Teaching Animal Farm... Any tips?

[dimitra.soultan]

Hi
I've just started teaching George Orwell's Animal farm to a 16-year-old who has never read literature before. :( That's why he needs private tutorials in order to get his IB.
As i am Greek and i teach English as a foreign language, my work had always been based on Coursebooks and Grammarbooks(too technical...),so it's the first time I have used a whole literary book in one of my classes (instead of using exceprts). It's a bit more difficult, but much more challenging!!!
Anyway, if you have any ideas, tips on teaching Animal Farm or literature in general, or anything that could take a little of the stress away, I'd be thankful!:thumbs_up
(by the way, I also don't know how to post threads, so if you see anything foolish, please ignore it...)
Thanks


...I, a heir of birds, have to fly even with broken wings
Miltos Sachtouris

[Ana Lovejoy]

dimitra, try to get his attention by setting the scene: who was Orwell, what was going on when Orwell wrote the book and the most important: why on earth he "must" read this book. Students hate this "must", so understanding why 'Animal Farm' is one of the best novellas ever written it's a good first step. =]

[manolia]

Welcome Dimitra :)
I'd say that he must read the book first and let him say what he thinks of the book. Since the book is an allegory it would be a bit difficult for a 16 year old (lacking the historical knowledge i presume) to catch all the allusions. You can then provide him with a step by step explanation as to who is who and what is what in the book. If you follow this link

http://www.online-literature.com/forums/showthread.php?t=25291
or visit the G Orwell subforum

you will find very precious information on the book and its symbolism ;) .

[bunker_70]

I would let him read one chapter at a time and discuss it with the student and fil in the blanks and teach him the history behind it.
Thats how i did it with some friends/students who wanted to learn about Orwell.

good luck with it, i hope he likes it!

[dimitra.soultan]

Thank you people, you are precious!!!!
I hope he'll try to co operate...!

[J.D.]

You definitely don't want to push the allegory side of it at first. I did Animal Farm with eighth graders last year, and I let them enjoy the story for what it was at the surface level and develop opinions on the characters and events before I turned them loose on Lenin, Trotsky, Stalin, and the ideas behind the Russian Revolution.

This is a good one to teach--lots of fun. I even got to indulge a second passion: I used Beatles songs as a soundtrack for the book by pairing tunes with thematically similar sections of the book. Some of them are obvious, like George Harrison's "Piggies" and "I, Me, Mine." Others are more subtle, like Lennon's "Sexie Sadie" and "Strawberry Fields Forever."

Good luck!

[Seasider]

I am presuming he is not an English native speaker. If he is, please ignore my suggestion...but if he isn't there is a cartoon version which might get him going with it. It's a great novella so good luck.