Foreign Language Teaching (FLT) Part Two: Teaching Strategies |
1. Didactic assumptionsIt has been shown in part one that THT, at least at first sight, does not follow any easily recognizable logical pattern. Therefore it is particularly difficult for the teacher to realise a basic methodological demand in dealing with such a comprehensive literary text, namely to combine both intensive and extensive reading and to select kernel passages for critical discussion. The following approach concentrates on a close reading of about 15 chapters out of a sum total of 46 which, apart from the first four, does not follow the chronological order of the chapters. It is based on the assumption that the course participants have pre-read the novel. In doing so, reading logs (cf. below) may be helpful for the students since they offer guidance without implying manipulation of attention; however, they are not indispensable. Independent homework tasks (possibly from a "homework restaurant", cf. below) are an integral part of the course. This plan is meant to help the learners to reconstruct a more or less coherent whole out of a seemingly fragmented account.
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Unit 2: the political context of Gilead
The rise of the so-called Republic of Gilead (chapter 28); comparison of the republic of Gilead to the pre-Gilead state (cf. diagram)
Unit 3: the biographical context: the narrator's development
Unit 3.1: Offred's biography before the right-wing takeover; consequences of it for her relationship with Luke (textual material to be found in different chapters, e.g. chapters, 5, 7, 28)
Unit 3.2: Offred's development after the right-wing takeover: her 'official' relationship with the Commander (chapters 15 and 16)
Unit 3.3: Offred's 'private' relationship with the Commander (chapter 29)
Unit 3.4: Offred's relationship with Nick (chapters 40, 41, 46)
Unit 4: discussion of the Historical Notes
Unit 5: narrative Technique/discussing a collage of excerpts
(last page of chapter 7, chapter 40: three versions of the Offred-Nick relationship; chapter 41)
Unit 6: possible extensions
Unit 6.1: biblical allusions in THT
Unit 6.2: comparison of the Schloendorff film and the text of THT
Unit 6.3: comparison of THT and George Orwell's 1984
Alternative to 6.3: Comparison of THT and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World (BNW)
Unit 6.4: final evaluation and re-evaluation of first impressions
Unit 7: additional material
Unit 8: suggestions for written test papers
3. How to get the course on THT prepared and startedPre-reading of the novelThe following teaching unit concerning THT is based on the assumption that a prereading of the whole novel is desirable for a variety of reasons. First of all, pre-reading also means pre-teaching for the planning of the sequence as a whole. If you want to interpret any part of the novel, for example chapters 1-4, you have to know the context of the novel. This is true of thematic as well as of formal aspects, e.g. in interpreting examples of foreshadowing. In the case of THT it is hardly possible to understand anything without the knowledge of the context. Thus a sound textual knowledge is necessary for a sensible approach to the text: it is indispensable from the viewpoint of literary scholarship.
Secondly, pre-reading is also desirable from a didactic point of view since this procedure makes it possible to use a large variety of written tasks for homework or reports, which means that students' activities could help to prepare some lessons. Therefore homework tasks do not only follow the individual periods, they also become an integral part of the next. In other words, basically contributions by the students may not only be used for post-preparation, but also for preparation. This means that the teacher possesses more methodological possibilities; there are more duties for the students, but there is also more independent work for them.
Thirdly, the students should be encouraged to read the text extensively, and, of course, they should already have practised a lot of this kind of reading, for example in dealing with long stories, dramas, shorter novels or full-length examples of fiction. In addition, in reading a novel on their own, the learners should be encouraged to read for gist rather than for detail. Moreover, the use of a reading log is recommended;(49) this is different from a set of questions which draws (manipulates) the readers' attention to specific aspects. It is not important to have the students react to every stimulus, it is enough for them to regard this procedure as a help for self-education and reflection on their reading process. At the same time the students should be encouraged to use their own words and to back up their opinions with the help of textual evidence.
