Teaching through Novels

I'm very excited about this!

During my student teaching, we used Blaine's new LICT books.  However, we engaged in many discussions about what other ways you could structure a class and curriculum.  We briefly discussed the advantages and manners by which you could a book-based curriculum.  I was intrigued, but there wasn't a lot I could do at the moment as I needed to focus on my current classes.

However, there has been a discussions recently in the MoreTPRS yahoo group about doing novel-based classes, and I am very excited about it!  Similar to how I am pulling structures from the LICT extended reading stories, I would take them from the novels themselves.  It may take a week or a few weeks to complete a chapter as we ask stories in class that circle the structures and vocabulary students need to know in order to comprehend what they are reading.  In addition, I would want to choose books with which I could integrate other activities for students to explore and describe themselves and the world around them.

For instance, a chapter about flying to another country in which a the character needs to make a passport could be accompanied by researching what is required to visit other countries and student predictions for what those countries may be like (culture), and asking stories that require many descriptive words about themselves (language).

A chapter about visiting a market would result in finding out about the culture surrounding open-air markets and the types of food and items available (culture) and asking stories about characters that visit the market (language).

Such activities and methods would build interest and set student up for success when reading the novels.  Moreover, reading an ongoing text further encourages accurate language acquisition.  The possibilities are endless, and there are many fantastic and level-appropriate novels to choose from by authors such as Blain Ray and Carol Gaab.  How exciting!  Let's read!