As I have mentioned in previous blog entries, I really love reading. When I got the chance to teach a cross cultural reading class, I was pretty excited. One of the projects that I knew I wanted to include in this course was a book talk. I wanted this project for two reasons. The first reason is that it would further expose my students to western literature as well as English. My second motive was for having the opportunity to speak with them one-to-one about their reading and this course.
I told my students that I did not care what they read so long as it was written in English (meaning they could not go find the Chinese version of this text), it was written by an author from an English-Speaking country, and it was not either Twilight or Harry Potter. The final reason was simply because the popularity of both those series made reading the books unnecessary; they could just say they read them, and be more than familiar with the plot from either having seen the movies, having read the Chinese version previously. And I did not want to sit through 25 book talks about Bella and Edward. I also encouraged my students to read contemporary books, as opposed to the classics for two reasons. One, the classics tend to be boring. I am not saying they are not worth the read, if you've got the time and stamina, but they do tend to be somewhat dry. The second reason is that the language in many of the classics is difficult to get through; from syntax, sentence structure, and vocabulary. Remember, these are second language learners; I did not want them get frustrated or be disappointed with their selection simply because the book's language was too complex.
I included this assignment in the syllabus:
You will have an independent project: Book Talk. You can choose any book you want, so long as it is written in English, and you will read this book. You will then meet with me at a separate time to have a conversation about this book and how it relates to our theme of identity. I want you to think of these questions as you are reading this book. Which character do you identify with? Why? Who is this character? How did they get their identity? What has made them into the person they are? I will ask you further questions about this character in our meeting. I will have meetings once a month on. We will sign up for these meetings on our 2nd class.
I did not go into a great deal of detail on the first day of class about this assignment, as I had a lot to get through, with the syllabus and getting underway with the content of the class. On the second class, I went into detail on this assignment and asked my students to sign up for a date for the book talk. The earliest possible book talk wasn't for over a month, so I did not feel too bad about making them sign up so early in the semester. For one week each month I was available on Mondays, Wednesday, and Fridays to meet with students to discuss their books. If they could not make any of these dates, they contacted me via email and set up an alternative time. My students panicked (despite my reassurances) at the idea of reading another whole book in English, and I started nervously counting down the days until our first book talk.
I was concerned that maybe they would not read the book...I mean, we've all been students, and we have all faced (and sometimes given into) the temptation of just looking the book up on the internet. And these were all English majors, they had a lot of work to do, and this was only worth 10% of their final grade. I was afraid I was going to have 25 book talks where they were unable to fully answer all the questions, because they hadn't read the book. But it turns out that I needn't have worried. While some of my students did struggle to answer these questions, indicating that they either didn't read it, or perhaps had read it a long time ago and were working from memory, the majority of them demonstrated in our talks that they had read the book. Not only had they read it, but they seemed, overall to have enjoyed the reading.
I learned that they were also anxious about the book talk. They were concerned that, despite going over my expectations for the assignment, I was going to ask them specific plot questions...kind of like a test. While I regret this anxiety, I do believe it is likely the reason they had read the books so thoroughly and were able to discuss what they'd read in detail. So, it turns out we were both needlessly nervous.
I met my students one-on-one in my office during my free time during the week, for half hour intervals. I did not want to get right into the "important questions" when they arrived, because they were all visibly nervous. So I asked them first if they'd enjoyed the book and why; many of them told me that they'd liked it, and were able to describe characteristics about the characters or the story line. The few who were open about not enjoying the book they'd selected were equally as able to point out specific reasons for their dislike.
I then asked them the following questions: Give me a brief summary of you story (this was largely for my benefit, for the books with which I was unfamiliar). What character did you identify with? Why? What about that character 'spoke' to you? What is the character that you least 'identified' with? Why do you think you did not identify with that character? If you could change anything about the story, what would you change and why? What did you learn from this book?
I was very pleased with the depth of their answers. They were able to pull apart the characters, compare their own lives and experiences and cultures with that of the characters. They had some creative ideas about how the story should have been different (or in one student's case, why it was perfect just the way it was), and they were able to articulate why they felt that way. I asked them further questions about why they wanted those changes specifically, and many of them were able to reference certain personal or cultural influences behind those changes.
I would certainly do this assignment again; it allowed me to focus on my students in an individual setting, allowing me to get to know my students a little better. It also allowed me to explore their understanding of our focus on the theme of identity on an individual basis, and allowed them to further explore this theme through a self selected book. It also further exposed students to English books without taking time away from the books we were exploring in our class each week. And I got to talk about books; an all around win
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