American Literature Teach in China

[chatfouz]

Good day y'all,

I am a teacher out in China. I normally teach biology and chemistry. However I have just been volunteered by my director to teach American literature. So glory be to me. I get to try to teach a month long seminar class. I could use some advice planning, preparing for class.

I was given most of the old materials from the previous teacher.
week 1 - 1400-1800 - indian myths, edgar allen poe, john smith,
Week 2 - 1800 - 1900 - Hawthorne, dickinson, (blank)
Week 3 - 1900-1950 - Frost, Langston hughes, Flannery O’Connor, Hemingway
Week 4 - 1950 - now - (blank)

I was left most of the lesson plans. I have only half the materials from week 2 and almost everything from week 4. I know the big stuff in 1800-1900 was the gold rush, Texas revolution, manifest destiny, post civil war. Any suggestions on literature to teach this? I have found some folk songs about the west.

Week 4 - post 1950 was a lot of racial tension, post war prosperity... I know the movies that show the history of the area, but I honestly don't know the literature/short stories/poems.

I know if I am posting here I don't really have business teaching this, but this is China and I am the resident American and thus it is now my responsibility to teach it. Any suggestions on authors, short stories, poems, folk songs I could use? I know this is a lot to ask, but I figure y'all know the material better than I do and at least could give me a list of authors to start looking through. I still have to find the literature, read it and plan lessons, that is fine. But any advice on where to start looking would save me SO much time and help me more than I could say.

[OrphanPip]

How old are your students and how good is their English?

You'll probably want to have Walt Whitman's poetry in your 19th century section. His work is quintessentially American and he is probably the most important American author of the period.

You've also got Poe at too early a time. My knowledge of American literature from the 1400-1800 period is a little sketchy. Explorer narratives are a good resource for that time period, I know for Canada there are ample examples. You also have some stuff from Thomas Paine, Benjamin Franklin, and the Declaration of Independence might be useful.

1900-1950 is a golden age for American literature, but much of it is likely going to be difficult for your students. Hughes, Frost, and Hemmingway are good picks. O'Connor is more of a creature of the 1950s-60s.

Just to give you some choices:

In poetry you have modernist poets: T.S. Eliot, Ezra Pound, Wallace Stevens, H.D., and William Carlos Williams.
In prose you have: Faulkner, F. Scott Fitzgerald (The Great Gatsby is often consider THE American novel), and Gertrude Stein (probably too difficult). Faulkner wrote some very good short stories too.
In drama you have Eugene O'Neil

Post-1950:
A bit more complicated.
In poetry you have the confessional movement comprised of Robert Lowell, Elizabeth Bishop, and Sylvia Plath. These poets are often popular with young readers, especially Plath.
You have the Beats, represented in poetry by Ginsberg, and in prose by Kerouac.
For novelist you have Salinger, Catcher in the Rye is often taught to teens.
Some good drama too from T. Williams and Arthur Miller.

Hopefully someone more knowledgeable of American literature will be able to give you some useful suggestions.

[chatfouz]

THANK YOU!

That helps a lot.

And let me add some details.

My students are ranged from HS to college. But these are mainly HS failures. (students with SAT scores of less than 800) So these are basically lazy HS students. Int English level. Some can speak English very well, some stare blankly and can barely introduce themselves. Why they sign up for an ALL English school is beyond me but this seems to be the local logic... Expensive = good.

The first week, I might extend to 1300-1830. I started reading some of the pioneer readings, I have trouble understanding it. I doubt my students will.

I doubt most studetns will understand most of what is happening in class. I'm told to make it as much a history course as literature course because of the English level.

Thank you for the suggestions. I will start looking and reading some of those. The declaration of Independence, that is a great suggestion. That will easily allow for a lecture on the history of the birth of the nation.

*Side Note, as part of the course students are required to read 1 American novel and make a report/presentation on it. I'm trying to make a book list. I'm trying to keep the reading level lower so the students have a hope of finishing it in one month. I am just trying to find options for the students.
-Lord of the Flies
-The Giver
-Jurassic Park
-Enders Game
Any suggestions on other books? Perhaps books the girls in the class might take to? I mainly have only ever read Sci-Fi & Tom Clancy, none which tends to appeals to young ladies.

