Sunday, December 30, 2012
Wednesday, December 19, 2012
Jane Austen - Wordle
Here you can find a 'Wordle', a small word cloud, about some basic information on the author Jane Austen !
www.wordle.net
The Aim > Research Question
In many cases, pupils do not feel encouraged to engage with literature. They neither want to read long passages nor feel motivated enough to work with them. As a result, they have difficulties in finding access to novels or poetry in particular.
If we set up a literary platform to awaken pupils to literature and create a place where they can describe and discuss their own reading experiences, in what ways, if any, will this virtual classroom help teachers to arouse their pupils' interest in literature?
If we set up a literary platform to awaken pupils to literature and create a place where they can describe and discuss their own reading experiences, in what ways, if any, will this virtual classroom help teachers to arouse their pupils' interest in literature?
Monday, December 17, 2012
"Das Literarische Quartett"
“Das Literarische Quartett“ was a literary programme
on German television, originally conceived by the German historian Johannes
Willms. It was transmitted from March 1988 until December 2001, and all in all,
385 novels, poems and plays were discussed. At the beginning, the group of four
consisted of Marcel Reich-Ranicki (a literary critic), Hellmuth Karasek (a
journalist and novelist), Sigrid Löffler (an Austrian literary critic) and Jürgen
Busche (a journalist).
The broadcast was mainly famous for Reich-Ranicki’s critical
comments just as for his choleric temper. Traditionally, he always finished the
talk show with the same quotation by the German poet Bertholt Brecht: “Und so
sehen wir betroffen, den Vorhang zu und alle Fragen offen.” In 2005 and 2006,
several special programmes for anniversaries of poets’ and writers’ deaths were
broadcasted.
According to the newspaper “Augsburger Allgemeine,”
five grammar-school pupils from Wertingen (Bavaria) adopted the show and
discussed books on stage and in public. Undoubtedly, this experiment was an
absolute success and highly praised by their head teacher and her deputy. Both approved of the fact that their pupils were very direct in formulating their opinions and
evaluations and preferred their frankness. Also their audience, their own
classmates, were enthusiastic about the show.
For more impressions, you can have a look at the broadcast on youtube.com.
Sunday, December 16, 2012
A Reading Diary
This is a special kind of diary that is intended to encourage primary school
pupils to engage with literature. While reading, pictures are created, thoughts and ideas are developed,
questions are raised and the imagination runs wild. Undoubtedly, it is worth keeping
all these impressions in a reading diary.
A self-chosen text forms the basis for the work with
such a diary. Therefore, it is possible to use a fairytale, a book for
young readers, a comic or even the lyrics of a song in order to support pupils
in dealing with a text. Moreover, it can help pupils to assimilate certain topics
they are confronted with while reading. On the basis of specific tasks, they
can practise both their reading and writing skills and organize their “reading
time” individually. As a result, an autonomously guided learning
process is achieved, steered by their own wishes.
Here are some typical tasks which can be found in a
reading diary:
1)
Poem
> Write a “Poem of Senses” according to your text. (I see …, I hear …, I
smell… , I feel …)
2)
Letter
to the author > What do you want to tell the author of your text? Do you
have any questions? Write a letter.
3)
Memories
> In your text, there is something you definitely do not want to forget.
Note it down, so that it stays in your mind.
4)
Recommendation
> You like your text. Can you write a book recommendation to your friends
and other pupils? Keep in mind: The others should be made curious about your
text.
5)
A journey through time > Write your text again. What would it look like in 100
years?
6)
You
want to sell your text. What do you write in your advertisement?
7)
I
would like to win this character as a friend, because …
8)
My
first thoughts after reading:
9)
Me
and my text > You open the door to your text and appear in it. Write a small
paragraph in which you appear.
10) A very important sentence > Did you notice a special
sentence? Write it down.
11) This made me sad > This passage (page and line)
made me sad, because …
Arms and the Man
Kinderbibliothek Hünherposten- children library Hamburg
"I have always imagined that paradise will be a
kind of library."
