LITERATURE PLANNING

APPLYING LITERATURE IN CLASS

SUBJECT: LITERATURE AND

LITERARY THEORY

STUDENT: ERICA ROJAS

TEACHER: CLAUDIA VIBERTI

PATRICIA CABRERA

ASIC

2014

Literary analysis
Introduction
Literature for children opens a door to new worlds for
Children, it makes them think, and it makes them use
their imagination and encourages them to learn new
vocabulary. They experience new sensations, thanks to
literature they travel to other places and times which
give them knowledge about other people and their
problems. As we know television is the first window to
the outside world children have. Visuals images are
very important to them to learn about their
environment and others cultures. For this reason picture
books are chosen to be childs first introduction to
literary world but then literature is introduce as
didactic literature Literature intended to instruct or
educate.
When we are going to teach literature to children, we
need to include two critical elements. One is
educational: as we are teaching literature we are using
literature as an educational tool. The second is literary:

while we are teaching childrens literature facilitates

discussions regarding to the topic we are teaching. For
this reason literature is a valuable part of literary
history and it deserves to be study.
Another point that must be considered when choosing a
book is the context in which the book was published.
Although most of the stories have different versions
they always keep the first moral lessons they had when
were first published. Studying the context in which the
tale was written we enriched our knowledge and at the
same time we understand the authors point of view. At
the same time we see the changes in society and how
they see the world surround them.
According to the book English Literature a survey for
students by Anthony Burgess English literature is
literature written in English. It is not merely the
literature of England or of the British Isles, but a vast
growing body of writing made up of the work of authors
who use the English language as natural medium of
communication. Many authors that use the English
language for their literary works are contributing to the
English language, although in many cases their works
were plagiarized.
Taking everything into account as teachers of English,
we are giving students the opportunity of learning the
most important language of the world that will help
them in the future as no other language will do.
For this English project I have chosen to work with The
Shepherd Boy & the Wolf retold by Jenny Dooley and
Anthony Kerr. The story was first published in England in
1484 with the title of "Of the child whiche kepte the
sheep" in Middle English by William Caxton.

The students are beginners or elementary level of a first

grade of a bilingual school. The classes are given twice
a week, literature is thought once a week, the duration
of the class is forty minutes.
I based my choice in trying to give students a story with
high quality and a varied illustrative styles and
illustrations which synchronize with the text to support
childrens understanding and to develop their visual
literacy. I will follow two models, the language model
that is focused on general grammar and vocabulary and
the personal growth model that is a learner centered
model, this model encourages learners to draw on
students opinions, feeling and personal experiences.
Analysis of the story
The story date from ancient Greek times was written by
Aesop a slave who lived in Greece between 620 and
560 BCE. But this story did not gain currency until it was
translated into Latin in the 15th century. This story
shows how liars are not believed even when they say
the true. William Caxton also based his version in this
idea of how persons do not believe to liars.
Characters
Homer is the main character. He is a little boy who
takes the sheep during the day to the hills. At the
beginning of the story he loves playing jokes by telling
lies and only thinks in himself. Although his parents tell
him off, he is always telling lies. However, he learns the
lesson the day that he is telling the true and nobody
believes him.
Parents are secondary characters. They are good
parents who teach values to Homer. They teach him to
be honest and they tell him that the day he tells the

true nobody will believe him, which at the end became

true.
The wolf, although is included in the title he doesnt
appeared until the end of the story. The authors
describe his physical appearance and that he likes
eating sheep. It doesnt interact with the characters.
Setting
The historic time, place, social background of the story
is not mentioned in this version. The story takes place
up the hills. There are few details that we know by the
main character. For example he mentions that, nearby
there are others shepherds, that few farmers are
working nearby and they run to help him when he is
asking for help.
Tone: The attitude of the authors
The intention of the authors is to show children how lies
can led us into troubles. In this version we can see few
vocabulary, mainly is regard to some activities and
family vocabulary. It can be inferred that the authors
moral message suggests that it is better telling the true
than telling lies. This is seen as Moralizing Tone,
according to the theory seen in class attempts to
explain or interpret god or bad features of something.
During the story, Homer the main character, come up
with the idea of telling that a wolf is attacking the sheep
just for having fun. He does this many times; he shows
a selfish attitude and makes his parents and farmers
get mad with him
At the end of the story, the authors show that the main
character learns the lesson. This story shows young

