Literature in the Classroom

LITERATURE IN THE CLASSROOM An approach to teaching the short story “Later” to Tunisian 4th formers (Theory and practice)

By Farida B. Abdallah Jlidi ELT Inspector, Gabes, Tunisia 27-7-2012

PART ONE

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WHY LITERATURE IN THE CLASSROOM

* « Literature is language in use, and therefore not separable from language. » * “Massive exposure to literature can compensate for the deficiencies of the linguistic approach in the areas of grammar, idiom, vocabulary, and syntax and can enhance the students’ competence in English.”

Nursel Icoz * George Murdoch, 1993, says that “The choice of text is clearly of crucial importance to the success of any attempt to introduce literature into a language course.” * Gwin, 1990, says that “Short stories are ideal for students’ first exposure to literature because they can be digested in the time available for the course.” Here, we take into account the student’s reading speed and habits. And he says that prose texts that feature a lot of dialogue are very suitable. But they must not highlight particular regional dialects.

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IS THE SHORT STORY “LATER” A GOOD CHOICE?

I think YES. It IS well-chosen to be dealt with in class since it is: * accessible (simple language). In this case, students can appreciate it and respond to it. * has a story line and characters that attract students. * has ( a) theme(s) that evoke(s) real-life experiences.

Therefore, this short story will fulfil a dual purpose: 1- to provide attractive and stimulating lesson content 2- to develop students’ communication abilities.

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PART TWO LESSON PLAN The OBJECTIVES of the lesson are: 1- to enable learners to read an extensive text _ a short story_ with emphasis on overall meaning.

2- to enable learners to speak _ communicate_ and close different types of gaps: information gap; experience gap; opinion gap; knowledge gap.

3- to enable learners to produce a “creative text / writing”.

The STRUCTURES to be taught are: should; should have The FUNCTIONS to be handled are: 1- advice, reproach 2- polite request The LEXICAL ITEMS to be elicited are: queer – crumbled – rationally – nebulous – anguish – jail – manslaughter The STRATEGIES to be used to elicit vocabulary are: 1- w.h questions 2- dictionary use 3- word analysis (division) The SKILLS to be focussed on are : Speaking, Reading and Writing ( in a balanced way)

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PART THREE PREPARATION 1- Two tasks assigned one week before dealing with the lesson: a- two pupils are asked to find something about the story writer Michael Foster (birth, life, career, fame, the story: �Later�) b- three pupils are asked to enact the part from line 19 to line 43.

2- OHP 3- Dictionaries 4- Transparency papers and pens 5- The short story retyped (one whole text without spaces between paragraphs and some words written in bold letters) ***************************************************************************** The Story: LATER , by Michael Foster 1 It 's queer, the things you remember. When life has crumbled suddenly, and left you standing 2there, alone. It's not the big important things that you remember when you come to that: not the plans of 3the years, not the love nor the hopes you 've worked so hard for. It's the little things you that you 4remember then: the little things you hadn't noticed at the time. The way a hand touched yours, and you 5too busy to notice; the hopeful little inflection of a voice you didn't really bother to listen to.

6 John Carmody found that out, staring through the living-room window at the cheerful Tuesday7afternoon life of the street. He kept trying to think about the big, important things, lost now and the years 8and the plans and the hopes. And the love. But he couldn't quite get them focused sharply in his mind 9just now. Not this afternoon.

10 They, those important things, were like a huge but nebulous background in his mind. All he 11could remember now was a queer little thing: nothing, really, if you stopped and thought about it in the 12light of the years and the plans and the great love. It was only something his little girl had said to him.

13One evening, two, perhaps three weeks ago, Nothing, if you looked at it rationally. The sort of thing that 14kids are always saying.

15 But it was what he was remembering, now. That particular night, he had brought home from the 16office a finished draft of the annual stockholders ' report. Very important, it was. Things being as they 17were, it meant a great deal to his future, to the future of his wife and of his little girl. He sat down to re18read it before dinner. It had to be right: it meant so much.

