Teaching english through literature

Overseas Teachers of English Course Teaching English Through Literature

Professional Development Course Teaching English Through Literature: Historic Use in the Classroom The Moral Question Practical Application

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Literature in Language Teaching The role of literature in language teaching has been variously interpreted over the last 100 years.

Grammar-Translation: Literary text formed the basis of foreign language teaching.

Period of Structural dominance: Literature was side-lined. Study of literature was seen as part of ‘bad old traditional’ methods.

Functional – Notional and Communicative movement: Emphasis on pragmatic, effective communication. ‘No frills’ approach regarded literature as an irrelevance.

Humanistic approaches: The beginning of a re-addressing of literature in language teaching, developing its use far beyond that applied in grammar-Translation.

“Great literature is simply language charged with meaning to the utmost degree” Ezra Pound *

1.

*

*

*

*

The more recent emphasis on contextualisation, meaningful interaction and holistic expression has lead to an exploration of literature in language teaching.

Considering this, what are the pros and cons of using literature in the classroom?

2.

“Literary texts have a powerful function in raising moral and ethical concerns in the classroom. the tasks and activities we devise to exploit these texts should encourage our students to explore these concerns and connect them with the struggle for a better society.”

Gillian Lazar, Literature in Language Teaching CUP 1993 a. Should we, as teachers, endeavour to raise “moral and ethical concerns in the classroom”? b. How powerful a tool is literature in this process? c. Is it possible to use literature and ignore moral and ethical concerns?

2

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

3.

“Literature is the question minus the answer” Roland Barthes, New York Times, 1978 Given that questioning is a vital part of the communicative / interactive process, what kind of activities can you think of which use literature to stimulate questioning and answering?

Task: Considering that literature need not be read – it can be heard, drawn or mimed – think of activities which use literature and would appeal to • • •

visual learners auditory learners kinaesthetic learners *

*

*

*

*

3

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

A good book to look into regarding literature in the classroom is Literature (Duff, A. & Maley, A. OUP 1990). The introduction provides us with some salient points to consider: The primary aim of our research is quite simply to use literary texts as a resource (and it will not be the only resource) for stimulating language activities. This enables us to cut away at the dead weight of critical commentary, metalanguage and explanation which has historically been associated with work on literary texts.

What we are interested in doing is engaging the students interactively with the text, with fellow students and with the teacher in the performance of tasks involving literary texts.

In so doing, students are obliged to pay careful attention to the text itself and to generate language in the process of completing the task. Any enhanced understanding or literary insight which students may acquire as a spin-off from this approach we regard as a bonus.

The following guidelines have emerged in the course of our work: a. Of central importance is the text itself, not commentary or background information about the text. This may (or may not be) supplied later if the students express an interest. b. The student is an active agent, not a passive recipient. It is vital that the activities provoke genuine interaction between the reader and the text (preferably sending him or her continually back to it to check and re-check) and between the readers themselves – including the teacher! c. The activities should offer ample opportunities for the students to contribute and share their own experiences, perceptions and opinions. By their very nature, literary texts give access to the worlds of personal experience which every student carries within. d. The text should be allowed to suggest the type of activity. This means breaking away from the stereotypical format of text and questions. In many of these activities there are no questions at all, yet the task cannot be completed unless the text has been understood. e. Texts can be presented in a variety of ways. This may sometimes mean withholding the text until the end of the activity, cutting it up, using fragments of it only, and so on. Texts may also be presented in fresh contexts by juxtaposition with other texts or media, or made to serve purposes for which they were not originally intended. f. The text is not the only element in the activity. We regard it simply as one key element in a linked set of activities, which may include preliminary discussion, interactive work involving the text, and some sort of follow-up, often in writing. g. Literary quality is not the only criterion for the selection of texts. Quite often ‘bad’ writing proves more useful or stimulating than ‘good’. These texts are not necessarily presented as models of good writing. Students are not required to approve of them, but simply to work with them.

4

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Instructions for poems 1.

Opening the cage.

Handout the fourteen words of the John Cage sentence, cut up individually. Students attempt to make sentences (higher levels, insist all fourteen words should be used.)

Hand out strips of OHT and pens, alternatively collect sentences to board. Students nominate their ‘favourites’.

Handout Edwin Morgan poem, compare and get student reactions, which of Morgan’s sentences do they like best and why?

