LIGHT UP YOUR CLASSES WITH A BIT OF LIT by Annabel Fernandez. ABSTRACT This article explores why literary texts should be used in the EFL classroom and explores its benefits. A methodological framework will be examined and a set of activities is presented. The set consists of five contemporary and authentic literary texts with activities designed for teenage and adult EFL students at an early to mid-intermediate level and includes: a short story, two extracts from novels and two poems. The author will finally suggest that using literature can be highly motivating for EFL students as well as a springboard for creative writing and personal enrichment. INTRODUCTION: Why use literature in EFL? Reading has a strong positive impact on second language development (Lao & Krashen 2000), especially free reading and students who report more free reading achieve higher levels of competence in second language acquisition. Literary works provide authentic components of language and if we direct classroom activities to the unconscious acquisition of language rather than the conscious learning of the rules (Krashen, 1997) we find in literature meaningful memorable contexts for processing and interpreting new language (Lazar, 1994). Literature can provide good opportunities for extensive and intensive reading. Also it is good for practicing reading subskills including skimming, scanning, and finding the main ideas. Reading in literature is a combination of reading for enjoyment and reading for information (Khatib, 2011a). It can be a source for language practise in the other skills as well: literature shows to set a good ground for creative activities for writing practice (Khatib, 2011a). For speaking purposes, the events in a poem, novel, or short story can be associated with the learners’ own experience in real life. Such a practice paves the way for hot topics for discussion in language classes. Having the students freely reflect on the events and having them critically comment is also facilitative for advancing speaking proficiency (Khatib, 2011a). For listening purposes, the learners can be exposed to the audio versions of the poems, short stories, or novels. Also the musical elements in poetry stimulate the learners’ desire for approximating their speaking patterns to the native speaker norms by adhering to the principles of rhythm, rhyme, and intonation. Students in the 21st century live in a digital age, dominated by ICT tools which provide immediate short-term gratification and in general do not demand sustained concentration. On the other hand, reading literary texts requires concentration over a period of time, hard work from the reader and considerable patience (Carter & Long, 1991). If as EFL teachers we are to engage our digital age students in reading and enjoying literature we may as well use ICT tools to our advantage and present literary texts broadcast on YouTube, poems accessed through websites (Sivaplan, 2009) like the Poetry Archive (www.poetryarchive.org) or 1 short-stories presented on computer game video clip format. Many of these activities show that poetry, or literature at large, can be a collaborative medium which can be co-authored, slammed, recorded or filmed by makers working together in the same real or virtual space (Dymoke & Hughes, 2009). The use of literature can also inspire students to take risks with the target language, enrich their vision, fostering critical thinking, stimulating their creativity and promote their greater cultural tolerance and sensitivity (Wen Su, 2010). As literature abounds in imaginative language it provides students with a context to engage emotionally with the language and nourish their capacity for imaginative and expressive use of language by giving them agency and voice (Sivasubramaniam, 2006). METHODOLOGICAL APPROACHES TO USING LITERATURE IN THE EFL It is essential for teachers to choose an approach to help us develop our own classroom materials and for using these materials in a way that is relevant to our students (Lazar, 1993). The three main approaches to teaching literature (Carter & Long, 1991) differ in terms of their focus on the text. The first approach regards the text as a cultural artefact; in the second the text is used as a focus for grammatical and structural analysis and for the third approach the text is the stimulus for personal growth activities (Khahib, 2011b). 1- THE CULTURAL MODEL This model represents the traditional approach to teaching literature, it requires learners to explore and interpret the social, literary and historical context of a specific text. It is teacher centred and has been largely rejected by TEFL. (Carter & Long, 1991). 