During this phase of textual acquisition it is advisable to plan one or two lessons which are devoted to what the pupils will have been reading up to that point of time (for example one hundred or two hundred pages of the novel).(50) Such a procedure may be helpful in order to find out what the students are interested in while reading one part of the text after another. It may be an opportunity for the learners to exchange their first impressions, and they should also be encouraged to put questions concerning any linguistic difficulties as well as problems concerning biblical, literary, cultural, historical ... allusions. This may mean motivational reinforcement for reading the rest and may also build up motivation for the subsequent discussion of the novel. For obvious reasons the first step in teaching a full-length novel is very important in psychological respect: very often the success of the whole sequence depends on the first move. The teacher should realize in this case that the text of the novel is very open and ambiguous at times, which means that classroom procedure has to be very flexible. |
Possible answers by the students:
I liked reading the novel,
I disliked reading the novel,
Particularly when having used a reading log, it should be easy and motivating for the students to say how the text relates to their own interests, their knowledge and experience of life. These impressions are written down and are to be used again in the final unit of this teaching model (cf. 6.4) so as to find out whether their standpoint is still the same or whether it has been modified or basically changed by the discussion of the novel in class. |
Step 2: checking textual comprehension
After a reading phase of several weeks the teacher should never take his pupils' textual comprehension for granted. On the contrary, in her/his daily routine-business lessons it seems unavoidable for the teacher to check it,(51) and it seems wise to do so before starting to interpret or to discuss the text if a demotivating fall-back procedure is to be avoided. There exist a number of methodical possibilities of varying classroom procedure.(52) To name but a few:
True-false-statements
A possible set of true-false-statements referring to the novel as a whole might run like this:
1. When the right-wing takeover occurs, women lose their jobs.
2. In this situation Luke is a very understanding husband.
3. Serena Joy is a former TV star.
4. The Commander's household is the first that the narrator is sent to as a handmaid.
5. The place to which the Commander takes Offred is unknown to her.
6. It is there that Offred meets Moira for the last time.
7. The man killed during the Salvaging is accused of gender treachery.
8. Therefore Ofglen behaves in a deliberately brutal way towards him.
9. When Ofglen sees the black van approaching her master's house, she kills herself.
10. By doing so she wants to escape torture.
Corrections
2. Luke does not take his wife's problems seriously. He offers lame excuses only. (p. 232)
4. Fred's place is the third household that Offred is sent to (p. 20); thus it is her last chance. (p. 186)
5. The place is familiar to Offred: it is a former hotel to which she went together with Luke before their marriage. (pp. 304-305)
7. The man is (wrongly) accused of rape; in reality he was a member of the underground movement Mayday.(p. 360)
8. Ofglen knocks him unconscious in order to diminish/stop his suffering. (pp. 359-360)
10. Her main concern is not to betray/to incriminate other people, for example the narrator. (p. 366 and p. 367)
Step 3: close reading of chapters 1 and 2
Traditionally this is done by way of a teacher-students-talk. In order to give some examples:
- What is the situation of the narrator like?
- What is the function of the Aunts and the Angels?
- Why is there no talk allowed?
- Why do the handmaids use lip-reading?
- What has become of the U.S.?
- Why does the narrator mention her yearning for the future? ...
Since the text of the first chapters is very open, it seems to be preferable to have the students collect a list of questions first; this may be organized as individual silent work or as pair work. It is also possible to divide the class into groups and to have both groups find questions for one chapter each, which are to be answered by the other group. The answers are collected either on the blackboard or on a transparency for the Overhead Projector (OHP). The questions should include the three mottoes; if some questions cannot yet be dealt with, the students are told that possible answers will be found in the course of the sequence.
Step 4: homework
It is possible to practise a close reading of chapters 3 and 4 in class. As a preparatory task, the students have (a) to take a few notes concerning the first talk between Serena Joy and Offred, which is comparatively coherent and therefore could also easily be summarized and (b) to collect some information concerning the society in which the figures are living. The discussion of these aspects will cover another double period.
