Let’s face first the reality by saying that many school teachers are afraid of literature. For that reason, they will find difficult to teach every piece of literature. In this case, with this particular set of poems we can really say: yes, this poems are difficult to teach. However, we as English teachers must promote good literature to make students think and formulate questions. Also, with this kind of poems some pesimistic people may claim that since students have such a low language level they can not express their thoughts in English. But, if we do not create challenging activities, students are going to be always in a beggining level. The “Waste Land” written by T.S Eliot is just the tittle of a set of independent poems. Here, particular attention is focused on “the burial of the death”, the first poem of the Waste Land and its possible application to EFL classroom.
First of all, I’m going to recognize again that the Burial of the dead is a very complex poem. For someone who is reading the poem for the first time this first part of the Waste Land can be read as a simple monologue. A very confusing one. The truth is that there are four speaker and they are telling a story by order. These four speakers in this section are with a special fervour in their need to speak, to find someone who really wants to listen them. But they do not find a correct audience. In addition they are surrounded only by dead people because of the war. The sections where each speaker is expressing what he or she feels are so short and the situations are very confusing, the effect is not one of an overwhelming impression of just one single character; instead, the reader is left with the feeling of being trapped in a crowd, unable to find a familiar speaker. The burial of the dead is like a puzzle for the reader with different fragments that must somehow be pieced together to form a coherente poem. I must say that the
main idea of this poem is the common feeling of different people about two issues that are mentioned in the title; the burial and the dead. And, why these topics are of interest for the writer?. The reason why these topics are of interest for rthe writer is because of the context in wich the writer was inmerse. The first world war awas taking place in England. So, this writer wanted to express his point of view about this historical problem.
A second notion that may play an important role in the “Burial of the dead” is the applicability that this poem can have inside the classroom. Being realistic, I think that is not necessary show them and make them read the whole poem. They are not going to understant it. - It was difficult for us, students from fourth year of English pedagogy- but, if the teacher is capable to introduce the whole story and catch students attention they will be able to read thanks to their interest. A teacher can do very interesting activities with his or her students thanks this poem. For example, in one class the teacher could introduce students the “Burial of the dead” creating a discussion based on one single question: what would you express if you were a writer in the world war I?. In this way, and with the guide of the teacher students will practise their oral skills and learn new vocabulary. In the following class the teacher can perform as if he or she is T.S Eliot and tell to the class important elements of this poem. Maybe, learn by heart little details about the poem because details catch inmediately the attention of the students. During this performance the teacher could ask students to make notes in order to share them with the rest of the class. If this notes are in English can be better!. In the third session and to conlude this activity with students the teacher could bring to the class different quotations and ask students to pick one and express waht does she or he feels about it. As you can see with three sessions your students will know about T.S Eliot, The Waste Land and specifically about one poem named “The burial of the dead”.
The third point that I consider is very important in order to promote meaningful learning is how we can relate this poem to students life?. I think that is not necessary that we relate this poem to students life. Students will relate this poem to their own realities. The burial of the dead points out very human feelings with the help of four different points of view. Making them think deeply about one quotation and asking them what would you do or what do you think about it will inmediately be meaningful learning. Also, if you as a teacher are just a guide of their process they will find the appropiate way to discover the meaning of a word, to create different possibilities of ending the story, will choose with the help of whom they are going to work and so on. I believe that students need to be independent learners. To reach that goal is necessary to offer them all the help that they need but without impose them the way of working or the way to find appropiate solution of their questions. Just offer them different alternatives.
On the whole, I think that “The burial of the dead” is a very difficult poem to teach. But, students need challenging activities. In one hand if the teacher is not interested on teach this kind of literature he or she will lose a very funny way to learn English. On the other hand, those who do not think that teaching the waste land is a waste of time will have a very good time listening what their student think about the literature that you as a university student saw in the past. As I said in other paper time ago, I’m not one of those teachers who are afraid of literature. For that reason I hope to bring new ways of learning English, in a non convensional way, to the classroom.
Bibliography
· Joanne Collie, Stephen Slater. “literature in the language classroom: a resource book of ideas and activities”. Cambridge University Press, 1987.
· http://teacheng.us/?p=73# comment-7603.
· http://www.sparknotes.com/poetry/eliot/section2.rhtml
