Document A: White Star Line steamer sailing among other steamboats and sailing ships in New York City harbour, 1912 (document iconographique)

Document B: Hazel Gaynor, The Girl Who Came Home: A Novel of the Titanic, 2014
Helen Walsh was a short, slight woman with a permanent air of dissatisfaction about her. She fussed around her son now, brushing flecks of dust from his trousers and stray hairs from the shoulders of his jacket.

Document C: Hugh Brewster, Gilded Lives, Fatal Voyage: the Titanic’s First-Class Passengers and their World, 2012
To Lily May Futrelle, her fellow travelers were “a rare gathering of beautiful women and splendid men.” A rare gathering it was—liner historians report that no other passenger list of the period ever featured quite as many celebrated names.

Expression:
Tous les candidats sauf LVA : Choisir l’un des deux sujets suivants. (250 mots ±10%)
1. Nelson Figgis / Nancy Little is a third-class passenger on the Titanic. While crossing the Atlantic, he / she writes in his / her diary about his / her motives for travelling and feelings about life on board.
2. Joseph Bruce Ismay, the head of the White Star Line Company, delivers a speech for the departure of the Titanic. Write the speech.
Candidats LVA : Choisir un des deux sujets suivants. (300 mots ±10%)
1. Famous writer Robert Louis Stevenson once said: “For my part, I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel’s sake. The great affair is to move”. Discuss.
2. Joseph Bruce Ismay, the head of the White Star Line Company, delivers a speech for the departure of the Titanic. Write the speech.

Document A: Courtney Mirenzi, www.roaddarling.com, 2013
The day I decided to embark on a cross country road trip, I was almost immediately greeted by support by my husband and my best friends with whom I shared the plan. To those who knew me well, sure, it seemed borderline radical, but not at all out of character.

Document B: Megan Gambino, Smithsonianmag online, 2009
John Steinbeck famously called Route 66 the “mother road.” But today it’s more of an impoverished great-grandmother.

Document C: A mural, proclaiming McLean, Texas, “The heart of Old Route 66” (document iconographique)

Expression:
Tous les candidats sauf LVA : Choisir un des deux sujets proposés ci-dessous. (250 mots ±10%).
1. You are Emma/Phil Wilson and you work for the Route 66 Preservation Association. Write an e-mail to important Californian businessmen to convince them to support your cause.
2. “[…] if I didn’t witness the world around me, I would never know anything beyond myself.” (document A, ll. 21-22). How important is travelling to understanding the world?
Candidats LVA : Choisir un des deux sujets proposés ci-dessous. (300 mots ±10%).
1. You are Emma/Phil Wilson and you work for the Route 66 Preservation Association. Write an e-mail to important Californian businessmen to convince them to support your cause.
2. “If we lose those stories, we’re really losing a sense of ourselves.” (Document B, ll. 24-25). Discuss.

Text 1: Abraham Cahan, The Rise of David Levinsky, 1917
It was 1910, then, and the twenty-fifth anniversary of my coming was near at hand. Thoughts of the past filled me with mixed joy and sadness. I was overcome with a desire to celebrate the day. But with whom? Usually this is done by « ship brothers, » as East-Siders call fellow immigrants who arrive here on the same boat.

Text 2: Douglas Kennedy, The Job, 1998
The Great Motivator. Better known as Jack Ballentine. If you’ve been alive and cognizant for the past twenty years, you’ve undoubtedly read all about the Jack Ballentine
story. How he grew up as a steelworker’s son in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, discovered a talent for football in high school, won a full scholarship to Michigan State, became the most renowned college quarterback of the mid-sixties, then led the Dallas Cowboys to three Super Bowl victories during his high-profile professional career.

