Step Five: Literature

STEP FIVE

Literature

One of the great rewards of studying a new language is the opportunity to read literature.  It has been said that literature offers the best window into a new culture. I don’t think that there is a more satisfying classroom activity than discussing a great story.

First, what exactly is literature?  A simple definition is found in the American Heritage Dictionary: “a body of writing in prose or verse, especially writing having recognized artistic value.” Literature can take many forms: short stories, plays, essays, novels, poems, letters, dialogues, or journalistic prose. I would not be too hung up on the “artistic value,” particularly as students begin their language careers. Students can read Don Quijote and L’Etranger when they are ready, of course, but please don’t wait until they are fluent to introduce them to the fun and rewards of great writing.

As soon as they are able, let your students read silly dialogues, campy adventure stories, and melodramatic plays.  Encourage them to become involved with a story line. This fact is crucial. Once students become involved with characters’ lives and circumstances, they begin to internalize language better. Literature also provides wonderful examples of language in context. And there is simply no better way to see good grammar in action!

So, how does one approach literature in the classroom?

Language teachers often are so excited to be studying literature, remembering their old days in graduate school or as budding novelists, that they bombard students with too much jargon. They present painstaking historical context, talk of themes, layers of meaning, genre, deconstruction theory, rhyme scheme, integrated vocabulary use, etc., etc.

Students, however, even at the advanced level, often are mostly concerned with just one thing: Plot! What is happening? Who is in love with whom? Who died recently? Where are the characters going over the weekend? Where is the buried treasure hidden?

When students can read something in another language, and when they can figure out what is happening, they are happy. They feel confident. They begin to WANT to read more. Plot. Plot. Plot. Don’t wear them down too early with excerpts from your college notes on the multiple levels of dream sequencing in Cortázar and Camus. Don’t wear them down with too much literary fluff.

In time, of course, students will show you that they are ready to move beyond plot description to interpreting what they are reading, to comparing it to other works, to finding historical context of themes and ideas. But wait until they are ready. For now, stick to the essentials.

For example, let’s say you assign your students a short story by Enrique Anderson Imbert called “La araña.” This tale is of a man who notices a spider crawling on his hand. He is about to tell the spider to get off, but the spider first speaks to him to say – “Hey, you are in my world. What are you doing here?” The man thinks it over a little, decides the situation is ridiculous, and is about to tell the spider to move away, but before he can get the words out, the spider again says; “Hey buster. You are in my world. Get out of here.” The man realizes that the situation is hopeless. He says that he can tell further discussion would serve no purpose. He ends the story with the following line: “Le dejé la mano y salí.” (I left the spider my hand, and I took off.) Hmmm.

As you hand out this story to your students, tell them they will be reading an animal tale about a man and a spider. Tell them the end of the story is a little out of the ordinary! That’s all you should say.

In class the next day, have your students take out the story. Immediately hand out the following seven questions. Go to our favorite format: Questions in Groups of Two.

Students will go ask and answer these questions in class with their partner, having the story right in front of them. Notice that many questions are very simple. They come straight from the text. The first four are all PLOT related. The fifth one PERSONALIZES the questions. I think this fact helps to draw your students more into the story.  Evoke some visceral feeling. The last two questions, of course, are rather difficult. What does happen at the end of the story?  I love listening to students in their small groups grapple with these final questions.

Does the narrator, in fact, “give” his hand to the spider? Does he “chop” it off? Does blood gush out all over? Does the hand magically come off his body?  Is this all a dream? What the heck is going on here?

After students go through these questions in their small groups twice (remember, with an ODD number of questions in a list, the answerer become the questioner and vice-versa the second time through), I get everyone’s attention. I might call on students individually to answer the first four or five questions. Then it’s time for a big group discussion at the end. I ask students for as many interpretations as possible and write them on the blackboard. I say that ALL of these interpretations are interesting and quite possible.

I usually present “La araña” in intermediate / advanced Spanish. It is a good foreshadow into the world of magic realism, where the lines between reality and fantasy are often hard to discern. It’s always fun to end the discussion of a story with thought-provoking questions, when students must mull things over.

As you look at the text with them, also be certain to point out interesting grammatical structures. In addition, did you notice that in the questions listed above that I snuck in a few uses of the subjunctive? I also used an irregular preterite form of a stem-changing verb, a nice mixture of object pronouns, as well as the verb “gustar.” In this literary discussion, I was setting up my students to speak some very sophisticated Spanish. Almost without thinking about it, they were saying some beautifully constructed sentences.

In the text of any literature that you read, you will find a treasure trove of great grammar! Show your students how the adjectives agree with the nouns. Explain why the author made the elegant choice of the present perfect tense, and don’t forget to highlight varied uses of the subjunctive. I often have thought that students feel that the subjunctive is some sort of plot that we language teachers have thought up to “get” them! When you find a subjunctive, point it out to your students. They will be amazed. They will learn to be on the lookout for it. They will grow to love the subjunctive and begin to feel ready to use it on their own.

So, on this particular day, you assigned a short reading. (By the way, I am a big fan of assigning a LITTLE bit of reading – perhaps one page – to beginning and intermediate students. Have them read a bit each day, if you can. Your goal is to build confidence in small steps!) In class, they worked in groups of two. Then you had a large group discussion, you took time to point out a few grammatical highlights, and perhaps you asked for questions or comments as you finished. Five to seven minutes. A wonderful activity.

I also, on occasion, like to give short, true-false comprehension quizzes on days when I assign reading. I have found that students read much more carefully when they know there is going to be some kind of assessment. No surprise!  I do want them, however, to enjoy what they read. Even if students just guess, they should score 50%. The answers to some of the questions are VERY obvious … I want kids to feel confident that they DID understand what they had read. A true/false quiz allows students to show you what they know. It also helps you, as a teacher, to track the progress your students make during the course of a year.

On to the next step!

STEP FIVE: Executive Summary