CARLOS DRUMMOND DE ANDRADE - complete IB English study unit

This set of worksheets on the poetry of Carlos Drummond de Andrade is designed as a complete unit of study of this fascinating but accessible modernist Brazilian writer.

I’ve used these resources with great success with a series of classes, and the text is a good choice which reflects the thematic areas of ‘Readers, Writers and Texts’ and ‘Time and Place’. Carlos Drummond is a Portuguese language writer who appears on the prescribed lists of authors.

The course materials (designed to be taught in 3-4 weeks) reflect a standard IB selection of 15-20 poems chosen from across the poet’s output. As well as teaching the specifics of this compelling author the course also covers essential skills for critical commentary and extension/ TOK concepts.

The documents (which are presented as worksheets but can easily be adapted into powerpoints) are ready for use in class and are comprised of the following:

0 a pdf of the poems covered in the course (supplied for reference)
1 Biographical focus, including contextual exercise and prompts for an interactive oral task
2 Seven Sided Poem and Multitudinous Heart - with extension work on poetry translation
3 Childhood and Confessions of a Man - creative and analytical exercise
4 Journey Through The Family including an exercise on writing introductions for critical commentary
5 Family Portrait - a full Critical Commentary exercise
6 Sonnets - an exploration of form
7 End of unit exercises including supervised writing prompts and homework essay titles, with critical materials for ambitious students