Expression:
Tous les candidats sauf LVA : traiter un sujet A au choix ET le sujet B
Sujet A : 1. What does the American Dream mean to you today? Illustrate with examples. OU 2. “It was a widely publicized downfall. And the public loved it.” (Document B, l. 22). Write an article expressing your views about how far you think the media should go to please an audience.
Sujet B : Imagine the conversation between the narrator and Gitelson when they meet again in the narrator’s office.
Candidats LVA : traiter un sujet A au choix ET le sujet B
Sujet A : 1. What does the American Dream mean to you today? Illustrate with examples. OU 2. “It was a widely publicized downfall. And the public loved it.” (Document B, l. 22) Write an article expressing your views about how far you think the media should go to please an audience.
Sujet B : In your opinion, can failure be an ingredient for success? Illustrate with examples.

Text 1: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, Americanah, 2013
Aisha asked again, “How long you in America?” […] “Fifteen years,” she said.
“Fifteen? That a long time.” A new respect slipped into Aisha’s eyes. “You live here in Trenton?”

Text 2: New York Times, 2002
When Ghanaians immigrate here, they quickly display the timeless yearning of new Americans for owning a house. What makes the Ghanaians different is that the house they yearn to own is in Ghana. […] There is one explanation that speaks volumes about New York City’s growing population of Ghanaians and other 5 West Africans.

Expression:
Les candidats des séries S et ES traiteront, au choix, l’UN des trois sujets suivants (en 200 à 250 mots) :
Sujet 1) Ifemelu has been in Nigeria for a few weeks now. She writes an e-mail to Blaine, her boyfriend, who has stayed in the USA. Imagine her e-mail.
Sujet 2) You have been given the opportunity of starting a new life in another country. What do you decide? Weigh the pros and cons.
Sujet 3) Write about somebody who has moved to another country. Say why they moved and describe the differences and challenges they experienced when they arrived.
Tous les candidats de la série L traiteront obligatoirement le sujet 1 et l’un des deux autres sujets (sujet 2 ou sujet 3). (150 mots minimum pour chaque sujet).
Sujet 1) Ifemelu has been in Nigeria for a few weeks now. She writes an e-mail to Blaine, her boyfriend, who has stayed in the USA. Imagine her e-mail.
Sujet 2) You have been given the opportunity of starting a new life in another country. What do you decide? Weigh the pros and cons.
Sujet 3) Write about somebody who has moved to another country. Say why they moved and describe the differences and challenges they experienced when they arrived.

Text 1: Why Gated Communities are Becoming a Global Problem (thiscitylife.tumblr.com, 2012)
The prevalence of gated communities has steadily risen across the United States since the 1960s. According to Edward Blakely, author of Fortress America, census figures show that between 6 and 9 million Americans live behind gates.

Text 2: Henry L.Lennard, The Essence of the City (1991)
The experience of life in the city comprises the sum total of all encounters, relationships and experiences with other people during the course of the day.

Expression:
1. You want to do some volunteer work. Your parents disagree. Imagine your conversation.
2. Discuss the importance of relating « within and across social […] class » (document B, l.21)
3. Do you think that « little daily things like volunteering, making art or music and creating or participating in communityprojects » (document A, 1.21-23) can make the world a better place?.
4. « It is in the public realm that we learn about each other, through observation and participation, and develop a public conscience » (document B, l.17-18). Discuss.

Text 1: Jonathan Coe, The Terrible Privacy of Maxwell Sim, 2010
Lucy told me that she didn’t like Chinese food any more, because it was full of monosodium glutamate, so I cancelled that booking and we went to an Italian restaurant in the same street instead.

Text 2: John Harlow, The Sunday Times, July 7, 2013
For the 27-year-old Apple designer, known to his companions as Fat Weasel, the first night in the Californian woods without his iPad was a nightmare.

Expression:
Les candidats traiteront au choix UN des deux sujets n°1 et UN des deux sujets n°2. (S et ES : 200 mots ; L et LV1 : 300 mots)
Sujets 1 :
a. You have just attended an offlining camp. Write a post on the Camp Grounded website giving your opinion about such camps.
b. Write the follow-up to the conversation between the narrator and Lucy, using the following start: Narrator: “How is it possible we have now become strangers to each other?”
Sujets 2:
a. How can you account for the fact that so many people use a pseudo on social networks?
b. It is often said that face to face relationships are endangered by the development of new technologies. Do you agree?