Step 5. How to realize a long-term organisation of the course by using a homework restaurant:
For the plan of the course as a whole, the idea of the so-called homework restaurant may be used.(53) The homework restaurant consists of a list of topics worked out by the teacher. The tasks should be presented as a menu which offers appetizers, main courses and desserts, that is they have different degrees of difficulty, and the students should get a different number of credits for them (either one, two, or three credits). This depends on the substance of their argumentation, the linguistic quality and the length of their contributions: for each credit the students have to write about 500 words, which means that the topics have to be graded according to both quality and quantity. Each student has to acquire three credits during the sequence, how they manage to do so depends on their own initiative: for example, they may hand in either one full-length essay or two or three shorter ones. It goes without saying that the students may contribute their own ideas to the menu after reading the text of the novel (cf. below).
However, it is indispensable that every course member chooses one topic from the menu at least. Each topic is for two students who may work individually or in pairs. For them this means that they have to read again selected passages of the novel by skimming and scanning in order to find some textual evidence they think to be relevant. By this kind of homework, they will cooperate in the selection of possible focuses of attention, which implies that the teacher's role becomes less dominant. At the same time this will lead to more students' activity in discussing the novel, which will also imply some progress concerning their proficiency in the foreign language.
The topics should be presented after the pre-reading of the novel, that is in the very first lesson, or perhaps even before it, in any case before the systematic beginning of textual analysis. Then the students are expected to choose a topic they like as soon as possible and to start preparing their work right away. Since they want some time for this, unit 1 of the following teaching model is arranged as open-classroom talks and discussions, which means that the use of the homework restaurant will focus on units 2, 3, 4, and 6. Unit 5 is a particularly ambitious task which should be initiated by the teacher (cf. below).
Basically, such tasks may be used in order to promote textual analysis by the students (cf. entrees, main courses, 2.1. and desserts). Some tasks do not refer to a textual analysis directly, but they may be of such quality that they concern the novel as social events which go beyond the interpretation of the text and which appeal to the (reading) public; cf. main courses, 2.2. Moreover, there are creative tasks or imaginative extensions; cf. main courses, 2.3. The tasks for 2.2. and 2.3. are very open, the scope for students' activity is considerable, yet these have to be in accordance with the text of the novel. Perhaps they are less appropriate for classroom discussion, however they may be collected and edited for every course member, which may occur in printed (photocopied) form(54) or also with the help of the internet. Moreover, the homework restaurant has the advantage that it may offer creative tasks (cf. "specialities"), in which the students assume the subject position of an "other,"(55) i.e. they will grasp the inadequacy of monocentric views and realize how viewpoint determines meaning.(56) It must be admitted that to organize such a homework restaurant puts great demands on the teacher. First of all, it is difficult to find a sufficient number of topics, to classify them according to the same degree of difficulty and to the same amount of credits. Moreover, the teacher has to think of attractive test items ("Klausuraufgaben"), which are unrelated to the topics so as not to give any pupil an unfair advantage. Apart from, that s/he has to do a lot of correction work: therefore s/he should well think over how often s/he is going to make use of this approach, how long the students' papers are expected to be and whether there is an assistant teacher to help him/her correcting the papers. Even if the pupils think the concept attractive, it can only be used once in a while. |
Elements of a "homework restaurant"1. Entrées/Appetizers (one credit each)
2.1. Main Courses (two credits each)
The following Main Courses deserve three credits each.
2.2. Specialities: THT as a public event (three credits each)
2.3. Imaginative extensions/creative tasks (two credits each)
3. Desserts (one credit each)
Further suggestions will be welcome! |
Step 2: classes in the republic of Gilead (chapter 4)
After that it is possible to concentrate on two pages from chapter 4 (p. 27 and p. 29) in order to characterize the different classes in this so-called republic, which more resembles a caste society.
Alternative:
These are the more privileged groups:
The following belong to the less privileged groups:
Thus there is a strong hierarchy (pecking order) in Gilead, which also implies a clear discrimination of women. This can be illustrated by the following diagram:(57)
Unit 1.2: close reading of chapters 3 and 4
Step 1: the first talk between Serena Joy and Offred
This may be done again by applying the close reading method. The teacher could ask the students which aspects they think are indispensable for an understanding of the novel as a whole.
divide the course into groups according to the classes in the novel; give each group 15-20 minutes to explain the function of each class in the Republic of Gilead. Then have the groups question one another. Finally ask the course to classify the different classes into influential/privileged ones and less privileged/suppressed ones in order to come to a conclusion concerning this state's organisation.