[OrphanPip]

William Golding is British so that rules out Lord of the Flies.

Maybe something easy and popular would work for a book report, like The Hunger Games, Suzanne Collins is American. If you want something more traditionally taught you could go with maybe Catcher in the Rye or To Kill a Mockingbird (the theme of racism is usually easy to grasp for students).

In folk stories I think America has a strong tendency towards folk heroes, real people who become fictionalized and more important the longer they have been dead. Like Pocahontas, Johnny Appleseed, Davey Crockett, you should be able to find at least non-fictional blurbs or stuff on them.

Since you need to focus on history a lot. I'd suggest The Red Badge of Courage, since it is a civil war novel, and it is short at around 70-100 pages in most editions. Whitman's poem "O Captain, My Captain" is about Abraham Lincoln.

Langston Hughes is part of the Harlem Renaissance, so it gives you a look at the beginning of the Black civil rights movement, and also at the vocalization of African American culture (it also gives you an avenue to speak about blues and jazz as contemporary African American musical movements that are emulated in much of Hughes' poetry). I think the musical quality of Hughes' poetry is appealing even if people don't grasp the full meaning of it.

I'm thinking the post-WW2 era will give you some trouble because of the touchiness of the issues. You can focus on the civil rights movement, feminist poetry becomes a big thing around that time. Toni Morrison or Alice Walker might work. O'Connor is a fantastic author, but her stuff is tinged with Southern Gothic angst and Catholic subtext, it might be difficult for your students to understand. On the other hand, it can also be exciting and violent so they might enjoy it even if they don't "get" it. I originally suggested the Beats, but the 50s-60s counter-culture is touchy to teach because of their open attitude towards homosexuality and drug use. Plath's use of holocaust imagery is interesting to think about the post-war culture.

Edit: Pearl S. Buck wrote a very good novel called The Good Earth, which is actually about a Chinese family (she was American but lived in China as a child of missionaries), I don't know if that would be interesting to your students.

[Charles Darnay]

Make things as visual as possible. Choose books that have accessible movies to accompany them. This will really help your students.

Make the class as conversational as possible. You must approach this primarily as an ESL class and not a literature class. American literature is just your vehicle - strengthening their speaking/reading/writing proficiency should be the main goal.

As much as I hate this philosophy: teach to the test. Find out what they need to know for the SATs (as a Canadian, I have little experience with these) and help them through that.

As someone who does not have a strong background in literature, teaching a class of students who do not have a strong background in English - you want to make the whole experience as comfortable for everyone and as beneficial to your students. They are there for a specific reason - and American lit is not it.

[kev67]

THANK YOU!


*Side Note, as part of the course students are required to read 1 American novel and make a report/presentation on it. I'm trying to make a book list. I'm trying to keep the reading level lower so the students have a hope of finishing it in one month. I am just trying to find options for the students.
-Lord of the Flies
-The Giver
-Jurassic Park
-Enders Game
Any suggestions on other books? Perhaps books the girls in the class might take to? I mainly have only ever read Sci-Fi & Tom Clancy, none which tends to appeals to young ladies.

How about a Raymond Chandler book, The Big Sleep or something. They're comparatively easy to read, enjoyable, not too philosophical and yet are still classic American literature. There are often two female characters in his books, one of whom is a femme fatale.

Daisy Miller by Henry James may appeal to the young ladies more. It's not based in America, but the main characters are American. It has one big advantage: it is short.

Actually, The Great Gatsby also has the recommendation that it comparatively short. I'm sure there is a lot of hidden meaning in the book, but superficially, it is easy to read.

Another suggestion that may appeal to the girls is Breakfast in Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I have never watched the film or read the book, but I gather both are good. I think that is a short story too.

[kev67]

Yet another suggestion that may appeal to the girls is True Grit by Charles Portis, which would no doubt have become a classic book if it hadn't immediately been turned into a film.

