Language Arts and English Teachers?
Favorite Answer
– After studying a play, we would go to a performance of it. You need to check around for what will be playing in your area that year and plan around that. It’s almost always worth it.
– Going to a movie of a book we’ve read in class. Again, you need to think about this ahead of time. Knowing that they get to miss school to go see a movie in the afternoon really motivates some of the more reluctant students to read the book. (They must pass a quiz on the novel to be able to go so that I know they’ve read it.)
– Art galleries are an excellent way for students to reflect on non-verbal means of communication as well. I’ve used writing assignments that were a combination of a scavenger hunt and journal response to focus the activities of the students while we are there.
– Poetry or other book readings are sometimes interesting, as well. Book stores and universities often host poets and authors to read their works. Students really get into a work when they have that extra personal connection to the piece by hearing the creator read. They also have an opportunity to ask questions of the author/poet.
– I’ve also taken students on big trips out of the country. After reading African literature, for example, I took a small group of students to Africa. That required a tremendous amount of planning and fundraising, but it was by far the most valuable field trip I’ve conducted!
Essentially, anything that will allow students to relate what they’ve read to something in the real world works well. Be sure to give them an opportunity to respond to the experience afterwards, too.
Best of luck!
On a more ambitious note, visit places that serve as settings for something your students have read. Even fictional works have real-life corollaries: Gatsby mansion never existed, but you can visit the Vanderbilt mansion in New York (or the Hearst mansion in California).
Let’s keep using Gatsby as an example: How about visiting a classic car museum, so students can see some of these machines from the 1920s that play such a prominent role in the novel? Or a place that displays fashions from the Jazz Age?
I happened to be in Italy one time when I encountered a group of American high school students. As we chatted away, we commented on how narrow the streets of this small Italian town seemed. I mentioned that you could see how a feud between the Capulets and the Montagues could really cause a problem for a place like this. They began, on their own, to think about how the layout of the town could play a role in some of the scenes of “Romeo & Juliet.” We weren’t in Verona, but it had an impact nonetheless.
Use a field trip to make literature as tangible to your students as possible. Help them flesh out their abstract imaginings with something concrete.
personally, I advice them to write to some penfriends (on Internet) and give them a list.
I noticed that talking with native or non native speakers in that language push them more to be caressed about the language, and this method is relatively easy as almost everyone has Internet at home.
I also use the songs and the most famous movies on the language I want to teach, and it perfectly works.
the only problem with that solution is that it takes me a lot of time and efforts.
hope it helped.
