SO, WHO IS AFRAID OF LITERATURE?

Today many school teachers try to avoid literature inside their classes. Maybe, it is because the word literature itself sounds too difficult. But, the truth is that literature is present in our day to day life. It is present in some written extract, in the newspaper, in text books, in reading comprehension activities, etc. Moreover, when we have to write a paper, when we invent a tale as a homework at school, when we are in love and we write a love letter, we are creating literature. So, why people is afraid of it?. However, from my point of view, every subject at school must intergrate literature inside its activities, in order to create a close relationship between literature and students.

First, we have to know what literature means. The spanish encyclopaedia, Concisa Sopena, report, “Literature is the fulfilment of the beauty through words, every human act that needs to be express.” In this way, we can realise that literature is very close to us. The first step to teach about literature inside our classrooms is that literature is not something complicated or something that it must be learn by hard. It is something that must be understand as a way of expression.

Also, Literature give us a big opportunity to expand our point of view and share a set of believes with the world around us. It is because literature is exclusively related to human beings. It means that we as humans need to express and share thoughts and feelings because we are social animals. That’s why Through a book a person can find solutions or ways of understanding in a better way our world. And, if we think deeply thanks literature we can understand the history and the different changes of the humanity. For that reason, I think it is important to create a close relationship between literature and students. Because, literature share differents identities and at the same time this identities helps to create complete students. Complete students who are going to know who they really are.

On the other hand, during my working experiences in public schools I realise that English teachers avoid to teach literature. They also, avoid to teach students about famous writers. For example, none of my mentor teachers talks about a William Shakespeare or Chaucer inside their classes. Once, I asked why she can no teach through little paragraphs of a Shakespeare’s book past sentences, she said that her students were not in an advanced level and they were not interested about it. This makes me think how students about fourteen, fifteen years old could not be interested about a love story as Romeo and Juliet, as an example, and at the same time learn past sentences and new vocabulary. But, if I don’t create challenges activities to my students, they are going to be always in a begining level. Maybe, nowadays teachers are afraid of literature not his or her students.

If English teachers were not afraid of literature they could create very nice activities. As I said before, a teacher can teach past simple sentences with a “catching” fragment of Romeo and Juliet then, ask students what they feel or what they think about the reading activity in order to share opinions and learn how to comunicate deep ideas in English. With this prototype of activity, some pessimistic people could say me: your students have a beginig level, they can not express their thoughts in English! But, If I remember when I started the university my English proficiency was lower than begining. So, everybody should take the risk of learn English.. Moreover, if they are my students and they do not have more space that my class to learn another language. Another way to use the literature inside the classroom is make students read biographies about famous writers. If we think, when students are adolescents they are creating their identity. So, if we give them biographies to read, they could find something interesting inside the story. For example, a similar story of life, same values or the same way of thinking. In this way they are going to feel a conexion with this writer and they are going to feel the necessity of read one of his or her books in the future. In this way teacher are going to stimulate the intrinsic motivation to learn of their students. Talking about English goals related with the planification, teachers are going to develop reading skills and writing skills if they want to know what students learned with the reading.

To conclude, this semester I realise that literature is an important aspect of our life. I realise that we can learn more reading and then making the conexion with what is happening know. But, to do it is necessary to have a guide teacher inside the classroom, not a dictator. Also, the interaction among students and the interaction with the teacher allow us to expand our mind, our way of thinking. Personally, I always enjoyed reading and writing but I never thought that my students needed to do the same. It is on my hands to transmit the importance of literature inside the classroom and inside my students life. The word literature itself sounds too dificult as I said above but my aim being a teacher is transmit the real relationship between literature and the main events of our history. In this way I’m not going to transmit that literature is an exclusive way of communication only for smart people. Literature is for everyone. I’m glad to discover that I’m not one of those teachers who are afraid of literature.