There are several possibilities for practical classroom procedure: either a team of students reads out their written report on a particular subject in class with the other course members being allowed and encouraged to interrupt them by asking questions whenever they want to. This means that writing and speaking production pave the way for the discussion of problems, and it is, of course, also possible to compare two written reports which are based on individual work.
Suggestions for classroom procedure
The results could be similar to these:
Step 2: open-classroom discussion
Step 3: close reading of pp. 225-226
Step 4: open classroom talk
Step 5: evaluation
The following unit will concentrate on the narrator-protagonist, which is probably the easiest way to make classroom work concerning THT coherent. Still the major problem is to find the relevant textual material since it is scattered all over the novel.
Offred's development may again be worked out with the help of the homework restaurant, which, above all, is developed in order to promote the textual analysis of the novel. The students could be asked to compare and to contrast details of Offred's former life and her present situation as well as to discuss Luke's behaviour towards his wife. The results could be written on the blackboard or on a transparency for the OHP, or a team of two students could be asked to write the minutes of this session; these could be corrected by the teacher, and a photocopy of them could be given to every course participant.
Step 1: textual analysis
Step 2: ranking task
Step 3: for discussion
Step 4 (optional): word portraits of Offred and Moira
On the one hand, Moira may be said to be confrontational, rebellious, uncompromising, lesbian, stubborn, defiant, straightforward ... For example, she escapes from the Red Center and tries to reach Canada but is finally caught again. After being tortured by Aunt Lydia, she chooses to work at Jezebel's; Offred has got the impression that Moira is full of resignation there; her personality is broken (to adapt Orwell's ironic statement, from the final sentence of 1984, to her situation: she, like Winston Smith, "won the victory over herself").
On the other hand, Offred may be said to be sceptical, compromising, sensitive, sensible, lonely, determined by a hunger for contact, interaction, communication and love ... Unlike Ofglen, she does not become a member of the resistance movement Mayday; yet, Moira is a role model for Offred: she becomes a secret rebel by telling the story of her life.
Suggestions for classroom procedure
0. Homework
1. Clarification of the linguistic difficulties and explanation of the allusions
2. Checking reading comprehensionUnit 2: the political context of Gilead
Didactic considerations
After working out the different classes in Gilead, it is advisable to concentrate on the main characteristics of this regime. Now the time has come to start working with the homework restaurant. Whenever a team of students gives a talk on one of the topics to be found on the menu, it is their task to choose the relevant textual evidence so that the teacher does not have to give the necessary page references. It is the task of the expert groups to study the textual passages in question and report back to the course members.
Or a team of two students is responsible for planning and organising a meeting. This means that they take over the teacher's role so that the concept learning by teaching is practised.(58) The results may be documented by a flowchart, or by a wall paper which is to be published as long as the course lasts. Of course, the students could also prepare a hand-out or write the minutes of the meeting in order to facilitate long-term memorisation.
The students should collect their spontaneous associations with Gilead in the first place, then an attempt at classification is to follow; again this means an open element in planning the individual steps for classroom procedure. Everything depends on what is still in the students' minds: everybody should remember some aspects of Gilead, and everybody should have an impression or perhaps even a critical opinion of this state.
