Teaching Literature in the English Language Class

Sunday nightIn bed, hearing a cricket,Looking into the lights of the street

Monday morningPeru StreetSome waiting at the bus stopSome riding bikes to school

Walking inThe cars outside Jammed togetherStudents laughing at summer stories

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Back to School ISunday nightIn bed, hearing a cricket,Looking into the lights of the street

Monday morningPeru StreetSome waiting at the bus stopSome riding bikes to school

Walking inThe cars outside Jammed togetherStudents laughing at summer stories

Literature in the English Language Class

• Lit with grammatical focus• Decline during

behaviorism• Beginning of CLT• Later (recent)

reconsideration

Our challenge:

• Encourage self-expression and exploration

• Guide our students through a process of meaningful interaction with a text

Why literature?• Linguistic, cultural and personal

growth models• Literary texts

– Rich and varied linguistic resource - provide phonological, lexical, syntactic, and discoursal acquisition

– Ideal resource for the development of language awareness: of language variation, of social appropriacy, of ideological bias, etc.

– Offer multicultural encounters– they can create “third places”

(Kramsch)– Promote personal growth – Access to

the universal human experience

What is Lit?

• The ‘cannon’. Literature with capital L

• Aesthetic Reading: literature con small l. Promotes personal reaction

• Lit defined as genres and types of text

• Special uses of language: literary devices

Strategies used by experienced readers:

• Visualize• Connect• Question• Infer• Evaluate• Analyze• Recall• Self-monitor

Daniels & Steineke (2004)

Factors that may influence or determine the interpretation of a text:

Factors that may influence or determine the interpretation of a text:• The historical period in

which the reader is living;• The class/social position

of the reader;• The reader’s religious

beliefs.Lazar (1993)

Interpreting a work of literature:

Interpreting a work of literature:

• Who’s right?

Interpreting a work of literature:

• Who’s right?• Who says so?

Before moving on…

Does a literary text have a fixed meaning?

TASK: “We have just suggested…”

Reader Response Theory

• School of New Criticism

Connect first, analyze next

Reader Response Theory

• School of New Criticism

Reader Response Theory

– Literature is a co-creation of reader and author distinct and unique upon each reading.

– Literature is a story that speaks to the whole human reader.

School of New Criticism

o The right answers are

lodged in the text, NOT co-

created by any reader

• Andrea del Sarto lines…

What is my purpose in teaching literature?

A) The study of literature?

B) The use of lit as a

resource

for language learning?

Approaches to teaching lit

• Language-based approach

• Literature as content

• Literature for personal enrichment

Language-based approach

• Closer integration of language and literature in the classroom.

• Using literature for language practice.

• Advantages of literary texts: styles and registers, promote classroom discussion, focus on interesting topics.

• Let’s go to the chart.

Literature as content

• Does a lecture have an impact on your own reading and appreciation of a literary work?

• Does it enhance your comprehension and interpretation?

Literature for personal enrichment• How to plan and design

lessons• How do we make the text

more relevant to the students’ experience?

Dealing with the first chapter

Predictions Reasons

S.A.I.P.

• Summarize • Ask questions • Identify difficulties • Predict

Think-Aloud• Stage 1: Model

• Stage 2: Read passage and at some point place a dot and ask Ss to react

• Stage 3: Give out text with dots distributed throughout where you feel students might be able to have a reaction.

• Stage 4: Assign the activity on a clear text.

The envelope please

• Predicting plot and character

Written conversation

Get pen and paper and… a partner!

Faith is a fine inventionWhen gentlemen can see,But microscopes are

prudentIn an emergency.

Emily Dickinson

Bookmarks Book:______ Ch/pages:____RESPONSE:

QUESTIONS:

IMPORTANT PASSAGE: IMPORTANT QUOTES:

Save the last word for me!

Role Sheets • Join in groups of four.• Determine who is A, B, C

and D.• Let’s read your

instructions.