2- THE LANGUAGE MODEL This is the most common approach to literature in the TEFL enables the learners to access a text in a systematic and methodical way in order to exemplify specific linguistic features (Carter & Long, 1991). This approach lends itself well to the repertoire of strategies used in language teaching-cloze procedure, prediction exercises. (Savvidou, 2004). 3. THE PERSONAL GROWTH MODEL It focuses on the particular use of language in a text and placing it in a specific cultural context. Students are encouraged to express their opinions and feelings to make connections between their own personal and cultural experiences and those in the text. Learners are encouraged to express their opinions, feelings and make connections between their personal experiences and those expressed in the text (Savvidou, 2004). 4. AN INTEGRATED APPROACH 2 These models are necessarily abstractions and ideal types but in reality there is a greater overlap between the models and this is what I aim to do here, to advocate for an approach that integrates the three models. An integrated approach stresses that literature in a EFL classroom can make the learning experience much more enjoyable and stimulating than classroom instruction that requires mere acquisition of the linguistic component of the text (Savvidou, 2004). This approach therefore contributes to students’ personal development and it enhances their cultural awareness and develops their language skills. Students are encouraged to articulated their thoughts and feelings on texts and explore why they responded as they did. As Gillian Lazar (Lazar, 1999) explains: “By exposing students to the rich language of the text, we can expand their language awareness, their overall knowledge of how words and grammar can be used. By presenting students with the complex themes in the literary text we can motivate them to reflect imaginatively on their own experience and on that of writers in different societies. By gently encouraging them to make their own interpretations of a text, we can develop their confidence in forming well-reasoned interpretations of the language that they read and hear” LITERATURE AS A RESOURCE: A SET OF ACTIVITIES: The EFL set I have prepared consists of a collection of activities that revolve around 5 authentic contemporary literary texts: including 2 poems, 2 excerpts from novels and 1 short story. My choice was less concerned with evaluating the “aesthetic merits of texts” and view literature with a small “l” rather than with a capital “L” (McRae, 1991). Therefore I chose texts that can be stimulating for students and that can be read between the lines. I also bore in mind the language difficulty factor because access is restricted if students cannot attain a basic level of comprehension and as a general rule it is better to choose texts which are not too far beyond their normal reading comprehension (Carter & Long, 1991). Another key factor for my choice of texts was access on an experiential level, that is, students need to be able to identify with the experiences, thoughts and situations depicted in the text to be able to discover the kind of pleasure and enjoyment that comes from making the text their own knowledge of themselves and of the world that they inhabit. The themes of the texts chosen are: love and loss, sadness over a deprived childhood, racial, sexual and aesthetical discrimination, everyday pleasures and dreams. The extracts from novels are both letters, one is from “Angela’s Ashes” by Frank McCourt and the other one from “Eat, Pray, Love” by Elizabeth Gilbert both novels have been made into films. Students enjoy watching a film and it is more likely for them to have seen the film version of a book than it is for them to have read the text so it is engaging and motivating to appeal to texts they have had access to outside the EFL classroom. If the text is difficult students may find than the film is a superb way in, (Carter & Long, 1991), however in the activities I have designed case I have just used the film trailers a lead-in activity into the text. 3 However here the film trailers are used as an aid in language teaching but I do not dispense with the text but supplement the study of the printed version. I also use two captions of the film “Pretty Woman” to make students think on a deeper level of the narrative voice of Grace Nichols’ poem “The Fat Black Woman goes shopping” and to foster group discussion. Listening to a recording or watching a video clip of a literary work may certainly be stimulating for some students and I have used Dorothea Grossman’s reading of her own poem “Future Past” and a film that illustrates Dan Rhodes’ short story “Toy”. Though watching and listening can be a passive process, (Carter & Long, 1991), reading a literary work is certainly not passive, and though reading literature may be harder it is part of the learning process and, hopefully, a pleasure. However in this process of discovery the audio and video feature of the literary