Two selected texts

 

Hello there literature lovers across the sea!

As in our previous post we did mentioned about sharing the approaches that can be utilized in teaching and learning process so yawning, droopy eyelids is a no no while you are teaching. 

nope. This look will demotivate your teaching spirit!

So, you may click on either four of the approaches that we have shared and you can definitely try it out in your class and do share with us the experience and outcomes of the teaching process.

Interested? Just click on the approaches :)

Through these approaches we are only emphasizing on two selected literature texts. The aesthetic and language approach will be conducted based on the poem "He has such quiet eyes" by Bibsy Soenharjo.

He Had Such Quiet Eyes by Bibsy Soenharjo

He had such quiet eyes

She did not realise

They were two pools of lies

Layered with thinnest ice

To her, those quiet eyes

Were breathing desolate sighs

Imploring her to be nice

And to render him paradise

If only she’d been wise

And had listened to the advice

Never to compromise

With pleasure-seeking guys

She’d be free from ‘the hows and whys’

Now here’s a bit of advice

Be sure that nice really means nice

Then you’ll never be losing at dice

Though you lose your heart once or twice

We then use one of the short story offered in the Literature Component of English Language Curriculum for Malaysian School Syllabus which is The Fruitcake Special written by Frank Brennan. 

FULL VERSION OF "THE FRUITCAKE SPECIAL"

Do try the activities we have suggested and you may provide some opinions of its pros and cons and perhaps we may exchange various number of activities to be applied in our literature teaching. May these approaches assist you in  creating a conducive yet entertaining learning process. 

HAPPY TEACHING!

 

We're back for more!

Hi there English teachers!

Have you ever wonder why this blog is created in the first place?

Yes?

No?

Not even close?

Before we answer your curiosity (or not even close to that), try to ask these questions to yourself:

What is the current situation in your literature classroom?

   (My students sleep)

 

   (Very teacher-centered)

 

How is the Literature Component in English taught in schools?

   Duhh, giving them worksheets and share some information  with the students?

 

We hope that is not your answer because if literature lessons are only fact-answer sessions where students are not guided and given opportunities to work with their friends and express their views and response that contributes to their language development and the appreciation of literature, then it is feared that the underlying aims and objectives of the literature component in English are doomed to fail!

Thou shall be worried and do something about it.

So, to help you with that, we’ve created this blog with aims to show

-          how teachers can employ the four approaches in teaching the literature component in English.

-           what types of activities can be used by teachers in teaching the literature component in English.

-          the significant relationship between the approaches employed by teachers and the activities that they carry out in the literature classroom in teaching the literature component.

 

Wait, what four approaches?

First of all, an approach is ideas or actions intended to deal with a problem or situation. Unfortunately, we are not looking for the meaning but the importance of it. According to Moody in The teaching of literature (1971) the importance of an approach is to "provide a framework, or sequence of operations to be used when we come to actualities". One factor that goes a long way in determining students' lifelong learning towards reading is how the teacher approaches the teaching of literature. 

 

Ok,we get it. But what are the four approaches?

Patience, my educators.

There are various approaches that can be employed in the teaching of literature, namely the information-based approach, language-based approach, personal response approach, paraphrastic approach, moral-philosophical approach and the stylistics approach. However, in teaching the Literature Component in the Malaysian school, only these four approaches will be highlighted in our web; The Language-Based Approach, The Aesthetic Approach, The Gender Approach and The Cultural Approach. Using these four approaches, the activity will be conducted in three stages which are; pre-reading, while reading and post reading. Pre-reading will be focused on the prior knowledge of the text, in a simple word - whether the students understand the idea of the story. The while reading stage is the stage where you use the text to test the students’ understanding and skills based on the approaches and lastly, the post reading is where you get the student to be creative by using the idea of the story to create something outside of the box.

Okay, we know..we still have yet to tell you about the details of the approaches…

But, referring to the first question we’ve posted earlier in the introduction, the reason of this blog existence is for you to explore the approaches and activities in this web.

Anyway, we hope that this web is able to help the teachers to gauge their approaches with the activities, not only a mere job of teaching, so that the aims and the objectives of the Literature Component in English will be attended to and hence, successfully accomplished.

Thank you for reading, your time is fully appreciated by us upon reading (and exploring) our little web.