanding

    All content is accurate and presentation reflects sophisticated understanding.

    (10)

    All content is accurate.

    (9)

    May contain minor errors.

    (8)

    Major errors.

    (7)
    Organization

    Has a logical organizational scheme. Each piece of information flows logically and smoothly to the next.

    (10)

    Has a clear organizational plan. Information is presented logically with some sense of connection.

    (9)

    General sense of organizational plan. Information makes sense within it, but transitions are lacking.

    (8)

    Information appears disconnected or illogical.

    (7)
    Style

    Language is clear and interesting. Enhances presentation of information. No errors.

    (5)

    Language is clear and appropriate to topic. Minor spelling or grammatical errors.

    (4)

    Language is occasionally unclear, but meaning is generally understandable. Frequent spelling/grammar errors that do not impede comprehension.

    (4)

    Language use makes writing very difficult to understand. Frequent spelling or grammar errors that impede comprehension.

    (3)