USING LITERATURE TO TEACH ENGLISH: OSCAR WILDE

A nice piece of literature to teach in the English class is Oscar Wilde's masterpiece THE PICTURE OF DORIAN GRAY, since we can find many adaptations. 
http://www.snazal.com/the-picture-of-dorian-gray-level-4-penguin-readers-simplifie--9781405882293.html?source=webgains&siteid=47684&adnetwork=wg


I even found that there is a comic version, which would be very appropriate and attractive to teenage students: 
http://forbiddenplanet.co.uk/blog/2009/the-picture-of-dorian-gray/ 
http://forbiddenplanet.com/39864-the/




There are also online versions of the novel to work with Bachillerato students: http://www.planetpdf.com/planetpdf/pdfs/free_ebooks/The_Picture_of_Dorian_Gray_NT.pdf
http://www2.hn.psu.edu/faculty/jmanis/oscar-wilde/Dorian-Gray.pdf
http://www.quedelibros.com/libro/74342/The-Picture-of-Dorian-Gray-pdf-ingles.html


Particularly, and knowing the low English level in public schools, I would choose an adapted version of the novel for a class of 1st of Bachiller. 


As a pre-treatment activity, and since the film was released some years ago, I would use its trailer: 

Or even this video, which before playing the trailer explains briefly the plot of the film:

As a treatment activity, I would ask my students to write down a small student diary, that is, to write down the dates and thoughts they experience while reading the novel, as well as the vocabulary that they couldn't guess from the context. 


I would ask them to start writing about what they expect the novel to be, how they think it will continue and whether they are liking the novel or they feel it's too boring. Just a few lines each day they have read something. If students don't feel like writing, they can use vocaroo and record the experiences and unknown vocabulary. 


As a post-treatment activity, the students will be asked to work in groups, choose a chapter of the novel and create a photo novel. They will have to take pictures of the different scenes and describe them briefly and creating small dialogues. Also they will have to record them so that at the end we have a picture and recoded version of the novel. 

USING LITERATURE TO TEACH ENGLISH

Teaching a foreign language through literature is sometimes considered to be old-fashioned, since this is related to the grammar-translation method. However, if the story is interesting for students, and it is combined with the right and motivating activities, it can be a great source for learning grammar, vocabulary and even writing and speaking depending on the activities. 


In this webpage there are great short stories such as the parable of the pencil, which can be used to discuss in several different topics: http://www.indianchild.com/short_stories.htm


These stories are quite short, and can be read in five minutes, allowing a long period of discussion,interpretation, activities...


Here we can find a great source of short stories from well-known authors such as Viriginia Woolf, Saki, George Orwell, Roald Dahl... http://www.classicshorts.com/author.html




Another webpage which provides a great quantity of American short stories from authors such as Melville, Poe, or Kate Chopin: http://www.americanliterature.com/ss/ssindx.html

LITERATURE: ROALD DAHL NOVELS

Roald Dahl is a great author to focus our student's interest on reading. 


For the younger ones books such as Matilda, The Witches, or James and the Giant Peach are recommended. 


In order to attract their attention we have videos of the film's trailers available: 

JAMES AND THE GIANT PEACH

MATILDA

However this is the best video to introduce a novel by Roald,  Dahl, in this case THE WITCHES since it is really interesting and thrilling:

TEACHING LITERATURE - Ernest Hemingway - Hills Like White Elephants

It is possible to foster reading and literature through short stories from well-known authors such as  ERNEST HEMINGWAY. 


The short story suggested is "Hills Like White Elephants" which can be found in the following link:


http://www.hamiltoncps.org/wp-content/uploads/2010/12/Hills-Like-White-Elephant-Story.pdf




Even though the vocabulary used is not very difficult, I would use this piece of literature in a class of 2º Bachiller, since the topic of the story - abortion- is quite controversial. Besides, abortion is not specifically treated, but students have to guess about it from what they read. In order to understand the text better, some activities have been proposed in order that they learn more about the author and reflect upon the text. The activities have been divided into pre-treatment, treatment, and post-treatment activities, and they are going to be listed below.






PRE-TREATMENT ACTIVITIES:




- Activity 1: The students will be read the following quotation by the author: 


"All good books have one thing in common- they are truer than if they had really happened" (Ernest Hemingway)


They will be asked to go to BRAINYQUOTE and look for one or two quotes by Hemingway and post them on edmodo

• http://www.brainyquote.com/ 
• http://www.edmodo.com/

- Activity 2: The students will be given the following introduction. With the introduction and the title, the students will discuss in groups on what they think the story is about. 

First published in transition in August of 1927, “Hills Like White Elephants” became an important piece in Hemingway's second collection of short stories, Men Without Women. Hemingway wrote the story soon after the publication of his 1926 novel, The Sun Also Rises, while living in Paris. Men Without Women was well-received, as were Hemingway’s other early works. He was embraced by the expatriate literary community in Paris and received strong reviews on his work in the United States and abroad. Although he continued to write novels and stories throughout his career, the early short stories are often considered to be among his finest works. ‘‘Hills Like White Elephants,’’ a widely-anthologized and much-discussed story, offers a glimpse at the spare prose and understated dialogue that represents Hemingway’s mastery of style.

The story, told nearly in its entirety through dialogue, is a conversation between a young woman and a man waiting for a train in Spain. As they talk, it becomes clear that the young woman is pregnant and that the man wants her to have an abortion. Through their tight, brittle conversation, much is revealed about their personalities. At the same time, much about their relationship remains hidden. At the end of the story it is still unclear as to what decision has or has not been made, or what will happen to these two characters waiting for a train on a platform in Spain (http://www.enotes.com/hills-like-white-elephants).

TREATMENT ACTIVITIES


Activity 1. Choose a scene from the text and create a video using Go Animate (direct link on tools). You can invent the dialogue or copy it. 


Activity 2. In pairs or small groups (4 people at much) you will have to create a photo novel. For doing so, you will have to take pictures of you representing the story and then in Glogster upload them and add some short dialogues that summarize the plot. (Direct link of Glogster in Tools)










POST-TREATMENT ACTIVITIES


Activity 1. Discussion. What do you think the two characters are talking about? Do you think that the title is related to the text?




Then explain that the text is about abortion, and that the white elephants in Eastern cultures are considered to be very valuable animals, and even the symbol of strength and power. This may be related to the willpower of the girl, and as well compare how valuable the unborn child is to the girl, just as white elephants in Eastern cultures. 






Activity 2. Watch the following video about the short story Hills Like White Elephants. Then discuss with your partners whether you found many differences between the text and the video. Make a short list. 

Activity 3. Writing. Abortion: for or against?