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[cherubim2003]

Teaching Literature in China is really a challenge. As if breaking an ice--same ice that broke the Titanic somewhere.

Chinese students are not used to think. They lack creative and critical thinking. They are so used to lecture and spoonfeeding at that. It's either you're going to pull up the students from hibernation or you're going down to their level and join them in their mental hibernation.

I have once taught Hemingway's "Hills Like White Elephants" to a senior class and told me that they just can't understand what the author wants to say. They understood the story literally but could not answer interpretative and critical questions. Though, they answered me in 'bits and pieces' they also have a hard time answering my application questions.

I guess, before you introduce your students to short stories, let them enjoy first poetry. Emily Dickinson is my choice. Her poems are short, lyrical ones.

As for short story, try to give them Kurt Vonnegut's, "A Walk to Forever." It's a good, simple story to start with. Don't start by giving them them difficult ones (like HILLS LIKE WHITE ELEPHANTS or A ROSE FOR EMILY by Faulkner) right away. They might hate and shun away from literature.

[Chairman Roberto]

I think "Hills Like White Elephants" is a wee bit too obtuse for these students...at least my students...who lack any interpretation skills. Indeed, that is the thrust of my literature class. HOW to interpret. For example, before I even embarked on any short stories or poems, I gave them words like "horse" or "farm" and asked them what other words they associated it with. It worked...they're getting the idea. Then, I got them into the shallow end of the kiddie pool: Robert Frost and William Carlos Williams poetry. Cut and dry, at least for my purposes. So far, so good. They're learning that I'm NOT going to spoonfeed them the meaning of these works.

The first story I had them read was "The Monkey's Paw." That's where I learned just how bad my students' much vaunted reading comprehension skills were. I mean, I am constantly hearing that Chinese students "can't speak, but they CAN read and write." Baloney. They can't even do that, beyond textbook drivel that is no way a reflection of REAL English (that is, newspapers, magazines, and literature). And yes, I simplified the text ALOT...but it was still way over their heads.

As far as Hemingway: I'm having them read a much easier story to understand than "Elephants." It's "The Killers." At least I think it's fairly cut and dry. I also devoted a class period to Hemingway's background, from his ambulance driver days, the Lost Generation, and then his suicide. That last revelation was probably was a mistake...it might serve to discredit him as a writer in their eyes...but we'll see.

I'll let you know how it goes. As always, I am VERY interested in anyone's experience teaching lit. Please, GIMME SUGGESTIONS!!

thanx,
The Chairman