- there is a lack of freedom, rather than freedom there is incarceration/ imprisonment/seclusion;
- many things are subject to rigid norms/laws: there is a lot of control and coercion;
- many taboos exist;
- secular music and other means of amusement are forbidden;
- there is a ritual(ized) abuse of women;
- according to official doctrine, there are no sterile men, there exist barren/infertile women only;
- there is indoctrination/brainwashing/conditioning;
- there is a lack of tolerance/a lot of intolerance;
- there is religious fanaticism;
- the state is a totalitarian or racist theocracy: political opponents/religious sects/dissidents/outsiders are persecuted and hung on the wall;
- there is persecution of Jews, Roman Catholics, Baptists, Jehova's Witnesses, Quakers, other religious minorities and homosexuals;
- there are many allusions to/quotations from the Bible;
- many interpretations are very arbitrary: they serve to justify political ideology;
- thus biblical principles are clearly abused;
- the system tries to enforce traditional values, i.e. the fundamentalist concept of godliness;
- there are public executions, brutality and terrorism;
- many people commit suicide in order to escape punishment;
- there is a suppression of communication, interaction and love;
- handmaids are not allowed to read or to write;
- there is a denial of individuality and self-esteem;
- there is a pecking order among women (e.g. Mothers, Daughters, Aunts, Handmaids, Marthas, and 'Unwomen');
- there is a hypocrisy of double standards (virtue is proclaimed, vice is everywhere).
An open classroom discussion on the state of Gilead is to follow; the teacher could prepare a set of open questions in order to get this started, for example:
- What about the role of language/speech/communication and interaction in Gilead?
- What about laws/norms/values and human volition?
- What about sexuality? What about the justification of its reglementation?
- What about the function of emotions (pleasure, joy, love ...)?
- Comment upon the importance of moral/biblical principles.
- Try to characterise the traditional value system.
- Comment upon the treatment of minorities/outsiders ...
This is the passage which describes the right-wing takeover (blackboard work or notes for OHP may be used in order to contrast the past and the present states):
The United States of America: The Republic of Gilead:
democracy
right-wing (fundamentalist) theocracy
Congress/President
totalitarian/tyrannical government
freedom to do = (originally a pro-abortion slogan) classified
as 'anarchy' including pornography, rape, sterilisation and
said to be an anomaly
freedom from knowledge = 'real' freedom, "a privilege of the meek"; women are said to be protected against abortion, rape, etc. In fact, there occurs a loss of individual choice/personal decisions and a denial of individual names
permissive society/permissiveness
religious tolerance
permissiveness classified as "immoral", replaced by
repression, dogmatism, and lack of tolerance (= backlash)
progressive
ultra-conservative/regressive/reactionary
feminism
new Puritanism
change/development/progress: human volition
taken for granted
stagnation, strict control of status quo;
elimination of women's volition, self-determination and moral responsibility
high standard of technology/damage done to
the environment/nuclear pollution
return to traditional values that is, domestic roles for women
emancipation of women
return to nature, to women's "biological destiny":
salvation by childbearing/by becoming "carriers of life"
pregnancy means privileges
whereas infertility means banishment/death
sexual liberty
decline of the birth rate;
enjoyment of sexual activity (may be free and spontaneous, also between people of the same gender);
for Offred her body was an instrument of pleasure:
she was at one with it;
mutual love = possible
sexual tyranny/state-controlled sexuality/
institutional control of human reproduction/control of
women's body:'legalized rape';
sexual relations = deprived of desire, pleasure and love: instrumentalized for procreation;
women's bodies were mere tools for fertilisation/
sex limited to reproduction: the state claims to own the insides of female bodies
periodically programmed sexuality devoid of privacy and intimacy (homosexuals = gender traitors)
jobs/property/education for women
no jobs/no property/'re-education' for/conditioning of
handmaids: slogans by the Aunts, readings from the
Bible, sermons by the Commanders, prayers from the soul scrolls ...
language, literature, amusement, communication
and interaction = possible
reading, writing, speaking ... = prohibited;
access to knowledge denied;
secular music forbidden;
amusement and language = a temptation
equal rights for men and women; no privileges for men;
families and relationships to be grounded on
equality and partnership
patriarchal society, social despotism;
submissiveness/subservience/obedience/docility of women; women = possessed articles, marginalised, dehumanized: sexual 'objectification' occurs: women becoming a one-dimensional entity;
men exercising sexual mastery
......
......
......
......
The students should try to find some reasons for this development. Some aspects may be found in part one of this article.
