Learn Language Through Literature

An exploration to what we learn and

what we teach

Understanding: basic issues Appreciation: poem, story, dramaResearch: teaching (learning)

language through literature

Poems(1)Understanding poems

Warm-up questions: What do you think one needs to be a poet?

Choose one or several of the following factors. Discuss why you think they are important for a poet.

1.Education 2.Personality 3.Power of observation 4.Life experience 5.Intelligence 6.Personal refinement

Defining poetry

How would you define poetry? Try to write a metaphor for poetry in one sentence.

Suggested points:

Poetry is a flush of green shadows under huge trees.

Poetry is nonsense from a crazy person.

Poetry is breathing fresh air, drinking fresh water and enjoying bright sunshine.

Poetry is a painful deliberation of words and expressions.

Poetry is bamboo shoots taking flight up after spring rain.

Poetry is ocean waves and flying foams flapping on the boulder on the sea shore.

Poetry is human beings of diverse colors and personalities.

Poetry is colorful pebbles and golden sand on the beach.

Poems (2) Appreciation of poems

1. O Captain! My Captain!

by Walt Whitman

2. Frogs at School

by George Cooper

Frogs at school by George Cooper

Twenty froggies went to schoolDown beside a rushy poolTwenty little coats of greenTwenty vests all white and clean

“we must be in time,” said they “first we study, then we play; that is how we keep the rule, when we froggies go to school.”

Master Bullfrog, grave and stern,Called the classes in their turn;Taught them how to nobly strive,Likewise how to leap and dive.

From his seat upon a log,Showed them how to say, “ker-chog!”Also how to dodge a blowFrom the sticks which bad boys throw.

Polished in a high degree,As each froggy ought to be,Now they sit on other logs,Teaching other little frogs.

Poems (3) learning language through poetry

What?

It is about how rhymes, riddles, jingles and songs as well as poems can be used to arouse primary pupils’ interest and make the language learning process an enjoyable and rewarding experience.

How?

This involves a “whole-language” approach in which children are exposed to meaningful “chunks” of language.

This means firstly that the chunks of language are much larger than those traditionally presented in the EFL classroom and secondly that these larger chunks of language are integrated within a clear social context which children can relate to and employ in their own day-to-day lives.

Key points

The language forms and vocabulary used should be of high frequency and representative of current English usage.

The rhymes should be “meaning bearing” since practice will then reinforce meanings in the child’s memory.

The meanings should be easily accessible to the children without much, if any, help from the teacher so that they can learn and remember the rhymes easily.

For children, the more obvious the nonsense, the more attractive the rhyme and the more likely they are to want to repeat it.

Children’s verse: School Lunches

If you have school lunches

Better throw them aside

A lot of kids didn’t

A lot of kids died

The meat is like iron

The rice makes you ill

If that doesn’t get you

The sandwiches will!

I wouldn’t There’s a mouse house To the nice mice

In the hall wall In the mouse house

With a small door In the hall wall

By the hall floor with the small door

Where the fat cat By the hall floor

Sits all day

Sits that way And do they

All day Come out and play

Every day When the fat cat

Just to say Asks them to?

“Come out and play” Well, would you?

Tongue-twisters: Peter Piper

Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper

A peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked

If Peter Piper picked a peck of pickled pepper

Where’s the peck of pickled pepper Peter Piper picked?

Sea-shells

She sells sea-shells on the sea-shore

Cookies

How many cookies could a good cook , if a good cook could cook cookies?

Story (1) Understanding stories

Warm-up questions: 1. What kind of stories do you like to

read and why? 2. When do you read stories?

Suggested points: first person point of view realistic description of the inner thoughts

of the character A good story gives readers a chance to

share emotions, and feelings with the character.

Questions:

1. Do you agree that watching and listening are more pleasurable than reading? Why?

2. Discuss the pros and cons of introducing audio-visual materials into the classroom. Do you think they pose a threat to literary reading?

Suggested points:

Q1:It’s true with many people that listening and watching are more pleasurable.