2.

To His Coy Mistress.

Discuss/brainstorm the problems with fancying someone who is unwilling to commit.

Handout ‘letter to a hesitant lover’. – Students complete & compare.

Handout Marvell poem, gist questions to compare the (ahem) thrust of Marvell’s argument. (Often need to deal with unfamiliar lexis and spelling, especially archaisms.)

3.

Sonnet 130 (My Mistress’ Eyes…)

Introduce simile.

Students think of someone they either a) are in love with or b) fancy (The latter usually works better, thinking of a long term partner tends to produce some fairly jaundiced similes!) and complete first handout.

Handout Sonnet and compare.

4.

The plums in the icebox.

Original poem on OHP – Elicit what type of text it is, who wrote it to whom and why, where they might have left it etc.

Pairs/groups speculate on how the recipient might react.

Pairs/groups (or individuals) write a ‘reply’ on transparency using the gap lines as a guide.

Display responses (can follow on with work on defining relative clauses.)

5. If…, then the world would be a better place (from Lewis, M. Implementing the Lexical Approach, LTP 1997) This uses part or all of Kipling’s poem if (voted Britain’s favourite poem in 1995) to stimulate a group of students to use conditional structures as a vehicle for their ideas, beliefs and opinions of how we could improve the world in which we live, and secondly, to present the collective ideas, beliefs and opinions of the group in a persuasive form. The poem serves as a model for the student’s own production.

It was written at the height of the British Empire when Britain was the world’s greatest imperial power. If contains a long list of pieces of advice given to a young man by his father before he sets out on his career as a colonial official. It outlines the qualities the British considered necessary at that time for such a career.

Preparation: Tell students that they will read a poem entitles if. Ask them to predict the content of the poem.

Look at the text closely and discuss new vocabulary in the process. Focus on the long list of if-clauses which give the father’s advice and the main clauses in the last two lines which they are a condition for. Discuss with the students whether this type of advice is appropriate in today’s world. Encourage discussion of the differences between the problems of the 1890s and 1990s and the solutions needed.

5

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature Production: Ask students to re-write the poem for young people today. The main clause of the poem will be then the world will be a better place. Ask each student to write up five if-clauses to express their ideas and beliefs on how to make the world a better place. Gather these and arrange into a poem similar to the original. An advanced class example is given below: If If sunshine would find its way in to the human heart If the greed in our minds would lie calm If everyone had a sense of humour If there were no borders with bloody barbed wire If we spent more time with each other …then the world would be a better place.

Extension: Show students a copy of Benjamin Zephaniah’s modern version of If, What if, for comparison and discussion.

6. Not my best side – U.A.Fanthorpe.

• • • • • • • •

Brainstorm adjectives? (eg a, b, c, …)

Think of 4 adjectives to describe each of dragon, knight, princess.

Look at pictures and describe them (elicit spear, armour, hoofs, claws) Discuss adjectives again – would you change any of them?

Give or read full poem, who is speaking in each section, - how do you know? Which speaker is educated and upper class, which is uneducated/lower class, and which is business-like, etc…

In small groups – read one part of poem and answer questions. Discuss what language makes it educated etc.

Mix up the groups and explain the sections to each other. Discuss the adjectives again.

How does the horse feel? Ask students to write a section of the poem relating to the horse. Read out for group feedback.

Extension: Discuss myths and fairy tales from your country.

6

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Opening the Cage 14 variations on 14 words

by Edwin Morgan

“I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry�

John Cage

I have to say poetry and is that nothing and am I saying it I am and I have poetry to say and is that nothing saying it I am nothing and I have poetry to say and that is saying it I that am saying poetry have nothing and it is I and to say And I say that I am to have poetry and saying it is nothing I am poetry and nothing and saying it is to say that I have To have nothing is poetry and I have to say that and it is Saying nothing I am poetry and I have to say that and it is It is saying poetry to nothing and I say I have and am that Poetry is saying I have it and I am nothing and to say that And that nothing is poetry I am saying and I have to say it Saying poetry is nothing and to say that I am and have it

7

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry I have nothing to say and I am saying it and that is poetry

8

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

To His Coy Mistress

by Andrew Marvell Had we but world enough, and time, This coyness, lady, were no crime.