texts help me to capture students attention and interest and then allows me to move on to work on the literary texts. This set of activities is designed to be used with teenage and adult EFL in 2nd and 3rd level at EOIs, so at a pre-intermediate to intermediate level. There is practice for the four skills and for what John McRae calls the fifth skill: thinking. Following Lazar guidelines (Lazar, 1999) I have prepared different type of activities and for every text and there are: 1) 2) 3) 4) 5) 6) Warm-up activities Vocabulary activities Comprehension activities, Activities concerning the language of the text Activities to encourage inference and interpretation Activities to encourage creative writing The questions posed are aimed at different levels of understanding of the texts, and they range from low-order to high-order and they try to help students work out for themselves what the texts mean. There are language-based vocabulary activities to help them deal with texts and encourage them to find the meaning of words from context. On the one hand there are factual reading comprehension activities that focus on the factual meaning of the text and on the other hand there are activities concerning the language of the text which focus on the linguistic and literary qualities of the text: unusual uses of collocation, binary oppositions, figurative language, rhyme and style….There are activities designed to encourage inference and interpretation, to make students reflect on their own experiences in connection with the texts. Finally creative response activities are designed to encourage students to take risks and play with the language creatively and imaginatively (McRae, 1991) either speaking or writing. If we regard creative writing as the production of texts which have an aesthetic rather than a purely informative, instrumental or pragmatic purpose (Maley,2009). One of the main feature of creative writing texts “is a playful engagement with language, stretching and testing its rules to the limit in a guilt-free atmosphere, where risk is encouraged” (Maley, 2009). Creative writing puts the emphasis on the right side of the brain, with a focus on feelings, physical sensations, intuition and musicality which is a healthy restoration of the balance between logical and intuitive faculties (Maley, 2009) and 4 it increases students’ self-confidence and self-esteem because they discover things for themselves about the language and about themselves too (Maley, 2009). In a nutshell, these activities are designed to help students discover the kind of pleasure and enjoyment which comes from making a text their own and to create conditions under which students can develop genuine response to literary texts. As Elliott (Elliott, 1999) points out “My feeling is that literature can only be understood if the student develops literary competence. The exact nature of this competence is hard to define but it must intricately involved with reader’s response.” WRAPPING IT UP: A conclusion. After working with my students with this set of activities I can conclude that literature provides a motivating drive for language learning and teaching due to its spectacular features not readily found in any other texts (Khabib, 2011a). Literature as an EFL resource is a priceless pedagogic tool and the more it is used in ELT the more students will be able to acquire literary competence, use their critical skills, grow personally and gain both systematic knowledge of the language and meanings interpreted. Furthermore it develops EFL students’ motivation in learning English and in reading literature and it enhances the enjoyment of reading in English. Students showed deep personal involvement with the texts, engaging imaginatively with literature and shifting the focus of their attention beyond the more mechanical aspects of the foreign language system and interpretations (Sivasubramaniam, 2006). The creative writing texts I corrected were rich, interesting and genuinely enjoyable to read possibly the best pieces of writing I have ever come across. As EFL teachers we can use our particular stage to promote interest on reading and literature and its wealth, in the belief that literature provides language learners with highly motivational material of an incomparably rich nature (Elliot 1990). Probably the key to success in using literature in the EFL classroom depends on the works selected and in working in “a communicative and interactive way which involve students experiencing language, playing with language, analysing language, responding to language and enjoying language” (O’Sullivan, 1991). Last but not least, another key component which underlies students’ successful engagement with the literature in EFL is teachers’ enthusiasm for it and their ability to convey this enthusiasm to students and to help them respond with the same enjoyment and pleasure. Motivated teachers can be highly motivating for their students. Furthermore I believe that we as teachers should engage with extensive and intensive reading ourselves and in the same spirit in creative writing , (Maley, 2009),. The benefits of teachers participating in creative writing are remarkable: it keeps our English fresh and vibrant and it has an effect on the writer’s level of energy in general (Maley, 2009) and this inevitably impacts on our relationships with students. I think it is worth embarking on this journey that is rewarded with motivated and therefore motivating teachers, motivating classes and motivated students. 