Reading demands greater intellectual ability, such as to draw on knowledge in history, culture and philosophy in order to appreciate the writing.

Many people suffer from reading difficulty, which is often neglected by teachers or medical experts.

Q2: Advantages of using audio-visual materials: multiple media helps students understand the idea better. They may arouse students’ interest in literature.

Disadvantages: Students become more picture-readers who gradually lose interest in reading printed texts.

Opinions also vary depending on people’s view of the origin of true knowledge. Some people believe that true knowledge come from books—the printed medium. But some believe that true knowledge develops from one’s life experience. Difference between them may result in different attitudes towards the use of audio-visual materials inside the classroom.

Story (2) Appreciation of stories

Some elements of short stories action characterization point of view theme

Stories (3) Learning literature through stories

Multi-purpose of stories in the classroom:Stories can entertain, instruct and inform.Stories are not told in a vacuum. They are related to the

culture of the language and to the children culture of immediate emotional response.

The recognition of characters, of the sequence of events, the idea of the narrative and the language that exists to carry all these, makes storytelling an enriching language experience.

Storytelling relates the oral tradition to the more sophisticated skills of reading and writing but should not be considered inferior to these. It is an all-important part of the language experience and the language classroom.

The use of stories and storytelling can be expanded further into project work that embraces language, maths, natural science, art and music.

Drama (1)Understanding drama

Warm-up questions:

1. Have you ever used drama techniques in your language classroom?

2. If not, can you think of at least three reasons why you have not?

From theatre to classroom

A list of types of drama activities developed for training or rehearsing actors now seems almost interchangeable with activities we would consider at home and in the everyday language classroom:

Improvisation / Mime / Games / Voice control exercises / Interpreting dialogue through the spoken word / Interpreting dialogue through movement

The role and place of drama activities in the language classroom

Drama activities can revive flagging interest with lower ability groups and accelerate learning among higher ability groups;

They can also help the group dynamics of a classroom as students interact with each other and develop a keener awareness of the personalities of their fellow students through higher levels of student-student communication;

They also give the student a much needed outlet for self expression and in this way they may become the vehicle for self exploration and self development;

They can also develop spoken language skills and fluency, act as a stimulus for creative writing and a way of exploring the characters, situations and issues found in literary texts.

Improvisation

Improvisation, which involves spontaneous and unrehearsed verbal and non-verbal responses, is a more cognitively complex drama activity.

Drama (2) Appreciation of drama

Improvisations can take many forms:

Situational, e.g. improvise a shoplifting scene in a supermarket.

Mood- or character-based, e.g. improvise a scene in which you are a character from a story you have read.

Pre- or post-extensions of textbook dialogues, e.g. improvise what you think came before or after the dialogue in the textbook.

Issues-based, e.g. improvise a scene around the issue of the rights of people to play loud music in their homes.

Role play

Role plays are usually backed up by role cards that give a lot of supporting information, both in terms of external biography, e.g. name, age, attitude; and linguistic input, e.g. a list of targeted language function exponents to be used.

The potential weakness of role plays is that sedentary participants will cling to their role cards and more or less read from them, which will tend to limit the scope for any lively, spontaneous interaction to take place.

At best the role cards will provide participants with a safety net, something to refer to if they dry up. In this way they may encourage the student to take more conversational risks.

Drama (3) Learning literature through dramaOvercoming misgiving---the teacher

1.Teachers often mention the physical environment of many primary and secondary school classrooms which may not be suitable for drama activities.

2.Teachers may complain that drama activities end in chaos.

3. Teachers may also worry that drama activities take up too much time.

4. Some teachers may be reluctant to introduce drama activities into their classroom for fear of possibly embarrassing themselves and losing face.

Overcoming reservations---the student

1. Some students may think drama activities are a waste of time and completely fail to see the point in taking part in them.

2. Students may also feel threatened by them.

3. Students may also think drama activities require acting talent.

4. Students may also be suspicious of experiencing pleasure while learning a language.