Mary Glasgow Magazines

I am still on maternity leave, but I am always on the lookout for internet resources the can come in handy when I return to the classroom. Earlier today, I received an e-mail notifying me about "Mary Glasgow Magazines". I guess the magazines themselves are familiar to many, but I have not come across the online resources before. On these pages you can find "English resources for teenagers. Grammar, speaking, pronunciation, listening, reading and writing activities in print, audio and video format." I will definitely check out these pages later on!

Bridget Jones's Diary

In 1996 Helen Fielding published her first novel about the "thirty-something career woman" Bridget Jones, and the book quickly became a bestseller among women. I remember that we all loved this novel, and that some of my friends even started writing e-mails in the style of Miss Jones. Quotes from the book were frequently used, and I guess we deep inside were all happy we were still "twenty-something" and not going to end up like Bridget Jones... Later on, the two films based on Fielding's novels have also come into my DVD collection, and I have seen them both numerous times. This morning while I was searching for a proper picture for my first blog post this year, I came across a reading guide for the novel from Penguin, and although I have never even considered using Bridget Jones's Diary in any of my classes, I must say I got some ideas from this reading guide. Perhaps it would be an idea to compare the novel to Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice, or study the two Mr Darcy's? Perhaps my students would not like it, but I am sure I would...



Picture from workingtitlesfilms.com

Pursuing the American Dream

“America was where all my mother's hopes lay. She had come here in 1949 after losing everything in China: her mother and father, her family home, her first husband, and two daughters, twin baby girls. But she never looked back with regret. There were so many ways for things to get better.” From Amy Tan, “Two Kinds”

We all know that the people living in the USA come from every corner of the world and that the US is a multicultural nation indeed. Still, what most of my student mention when they are to describe Americans is either extremely obese people, or wealthy white Americans living in mansions and having more money than most of us can ever dream of. This week, this image of the American people was challenged in class. Rather than putting the focus on the stereotypical American, we have had a look at various groups of immigrants in the USA. Concepts like the “melting pot” and “the salad bowl” have been central, and I have also made an attempt at making the students see that the American Dream is still alive today, even if its nature has changed since the term was first introduced.

As my starting point I have used resources from the NDLA, Nasjonal Digital Læringsarena. I found that they have several interesting factual texts on the topic, like this introductory text about immigration inthe USA. It is not too long, not too complicated, and the questions following the text can provide food for thought for all the students (at least all the students in my class). Further, I have used texts about Norwegian immigration to the USA and the “Melting Pot”. What I plan to do next week, is turn to the experience of different groups of immigrants in the US, and we will read Amy Tan’s story “Two Kinds”. This text can also be found on the NDLA pages along with a reading of the story and various tasks. I also plan on using some of the activities on this page as we read the story (thank you, Ann, for the tip on your blog!). I have not sorted everything out yet, so I will come back to more details and some lines about how things worked in the classroom later on. My hope, however, is that all these texts can help my students understand that the American Dream comes in different colours, and that the US society is way more complex than what the Hollywood movies can show us.

Regionalism, federalism, checks and balances

I have spent this morning planning tomorrow’s teaching, and as the title here suggests, our main focus in class will be on the USA. Ususally, the students come to class with a lot on their minds when we are dealing with the US, but my experience is that their knowledge about American politics and geography is not the best. This should not come as a surprise, but I believe most many teachers tend to forget that we have been just as ignorant at some point in life as our students are when we meet them in the classroom. I also believe we sometimes forget that one of the reasons we know quite a lot about certain topics, is because we have been interested in learning about them, not only because we were told to. I know for sure I was not all that into American politics either when I was 16.

Anyway, last week I gave all my students a small group assignment on regions in the US. My aim is for them all to know that the USA consists of 50 individual states (if someone can explain to me why so many Norwegians think there are 52 states, I would be happy to know, by the way…), and that there is a great variety from one region to the other when it comes to history, economy, attitudes, etc. As a point of departure, all the students were asked to read the text “America the beautiful”. Then each of the groups were given one specific region they were to present to the others. In the presentations I want all the groups to include information about

history

population

economy, business and industry

geography

famous cities and attractions

and I really hope they have managed to dig up information about all the five points, not just the last one.

After all the presentations, we will turn to politics. I have tried to find some resources on the internet that can help them understand the three branches of government and the system of checks and balances, and I also plan on giving them a short lecture on the topic. If the texts and my lecture are not enough, perhaps these short films can help out:

My entire lesson plan can be seen here.

