8 - Teenagers and Literature - TeachingEnglish - British Council - BBC

11/4/2018 Teenagers and literature | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC
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Teenagers and literature

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Why use literature with teens?
Using stories and poems for language learning provides an
opportunity to introduce students to a whole culture. What better
way to find out about a country or English –speaking countries
and challenge the stereotypes portrayed in many coursebooks?
We can give students this essential background to their language
learning while improving their extensive reading and language
skills at the same time.
The BritLit materials on the Teaching English site take as their premise that
reading is a creative process, and that reading and writing are two sides of
the same coin. They build on students’ innate knowledge of narrative and
storytelling. Teachers can use the materials to engage the students as
readers in their own right. Introducing narrative as input encourages
students to build closer relationships with the text and makes them less
dependent on the teacher. The kits are designed for teachers to select
materials to build their own lessons.
A selection of authentic, ungraded materials from the BritLit resources are
now available on the LearnEnglish Teens website
(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org) with online activities as
well as printable worksheets. The materials on the Learn English Teens site
provide opportunities for students to read more independently.
The stepping stones reading approach
As the approach emphasises engagement with the text the materials in the
https://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/article/teenagers-literature-0 1/6
BritLit kits provide activities and tasks which are more subjective and there
is a move away from traditional comprehension and data-collection
activities. In this approach the Pre-Reading stage becomes vitally
important. The aim of these pre-reading activities is to get the students to
want to read the text and to provide motivation to read. The activities
suggested in the kits allow teachers to build a narrative base and include:
Using pictures/video/ sound as prompts, eg, show students illustrations
and ask them to speculate on the story or show students illustrations or
video clip to encourage them to speculate on the story.
Building on shared narratives, eg, working together in groups to work out
a story before reading the text - teachers can tap into students’
imagination.
‘Chunking’ and ‘stepping stones’, eg, providing chunks of text from the
target story, but leaving gaps which students can fill in by creating
narrative. When students finally read the text they meet familiar sections.
Narrative building questions. For example, asking questions about a story
the students have not read yet - this is a fun way of building a story.
All of these activities create heightened interest and curiosity about the
content of the story. Students will want to compare their own story with the
author’s. They encourage group work, sharing ideas and recognise our
student’s abilities as story-tellers. All this provides a solid framework before
students meet the target text.
After the pre-reading or ‘characterisation’ activities reading can be done in
various ways, whether reading or reading and listening to the text.
Teachers can download audio recordings by the author of many of the
stories and poems.
As students read the story teachers can provide textual intervention
activities to exploit the content of the story. For example, the story can be
interrupted at key moments to explore the content and allow students to
speculate and examine points.
The last stage involves follow up activities to round up and provide a sense
of closure. This can provide an opportunity to link to the school syllabus or
can support wider themes such as ‘Family/relationships’, Science,
Technology. We can use the story as a springboard to explore these
themes.
Further story-building work is also possible. A fun variant is to ask the
students to write their own stories using characters ‘borrowed’ from the
original story. Or students may be asked to break the story down into its
component parts and characters, describe them and then find modern
equivalents for a contemporary setting.
Teachers often wish to provide grammar practice of key grammar points,
but this needs to be handled with care so that we don’t overdo it and
destroy the enjoyment of reading.
Choosing suitable texts
The materials in the Short stories & poems
(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/english-skills-
practice/short-stories-poems) section on LearnEnglish Teens are all
authentic and ungraded.
The original choice of texts was based on the criteria of using living,
contemporary authors from Commonwealth countries. They reflect the
multi-cultural nature of the UK.
Another criteria was brevity and the texts needed to be fairly short to be
accessible, for example Louise Cooper’s short story Chain Reaction
(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/uk-now/stories-and-
poems-uk/chain-reaction), a short story with a funny twist at the end.
Poetry is also included with texts from a variety of poets. For example the
popular poem ‘Orange Juice
poems-uk/orange-juice)’ by Michael Rosen is available on the Teens site.
This easy to read poem provides humorous language practice at a lower
level, and could even be used as a model for students to create their own
poetry.
During the Britlit project some lucky students in different countries were
able to meet different authors. Students can learn more about the authors
they are reading and background information or biographies are often
provided – for example in the example to follow (The Pink Bow Tie
poems-uk/pink-bow-tie)) there is a biography of the Australian writer
Paul Jennings. Some authors also are willing to contact students through
their websites – eg the former children’s laureate Michael Rosen
(http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/) (see above).
Example for younger teens: The Pink Bow Tie
poems-uk/pink-bow-tie)
I chose this text to fit in with the topic of School Rules and teaching modal
verbs in a teens intermediate class. The students worked through the
following stages.
Pre-reading
Students speculated on the title and explained ‘bow tie’, why it might be
pink and where it would be worn
Using the narrative building questions they worked in small groups to
create their own stories
Students familiarised themselves with the quotes or ‘chunks’ from the
story and how they might fit with their narratives
Reading
Students coloured the first line of each section of the story to break the
text into accessible sections and provide easy reference for the teacher
Students read the text section by section and answered selected
questions about the characters/speculated on the story
After reading
Students worked on the characters to understand them more fully
In groups students imagined their ideal school
Grammar practice making up rules for their own /ideal school and
extending use of modals – can/cannot, must/mustn’t, shouldn’t
Follow up activities
Students read and perform the narrative play
Students created posters about the text, choosing their favourite
characters, chunks of text and writing about their response.
I originally planned the work over two long lessons, but finally the students
became so involved that follow up activities took longer. The objective of
getting the students to read and engage with a longer text that they might
not tackle on their own was achieved. As a result of this lesson students
went on to read further stories independently on-line using the
LearnEnglish Teens site.
Towards independence - LearnEnglish Teens
On the LearnEnglish Teens site there is a selection of the most accessible
stories which your students could read more independently. We could
adapt the step by step approach outlined above to exploit these further.
For example, you could provide the essential pre-reading stage in class to
set the context for the story and then ask students to read the story as
homework independently on-line. In the next lesson back at school follow
up activities could be tackled in small groups or project work could be
undertaken. They can share their views and opinions about the themes in
the story.
Alternatively students can tackle a story completely independently. Each
story has a pre-reading vocabulary activity to introduce new lexis and
familiarise the students with key vocabulary items from the story.
After reading the story themselves the students can check their
comprehension by doing one of the follow up activities – for example a
quick True/False check. Or they may like to tackle one of the more
challenging tasks such as re-ordering events from the story or summarising
and gap-filling. It is important to stress to students that they don’t have to
do all the exercises and that these are just a fun way to check their
understanding of the story.
Students could keep a record of the stories they have read on the Teens
site in a reading log, or write short reviews to recommend stories to other
students. Or they may just like to leave a comment on the website.
Students frequently ask us ‘How can I improve my reading?’. Pointing them
towards the Short Stories and Poems
(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org/english-skills-
practice/short-stories-poems) section on the Teens website is a pretty
good answer!
By Sue Clarke
Tags
Teen articles (/category/content-type/teen-articles)
Need a little more help with your professional development? Find a
training course for your needs. (/training-courses?WT.ac=in-
page-promo)
Comments
OlgaZah replied on 18 July, 2014 - 16:22 PERMALINK
(/COMMENT/203900#COMMENT-203900)
TEENAGERS AND LITERATURE
(/COMMENT/203900#COMMENT-203900)
I fully agree with the author of this article. Reading is very
important for teens. While reading they get acquainted with
the masterpieces of the world literature. More than that, they
develop the taste for good literature, they learn to think
about important things. In my opinion reading also helps to
learn English better. The students which do not meet people
from English-speaking countries and do not have enough
language practice every day, can practice their English while
reading.
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11/4/2018 Teenagers and literature | TeachingEnglish | British Council | BBC

