Learn Language Through Literature

1. Learn Language Through Literature An exploration to what we learn and what we teach

2. Understanding: basic issues • Appreciation: poem, story, drama • Research: teaching (learning) language through literature

3. 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.Personality3.Power of observation4.Life experience 5.Intelligence6.Personal refinement

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

5. 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.

6. 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.

7. Poems (2) Appreciation of poems 1. O Captain! My Captain! by Walt Whitman 2. Frogs at School by George Cooper

8. Frogs at school by George Cooper Twenty froggies went to school Down beside a rushy pool Twenty little coats of green Twenty vests all white and clean

9. “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.

10. From his seat upon a log, Showed them how to say, “ker-chog!” Also how to dodge a blow From 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.

11. 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.

12. 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.

13. 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.

14. 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.

15. 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!

16. 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?

17. 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?

18. 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?

19. 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?

20. 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.

21. Questions: • Do you agree that watching and listening are more pleasurable than reading? Why? • Discuss the pros and cons of introducing audio-visual materials into the classroom. Do you think they pose a threat to literary reading?

22. 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.

23. 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.

24. Story (2)Appreciation of stories • Some elements of short stories action characterization point of view theme

25. 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.

26. 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.

27. Drama (1)Understanding drama • Warm-up questions: • Have you ever used drama techniques in your language classroom? • If not, can you think of at least three reasons why you have not?

28. 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

29. 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;

30. 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.

31. Drama (2) Appreciation of drama • Improvisation Improvisation, which involves spontaneous and unrehearsed verbal and non-verbal responses, is a more cognitively complex drama activity.

32. 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.

33. 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.

34. 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.

35. Drama (3) Learning literature through drama • Overcoming misgiving---the teacher • Teachers often mention the physical environment of many primary and secondary school classrooms which may not be suitable for drama activities. • Teachers may complain that drama activities end in chaos.

36. 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.

37. Overcoming reservations---the student • Some students may think drama activities are a waste of time and completely fail to see the point in taking part in them. • Students may also feel threatened by them. • Students may also think drama activities require acting talent. • Students may also be suspicious of experiencing pleasure while learning a language.