19 And just as he turned a page, Marge, his little girl, came with a book under her arm. It was a 20green-covered book, with a fairy-tale picture pasted on it. And she said, "Look, Daddy. " 21He glanced up and said, "Oh, fine. A new book, eh? " 22"Yes, Daddy," she said. "Will you read me a story in it? " 23"No, dear. Not just now," he said.

24 Marge just stood there, and he read through the report. And Marge 's voice, with timid and 25hopeful little inflections, was saying, "But Mummy said you probably would, Daddy."

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26He looked over the top of the typescript. «I’m sorry, " he answered. "Maybe Mummy will read it to you.

27I'm busy, Dear."

28"No," Marge said politely. "Mummy is much busier, upstairs. Won’t you read me just this one story?

29Look and it has a picture. See? Isn't it a lovely picture, Daddy?"

30"Oh, yes. Beautiful," he said. "Now, that picture has class, hasn't it? But I do have to work tonight. Some 31other time."

32 After that, there was quite a long silence. Marge just stood there, with the book open at the lovely 33picture. It was a long time before she said anything else. He read through two more pages…

34"But it is a lovely picture, Daddy. And the story looks so exciting," Marge said.

35"I know," he said. "Ah mmm. Some other time. Run along, now."

36"I'm sure you'd enjoy it, Daddy," Marge said.

37" Eh? Yes, I know I would. But later. " 38"Oh, " she said. "Well, some other time, then. Will you, Daddy? Some other time ? " 39“Oh, of course,” He said.

40But she didn't go away. She still stood there quietly, like a good child. And after a longtime, she put the 41book down on the chair, and said, "Well, whenever you get ready, just read it to yourself. Only read it 42loud enough so I can hear, too."

43"Sure," he said. "Sure. Later."

44 And that was what John Carmody was remembering. Now. Not the long plans of love and care 45for the years ahead. He was remembering the way a well-mannered child had touched his hand with 46timid little fingers, and said, "Just read it to yourself. Only read it loud enough so I can hear, too." And 47that was why, now, he put his hand on the book. From the corner table where they had piled some of 48Marge 's playthings, picking them up from the floor where she had left them.

49 The book wasn't new any more, and the green cover was dented and thumbed. He opened it to 50the lovely picture. And reading that story, his lips moving stiffly with anguish to form the words, he 51didn't try to think any more, as he should be thinking, about the important things: about his careful and 52shrewd and loving plans for the years to come; and for a little while he forgot, even, the horror and 53bitterness of his hate for the half-drunken punk kid who had carelessly driven down the street in a 54second-hand car and who was now in jail on manslaughter charges.

55 He didn't even see his wife, white and silent, dressed for Marge's funeral, standing in the 56doorway, trying to make her voice say calmly, "I'm ready, Dear. We must go."

57Because John Carmody was reading: 58'Once upon a time, there was a little girl who lived in a woodcutter 's hut, in the Black Forest. And she 59was so fair that the birds forgot their singing from the bough, looking at her. And there came a day when 60… He was reading it to himself. But loud enough for her to hear too. Maybe.

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PART FOUR PROCEDURE I-

SPEAKING

1- The class is divided into 5 or 6 groups of 5. They are given transparency papers to complete a spider gram: story/ novel.

Most of the words they will write have already been explored in Unit I. e.g : climax, denouement, setting, publish, interpret, characters, plot, prose, suspense…

2- Two pupils present the biography of the story writer (of course after a transition question) Presentation skills benefits: - getting students to listen to each other - task-based learning - building confidence - a channel to share with others what one has learnt; In this way, we are filling in background knowledge where it is missing by presenting the cultural, historical and social context of the story. Murdoch: “Writing does not occur in a vacuum. The writer is himself a product of a particular environment and society.”

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READING COMPREHESION/ STORY ANALYSIS (“read and” purpose)

1- to encourage prediction we may ask the pupils about what they understand from the TITLE or what they think the story will be about.

2- CHARACTERS AND RELATIONSHIPS: family tree completion; sentences are given to the pupils and then they are asked these questions: “Who is the person mentioned –spoken about- in each sentence?”; “Who is the person that you consider the main character in the story? Why? Why not?”

