A literary tale

Shalini Solanki

Literature is supposed to be full of passion and heart. It allows one to travel across time and learn about life on Earth from those who walked before us. However, my students were not experiencing this. It was time for me to reflect, strategize, and conceive effective practices to teach literature to my pupils. Throughout my youth, I was fortunate to be tutored by engaging teachers. I wish to pass on that experience to my students as well. I am currently teaching English to 6^th, 7^th, and 8^th graders in an international school that follows the Cambridge syllabus. The school encourages a ‘way of inquiry’ in the classroom and nurtures children into a growth mindset toward academics.

These six activities that I did in class can be classified into two categories – teaching strategies and assessment techniques. The teaching strategies included – drama, tete a’ tete, and peer teaching.

Tete a’ tete is a one-on-one conversation. It comprises speaking and listening. I read two works of literature by O. Henry to my students – The Cop and the Anthem and The Last Leaf. I set up a scenario for two pupils where they had to converse in front of the class. I adapted the storyline from the two works of literature. For instance, Soapy (the character from The Cop and the Anthem) and the cop got into a fight in the story. The students were required to act out what they would have done in such a situation. The students were to take on the personas of Soapy and the cop and exchange words with one another. They could add humour, seriousness, emotion, etc., to the dialogue. It was up to them.

Drama or dramatical experiences are crucial to a child’s growth. They can develop their leadership and communication abilities, rid their fear of the stage, and do lots more with the help of drama. Imagination is necessary to develop, create, think, and play, and drama is the best means for children to discover the limitless potential of their imaginations and what they are capable of. Two stories were read aloud in class. After reading the two stories, the children had to act them out. Groups of four to five students were formed. After reading the stories, they wrote their scripts. This enhanced their writing abilities as well. Through drama, they were able to elicit emotions. Some did the acting, while others narrated or handled backstage tasks. They all eventually developed into young Shakespeares after doing drama!

Let students teach literature! Students were assigned a task in which they had to teach about a poet or author. The students learned about literary authors and poets, as well as how much work goes into lesson planning. They had to lecture on authors and poets like Maya Angelou, William Shakespeare, Rudyard Kipling, and Jane Austen, among others. The group activity allowed for camaraderie and development of speaking and listening abilities. The students completed an entire lesson in a 40-minute class thanks to innovative teaching ideas including tests, riddles, etc. To teach the poem “If” by Kipling one group employed inquiry-based learning.

The assessment techniques included mind maps, character sketches, and comic strips, which helped me assess their understanding of what we had learnt.

Comic strips: I got the students to read O. Henry’s The Cop and the Anthem. The students then had to turn it into a comic strip. This activity helped them write better, they were able to establish word-image links and partition the narrative into various sequences. The fact that pupils could read and understand clearly, gave them confidence.

Mind Maps: We are already familiar with mind maps. Mind maps boost memory and are a better remembering technique when compared to traditional note-taking and learning by rote. Mind maps use a blend of imagery, colour, and visual-spatial layout, which helps students understand the topic at hand better. Due to its adaptability, this tool may be used in the classroom in a variety of ways, including by teachers to explain assignments to students during class and to create lesson plans and revision aids. The investigation and presentation of ideas by students can be successfully supported using mind mapping in the classroom.

Let us make a Character Map: With the use of a character map, students can discuss key elements of characterization, such as what a character says and thinks, how they look, how they act, and what they believe. In the map, they describe the character they have chosen from a poem or story including that character’s traits, problems, etc. This exercise will help the students understand the characters in a story better. A character map can also assist students in empathizing with the character’s problems, internalizing the character’s experiences, reactions, and problem-solving techniques.

The seventh activity was literature for integration! Themes and narratives in literary works serve as inspiration for engaging discussions and debates (on topics that fall in the realm of other subjects) and other language exercises that improve learners’ linguistic and communicative proficiency. I gave the children a poem by an Indian poet who was also a Jew. A reading of this poem led the children to explore Israel, the Jewish culture, anti-Semitism, the Holocaust, and Hitler. We then moved to reading the Diary of Anne Frank and the children wrote reviews of the book. We eventually found out how Nissim Ezekiel came to be born in Mumbai. This integration of History and English was very beneficial. As we completed this exercise, my students realized that history needn’t be boring.

Since students work independently and offer their opinions supported by the texts they study, literature fosters the development of critical and analytical skills.

The author graduated from Azim Premji University with a Masters degree in Education. She works at an International School in Vijayawada, Andhra Pradesh. She is a programme facilitator for English. In her free time, she enjoys children’s literature, yoga, and historical movies. She can be reached at shalinisolanki70@gmail.com.