“When I heard the learn'd astronomer;When the proofs, the figures, were ranged

in columns before me;When I was shown the charts and the

diagrams, to add, divide, and measure them;

When I, sitting, heard the astronomer, where he lectured with much applause in the lecture-room,

How soon, unaccountable, I became tired and sick;

Till rising and gliding out, I wander'd off by myself,

In the mystical moist night-air, and from time to time,

Look'd up in perfect silence at the stars.”Walt Whitman

Post-its

Character Resume

All Of It On One Page

• Summarizing a story

Brochure

• Reviewing a novel, story or poem:

Brochure

• Reviewing a novel, story or poem:– Author– Memorable character– Not so good about the …– Themes I liked– My favorite quotes– Ending (optional: Personal

connection - drawing)– What I’ll remember about

the …

Going beyond the text

• Songs• Cartoons• Other genres

'maggy and milly and molly and may'maggy and milly and molly and may went down to the beach(to play one day) and maggie discovered a shell that sang so sweetly she couldn't remember her troubles,and milly befriended a stranded star whose rays five languid fingers were; and molly was chased by a horrible thing which raced sideways while blowing bubbles: and may came home with a smooth round stone as small as a world and as large as alone. For whatever we lose(like a you or a me) its always ourselves we find in the sea E. E. Cummings

PerfectBy Alanis Morisette

• Make a list 1-30• Listen to the song and choose the correct

word from the column on the right

Sometimes is (1) never quite (2) __________

If you’re (3) __________,

then you’ll win my (4)__________

Don’t forget to win first (5)__________

Don’t forget to keep that (6)__________

on your (7)________

en ou gh f ace

fl aw less love

n ever p lace

sm i le

Be a good (8) __________

Try a little (9) __________

You’ve got to (10) __________ up

And make me (11) __________

h ar d er

p r ou d er

m easu r e

b oy

How long before you (12) __________ it up

How (13) __________ times do I have to tell you

to (14) __________ up

With (15) __________ I do for you

The least you can do is (16) __________ quiet

ever y t h in g

h u r r y

k eep

m an y

scr ew

Be a good (17) __________

You’ve gotta try a (18) __________ harder

That (19) __________ wasn’t good enough

To make us (20) __________

little

proud

gir l

simply

I’ll live through you

I’ll make you (21) __________I never was

If you’re the best, then maybe so am I

Compared to him (22)__________ to her

I’m doing this for your own damn (23) __________

You’ll make up for what I (24) __________

What’s the problem. . .why are you (25)__________

b lew

com p ar ed

cr y in g

good

w h at

Be a good boy

(26)__________ a little farther now

That wasn’t (27) __________ enough

To make us (28) __________

We’ll love you just the (29) __________ you are if you’re

(30) __________

h ap p y

f ast

p er f ect

p u sh

w ay

P er f ect by Alanis Morisette

Sometimes is never quite (2) enough If you’re (3) flawless, then you’ll win my (4) love Don’t forget to win first (5) place Don’t forget to keep that (6) smile on your (7) face Be a good (8) boy Try a little (9) harder You’ve got to (10) measure up And make me (11) prouder How long before you (12) screw it up How (13) many times do I have to tell you to (14) hurry up With (15) everything I do for you The least you can do is (16) keep quiet Be a good (17) girl You’ve gotta try a (18) little harder That (19) simply wasn’t good enough To make us (20) proud

I’ll live through you I’ll make you (21) what I never was If you’re the best, then maybe so am I Compared to him (22) compared to her I’m doing this for your own damn (23) good You’ll make up for what I (24) blew What’s the problem. . .why are you (25) crying Be a good boy (26) Push a little farther now That wasn’t (27) fast enough To make us (28) happy We’ll love you just the (29) way you are if you’re (30) perfect

Games

• Game cards • Jeopardy:

– Set up question sheets– Categories: 6 x 5

• Trivia

Assessment

• Post-discussion journaling

(p.65)

• Developing a rubric with

the students

Performance projects

• Tableaux: Narration + Scene

• Skits with narration

• Readers theater

• Role-play

• Tableaux• Role-play: Napoleon on

trial

Readers theater conventions• The group must provide an introduction to the book and

scene so that the audience understands what is going on.• Everyone has a part• There can be more than one narrator.• There are choral parts where more than one person reads at

the same time.• The lines and paragraphs are broken up differently for the

script.• It’s okay to cut lines from the text when making the script.• It’s okay to add a few choice words to the script.• Sometimes lines are repeated for emphasis.

Other forms of assessment

Give me five

Self-evaluation

Writing about it

• Generating ideas:a. Alphaboxes b. Two-word strategy c. Rereading

Glocalize your teaching• A letter to the world

Include a humanistic component:Give students a voice

• ‘The Rose’• ‘Happy Summer Days’• ‘Whistling buildings above my head’• ‘Deceiving Eyes’

Promote identity formation• ‘My City’

That’s all folks!