Teenagers and literature

Submitted 5 years 4 months ago by admin.

Why use literature with teens?

Using stories and poems for language learning provides an

opportunity to introduce students to a whole culture. What better

way to find out about a country or English –speaking countries

and challenge the stereotypes portrayed in many coursebooks?

We can give students this essential background to their language

learning while improving their extensive reading and language

skills at the same time.

storytelling. Teachers can use the materials to engage the students as

readers in their own right. Introducing narrative as input encourages

materials to build their own lessons.

A selection of authentic, ungraded materials from the BritLit resources are

now available on the LearnEnglish Teens website

(http://learnenglishteens.britishcouncil.org) with online activities as

provide opportunities for students to read more independently.

The stepping stones reading approach

is a move away from traditional comprehension and data-collection

activities. In this approach the Pre-Reading stage becomes vitally

important. The aim of these pre-reading activities is to get the students to

Using pictures/video/ sound as prompts, eg, show students illustrations

and ask them to speculate on the story or show students illustrations or

video clip to encourage them to speculate on the story.

Building on shared narratives, eg, working together in groups to work out

Narrative building questions. For example, asking questions about a story

student’s abilities as story-tellers. All this provides a solid framework before

students meet the target text.

After the pre-reading or ‘characterisation’ activities reading can be done in

various ways, whether reading or reading and listening to the text.

Teachers can download audio recordings by the author of many of the

stories and poems.

As students read the story teachers can provide textual intervention

interrupted at key moments to explore the content and allow students to

speculate and examine points.

of closure. This can provide an opportunity to link to the school syllabus or

can support wider themes such as ‘Family/relationships’, Science,

Technology. We can use the story as a springboard to explore these

Further story-building work is also possible. A fun variant is to ask the

equivalents for a contemporary setting.

Teachers often wish to provide grammar practice of key grammar points,

destroy the enjoyment of reading.

Choosing suitable texts

The materials in the Short stories & poems

practice/short-stories-poems) section on LearnEnglish Teens are all

authentic and ungraded.

contemporary authors from Commonwealth countries. They reflect the

multi-cultural nature of the UK.

accessible, for example Louise Cooper’s short story Chain Reaction

poems-uk/chain-reaction), a short story with a funny twist at the end.

popular poem ‘Orange Juice

poems-uk/orange-juice)’ by Michael Rosen is available on the Teens site.

This easy to read poem provides humorous language practice at a lower

they are reading and background information or biographies are often

poems-uk/pink-bow-tie)) there is a biography of the Australian writer

their websites – eg the former children’s laureate Michael Rosen

(http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/) (see above).

Example for younger teens: The Pink Bow Tie

verbs in a teens intermediate class. The students worked through the

pink and where it would be worn

Using the narrative building questions they worked in small groups to

create their own stories