Literature Course: Why do we study literature?
Literature presents a wide range of learning opportunities for students who wish to explore the many creative ways
in which writers have used the English language.
This
allows them to develop both an appreciation for the language and culture, as well as a love
for stories and poetry (which many find daunting).
Exploring literature offers students exposure to:
·
multiple levels
of meaning and perspectives of reality
·
a broad spectrum of
poems, prose and novels
·
interpreting and responding to a variety of texts in an informed and plausible way
·
formulating
logical arguments based on evidence, rather than unsupported opinions
How?
Probably the most exciting part of literature is learning by doing!
Not only do students read a given text, but through practical experience
they
interrogate the text in search of themes, messages, characterization and significantly,
ways of thinking that are different (and similar) to their own.
A variety of activities
will include:
·
presentations
·
writing – text response, creative writing
·
reading – their own and recommended texts
·
strategizing, planning and structuring responses
·
formulating arguments
·
responding to seen and unseen texts
·
discussions Outcomes:
One of the outcomes of a literature course will often be that students acquire the confidence to express their own points of view whether verbally or in a written format.
They learn to read intensively and interpret closely, whilst simultaneously realizing that making vague, broad generalisations is inadequate.
This is where they are challenged
to cultivate the skill of
supporting their unique perspective with hard evidence!
In addition, with Literature as the focus (rather than conjugating boring verbs), students
absorb and extend new ways of using English in all forms of communication:
reading, writing, speaking, listening and, of course, thinking!
Consequently conventional areas where improvements are noticed include:
·
Vocabulary
·
Grammar
·
Pronunciation
Course themes:
General themes tend to emerge and merge in literature, but it is useful to be mindful of the composition of the
target students.
For example, teenagers have rather different interests to university students or 10 years olds! Consequently, although broad themes will be introduced,
topics will inevitably be included or not depending on their appeal to the group.
· Representing self and others which inevitably includes perspective and grammatical person (i.e. first, second and third person etc).
There will be discussion about autobiography, self-portraits, as well as stories and novels where the narrator (in novels) and speaker (in poems) will need to be identified, along with
the audience
· Characterisation in writing i.e. the characters in literature.
This will include analyzing the relationship between character and plot through flying visits to Harry Potter, Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet,
David Copperfield
and Nervous Conditions.
The advantages and disadvantages of a ‘speaker’s’ perspective and a number of modern and classic poems will be discussed including My Last Duchess and Macavity.
· Human nature:
A fleeting visit to the light and more lingering stay with our
dark side -
not always for the faint-hearted as we dip into classics such as ‘Lord Of The Flies’,
‘To Kill A Mockingbird’, The Diary of Anne Frank, The Boy In The Striped Pyjamas, The Book Thief
and the ‘Poisonwood Bible’ (depending on the maturity of the students).
War poets, environmental disasters, journalism (including photography) and perhaps a few films such as Star Wars.
Happily, a few of the more inspiring metaphysical
and love poets such as Neruda, Rumi and Kalil Gibran will offer some respite after the encounter with our dark underbelly!
· Society, Culture and Environment :
Working exclusively with poetry and examining a variety of figures of speech and forms of comparison using the medium of
Poetry from different countries and cultures. Students will be asked to provide poems from their own countries and well as offer some of their own writing.
Various writing techniques will be discussed which will include methods of finding ideas, brainstorming, clustering, mind-mapping as well as opposite-hand writing and various structured poem formulas.
· Gender and Political studies:
This will include excerpts from novels such as The Kite Runner’,
‘Little Women’,
‘Afghanistan: Where God Only Goes To Weep’, fairy stories such as ‘Sleeping Beauty’,
and various current feminist and political poems from South Africa and America.
Students will again be encouraged to explore the realms of these areas through finding poems, prose and novels relevant to the topic. Expectations: Timing: An hour a week with not more than 3 students per class initially.
Length of the course:
The outline could take
3 months or 1 year to complete, depending on the depth of analysis and discussion during class, and the issues which arise in response to the material.
Conservatively, the outline is enough for a year, but can easily be tailored to time constraints or expanded. Student proficiency: The students will be expected to have been reading in English
for a minimum of 2 years, and have the necessary verbal and written skills in order to gain the most out of the course.
For the more advanced course as outlined above, I would recommend the students be at least 13 years and
older or have demonstrated proficiency through a test or worksheet I am happy to supply. Home reading: Clearly, students who do not enjoy reading, will have no interest in a course of this nature.
Consequently, students attending this course will be expected to do some reading in their spare time.
(I am aware of the amount of extra work Chinese students do, and I will absolutely not be unrealistic in my expectations of homework).
A discussion will be held and general agreement reached on a novel for all students to read at home, although this will be supported by class-reading and discussion.
My only proviso will be that this will
be a book that none of the students has read before and will be recognized as of some literary significance. Poetry: The students will need to have access to poetry, whether through dropbox (which we can set up quite easily) or
their own poetry books, as I will expect them to prepare poems occasionally for presentation and analysis.
Written work:
I will try and keep this to a minimum initially, but I hope to inspire some new generation
poets and authors!