Maybe the girls would like nurse Ratchet from One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey. Also a great film.

[Silas Thorne]

I know very little about American Literature really. But as someone who has taught English in China, and given the level of your students, I think that Charles Darney's advice is very good. A month-long seminar class for the students (intermediate level) to have to give a presentation on a novel!? I'm not sure whether that is achievable, and the people who organise the course are crazy to expect this from them and you, unless they expect you to pick one that's got a movie based on it that is very close to the book (so most of the students can ignore the English text altogether), or maybe focus on a few representative excerpts from a book (depending on what your angle is) and study the rest as a movie. I very much doubt that anyone at that level will be able to read a whole novel in that time , unless they are a particularly committed student.Maybe after a time (a few years) , what you've introduced might help to encourage someone to read the whole thing after your introduction to the book in this course though.
'The Hunger Games' might be good if the book is close to the movie, but its not that easy for language learners actually (I know a Korean student of Upper-Intermediate level who is living in a native speaking environment here in New Zealand and who finds it hard).
Some American poems would be accessible to learners at this level. Try Frost 'Fire and Ice' (with a bit of explanation), and Langston Hughes 'Dreams' for example. Give any Edgar Allen Poe short story or poem or a novel by Raymond Chandler to this level of learners and they will probably explode. Maybe dipping into the literature a little from time to time in history class is better for a course this short in length. Keen students might be encouraged to check out stuff they like in their own time.
By all means, get the students to memorise some history and test them on it though. Give them each handouts and a fixed deadline to know it by.

[Hawkman]

You really can't neglect John Steinbeck. Apart from The Grapes of Wrath, he has wonderful collections of short stories. There are three titles which spring to mind, Sweet Thursday, Cannery Row, and Tortillia Flats. There are others but a quick web search on Steinbeck will give you a list. Much too often neglected these days, Steinbeck.

[chatfouz]

I can't tell you how much this helps!!

I know asking the students to read a novel is a lot, however this will be the only thing the students do. They will have no other classes. We are an odd school, 1 month = 1 class. So they only have to worry about literature class. no math homework, no other assignments. A short daily reading for class + their novel.

The more I have been thinking about it, I might do the novel as part of class as an overarching (sp?) theme. Weekly quizzes on progression of book and spend a little time each day talking about the chapter(s) due.

More discussion, less lecture is what I hope to shoot for.

Again thank you so much! I can't wait to teach biology again.

[chatfouz]

How about a Raymond Chandler book, The Big Sleep or something. They're comparatively easy to read, enjoyable, not too philosophical and yet are still classic American literature. There are often two female characters in his books, one of whom is a femme fatale.

Daisy Miller by Henry James may appeal to the young ladies more. It's not based in America, but the main characters are American. It has one big advantage: it is short.

Actually, The Great Gatsby also has the recommendation that it comparatively short. I'm sure there is a lot of hidden meaning in the book, but superficially, it is easy to read.

Another suggestion that may appeal to the girls is Breakfast in Tiffany's by Truman Capote. I have never watched the film or read the book, but I gather both are good. I think that is a short story too.
'

I think Great Gastby is the only book I have read. I honestly haven't heard of the other books. I'll go to book store this weekend to see what is for sale. Books have to be available here cheap. Thanks for the tip.

[kev67]

No doubt you have sorted out your book by now. I have been reading Breakfast at Tiffany's. It's not bad. It's short, only 100 pages long. The girls would probably like it. The boys would not necessarily hate it. It is certainly very American. Most of the language is straightforward. There's one or two little bits that would need some translation. One or two outdated terms and expressions are used. Tiffany is a high class prostitute, but her background and motives are gradually revealed through the book. I quite like the character of the narrator as well, who Truman Capote presumably based on himself. He's a struggling, young writer, trying to avoid the draft (it set during WW2). He adores Tiffany, but only as a friend, it is hinted.

[SFG75]

Norton Anthology of American Literature, can't go wrong.