— Jorge
Luis Borges
If children
grow up to be skilled and passionate readers depends to a large extend on the
experiences they make with books and literature in early years.
Research
shows that the experience children had with books before entering school can
predict their ability to learn to read and write and therefore also their
ability to enjoy literature.
It is highly important for children that they are
being read to and that they grow up in an environment where literature is acknowledged
and used.
This
statement might confuse people that haven’t learned about the acquisition of
written language. This acquisition however is hard and challenging and children
must bring a certain motivation to overcome problems during the process.
They can only be motivated to do so if they see a point in learning to read.
Therefore children should encounter books in their families and in kindergarten
on a regular basis in order to understand the importance of reading.
However a
lot of children haven’t had sufficient experiences when entering school. In
this case it is the teachers duty to expand their knowledge or even to make up
for the time in which the children haven’t learned about the pleasure of
literature.
This is a
rather big challenge but one that needs to be mastered.
One way of
arousing pupils interest is showing them libraries where they can look at
picture books, listen to audiobooks, read and borrow books.
In Hamburg
we have the “Kinderbibliothek” where they have a huge amount of books that are specific
to children and teenagers. There is a very big library which is specific to
children and teenagers at the main library. But also every library has its own
children section.
It is a
very good idea for teachers to go to this library and show their students the
possibilities of the institution. It might also be wise to tell the parents
about the importance of institutions of that sort on parent-teacher
conferences.
The “Kinderbibliothek”
in Hamburg offers a series of possibilities for children. The books are organized very well. There is a large section with picture books for
kindergarten children, a section with books for the pupils that have only just
started reading and section for the advanced readers. Furthermore there is one
section in which they offer books in various languages. Especially books with
languages that are very common in Germany, like Turkish, Russian, Polish, French
and English are available. But there are also a few books with more “exotic”
languages like Korean.
The staff
of the library is very nice and helpful and they have a nice atmosphere. They
have places to sit and read and also offer different rooms for meeting and
lectures.
Also the
library offers several events like listening evenings with specific topics like
“fairy-tail night”, help with homework and literature quizzes.
As a
teachers it is also possible to borrow a “book box” for a long period, in which
he/she can collect books for his/her class and put it in the classroom. The
children can take books out of it and read when the feel like it or in specific
reading time.
The library
is an excellent place for teachers of primary school as well as of secondary school
to organize literature class and also show their pupils the importance and
pleasure of reading.
I believe that this might help teachers awake their pupils interest in literature at a very early point in their school career.
Saturday, December 15, 2012
Reading Strategies
First
of all, orientated reading supports the reader in getting an overview and
deals with the rather general question “What is the text about?” In order to
practice this form of reading, pupils could guess the topic of a text with the
help of its title or pictures or summarize several paragraphs. They could also both
formulate and check major hypotheses.
Secondly, skimming deals with the
major content just as the topic of a theme. It can be practised with exercises
basing on W-questions (Who?, Where?, When?, What?, Why?), the identification of
key words or the creation of a graphical concept about core information of a
text.
Thirdly, scanning, also known a “selective
reading,” helps to identify particular information. As a teacher who wants
his/her pupils to practise this reading strategy, one could provide them with
key questions before the reading or let them take a look at the index in order
to find out on which page a certain topic is discussed. Besides, it is also
possible to make them answer multiple-choice questions.
Finally, one has to bear in mind that the
acquisition of reading competences is closely linked to the reading motivation
of each individual. Such a motivation can be created through interesting and
appealing texts and lively lessons.
One appropriate method to work with a
particularly difficult text is “reciprocal reading,” which belongs to rather
complex forms of text recognition. Learners approach a text collectively and guide
their own process of knowledge construction. Undoubtedly, individual
competences are necessary and have to be practised in advance.
How to proceed:
1) Division of learners into four groups.
2) Individual reading period of a sufficiently long paragraph. Use of reading
techniques (marking, summarizing, visualizing).
3) Dealing with the text in a group.
a) Pupil A asks questions about important information, the others answer
them.
b) Pupil B summarizes the paragraph, the others check his/her summary.
c) Pupil C indentifies difficult passages and asks for explanation.
d) Pupil D guesses how the text might proceed.