We would sit down and think which way To walk, and pass our long love's day; Thou by the Indian Ganges' side Shouldst rubies find; I by the tide Of Humber would complain. I would Love you ten years before the Flood; And you should, if you please, refuse Till the conversion of the Jews.

My vegetable love should grow Vaster than empires, and more slow.

An hundred years should go to praise Thine eyes, and on thy forehead gaze; Two hundred to adore each breast, But thirty thousand to the rest; An age at least to every part, And the last age should show your heart.

For, lady, you deserve this state, Nor would I love at lower rate.

But at my back I always hear Time's winged chariot hurrying near; And yonder all before us lie Deserts of vast eternity.

Thy beauty shall no more be found, Nor, in thy marble vault, shall sound My echoing song; then worms shall try That long preserv'd virginity, And your quaint honour turn to dust, And into ashes all my lust.

The grave's a fine and private place, But none I think do there embrace.

Now therefore, while the youthful hue Sits on thy skin like morning dew, And while thy willing soul transpires At every pore with instant fires, Now let us sport us while we may; And now, like am'rous birds of prey, Rather at once our time devour, Than languish in his slow-chapp'd power.

Let us roll all our strength, and all Our sweetness, up into one ball; And tear our pleasures with rough strife Thorough the iron gates of life.

Thus, though we cannot make our sun Stand still, yet we will make him run.

9

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Letter to a Lover.

If…

Then…

But…

So…

10

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

A lover: His / Her eyes are like…

His / Her lips are like…

His / Her breasts are like… (optional or as appropriate) His / Her hair is like…

His / Her skin is like…

His / Her breath is like…

His / Her voice is like…

She / He walks like…

Sonnet 130 – William Shakespeare My mistress' eyes are nothing like the sun; Coral is far more red than her lips' red; If snow be white, why then her breasts are dun; If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.

I have seen roses damask'd, red and white, But no such roses see I in her cheeks; And in some perfumes is there more delight Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.

I love to hear her speak, yet well I know That music hath a far more pleasing sound; I grant I never saw a goddess go; My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground.

And yet, by heaven, I think my love as rare As any she belied with false compare.

11

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

This Is Just to Say William Carlos Williams (1883 – 1963)

I have eaten the plums that were in the icebox and which you were probably saving for breakfast Forgive me they were delicious so sweet and so cold I have the that

and which

12

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

If Rudyard Kipling (1865 - 1936)

If you can keep your head when all about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you; If you can trust yourself when all men doubt you, But make allowance for their doubting too; If you can wait and not be tired by waiting, Or, being lied about, don't deal in lies, Or, being hated, don't give way to hating, And yet don't look too good, nor talk too wise: If you can dream - and not make dreams your master; If you can think - and not make thoughts your aim; If you can meet with triumph and disaster And treat those two imposters just the same; If you can bear to hear the truth you've spoken Twisted by knaves to make a trap for fools, Or watch the things you gave your life to broken, And stoop and build 'em up with wornout tools: If you can make one heap of all your winnings And risk it on one turn of pitch-and-toss, And lose, and start again at your beginnings And never breath a word about your loss; If you can force your heart and nerve and sinew To serve your turn long after they are gone, And so hold on when there is nothing in you Except the Will which says to them: "Hold on"

If you can talk with crowds and keep your virtue, Or walk with kings - nor lose the common touch; If neither foes nor loving friends can hurt you; If all men count with you, but none too much; If you can fill the unforgiving minute With sixty seconds' worth of distance run Yours is the Earth and everything that's in it, And - which is more - you'll be a Man my son! .

13

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

What If Benjamin Zephaniah (1958-)

If you can keep your money when governments about you Are losing theirs and blaming it on you.

If you can trust your neighbour when they trust not you And they be very noisy too; If you can await the warm delights of summer Then summer comes and goes with sun not seen, And pay so much for drinking water knowing that the water is unclean.

If you seek peace in times of war creation, And you can see that oil merchants are to blame, If you can meet a pimp or politician, And treat those two impostors just the same; If you cannot bear dis-united nations And you think this new world order is a trick, If you’ve ever tried to build up good race relations, And watch bad policing mess your work up quick.

If you can make one heap of all your savings And risk buying a small house and a plot, Then sit back and watch the economy inflating then have to deal with the negative equity you’ve got.