5 BIBLIOGRAPHY Akyel, A., & Yalcdin, E. (1990). Literature in the EFL classes: A study of goal achievement incongruence. ELT Journal, 44. Carter, Ronald & Long, Michael. (1991). Teaching Literature, Longman. Duff, Alan and Alan Maley. (1990). Literature, Oxford University Press. Dymoke, Sue & Hughes, Janette (2009). Using a poetry wiki: How can the medium support pre-service teachers of English in their professional learning about writing poetry and teaching poetry writing in a digital age?. English Teaching: Practice and Critique December, 2009, Volume 8, Number 3 Elliott, Roger. (1990). Encouraging reader-response to literature in ESL situations, ELT Journal. Hae-Ri Kim. (2003). Literature circles in EFL curricula: Establishing a framework. The English Teacher. XXXII, 1-15 Khatib, M., Rezaei, S., Derakhshan, A. (2011a). Literature in EFL/ESL Classroom. English Language Teaching Journal 4(1) Khatib, M., Rezaei, S., Derakhshan, A. (2011b). Why & Why Not Literature: A TaskBased Approach to Teaching Literature. International Journal of English Linguistics 1 (1) Krashen, Stephen. D. (1982). Principles and practice in second language acquisition. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Krashen, Stephen. D. (1985). The input hypothesis: Issues and implications. Harlow: Longman. Lazar, Gillian. (1993). Literature and Language Teaching: A Guide for Teachers and Trainers, Cambridge Teacher Training and Development. Lazar, Gillian. (1994). Using literature at lower levels. ELTJournal,48(2), Lazar, Gillian. (1999). A window on literature, Cambridge University Press. Maley, Alan. (2009). Creative Writing for language learners and teachers, British Council. http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/think/articles/creative-writinglanguage-learners-teachers. Mason, B. & Krashen, S. (1997). Extensive reading in English as a foreign language. System, 25(1), 91-102. 6 McRae, J. (1991). Literature with a small ‘l’. London: Macmillan. McRae, John.(1999) Now Read on. London: Routledge. O’Sullivan, Radhika. (1991). Literature in the Language Classroom, The English Teacher Vol XX October. Savvidou, Christine. (2004) An Integrated Approach to Teaching Literature in the EFL Classroom, The Internet TESL Journal. Shanahan, D. (1997). Articulating the relationship between language and culture: Toward a new agenda for foreign language teaching and research. The Modern Language Journal, 81(11). Sivapalan, Subarna and Wan Ahmad , Wan Fatimah and Ishak, Nur Khairun Nisya (2009) A web-based multimedia approach to literature in Malaysian Secondary Schools: Design and learning preferences. In: 18TH Melta International Conference, June 11-13, 2009, Johor Bahru Sivasubramaniam, Sivakumar. (2006). Promoting the Prevalence of Literature in the Practice of Foreign and Second Language Education: Issues and Insights Asian EFL Journal, Volume 8, Number 4 254. Wen Su, Shao. (2010). Motivating and Justifiable: Teaching Western Literature to EFL Students at a University of Science and Technology. TESL-EJ, 14.1. 7 ANGELA’S ASHES by Frank McCourt WARMING UP What school did you use to go to as a child? Did you have Religious Education as a subject? Were you baptized? Did you learn the Catechism? Did you do the Communion and Confirmation? What kind of written assignments were you given at school? Did you enjoy them? What did you like writing about best? Where did you grow up? What was the weather like? ABOUT THE BOOK Angela's Ashes is Frank McCourt's autobiographical novel told from his own point-of-view as a child. Because of this perspective, the novel is often as funny as it is tragic. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pzAyZygyfjo VOCABULARY Match the words with their definitions below: 1. 2. 3. 