Educators teaching English should utilize literature as a tool
Teaching English as a foreign language has become a functional enterprise, when it should be about educating people through culture and literature.
By Anna Roitman on Tuesday, February 17th, 2009 - 575 words.
TESL (Teaching English as a foreign language) books always try to be cool and update and reflective of the latest educational doctrines. But they are obviously composed by a bunch of middle aged didactic experts sitting in a room trying to figure out what the youth will like and and to find “cool” topics to discuss, completely forgetting what they used to think of people their age when they were young.
The rise of high-tech and the importance of scientific subjects such as physics, chemistry and biology now means that English is often just being taught in order to serve the future ability of a student to read scientific, instructive books in English. English is perceived as an obstacle that a person must overcome or a mere functional tool to understand other subjects, as it is the lingua franca of our times. English is being taught not because it is a subject in of its own. But his is travesty. As Charlemagne said, “To speak another language is to possess another soul”,
Now English is just the default choice so you can progress in monetary or career terms and it is this approach to the use of language that writers of TSL books are catering to. At the same time they are facing a generation that was raised not to think too much of the future because everything is always changing, as are our perceptions of “true” “right” and “wrong”.
For the average teenager it is how he or she fits in with the rest of their age group that is important and they don’t really care about government or world-historic events. This is not because they lack values but because governments come and go and wars happen with depressing regularity. They have to deal with their own local-level problems as these seem more important to them at that certain phase of life. What will be in ten to fifteen years is not a matter of interest nor are moralistic texts about drug abuse, drunk driving, or historic personalities who changed the world.
With these factors in mind one can understand why teaching literature within the teaching of language is being casted aside. Literature is not important in the eyes of the educators because they are trying to prepare their students for the world of science, and scientific functionality does not require the knowledge of poetry, playwriting and novels. These are seen as esoteric and redundant. We are raising the next generation of nuclear scientists so they will never hear of Shakespeare or Emily Dickinson, or will ever attend the theater to watch Brecht.
But above all we are starving the emotional intelligence of this generation. One does not need to search novelties to find a “cool” discussion topic for his or her classroom. Popular culture is still based in large part on past masters and the best we can do is demonstrate how nothing has really changed from Shakespeare’s times and how the same questions have been raised over and over again and are still being raised now. Maybe by admitting to our students we don’t know everything and we don’t know everything best will we be able to find the people who will ask the right questions in the future. To posses a soul and own a language is to be tuned to the culture from which it is driven. This can be only achieved by teaching literature through an open class discussion.
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Really good article and I completely agree – literature has an amazing capacity to transcend boundaries, particularly if it is taught well. I still think its one of the best ways to give young people a holistic education – a good novel can teach you about psychology, history, politics, and even your own emotions. Reading Lolita in Tehran by Nafisi is an amazing book and a great example of what a huge impact literature can have on young students when in the hands on a good teacher.
Thank you. I remember studying that book and I also remember the impact a chapter from Bulgakov's The Master and Margarita made in class when i mentioned it one day, I also remember teaching Robert Frost with contemporary Rock Music, and Percy Shelley with a link to our world today. I also think that a teacher who can not teach literature within a language should reconsider his profession (yes i know it sounds harsh ).
Anna! you argued well for teaching literature un class. i think that every text to which the teacher himself can relate, is a text the students will react to- either to agree or to disagree. maybe you should send this article to ECB and UPP. just sensd it to them, maybe someone will decide to do something with your ideas in an updated textbook.
i l-o-v-e-d your insight on the "average teenager"! i think i was like it as well, but i do remember my teacher in the 9th grade teaching us "Imagine" and it was wonderful for me, but i remember my friends not relating to it one bit. one should introduce these texts – any text that has a statement imbeded in it- with care. feel the classroom before, know what your heading towards, and then decide when and how and with which tool.
Yeshar koach!
Hi Anna, I studied English Literature at uni and completely agree with your views on the importance of literature and the English language.
I'm not so sure however on the point that teenagers "don’t really care about government or world-historic events." Furthermore, i also don't necessarily agree that "poetry, playwriting and novels" are viewed by the higher authorities as "esoteric and redundant". For example, although it was a rushed measure, a new injection of money into London's theatres has created an opportunity for youngsters to go to the theatre and indeed learn about Brecht and Shakespeare without even paying a penny. Please see this:
http://www.thestage.co.uk/news/newsstory.php/2185...