Text 1: Erin Kaye, Closer to Home, 2006
“Can’t believe our baby’s going to be four,” mused Ned, running his thick fingers through his thinning but still full head of mid-brown hair. “I don’t want her to grow up, do you?” She looked at Ned, his face filled with pleasure at the homeliness of the scene.

Text 2: Just Wait Until Your Mother Gets Home, The New York Times, 2012
In 2006, James Griffioen was a litigator at a national firm in San Francisco with an 18-month-old daughter and a problem. “Having to go back to the office and work 70 hours a week–or 90, if you want to make partner–that cracked something in me. Something broke,” he said.

Expression:
Tous les candidats : un des sujets suivants :
1. Bridget has returned to work. It is the end of her first week and she is discussing her impressions with her husband over dinner. Write the dialogue.
2. Mr. Griffioen writes a blog about his experience as a stay-at-home dad.
Candidats L non LVA : What are the benefits of equality between men and women?
Candidats L LVA : How does document B illustrate the evolution of the American family since the 1950s?

Text 1: Los Angeles Times, 2012
‘The Great Escape’ on TNT features teams competing for a cash prize in an hour-long episode. One could try to avoid comparing TNT’s new reality show “The Great Escape” with CBS’ long-running and perpetually Emmy-winning reality show “The Amazing Race,” but why?

Text 2: James Hawes, Speak for England, 2006
– That’s the stuff, Marley! Marley did not know why he had started talking like this to himself, since he had never been anywhere near the Army. But he remembered when the voice had begun.

Expression: Les candidats des séries S et ES traiteront UN des trois sujets. (150 mots au moins). Les candidats de la série L traiteront DEUX des trois sujets. (total pour les deux sujets : 250 mots au moins)
1. Do you personally consider that reality shows are great television?
2. Marley becomes a celebrity after winning the show. A journalist interviews him about the changes that have happened in his life since the end of the show. Imagine the interview.
3. Would you personally be tempted to take part in a reality show? Explain why.

Text 1: 21-Year-Old Poses as Fake Celebrity, Eliza Murphy, ABC News Blogs, Aug 23, 2012
Brett Cohen isn’t your typical 21-year-old, at least not according to the tourists in New York City’s Time Square on July 27. Cohen is now “famous” after pulling a huge prank on the city, posing as a celebrity and wandering the streets of Manhattan.

Text 2: Elizabeth George, Believing the Lie (2012)
Zed Benjamin had never been called into the Editor’s office before, and he found the experience simultaneously disconcerting and thrilling. […] He sought a distraction, easy enough to find in Rodney Aronson’s office.

Expression: Les candidats des séries ES et S traiteront UN des trois sujets ci-dessous (150 mots au moins). Les candidats de la série L traiteront DEUX sujets au choix (total pour les deux sujets : 250 mots au moins).
1. After reading Zed’s story, Rodney Aronson tells him he doesn’t want to publish his article. Imagine their conversation.
2. Zed decides to write an article about Brett’s experiment.
3. Do you agree with the fact that we live in a society “obsessed with celebrity and fame” (document A, l.8-9)?

Text 1: Frank McCourt, Teacher Man, 2005
When the class ended Ben Chan lingered in the room. Mr McCourt, could I talk to you? He knew what I was saying about poverty. The kids in this class didn’t understand anything. But it wasn’t their fault and I shouldn’t get mad.

Text 2: Lee Dye, « Why Immigrants’ Children Do Better in School », abcnews.go.com, 2012
Children who immigrate to the United States with their families are likely to outperform kids with a similar background who were born here. And when they grow up, their own children are also likely to do better than their peers. But by the third generation, that advantage will be gone.

Expression: Les candidats de la série L traiteront deux des trois sujets ci-dessous (total pour les deux sujets : 250 mots au moins). Les candidats des séries ES et S traiteront un seul des trois sujets ci-dessous (150 mots au moins).
1. An American High School has offered five places for international students. You are interested. Write a letter explaining why you are the best candidate and should be selected.
2. Write about how a friend or someone you know has had to overcome difficulties to achieve a goal.
3. Education is the only ticket to success. Discuss and justify your opinion.