The learners should realize right from the beginning that Margaret Atwood's delineation of Gilead is highly critical. This insight is also supported by the fact that while the biblical land is full of hope and fertility, Gilead in the novel is a waste land, a desolate area, which is threatened by sterility. Thus the name may be an ironical allusion to the Old Testament or said to express wishful thinking. Gilead's ideologues both literally apply and purposefully distort Old Testament texts. The Republic of Gilead is a racist fundamentalist theocracy, an unjust biblical Patriarchate. There is a misuse of environmental and human resources in this society. As one early Canadian reviewer of the novel put it: "Gilead has poisoned itself with religious and political ideology as well as nuclear waste."(59)
Unit 3: the development of the narrator-protagonist
Unit 3.1: Offred in her former life; Offred and Luke after the right-wing takeover
Suggestions for classroom procedure
In order to get the discussion of the novel organized, two major aspects may be used as shaping principles. On the one hand, classroom work may focus on Gilead as a social experiment/as a police state, and on the other hand, the students may concentrate on the narrator protagonist, her biography before the rise of Gilead and the development of her life in this new countersociety.Unit 3.2: Offred's official relationship with the Commander (chapters 15 and 16)
Suggestions for classroom procedure
It is by no means necessary that every topic of the homework restaurant is chosen by the students: the choice of topics should be determined by their motivation only. If there is no team of students prepared to analyse the mating scene which is described in some detail in chapters 15 and 16, it may be analysed with the help of the following stimuli/tasks and questions.
- What about the atmosphere in the living room? (It is very cold/hostile).
- What about Offred's feelings before the ceremony? (Offred feels sick, very nervous and treated like a child).
- What about the preparations for the event? (Offred is examined by a doctor, takes a bath, is fed "like a prize pig").
- What is the function of the Bible readings? (It is a shallow justification for the ceremony; for Offred, the Bible-based reading is like listening to a bed-time story, which shows there is an ironic aggressiveness on her part; the Bible is used for literal interpretation, following the letters of the text rather than its spirit: this is a clear manipulation/abuse of the biblical passage).
- What about Offred's feelings during and after the mating ceremony? (Offred develops aggressive fantasies: she wants to steal something for example; her fantasies are an act of defiance, a kind of self-defence and protection).
What about Serena Joy's and the Commander's feelings? (Serena Joy cannot control her feelings; she feels jealous, perhaps also powerless; the Commander has to suppress his feelings since he has serious business to do).
- What is the function of Moira's torture in this context? (Hands and feet are not important; what is important is the handmaid's torso; the implication is that Offred's treatment is similar: it is psychic torture).
- What about a classification of the scene? (It describes a regular process; this monthly copulation is rape agreed to because of public pressure; the other option is even less desirable since it means certain death).
The students are confronted with the following insights/hypotheses(60):
- Offred is reduced to being the commanders'/other persons' property;
- Offred is no longer respected as a woman/is depersonalized (has an official rather than an individual name);
- Offred is degraded/humiliated/dehumanized (treated like cattle/an animal);
- she is abused as a sexual object/she is 'objectified';
- she is treated as a mere tool: she is instrumentalised;
- she becomes a machine, a possessed article, a thing ...
- she is demoted to a functional level, marginalized ...
- she is dismembered, reduced to an amputated, but still usable body,
- she is abused as a torso with viable ovaries, which are claimed to be national resources ...
The students are expected to choose three statements which they think to be of paramount importance and to give reasons for their choices. Such a value clarification task contains a large potential for discussion.
- What about the scene as a whole: is it voyeuristic and pornographic?(61)
- Is it shocking? Obscene? Ludicrous?
- Does it offend religious or moral feelings of (young/adolescent) readers?
- Thesis: To have sexual relations with another person is the most/a very intimate form of communication and meant to strengthen emotional bonds/ties. In this context sexuality is subjected to very rigid rules/it is strictly formalized, talk is forbidden, individual volition eliminated and human emotions are suppressed.
Question: Do you think that this is against nature? Do you think this procedure is depraved, if not perverse?