One good way to do this is to visualize the
distribution of tasks. Four little role cards can therefore symbolize the different
tasks and are passed on after each round.
This could be the questioner for instance:
Information are
taken fom: Ehlers, Swantje, 2002, Übungen zum Leseverstehen, in: Bausch, K.-R
(u.a.), Handbuch Fremdsprachenunterricht, Tübingen: Francke, 287-292.
Wednesday, December 12, 2012
Reading Strategies
Understandind a text can be very difficult. Many questions occur, for example, what are the main aspects and which are the key words? The following method offers an interesting strategy for approaching a text. It focuses on the text's structure and can be used for both literary and informative texts.
In a first step, you have to look for features such as the author, the title, the source and the paragraphs. Then, formulate your expectations towards the text.
In a second step, analyse the linking words and conjunctions of the text. How do they structure it? Linking words are like lighthouses, they lead the way.
After that, summarize your first ideas and results in a table.
Now you can look at the content. How do linking words, structure and content work together?
And this is what a work sheet would look like.
In a first step, you have to look for features such as the author, the title, the source and the paragraphs. Then, formulate your expectations towards the text.
In a second step, analyse the linking words and conjunctions of the text. How do they structure it? Linking words are like lighthouses, they lead the way.
After that, summarize your first ideas and results in a table.
Bsp.:
|
Create such a table for every paragraph.
|
|
And this is what a work sheet would look like.
Essay: Captain Cook Discovers
Australia
The
Europeans considered Australia to be 'terra nullius' or unoccupied land,
despite encountering the natives.
Explorers saw no fences or borders which in their culture would
symbolise some sort of ownership over the earth, therefore they regarded Australia to be land for the taking. However, Aborigines believed that the land itself was communal
property and that a large piece of country should not belong to any individual
- the land belonged to the whole tribe (Ward 13). Yet no endeavour was made by Europeans to "understand or accommodate
Aboriginal value systems" (Nile 49). Moreover, while the Aborigines were presumably the first to occupy
Australia, they received little acknowledgment for their find or connection
with the land. Captain James Cook
on the other hand, receives
much acclaim for discovering 'The Great South Land', although Aborigines, Asians and other
European explorers stumbled upon it before him. However, one cannot disregard the fact that Cook's was a
'discovery' and quite an important one at that, for he literally put Australia
on the map. Yet the term 'discovered' or
'discovery' according to the Macquarie Dictionary, refers to acquiring
knowledge of, learning of or finding out, for the first time. Therefore, Cook did not 'discover' Australia in the true sense of
the word, but rather he uncovered and revealed the potential of 'The Great
South Land' to the rest of the world.
As far as archaeologists know, the Australian Aborigines were the
first people to inhabit Australia. In
fact, the ancestors of the indigenous Australians were the first human beings
to cross oceanic depths between continents (Ward 1Yet 'for all but the last two hundred
years, the Australian Aborigines were almost completely isolated from contact
with other people' (Nile 32).
However, the first
people that the Aborigines may have encountered were the Asians.
In fact, the Europeans were the last to 'discover'
Australia. Many Europeans speculated
that there had to be a great unknown southern land - terra australis
incognita - to balance the landmasses of the northern part of the world. In fact, he confirmed that what the Dutch called 'New Holland' was
indeed 'The Great South Land' (Nile 105). In addition, he confirmed that apart from Australia and Antarctica, no
other southern continent existed (Nile 103). Thus he completed the jigsaw of the south. While Cook's discovery was beneficial in some aspects, it was
detrimental in others. Since European colonization and
settlement the traditional pattern of the lives of the Aborigines has been
massively disrupted and changed.
Therefore, from the view of the Australian Aborigines, it may be a
mute point to suggest that Captain James Cook or any other European discovered
Australia. In addition, while Cook's discovery was
extremely significant, one must take into account that Europeans were quite
confidant that a south land existed and it was simply a matter of time before
it was found.
http://www.jcu.edu.au/tldinfo/writingskills/essay/sample.html,
12.12.2012
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