If you can force your mind and body to continue When all your social services have gone, If you struggle on when there is nothing in you, Except the knowledge that justice cannot be wrong.

If you can speak the truth to common people Or walk with Kings and Queens and live no lie, If you can see how power can be evil And know that every sensor is a spy; If you can fill an unforgiving lifetime With years of working hard to make ends meet, You may not be wealthy but I am sure you will find That you can hold your head high as you walk the streets.

14

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature Not my best side – U.A.Fanthorpe.

I Not my best side, I’m afraid The artist didn’t give me a chance to Pose properly, and as you can see, Poor chap, he had this obsession with Triangles, so he left off two of my Feet. I didn’t comment at the time (What, after all, are two feet To a monster?) but afterwards I was sorry for the bad publicity.

Why, I said to myself, should my conqueror Be so ostentatiously beardless, and ride A horse with a deformed neck and square hoofs?

Why should my victim be so Unattractive as to be inedible, And why should she have me literally On a string? I don’t mind dying Ritually, since I always rise again, But I should have liked a little more blood To show they were taking me seriously.

III I have diplomas in Dragon Management and Virgin Reclamation.

My horse is the latest model, with Automatic transmission and built-in Obsolescence. My spear is custom-built, And my prototype armour Still on the secret list. You can’t Do better than me at the moment.

I’m qualified and equipped to the Eyebrow. So why be difficult?

Don’t you want to be killed and/or rescued In the most contemporary way? Don’t You want to carry out the roles That sociology and myth have designed for you? don’t you realise that, by being choosy, You are endangering job prospects In the spear- and horse-building industries?

What, in any case, does it matter what You want? You’re in my way.

II It’s hard for a girl to be sure if She wants to be rescued. I mean, I quite Took to the dragon. It’s nice to be Liked, if you know what I mean. He was So nicely physical, with his claws And lovely green skin, and that sexy tail, and the way he looked at me, He made me feel he was all ready to Eat me. And any girl enjoys that.

So when this boy turned up, wearing machinery, On a really dangerous horse, to be honest I didn’t much fancy him. I mean, What was he like underneath the hardware?

He might have acne, blackheads or even Bad breath for all I could tell, but the dragon – Well, you could see all his equipment At a glance. Still, what could I do?

The dragon got himself beaten by the boy,

Can you explain why the dragon: disapproves of the knight? disapproves of the princess? (at least 2 reasons) would like more blood?

Can you explain why the princess: doesn’t want to be rescued. (at least 2 reasons) doesn’t like the knight. (at least 2 reasons) went off with the knight.

Can you explain why the knight: thinks he’s so well qualified? (at least 2 reasons) thinks the dragon should want to be killed and the princess rescued? (at least 3 reasons)

15

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature Paolo Uccello. St. George and the Dragon. c. 1460 (National Gallery, London)

16

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

USEFUL WEBSITES FOR TEACHING LITERATURE: http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/try/britlit BritLit is the most highly recommended website for teaching English through literature.

It is run in conjunction between the BBC and British Council.

It has a wide range of lessons that use literature to teach English, including short stories, excerpts from novels and poetry.

1) Using the title and the cover design 17

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

The teacher sets the scene and creates interest by showing them an intriguing cover design and asking them to speculate about the book, its story and its mood. The teacher can ask lots of probing questions to encourage interest.

2) Getting in the mood The teacher uses a guided fantasy to create build up a picture of the beginning of the book or the start of a scene. Then get the students to discuss what they saw, felt etc.

3) Visual Prompts Photos and pictures of the central theme/characters in the plot are good at eliciting responses from the students. Having the students predict how they are related and how the pictures and connected is worthwhile.

4) Using the theme Have the students explore the theme before reading the passage/novel. Getting the students to discuss the central theme, discussing how, why people behave as they do and what motives they have for doing what they do.

5) Key words/sentences Give the students a small number of key words from the first part of the text and have the students brainstorm the connection between them orally or written.

6) Listening-in Preferably record two people discussing the book without giving too much away. Get the people to discuss the intriguing parts of the story. Then play the recording in class getting the students to make notes about what they can guess about the book and its characters.

7) Biographical montage Put together a collection of pictures and drawings (your own) of the author and themes that he/she has addressed in the book and have students discuss how the author’s life may have contributed to the themes in the book.