4. Manna Fists Consumption Damp A) a hand with the fingers and thumb held tightly in B) slightly wet, especially in a way that is not pleasant or comfortable C) (in the Bible) a food which dropped from heaven and prevented Moses and his people from dying of hunger in the desert D) old-fashioned for tuberculosis 8 READING AN EXTRACT JESUS AND THE WEATHER This is my composition. I don't think Jesus Who is Our Lord would have liked the weather in Limerick because it's always raining and the Shannon keeps the whole city damp. My father says the Shannon is a killer river because it killed my two brothers. When you look at pictures of Jesus He's always wandering around ancient Israel in a sheet. It never rains there and you never hear of anyone coughing or getting consumption or anything like that and no one has a job there because all they do is stand around and eat manna and shake their fists and go to crucifixions. Anytime Jesus got hungry all He had to do was go up the road to a fig tree or an orange tree and have His fill. If He wanted a pint He could wave His hand over a big glass and there was the pint. Or He could visit Mary Magdalene and her sister, Martha, and they'd give Him His dinner no questions asked and He'd get his feet washed and dried with Mary Magdalene's hair while Martha washed the dishes, which I don't think is fair. Why should she have to wash the dishes while her sister sits out there chatting away with Our Lord? It's a good thing Jesus decided to be born Jewish in that warm place because if he was born in Limerick he'd catch the consumption and be dead in a month and there wouldn't be any Catholic Church and there wouldn't be any Communion or Confirmation and we wouldn't have to learn the catechism and write compositions about Him. The End. READING COMPREHENSION EXERCISES 1. In the text there is a clear contrast between life in Ancient Israel and life in Limerick in the 1940s. Classify the words used to describe each place: LIMERICK ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ 9 ANCIENT ISRAEL ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ ___________________ 2. What are the connotations linked to each place? 3. What has the writer chosen to focus on and why? 4. What is the relationship of character to place? 5. What does the extract suggest about the story? 6. Write your own composition from the perspective of an eight-year-old explaining how your childhood was affected by the place and the time you were brought up in. Make it as humorous as you can. 10 “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping” by Grace Nichols Shopping in London winter is a real drag for the fat black woman going from store to store in search of accommodating clothes and the weather so cold Look at the frozen thin mannequins fixing her with grin and the pretty face salesgals exchanging slimming glances thinking she don’t notice Lord is aggravating Nothing soft and bright and billowing to flow like breezy sunlight when she walking The fat black woman curses in Swahili/Yoruba and nation language under her breathing all this journeying and journeying The fat black woman could only conclude that when it come to fashion the choice is lean Nothing much beyond size 14 “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping” by Grace Nichols WARM UP ACTIVITY STUDENT B • When was the last time you went shopping for clothes? • What did you buy? • Did you try it on? Was it the right size? • Was the shop assistant helpful? Why/not? • Do you enjoy shopping for clothes? Why/not? READING ACTIIVTY Jigsaw reading. Your partner has the first half of the poem and you have the second one. Explain to each other in your own words what the text is about. 11 Shopping in London winter is a real drag for the fat black woman going from store to store in search of accommodating clothes and de weather so cold Look at the frozen thin mannequins fixing her with grin and de pretty face salesgals exchanging slimming glances thinking she don’t notice Lord is aggravating GRACE NICHOLS SPEAKING Ask each other questions about their picture to find similarities and differences between both pictures. 12 “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping” by Grace Nichols WARM UP ACTIVITY STUDENT A • When was the last time you went shopping for clothes? • What did you buy? • Did you try it on? Was it the right size? • Was the shop assistant helpful? Why/not? • Do you enjoy shopping for clothes? Why/not? READING ACTIVITY Jigsaw reading. Your partner has the first half of the poem and you have the second one. Explain to each other in your own words what the text is about. Nothing soft and bright and billowing to flow like breezy sunlight when she walking The fat black woman curses in Swahili/Yoruba and nation language under her breathing all this journeying and journeying The fat black woman could only conclude that when it come to fashion the choice is lean Nothing much beyond size 14 GRACE NICHOLS SPEAKING Ask each other questions about their picture to find similarities and differences between both pictures. 