3- PLOT AND SUSPENCE: (in the 3 different tasks given to the pupils, the teacher can introduce, ask about or explain the different lexical items to assist word and sentence-level comprehension) a) pupils are given a list of events that happened in the story and are asked to tick the major events and say why they think they are major events.

Objective: to differentiate main events from secondary events and draw students’ attention to the hierarchical nature of events and actions.

b) actions: pupils are given tables to match sentence parts about: when the girl was alive, who did what? When the girl died, who did what? c) places: pupils are asked to identify the two places which are very important in the story in relation to the girl because they have something in common (home / street: no one cares for her in both places; she is neglected; she is not seen; she is not heard…)

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4-THEMES: pupils are asked about the theme discussed in the story and to give personal justifications for their answers.

5- WRITER’S METHOD AND PUPILS’ RESPONSE: the teacher asks pupils about the following and encourages them to interpret according to their own outlook of the world, beliefs and experiences: - title - time/ season - psychological state of the parents - flashback

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SPEAKING/ GRAMMAR 3 pupils act out the flashback part –from line 19 to line 43.

Objective: to engage the students in an activity that causes them to work with the subject matter, rather than merely read about it.

3- The teacher asks: “How does the girl ask her father to read her the book?” (politely) “What did she say?” “Give other expression (that you know) expressing the same meaning”.

4- The teacher asks the pupils to reread the part from line 1 to line 9 and say how the father feels now. Then she gives them an instruction that offers a useful hint to uncover the psychological state of the father : “What might the father say to himself?” Pupils are left to think for a little while then the teacher asks them to choose the correct sentences A- “I needn’t have cared for my daughter.”

B- “ I should have cared for my daughter.”

C- “I must have cared for my daughter.”

5- Then the teacher asks the pupils to give advice to the father who is desperate now.

IV-

WRITING

1- Pupils match these headings with the corresponding parts of the story: a) Development of the drama b) Setting the scene for the story c) Conclusion d) Focusing on the storytelling e) Introducing the main characters, setting events in motion 2- Pupils imagine (and write) the events that happened in the book the father was reading, taking into account what they have just seen (IV- writing 1-)

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- This is creative writing. It’s good for less confident pupils because they will write at home.

- The teacher will gather portfolios to have a look and decide on feedback.

-The feedback itself is a way of language training which may open up a range of possibilities like suggestions for improvements of the text, group discussion…

- When the teacher gives learners feedback on this task , he is in fact enabling them to judge for themselves whether they are learning successfully.

PART FIVE To help students to sum up their learning and evaluate themselves at the end of the literature (short story) lesson, the teacher may prepare a questionnaire like this:

I- When I read the story, 1- I decided on a reading purpose and I followed the development of the specific character _ Marge _ in relation to the plot line. (yes / no) 2- I didn’t read paragraphs in the same way. Sometimes, I read for general information, and sometimes I read for details. (yes/ no) 4- I sometimes predicted how the story would develop.

5- I compared those predictions against what I read and modified them when it was necessary. (yes/ no) 6- I used my knowledge of the world to understand what happened and to compare it to my own life. (yes/ no) 7- I skipped unknown words and guessed at the meaning by myself. (yes/ no) 9- I didn’t use the dictionary much. (yes/ no) 10- I tried to summarise as I read along. (yes/ no)

II- After Analyzing the story in Class, Speaking Comprehension Writing 1- I think I was very good at 2- I think I was quite good at 3- I think I wasn’t good at

III-

In the Future

I will……………………………………………………………………………………… *************************************************************************

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Resources : - English Teaching Forum, January, 1992 - Cindy Turtledove: “Crossing The Bridge With Theatre Games”, English Teaching Forum, April, 1993 - Susanne Bock: “Developing Materials for the Study of Literature”, English Teaching Forum, July, 1993 - Timothy Bell : “Extensive Reading: Why and How?” - http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/top-5-lists-must-have-classroom-books - http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/articles/story-books-classroom

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