Introducing Lit into an ESL/IBDP class

Introducing Literature into an ESL/IBDP class

Students: Year 5 IBDP English B(HL) students, mainly from different parts of Asia

Duration: One term (8 weeks) but not every lesson was used on this

Objectives: 1.Reading for pleasure
2. Being able to identify the themes and issues inherent in the book
3. Critically reflect on the issues raised in the book, make own interpretations of the
scenes and conclusions

For starters, to take them through the journey of reading for pleasure, I gave them several deadlines so that they would be reading sections of the book together rather than giving them one final deadline to read the WHOLE book. With each section, we would then do a summary of what had happened and then discuss the characters and debate over the actions of each character. There was no 'test' or assignment linked to each of these deadlines but just the understanding that this reading is for pleasure.

Subsequently, when we finished the book, we then got down to dissecting the elements in the book - themes, issues, character analysis, summary of plot, moral of the story etc. - and the students produced a mindmap in groups of 4. They pretty much spent two periods doing this with added input from me but they had a good time analysing and debating their answers.

Then they were asked to do an interpretation of the text. As a mid-term assignment, students were allowed to either:
- present individually, a particular theme from the book their own understanding; or
- work in groups of 2-3 to present in any form an interpretation of the characters as the students recognised, a modified ending to the book or a role-play of a particular scene.

Result? Amazing stuff! I had no idea that they had understood the book so well. One of my favourite individual speeches came from a boy who questioned the meaning of love and used many examples from the book to argue what love really meant. Another group enacted a scene in a counsellor's office in which the characters were being counselled and advised on how to improve their relationships (this scene is not in the book!) and another group pretended that they were on the Oprah Winfrey show and interviewed the couple in the story and discussed their estranged relationship.

P.S. Sorry, I did not follow the whole 'lesson plan' structure here!