Wednesday, September 14, 2011

One Stop English

url: http://www.onestopenglish.com/support/methodology/teaching-materials/teaching-materials-using-literature-in-the-efl/-esl-classroom/146508.article

This is an article by an educator about the merits of literature and teaching the subject. It's a great introduction piece for beginner teachers, as key issues like the different models of teaching literature and the combined teaching of literature and the English language are touched on. A DIY literature lesson plan is mapped out in detail, guiding teachers from the introduction process, to the reading and understanding of the text, to the follow-up activities that teachers could do.
Potential problems that literature teachers may face are also discussed, with some solutions, as are further resources for the beginner literature teacher.
Finally, four sample lesson plans are attached to give an idea of how a good literature lesson should cover all the points, from students' identification with the text, to their analysis of it. All of these lesson plans could be adapted to the particular text that the teacher would like to focus on as skills are emphasized. For the lesson plan on teaching poetry (Frost's 'The Road Not Taken'), students are introduced to the main theme of choice even before they are exposed to the poem. After reading, difficult words and students' comprehension of the poem are discussed, before a literary analysis is conducted. Accompanying this lesson plan are some notes and tips that would help the teacher conducted a poetry class.  

Rather than a sole focus on literary techniques, this site combines both literature and language skills to aid the beginner teacher in planning lessons that would make learning about literature fun for the student.

1 comment:

  1. I like the section on different models of teaching literature in the classroom; I think that as Secondary school teachers we should be using a combination of all three models, but more of the language model and the personal growth model (as per the MOE syllabus objectives for Literature), with the cultural model as a background only.

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