Ten weeks · Cambridge IGCSE Literature in English
Scheme of work
A teaching sequence that follows Desai’s three Parts and builds towards the closed-book Paper 1 prose question. Reading is given by part and chapter, themes are drawn out as they arise, and assessment writing is threaded through the closing weeks. Compress to eight weeks by merging weeks 2 and 3 and weeks 5 and 6 if your timetable is tight.
| Wk | Focus | Reading | Content and activities | Outcome | Site resources |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Context and the opening | Pre-reading; Part I, Ch. 1–2 | Desai’s life and concerns; post-independence India and the fading hill-station world; Carignano and Kasauli as setting. Read the arrival of the postman and the house’s colonial history as an entry into Nanda Kaul’s craving for solitude. | Context note (one side) and a first personal response: what does Nanda Kaul want, and why does the postman feel like an intrusion? | Context Part I guide |
| 2 | Nanda Kaul’s solitude | Part I, Ch. 3–6 | The ordered daily life at Carignano and Ram Lal; the arriving letter from Asha and the news of Raka; the telephone call from Ila Das. Barrenness as an ideal; the cry “I want nothing.” | Analytical paragraph: how does Desai present Nanda Kaul’s wish to be left alone? | Part I guide Themes: solitude |
| 3 | Duty refused; the summons | Part I, Ch. 7–10 | The remembered Vice-Chancellor’s house and its crowds; “Discharge me… I’ve discharged all my duties”; the reading of Sei Shonagon; Nanda Kaul sends Ram Lal to fetch Raka. Domesticity as servitude. | Character note on Nanda Kaul: pride, control and the life she is refusing. | Part I guide Characters |
| 4 | Raka arrives | Part II, Ch. 1–4 | The estranged embrace, “a sound of bones colliding”; “Raka - what an utter misnomer”; the defining contrast between a recluse “out of vengeance” and one “by nature, by instinct”. The two solitaries begin to circle one another. | Comparison paragraph: Nanda Kaul and Raka as mirror and opposite. | Part II guide Characters |
| 5 | The wild child and the landscape | Part II, Ch. 5–12 | Raka’s wanderings: the ravine, the charred pines, the Pasteur Institute, Monkey Point; Ram Lal’s warnings and lore; the dust-storm “bonfire” and “This is how forest fires do start.” The setting as externalised emptiness and suppressed fire. | Setting analysis: how the Kasauli landscape carries the novel’s mood. | Part II guide Themes: nature and fire |
| 6 | Invented stories; the burnt house | Part II, Ch. 13–21 | Nanda Kaul’s tales of Kashmir and her adventurous father, and Raka listening “politely rather than curiously”; the pivotal chapter at the fire-gutted house, “the scene of devastation and failure somehow drew her”, “till she was alight, ablaze”. The self-deception theme opens. | Extract essay: how does Desai present Raka’s attraction to ruin? | Part II guide Quotations |
| 7 | Ila Das to tea | Part III, Ch. 1–8 | Ila Das’s grotesque, brave performance; her backstory of ruin and the welfare post; the child-marriage subplot and her confrontation with Preet Singh; Nanda Kaul’s unspoken invitation, “Come and stay with me, Ila”, held back. Handle the child-marriage material plainly and without sensation. | Analytical paragraph: the failure of care and what it costs. | Part III guide Themes: women and care |
| 8 | The murder and the ending | Part III, Ch. 9–13 | Ila Das’s walk home and her murder, framed as Desai’s indictment of violence against women; the telephone call; Nanda Kaul’s admission that her stories were “tranquillizers, pills” and her solitude imposed; Raka’s “I have set the forest on fire.” Prepare the class for a disturbing final chapter before reading it. | Evaluation paragraph: how do the two final blows work together? | Part III guide Quotations |
| 9 | Exam skills | Whole text | The Paper 1 prose question: the choice between a passage-based question and a general essay, and how to plan each. Moving from method to effect; anchoring every paragraph to the question; ranging across all three Parts from memory in a closed-book exam. | One planned essay and one planned passage response; a paragraph drafted from each and routed through the marking desk. | Exam skills Marking desk |
| 10 | Timed essay and redraft | Whole text | Quotation banks and thematic maps built from memory; a full essay under timed conditions; redrafting from marking-desk annotation before you mark against the grid. | Full timed essay; redraft in a second colour; teacher marks the redraft. | Exam skills Marking desk |
Assessment rhythm
Paragraph outcomes in weeks 2, 3 and 7 build the method-to-effect habit before the extract essay in week 6 and the evaluation in week 8. Weeks 9 and 10 turn to exam writing. Route drafts through the marking desk between lessons so classroom time goes to redrafting rather than first marking.
Handling the difficult material
Weeks 7 and 8 cover the child-marriage subplot and the rape and murder of Ila Das. Name what happens plainly and analytically, as Desai’s statement about violence against women, and tell the class before you reach the final chapter that the ending is disturbing. The lesson sequences set out a restrained way through it.