8) Predictions

18

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Get the students to read the first line/few lines of the story/passage. Stop them then have them predict how the story continues. This can be done several times.

Matt Parks, 2007

1) Cover designs Ask the students to design a cover/poster for the book. This can be done either individually or in groups but do make sure that the students design the cover in response to how the interpreted the book and its main themes.

2) Writing the blurb Students may need guidance on the typical layout. The blurb should include a teaser for the plot, quotes from the book and quotes at the end from critics, i.e., other students.

3)

What if…?

Students right ‘what if’ questions for each other to discuss.

These questions work

well when they come just before and major scene or an important event occurs.

4) Team Competitions Have the students write questions about the book to another team using quotes form the book and making reference to key points in the story, for example: “Who said…”, “What was it that frightened…” etc.

5) Critical Forum Have the students write a discussion question they feel strongly about. For example, “He was right to kill himself and his girlfriend”, “The story’s fictional but it still could happen in real like” etc. Then get students to talk for one minute to defend their point of view before opening it up as a class.

6) Letter Writing Have students write letters from the perspective of its characters. For example, a villain in a story might write to a newspaper to defend his actions. Then you could always get the students to reply from the perspective of his/her victim.

7) ‘Balloon’ Debates Set the scene that, say, 6 of the characters are in a hot air balloon and there are too many people and you need to kick 3 out. Have the students decide who would be ejected (to their death!). You could even assign a character to a student so they have to defend him/her.

19

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

8) Writing an epitaph/obituary for the characters Students will most likely need examples. By getting students to come up with witty, funny ones can really give an insight into how each student has perceived the character. You could get the students to write them leaving off the name, then the other students have to read them and guess who it is about.

Literary Terms

Matt Parks, 2007

Definitions Alliterations:

The repetition of consonant sounds at the beginning of words or accented syllables.

Assonance:

The repetition of vowel sounds in conjuncture with dissimilar consonant sounds.

Onomatopoeia:

The use of words that have a sound imitating what they denote.

Diction:

A writer’s or speaker’s word choice. It may be described as formal or informal, plain or ornate, common or technical, abstract or concrete.

Consciousness:

The natural flow of a person’s thoughts.

Narration:

Writing that tells a story, fictional or factual.

Parable:

A brief story, usually with human characters, that teaches a moral lesson.

Flashback:

A section of a literary work that interrupts the chronological presentation of events to relate to an event from an earlier time.

Foreshadowing:

The use of clues to suggest events that are yet to come.

Irony:

The contrast between what is stated and what is meant, or between what is expected to happen and what actually happens.

Parallelism:

The repetition of phrases, clauses, or sentences that are similar and used to emphasise and to link related ideas.

Imagery:

The descriptive or figurative language used to create word pictures for the reader, by details of sight, sound, taste, touch, smell or movement.

Metaphor:

A figure of speech in which one thing is spoken of as if it were something else.

Simile:

A figure of speech in which two different things are compared using “like” or “as”.

Oxymoron:

A figure of speech that combines two opposing or contradictory ideas.

Personification:

A figure of speech in which a non-human subject such as an object, as aspect of 20

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

nature or an abstract ideas is given human characteristics.

21

Overseas Teachers of English Teaching English Through Literature

Literary Terms Worksheet Look at the terms on the board. Try to match them with the examples and write them in the space provided.

1.

Her hair, like silk, rippled in the breeze.

2.

The fire inside me has frozen my soul.

3.

The tree moved its branches to the left to cover me from the sun.

4.

His eyes of night sky lost me in a beautiful dream.

5.

It was so bright I could not open my eyes, but I felt the liquid light flow and burn my skin with incense’s burning breath.

6.

He arrived, walked towards me, very close…

7.

Meeting the woman of my dreams, and then her beautiful husband. Isn’t this nice?

8.

The two brothers whispered something but nobody could hear. They only did that when they had a plan.

9.

He came out of the room and as he saw himself in the mirror he remembered the day they met. He was wearing the same shirt. She was wearing a light blue dress, and she drank coffee at the square in front of the museum…

10.

The prodigal son.

11.

Little Red Riding Hood.

12.

Ben’s Bargain Basement!

13.

It jumbled and crumbled.

14.

He stamped his feet in each step. He would not stop.

15.

Word choice.

16.

The natural flow of a person's thoughts.

22