13 “The Fat Black Woman Goes Shopping” by Grace Nichols READING ACTIVITIES 2. In the poem there is a clear contrast between Britain and British women and the Fat Black Woman and her country of origin. Classify words that are connected to each of these ideas: BRITAIN ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ BLACK WOMAN ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ BRITISH WOMEN ______________________ ______________________ ______________________ BLACK WOMAN’S COUNTRY ________________________ ________________________ ________________________ 3. In the poem you will find examples of “Patwa” English, an English-lexified creole language with West African influences spoken primarily in Jamaica. Write down a few examples. 4. Yoruba and Swahili are spoken in the countries coloured in yellow in the maps below. Do you think the Fat Black Woman is from any of those countries? Who may think so, and why? 14 5. Does the fat black woman enjoy shopping? Find evidence in the text that backs up your answer. 6. Student A watches a clip and describes what he/she sees to Student B. Now swap Student B watches another clip and describes it. Together find the differences and similarities between both clips. CLIP 1:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ed7C3gAXQNA&feature=related CLIP 2:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tTtVVHg41kU&feature=related 7. Do you think the Fat Black woman’s shopping experience in London would have been different if she were: a) Slim and pretty a) A rich black woman b) A black man b) A White woman In pairs discuss how and why. 6. What do you think are the implications of the line “Lord is aggravating”? Who is he aggravating with and why? 7. In the book “The Beauty Myth” Naomi Wolf (b.1962) states that Contemporary standards of feminine beauty have devolved to a point that can only be described as anorexic, and America’s young women are paying the price through a near epidemic of bulimia and anorexia. The most effective way to combat this epidemic, Wolf argues, is to show how what we call “beautiful” is a cultural myth that has been framed for certain purposesessentially, Wolf believes, to keep women under control by imprisoning them in their bodies. Do you agree or disagree with her views? 8. Do you feel beauty is an important asset in our society? Have you ever been discriminated against for not being “beautiful” enough? Do you know anybody who has experienced it? Do you know anybody who suffers from any eating disorders? How long have they been in this situation? What do you think are the roots of this growing social epidemic? 15 FUTURE PAST by Dorothea Grossman PRE-READING TASKS 1) This is the first line of a poem by contemporary American write Dorothea Grossman, how would you finish this sentence yourself? If I had stayed asleep I would have missed …………………………………………………..………….……………………………………………………. 2) Did you write something ordinary or extraordinary? Ask around and found out what other people in class answered and write down the two you like the most. If _________ had stayed asleep he/she would have missed …………………………………………………..………….……………………………………………………. If _________ had stayed asleep he/she would have missed ……………………………………………………………...……………………………………………………. If _________ had stayed asleep he/she would have missed ………….……………………………………………………………………………………………………..…. 3) The line can be read as an invitation to become aware of what is really important in life or just finding pleasure in simple, everyday acts. Complete the second line of the poem with basic ordinary things that you find enjoyable to do: The fun of ………………………………………………………………………………………………. The fun of ………………………………………………………………………………………………. The fun of ………………………………………………………………………………………………. 16 WHILE READING Now have a listen to the poem and complete the gaps with one of the words provided below: http://www.poetryfoundation.org/journal/audioitem.html?id=2174 From min 4:33 to 4:45 Dreams English satisfaction speaking If I had stayed asleep I would have missed the fun of _____________ ______________ The quiet ______________ of appointments kept The way ____________ change when you try to describe them Dorothea Grossman AFTER READING 1. Where you surprised by the poet’s choice? Is speaking English good fun to you? Why/not? 2. Do you usually describe your dreams? Why/not? If you do, who do you describe your dreams? Is it an easy thing to do? 3. Do you think the attempt to describe a dream changes or spoils it? Why/not? 17 “Toy” by Dan Rhodes Dan Rhodes was born in England in 1972 and he has published two collections of short fiction: Anthropology: And a Hundred Other Stories (2000), which contains very short stories about WARM UP: Do you like playing computer games? Do you have a Nintendo, a Wii or a PSP? Which are your favourite games? Do you usually play computer games by yourself? With friends, family, boyfriends or girlfriends? How often do you play computer games? When do you play them? THE FILM Now you are going to watch a film which illustrates a short story by Dan Rhodes in a Grafik Magazine DVD – 'Sound and Vision'. http://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=toys+dan+rhodes &aq=f 18 LISTENING COMPREHENSION 1. What is the story about? 