Hemingway's "Soldier's Home"

So far this semester we have hardly read any literary texts at all in class apart from Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident, which the students have read more or less on their own. I therefore think it is about time we get around to some short stories. Every year we read at least one short story by Hemingway with the first year students, usually "Indian Camp" or "A Day's Wait". Of the two, I prefer the first one, but having used it in class for some years now I am ready for some change. My colleague Kjetil suggested "Soldier's Home" the other day. I remember spending hours studying this short story in school ages ago, and I cannot remember finding the story very interesting. However, my reading preferences have changed since the early 90's, so I decided to at least find some resources on the text. I did believe that there would be an ocean of pages for us to use out there, knowing for sure that Hemingway is still regarded as a "must" for students to read, but I was proven wrong. Yes, there are many pages on the internet dealing with Hemingway and this story, but most of those I visited were mediocre school papers analysing the theme and the characters, and not what I wanted at all. What will come in handy if we are to read this text, however, is the text itself, which I found on this page.


Photo from "Give me your hands if we be friends..."

A real American classic, Louisa May Alcott's "Little Women"

Far away there in the sunshine are my highest aspirations. I may not reach them, but I can look up and see their beauty, believe in them, and try to follow where they lead.

Louisa May Alcott

I have began preparing the reading list for the course in English culture and literature that I am to teach next year. I actually feel quite privileged doing this job; there are so many literary texts I just love, and now I can pick and choose more or less what I want. Tonight I have tried to search for information on Louisa May Alcott's Little Women, a novel I read many, many years ago, and a film that I have seen time and time again. I guess I am a bit soft hearted; I cried when I read the novel, and I cry every time I see the film...

On a page hosted by the University of Virginia, you can find the entire novel online along with other resources. Although I do believe books are to be read on paper, rather than on a computer, an online version may come in handy if students have problems getting hold of copies, have forgotten their books (yes, that happens in my school too!), if I only want to use an extract of the novel, etc. On a page from Yale - New Haven Teachers Institute they promise various activities which can help "21st century students appreciate Alcott and Little Women." Yes, please! Web English Teacher also has resources on the novel (and a whole lot of other texts), and online-literature.com has information on Alcott herself, resources on her works of literature, and also online versions of her texts.

I loved the novel when I read it, and I would have liked to read it with my students. On the other hand, it is an undeniable fact that this is a really girly book, and I am not sure it would appeal all that much to the boys in my class. Any comments?

It is such a joy being able to spend some time in front of the computer doing things I do not really have to do right now. The last few weeks have been so busy, but now it is time to do things for fun. I found this quote by Alcott on the internet tonight, and believe it illustrates quite well how I am feeling at the moment: "Now I am beginning to live a little and feel less like a sick oyster at low tide." Enjoy your night! Y

Sylvia Plath reading "Daddy"

I am one of those who neither liked nor understood poetry in school. My teachers could try their best to teach me about stanzas and metaphors, rhymes and symbols, I simply could not make any sense out of the words. During my years at the university, however, the doors to the world of poetry were opened to me.

At the moment, my brain has began thinking about the courses I am going to teach next year. One of the courses I will teach is English literature and culture, and in tonight's search for material on the internet, I found an interesting YouTube film. It is Sylvia Plath reading her own poem "Daddy", one of the poems I know I spent a lot of time reading and interpreting at the university. I guess this film can be used in class both as an introduction to the poem, if I decide to use it, and to show how the author herself intended the poem to be read.

Mississippi Burning

There is not much time for blogging these days; the much longed for summer vacation is just 21/2 weeks away, and there is so much to do before the end of term. It is almost time to start looking back at this school year and begin planning the next; I am really looking forward to making the reading lists for my courses next year, but I guess I have to wait at least one more week before I have the time to do so.

In this blog entry, however, I just want to write a couple of lines about one of my favorite films (I guess all the films I have mentioned here so far have been on my list of favorites...), Mississippi Burning from 1988. The first time I saw this movie I really did not want to believe that it is based on a true story. How can something like this happen in a country like the USA? Is it really possible that you cannot even trust the police?
I guess I have always been particularly interested in the US in the 1950's and 60's and in the Civil Rights Movement, and this is also a topic many of the students have some knowledge of, too. But reading about Rosa Parks, the March on Washington and Martin Luther King jr. hardly gives us enough information on what segregated USA was like. Perhaps this film does not give the true picture either, but in my opinion it is definitely worth watching when working on this period in American history. I have therefore listed some resources on the story under and hope they can be of some help when preparing how to use this film in the classroom.

• Mississippi murders revisited


• Mississippi burning trial account


• The "Mississippi Burning" Case


• On this day (from the BBC)
  

Resources to be trusted?

When working on a topic and searching on the internet for information, one page leads you to another, and almost by coincident you can come across many interesting sites and articles. But sometimes, I wonder about the quality of what I find on the web. This morning, I just very quickly needed to check the years of the Anglo-Irish War, and a google search led me to some BBC-pages on the Easter Rising of 1916 and the Irish War of Independence. The pages seem to be written according to the "Wikipedia principle". I would like to know more about these pages, as they promise to be "your guide to Life, the Universe and, well, Everything". Does anyone know anything more? Has anyone used these pages in their teaching, or maybe someone has actually written on of the articles? I would be happy to get some comments.

Photo: "Wired"