Word portraits consist of a list of characteristic features with reference to a literary figure. In this case it may help to work out the difference between Moira and Offred.Unit 3.3: Offred's 'private' relationship with the commander
For this aspect the students may choose chapter 29 as a kernel passage. As to the major insights of text analysis cf. part one. As to possible classroom procedure, cf. unit 2 above.Unit 3.4: Offred's relationship with Nick
This is closely linked to narrative technique since one chapter relates three different possibilities of her relationship with Nick. It may include a discussion of the novel's open ending as well. Nick seems to be a member of the underground movement Mayday. Offred's escape seems to be successful because her tale, after having been recorded on audiotapes, has been published after all.Unit 4: the Historical Notes
Didactic considerations
The language of the Historical Notes may be difficult for the learners who are not accustomed to reading academic texts. Moreover, there are several allusions which call for a comment. However, a close reading of the text is indispensable, and this discussion has to take place almost at the end of the sequence. For once we do not have the bulk of the whole novel to speak about, but it is a section of the book which, roughly speaking, consists of 15 pages only. As a consequence, in methodological respect this unit is comparatively easy to plan; on the other hand, the problems of understanding this parody of an academic discourse are considerable.
As a result of work from the homework restaurant, possibly there is a report of two pupils by team work. This may be another occasion for spoken production based on written work and for an application of the concept learning by teaching (cf. above). The following suggestions may be helpful for practical procedure anyway.
The course members are asked to prepare the text of the historical notes by close reading.
Alternative
use of a handout containing linguistic annotations and a comment on the allusions; the latter may be provided by the teacher or by the students. A team of experts may also prepare written explanations of all the vocabulary items in the "Historical Notes" which they think are unknown to the other course members. In doing so they should use a reliable dictionary, such as most recent editions of the Advanced Learner's Dictionary or the Dictionary of Contemporary English. Cooperation of teachers and students may mean practising group work in class, coordinating the results, and having them photocopied.
Since scholarly language is different, the section is perhaps difficult for some learners.
Didactic considerations It is possible that the teacher in class uses a collage of all/most of the relevant textual material concerning narrative technique. The students are confronted with this and are asked to find categories: perhaps they cut the relevant material into different parts in order to unscramble it and to classify it in a systematic way. However, even a non-exhaustive list would include more than fifty passages as well as quotations: it would be very difficult as well as time-consuming for the students to find this textual material, and it would certainly be too comprehensive for a 'complete' discussion in class. As a consequence, a didactic reduction is inevitable; therefore it may be a good idea to prepare a textual collage, which consists of one quotation and two extracts only:
(1) The quotation is taken from the concluding sentences of chapter 12;
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Suggestions for classroom procedure
With the help of this evidence, it is possible to work out three different aspects:
- the narrator's self-definition,
- the bridge built by the narrator between herself and the reader and
- the effect produced by her narration: it becomes a form of creative rebellion.
The hand-out is prepared as a homework task/first read silently, then read out aloud in class. The students may study the material step by step, that is one section after the other, or they may read all excerpts straight away. Linguistic difficulties may be clarified. If there is no spontaneous discussion of some details at least, the class could try to find out some essential aspects of the text (written work). An alternative would be that two experts present their own written analysis of this textual evidence and that the course members ask them any question they want. On the one hand, the course participants may be expected to choose their own textual excerpts: this may appear to be an attractive student-orientated procedure. On the other hand, it should be realized that this topic is a very ambitious one; therefore it seems to be more practicable that the teacher will choose the textual material, which is followed by independent students' work.
Unit 6.2: comparison of the Schloendorff film and the text of THT; cf. Willi Real: The Film Version of Margaret Atwood's THT in Foreign Language Teaching
Unit 6.3: comparison of THT and George Orwell's 1984: cf. Willi Real: George Orwell's and Margaret Atwood's Visions of Future Societies in Foreign Language Teaching
Alternative to 6.3: comparison of THT and Aldous Huxley's BNW; cf. Willi Real: "Aldous Huxley’s and Margaret Atwood’s Visions of Future Societies in Foreign Language Teaching", in: The Perennial Satirist. Essays in Honour of Bernfried Nugel, edd. Peter E. Firchow and Hermann J. Real (Münster, LIT Verlag, 2005), pp. 291-311.["Human Potentialities", vol. 7]
Unit 6.4: final evaluation and re-evaluation of the first impressions: cf. unit 1.1. As to suggestions for classroom procedure, cf. Nicole Lange: General Evaluation of the Novel in Class - Basic Problems and Ideas for a Possible Approach.
