Here's a question for you! How do you put off a teenager from reading for life? That's it! Make them read an already mind-numbing text, analyse ambiguous concepts to such a tenuous link it's non-sensical and get them to write a bloody big essay on it!
Surely the principal of English teaching - especially literature - should be to encourage people to engage with books and different types of texts? The method of teaching I've encountered so far is so exam-driven that the principal point of the subject is lost and, indeed, does the complete opposite!
It needs a complete overhaul. It shouldn't be forcing a certain text upon an individual who's tastes might lie in something else - whether it be forcing a novel on a poem fan or the contrary. It could be argued that other subjects, such as history or maths, force topics upon people - but English isn't the same. It's about understanding texts, being excited by texts and above all enjoying them! All of that will conspire to the student being able to craft and analyse the language!
Surely that's what it's about?
Thursday, 23 September 2010
Wednesday, 22 September 2010
It's been long...
Far too long. A mixture of College and other things has supplied enough entertainment for me to be distracted enough to not write - well, anything. It's a shame, but surely everyone must go through periods where they just can't write and if they try, they see it as useless and screw it up, adding it to the ever-growing pile of half-filled pieces of paper in the bin?
I've been reading George Orwell's collection of 'essays' recently. It's a 1369 page book containing all of his 'non-novel' writings starting from 1928 and covers things from reviews to social commentaries. I've read quite a few all on different subjects and I wonder - how can someone from over 80 years ago entertain someone like me with a topic about a cheap newspaper and not only that, but leave me smiling at the end?
That does make me feel bad. If he can do that (and he's not really seen as one of the greats) then surely I should be able to produce something worth while? I sit down and try to fashion something and fail again and again, thinking back to that essay on a bloody farthing newspaper and trying, in an exercise, to replicate that. But I can't!
I've been reading George Orwell's collection of 'essays' recently. It's a 1369 page book containing all of his 'non-novel' writings starting from 1928 and covers things from reviews to social commentaries. I've read quite a few all on different subjects and I wonder - how can someone from over 80 years ago entertain someone like me with a topic about a cheap newspaper and not only that, but leave me smiling at the end?
That does make me feel bad. If he can do that (and he's not really seen as one of the greats) then surely I should be able to produce something worth while? I sit down and try to fashion something and fail again and again, thinking back to that essay on a bloody farthing newspaper and trying, in an exercise, to replicate that. But I can't!
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