Topic: Figurative Language - Irony
Students’ Characteristic: Mixed Ability, Verbal and Visual Learners
Learning Pre-requisites: Students need to have background knowledge on what practical criticism and figurative language is.
Lesson Objectives: By the end of the lesson, students will be able to:
1. State what ‘irony’ means.
2. Identify and explain the use of irony as a figurative language in text.
3. Apply their understanding of irony in interpreting Literature texts.
Lesson Duration: 60 minutes (2 periods)
Lesson Plan:
Lesson Rationale: I believe that education should be taught for its own sake, especially for Literature where ideas should not be confined to a certain limit or be imposed upon students. I therefore subscribe to Freire's idea that education should be dialogic. Dialogue ultimately stimulates the best form of thinking. Exchanging ideas and building on one another's thoughts allows students to gain more perspectives, which is what education and knowledge should be about. This lesson plan is therefore structured in a way that allows students to do most of the thinking and sharing. The teacher is only a facilitator to ensure that the students stay focused on the topic. The lesson plan is structured in a way that allows students to be creative and crazy (if they want to). There are no right and wrong answers and students are free to interpret 'irony' the way they best understand as long as they get the core of it right.
I also like Dewey's take on education, which he says is a "process of living". This to me is what Literature is about. It is a process that is to be lived and experienced by individuals, each one different from the other. The process takes shape in one's own mind, based on one's own experiences / ideas. Though they can be shared with one another, one cannot impose his experiences / ideas on another and expect the other to understand exactly what he is attempting to express. The exam-oriented classroom / school context of today however challenges this notion. Education is becoming "a preparation for future living" where grades determine one's future and Literature is not appreciated for what it is, but read with detest because it is one of the subjects that can contribute to a student's grade. Ultimately,
I believe that education should be shared, not imposed on students. For literature, in our given classroom context, it would be best if the teacher provides a basic level of guidance and then allows students to pursue and interpret the text freely. Give them the opportunity to learn from one another instead of being passive listeners absorbing the teacher's ideas. Let them love and live Literature as they do, life without forcing upon them the practical needs or the preparations for future living.
Appendix Alanis Morissette, Ironic.
(a) Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nm-1xvWibt0
(b) Lyrics: 
(c) Ironic Jokes:
1. Why the sun lightens our hair, but darkens our skin?
2. Why "abbreviated" is such a long word?
3. Why doctors call what they do "practice"?
4. Why you have to click on "Start" to stop the computer?
5. Why lemon juice is made with artificial flavour, while dishwashing liquid is made with real lemons?
6. Why the man who invests all your money is called a broker?
7. Why they sterilize the needle for lethal injections?
8. Why don’t they make the whole airplane out of the material used for the indestructible black box?
9. Why they call the airport "the terminal" if flying is so safe?
Hi Naseem!
ReplyDeleteI love the topic of Irony because a lot of humour is centered on the use of Irony, and we all know it's a rather difficult topic to "teach".
I like the way your lesson is very student-centered with a lot of self-directed learning and discussions. In addition, it's refreshing how you ended the lesson with the nitty-gritty details on Irony ( definitions, notes, guidelines, etc etc). However, I worry it might be a little overwhelming to be given a lot of information at the end of the lesson ( May I know which secondary level is this lesson targeted at?:)
Maybe, it would be good to assign a little post-lesson activity for them to do related to the lesson, so that they will be able to properly review and reflect whatever they have learned in the lesson. ( because the average student would simply chuck away the notes one side after the lesson is done).
Incidentally, when I was doing contract teaching, Irony was also taught,and Alanis Morisette's song is a great song for teaching Irony. It's good how you decided to ask the students to write WHY they think the song writer used to describe the situations indirectly, because in practical criticism, students are expected to get into the "inner mind" of the writer,and this is a great start. It enables them to "construct" information on how it makes sense to them first.
Another method to introduce irony, besides using jokes or songs, would be to use pictures of ironical situations ( which can be really funny), and it's great for visual learners too.
:)
Heya Naseem,
ReplyDeleteI think this is definitely fun for the students, i would have loved to have done this activity while i was in school.
I agree with Afiah, a take home assignment to help reinforce the lesson would be really beneficial for the students so that they can perhaps reflect on it and delve deeper into their own understanding of irony. :)
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ReplyDeleteNaseem - I like your declaration: "Education is becoming 'a preparation for future living' where grades determine one's future and Literature is not appreciated for what it is, but read with detest because it is one of the subjects that can contribute to a student's grade." Dewey would have rejoiced!
ReplyDeleteThat said, we as Lit teachers are still duty-bound to prepare students for the exams. The challenge, then, is to combine pain with pleasure in teaching students to appreciate Literature as an end in itself and as a "preparation for future living." The rest of your teaching career will be an attempt to do just that each and every day!
Linking your lesson to pop culture (and especially pop music) is a familiar effective strategy in motivating students to pay attention to the text and to the everyday presence of "Literature" in their lives. Would you, however, make a distinction between "high culture" and "pop culture" in your subsequent attempts to transfer the learning outcomes of this lesson to the analysis of more challenging "canonical" texts?
When you ask students why the songwriter "indirectly conveys ideas" through irony, are you saying that irony is a form of indirect way of expressing ideas? Or that the use of irony can be direct or indirect?
What is the logical structure of IRONY anyway? And when does IRONY become "literary" in its uses?