(1) Discuss pp. 323-325. The first sentence runs like this: "So after that, they said I was too dangerous to be allowed the privilege of returning to the Red Center." The students are confronted with the original text up to the end of the chapter (roughly 470 words). The passage is about Moira's resignation and Offred's response towards it.
(2) Discuss pp. 251-253. The text starts with the statement: "I pray where I am ..." and is to go on until the rest of the chapter (about 440 words). It is about Offred's Job-like version of the Lord's Prayer.
The students may be expected to write a line-by-line comment on one of these passages. It is up to the teacher to use a shortened version of them and/or to have the learners answer both closed and open questions.
(50) Max Bracht, "'Handmade Tales' Margaret Atwoods Roman THT im produktionsorientierten Fremdsprachenunterricht", Neusprachliche Mitteilungen 52:4 (1999), p. 233.
(52) Many of them may be found in Joanne Collie/Stephen Slater, Literature in the Language Classroom (Cambridge University Press, 1987), pp. 42-46; cf. also Heide Schrader, Von Lesern und Texten. Fremdsprachendidaktische Perspektiven des Leseverstehens (Hamburg,1996), pp.160ff.
(53) Susanne Kröger, "'Welcome to the Homework Restaurant': Differenzierende Hausaufgaben im Englischunterricht der Sekundarstufe II", Neusprachliche Mitteilungen 52:4 (1999), pp. 239-246.
(54) Cf. Max Bracht, p. 235. He offers many topics for this purpose; cf. pp. 234-235. Cf. also Kathryn VanSpanckeren, "The Trickster Text: Teaching Atwood's Works in Creative Writing Classes", in: Sharon R. Wilson, Thomas B. Friedman, and Shannon Hengen (eds.), Approaches to Teaching Atwood's THT and Other Works (New York: MLA, 1996), pp. 82-83.
(55) Kathryn VanSpanckeren, p. 79.
(56) Kathryn VanSpanckeren, p. 82 and p. 83.
(57) This diagram has been developed by my former students Stefanie Mattern and Silke Tylinda.
(58) Jean-Pol Martin und Rudolf Kelchner, "Lernen durch Lehren," in: Johannes P. Timm (ed.), Englisch lernen und lehren. Didaktik des Englischunterrichts (Berlin, Cornelsen, 1998), pp. 211-219.
(59) Cf. Judith McCombs and Carole L. Palmer, p. 551.
(60) Many of these insights may be found in part one of this article; cf. also Amin Malak, "Margaret Atwood's THT and the Dystopian Tradition", Canadian Literature 112 (1987), p. 9 and Roberta Rubenstein, "Nature and Nurture in Dystopia: THT", in: Kathryn VanSpanckeren and Jan Garden Castro (eds.), Margaret Atwood. Vision and Forms (Carbondale: Southern Illinois University Press, 1988), p. 103.
(61) J. Brooks Bouson, "A Feminist and Psychoanalytic Approach in a Women's College", in: Sharon R. Wilson and Thomas B. Friedman, and Shannon Hengen (eds.), Approaches to Teaching Atwood's THT and Other Works (New York: MLA, 1996), p. 124.
Additional note: After finishing my work on Margaret Atwood's novel I became aware of the following teaching model: Peters, Christoph M., Margaret Atwood, 'The Handmaid's Tale'. Eine Unterrichtseinheit für die Oberstufe. Unterrichtskonzepte Englisch - Literatur. Freising: Stark Verlag, 2003. [Loseblattsammlung] For a review of this publication cf. Anzeigen, 5.
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