So, do you only suggest an open-class discussion on literature or is there something more that can be done on a government and grass-roots level?
Thank you very much for the enlightenment, and I am glad to see that there are countries that are doing something about cultural education. At the same time please note, that I discuss the matter as TESL , that is, teaching English as second language. I have no doubt whatsoever that countries in which English is the native tongue , will have English Literature as a subject with class hours devoted only for that. What I tried to stress is that in countries where English is an obligatory subject to graduate from the education system(and later pursue higher education) it turns to be very poor and functional as those who write the books minimized them for test-familiarization, grammar and unseens,which rarely deal with literature or with discussing literature. How can somebody even teach a language without familiarizing his or her students with the culture as it is manifested in literature? I suggested first and for most an open class discussion because we lack in that as students are not being asked to discuss literature in the finals . The project in London is indeed amazing and there is much to be done on the level of politics , unfortunately when the ruling doctrine is science the first step should be retrieve subjects like literature their long lost respect.
Even if the tickets are given for free, how many of the youngsters really use them? How many of them see the point of using them? Dont you think it requires the educators to make them want to go to the theater? This initiative should be backed up by some in class encouragement program.
Hi Anna, thanks for reminding me of the TESL point of your article. I agree that dealing with the literature and discussing it is extremely important, maybe there should be as much emphasis on the structure of the language as the literature surrounding it.
As for the project in London I'll try to answer your questions in order (as long as I'm not being naive and they're actually rhetorical!). Firstly, we'll only know how many of the youngsters use them at the end of the project. Who knows whether they see the point of using them, it's always difficult to make a judgment on that without surveys or data, but although the kids may be under-educated, they're not ignorant of that fact that getting something for free is always good! I do completely agree though, it's up to the educators in the class to encourage them to go (I did see a few school groups at the theatre a couple fo weeks ago) and there also has to be a way that the literature touches their lives in ways that they associate with – i think this point is intrinsic to your article/argument.
It is nice to hear of the project and receive and answers to all the questions i raised. it is also very nice to read there are people who are so enthusiastic about teaching literature and knowing that I'm not struggling with windmills. Unfortunately in this part of the world it is even a tougher struggle than in other places because of the culture which very much revolves around the military.
I teach English in Italy. The books for classes that try to be "cool" usually reflect neither literary English nor current conversational English. I feel that language schools are soon going to have to offer two kinds of English: stripped-down for everyday use and a more formal one for anybody that wants to read English literature.
I was educated in Belgium. After I settled in the U.S. I went to college to study English (and American) literature. A whole new world opened up for me. First reading and discussing books which were in the original language and not translated improved my English a great deal. Second by reading English and American literature I learned about the history of the English language, history in general, psychology, philosophy etc. Reading Byron and Shelley was so exciting and by explicating their poems I discovered a great deal about interacting with the written word. American literature taught me a great deal about this country. In Belgium I was taught grammar and sentence structure. Not only did this bore me to death, but I wasn't very good at it. and it certainly didn't improve my English. In my last year of English in high school we were introduced to literature and I excelled at it.
I think that being able to teach English will definitely be able to help improve one's business communication skills.
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Hi Anna Roitman,
Your essay about English used as a monetary tool is true, there are so many Asian countries now visiting other Asian countries just to learn English but do not really think of English as a subject. People who are not really not using English as their primary language seems to like English as a part of fashion. Some are using or speaking English as a show off that they are educated , rich and powerful. The English language has been used in different ways at different purposes. Maybe it is really time to look at it as one of the important subjects in education.
Ronna – Learning English is important
Hey Ronna,
I know a bit of what is going on in Asian countries because they are one of my topics of interest and i am myself learning Chinese. Languages also have a market- some are considered more prestigious than others, unfortunately, according to the connotation and biases brought together with the nations who bear them as a mother tongue. You are right that English became like branded jeans or shoes or being seen in a western junkfood restaurant. I think any language, not just English should be taught through the cultural perspective as an open dialog , in a dialog you can make much more than negotiate and close a deal, you can understand the person in front of you mess up less- if its a deal or a peace treaty, the court of law. teaching simple functionality will only lead to misunderstanding.