Post
by serendipity » Mon Apr 19, 2004 3:48 pm
Dear Agnieszka,
I think it takes background knowledge and experience to find a text interesting, and interest usually comes from getting involved in a matter, not the other way around.
Interest has got to be stimulated, and it may well be that one or the other of your students is a natural communicator who makes something dear to him sound interesting to others, too - but this is bound to be the exception, rather than the rule.
You, on the other hand, you have a wealth of experience to draw from. When you read an article on the net or somewhere, you'll be less hampered by vocabulary issues than the students are, you'll be more familiar with the culture it comes from, and more apt at assessing the value of a piece of writing. And you have means to get your enthusiasm across that may not be open to the students.
Marpi,
I would be delighted if students of mine brought texts they were interested in, because they wanted them discussed in class. It has actually happened a few times, especially when students needed to fix their Harleys and couldn't read the instructions and wanted me to do their work for them. Those without Harleys, however, they were bored stiff, and the students who had brought the written material, well, their focus was not on getting their classmates interested, but on figuring out how the repairs would work.
Maybe your students are more mature and more motivated than mine. With mine, I feel, as if I have to act as the prime motivator, over and over again. And I feel comfortable playing that role...