2. Is it a happy or sad one? Why? 3. What games does the narrator play in the story? 4. How does the narrator feel at the end of the story? 5. Now listen again and fill in the gaps below with the missing words: “On the last day of our relationship my girlfriend brought toys. I had no idea our ______________ had ended and was ______________ to join her in a Connect 4 contest. “It’s over” she told me, halfway through the game. “What’s over?” I asked, happy to be having so much fun. “You and me” she replied ______________ Connect 4 and AstroWars. “I don’t want to see you anymore”. I tried to see how much she was scoring but was ______________ by tears. I knew the game just by listening I could tell she was doing very well.” 6. There are many positive adjectives in the text to describe how the narrator is feeling while playing the computer game, write them down: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ 7. Is this the end of a happy relationship or of a failing one? _____________________________________________________________________________________________ 8. CREATIVE WRITING: Now you write a 101 word story about love starting On the last day of my relationship… 19 Eat, pray, love by Elizabeth Gilbert PRE-READING ACTIVITY In this autobiographical book Elizabeth Gilbert explains her travels to Italy, India, and Indonesia after a traumatic divorce and a crushing depression resulting in panic, confusion, and weight loss. This is the story of her travels and explorations of three different cultures, in an effort to find balance in her life again. The book has been adapted into a film. Watch the trailer to get a gist of what the story is about. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjay5vgIwt4 DISCUSS IN PAIRS 1. What was Elizabeth experiencing before she set off on her journey? 2. How would you describe Elizabeth’s personality? 3. Have you ever had such a major life crisis? What started it? How did you get over it? 4. Do you know anybody who is going through a similar experience right now? Dear God. Please intervene and help end this divorce. My husband and I have failed at our marriage and now we are failing at our divorce. This poisonous process is bringing suffering to us and to everyone who cares about us. I recognize that you are busy with wars and tragedies and much larger conflicts than the ongoing dispute of one dysfunctional couple. But it is my understanding that the health of the planet is affected by the health of every individual on it. As long as even two souls are locked in conflict, the whole of the world is contaminated by it. Similarly, if even one or two souls can be free from discord, this will increase the general health of the whole world, the way a few healthy cells in a body can increase the general health of that body. It is my most humble request, then, that you help us end this conflict, so that two more people can have the chance to become free and healthy, and so there will be just a little bit less animosity and bitterness in a world that is already far too troubled by suffering. I thank you for your kind attention. Respectfully, Elizabeth M. Gilbert 20 READING COMPREHENSION ACTIVITIES 5. What is the purpose of addressing her letter to God? What is her “humble request”? 6. What does she think are the main things God should be dealing with? VOCABULARY EXERCISES: A) Match the following words which are used to describe her divorce with their definitions: 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. Animosity Bitterness Suffering Poisonous Failing A) when you experience physical or mental pain B) very unpleasant and hurtful C) an unpleasantly sharp taste D) strong dislike, opposition, or anger E) a fault or weakness B) In the text we find two parallels: one between wars in the World and the narrator’s messy divorce and the other between a human body and our planet, classify the words which are used to each category: discord dysfunctional healthy soul troubled free dispute WARS / A DIFFICULT DIVORCE A CONFLICT-FREE BODY / PLANET CREATIVE WRITING 1. Write a letter to your divinity expressing the things you wish for. 21 Biodata Annabel Fernandez has been an EFL teacher for 14 years. She has taught EFL in private language schools, state secondary schools and for the last seven years in Escoles Oficials d’Idiomes. She holds a BA in Sociology of Education from Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona and spent a year in the University of East London where she took Literature and Gender Studies subjects as part of her degree. Her main field of interest is innovative ways of using literature in the teaching of EFL. 22