Connecting with English - through literature

1. Connecting with English -through literature kristina.smith@pearson.com

2. A Sample Lesson 1.Picture dictation – draw what the teacher dictates. 2.Bring the character of the mountain in the drawing to life.

3. Use a chart/ graphic organiser: Describe the “Mountain”. Is he tall or short? Is he young or old? Does he like people having picnics on him? Does he like people smoking cigarettes? Does he like children? Is he generous? Pretend the mountain can talk. What would he say to people?

4. 3.Show students the title and let them make inferences. • Here is a poem – Look at the title. What kind of mountain is she? Loo-Wit (Means “Lady of Fire”) By Wendy Rose

5. 4.Read part of the text together. ….this old woman no longer cares what others think but spits her black tobacco any which way stretching full length from her bumpy bed.

6. Finally up she sprinkles ashes on the snow, cold buttes promise nothing but the walk of winter.

7. 5.Share out the poem - let students work on different parts of the text: Draw, act out, prepare an explanation, use dictionaries, work in groups to find their own meaning….

9. 6. Put the parts together - Read whole text together and think about meaning • Why does the volcano erupt? Does the poem give any explanation? • How does Lou-Wit feel about people and their actions? How do you know? • Why do volcanoes erupt according to scientists? • What is the relationship between humans and nature according to the poem?

10. 7. productive/project work. • Internet research on volcanoes • Read an article about volcanic eruptions and compare the poem with the article. How is the vocabulary the same or different? • Write a description of a volcanic explosion – T. help class choose roles. • Take part in a radio interview and read your description out. • Make a diagram showing vocabulary describing mountains, volcanoes and people

11. Some Typical Lesson Stages • Use what learners bring to the class (picture dictation) • Encourage them to use their imaginations (What does the mountain think and say?) • Show students the title or part of the text and let them make inferences about it. • Read part of the text together. • Let students work on the text (or different parts of the text) • Check understanding • Start productive/ project work.

12. Introducing the text: In order to plan then we should consider why a piece of literature is difficult for students. • Consider especially culture – Too distant from the reader’s experience? • Teacher’s role is crucial in selecting type of introductory exercise to give. Only you can know where the students will get confused. • Try to give students some element of choice – let them choose the topic of the next poem or let them choose between reading a poem or a short story.

13. General language competence Some activities. • Write the missing text • Thought bubbles • Letters from the character’s perspective • Comparing the literary text with other kinds of texts. • Comparing the culture described in the text with learners’ culture. • Discussion …. comparing the mother in the poem with a Turkish mother, your mother, etc.

14. After reading…. Language oriented tasks: Students listen to the text and make a note of… (how characters look, etc.) Students can practice inferring meaning from the context Mini reading aloud – SS choose their favourite part – or the part they least like - to read out loud. Teacher can help students select most useful or important words for future study. OR: Students can choose their favourite words to learn as a class. Students can rewrite a text and put it into different formats – write a summary in standard English.

15. After reading 2… Students can compare style/dialect with Turkish – what kind of Turkish is similar? Vocabulary grids – colloquial, neutral and formal ways of saying something. (Or colloquial and formal) Spidergrams with vocabulary about the theme. Identify the narrator. Discuss/highlight the parts the he/she is adding to the text. How do these comments affect the reader’s opinions? We can introduce the idea of “bias” to our students.

16. Conclusion – Why I enjoy teaching with literature • Reading authentic texts can be very motivating. • Literature promotes interactive reading – reader must interpret the text. • Literature can easily lead to a lot of productive work. • Classroom activities can involve any or all skills.

17. Why I enjoy teaching with literature • The teacher can ask genuine (or at least interesting) questions • The students’ answers are often better than the teacher’s! • There are so many correct answers! • The focus is what students can bring to the text – what they CAN do, rather than what they CAN’T do.

18. Thank you I wish you much enjoyment with teaching literature – the learning never stops.