readers that if they tell lies when they tell the true
nobody will believe them.
Language or style
The shepherd boy and the wolf include good examples
of repetitive and rhythmic patterns of the traditional
stories language. The story is told like a poem; it is
made up of metrical feet. In this case iamb and the
combination of these feet determine a poems meter, in
this case a Dimeter. The next phrase is taken from the
book as an example:
This is Homer,
a shepherd boy.
He loves to play
and laugh with joy.
He takes the sheep
to eat all day up in the hills,
as his parents say.

HISTORICAL AND LITERARY BACKGROUND

The story of the shepherd boy and the wolf dates from
6th century BC. First was sung by scopes and then was
written into many languages including English. In
general, all Aesops tales has a moral ending. Although

it was written long time ago, the stories are relevant

today as were in those days. The phrase the boy who
cried wolf has been used in many books or film, but
rarely refers to the fable.
From gluttony to philandering, wolf is synonym of bad
deeds in childrens literature. For example, The three
little pigs, Little red riding hood and many others
stories.
Level of class: Elementary
Class time: Students have classes four times a week in
a period of 80 minutes but they will have literature only
once a week in a period of 45 minutes. This project is
planned to be finished in three classes.
Work methodology: The students will work with their
own copies of the story. The teacher will play the cd and
after listening she will read for them to understand
better. Some activities are planned to be work in group
of two. After finishing the book the teacher will show a
short movie of the story. As final evaluation of the
project the teacher will ask students to write a letter of
advice to Homer.

Lesson 1

Objectives:
Students will be able to enjoy learning literature.
Students will improve reading and listening skills.
Teacher will encourage them to tell stories of their own
experience.
Teacher will encourage oral participation and share
opinions.

 Students will learn moral values about not telling lies.

Warm up: Teacher will ask students:
What do you do when you are bored?
Have you ever told a lie?
How do you feel when someone lied to you?

Activity 1:
During the class pupils will work in the classification of
animals: Farm, zoo, pets.

FARM

ZOO

PETS

Previously students were asked to bring different

magazines. They will cut animals from them. Then
they will stick them in their notebooks.

Activity 2:
Teacher will ask students to show their pictures to the rest of the
class and will ask them to say which is their favourite.

Closure/round up:
If you were the shepherd, what would you have done differently?

Lesson 2
Objectives:

Teacher will clarify parts of the story students do not

understand.
Teacher will introduce new vocabulary

 Teacher will encourage participation and she will

reinforce speaking and listening abilities.
Warm up: Teacher will ask to students:
Why is important to tell the true?
Teacher will discuss with students the concept of lying with
the group.
Teacher will give some examples of different situations in
which were tempting to lie. They will have to give solution
to these situations with a truthful explanation.
I broke my mums vase.
I didnt do my homework.

Activity 1:
How would you describe the wolf?

How would you describe Homer?

Activity 2:
Teacher will ask students to coloured the picture
according to the description given by Homer.

Closure/ round up:

As final activity teacher will ask students to retell
the pages we have read during class.

Lesson 3
Objectives:
Teacher will encourage students to identify the conflict
or problem of the story.
Teacher will reinforce the vocabulary learned in
previous lessons.
Students will reinforce the understanding of the tale by
choosing the correct ending of the activity.

Warm up: Teacher will give students different pictures for

them to find the six differences. She will divide in groups of

two and they will have to work with each other and try to
find the differences.

Task: Your partners picture is very similar to yours, but there are 6 small differences. Can
you find each of them without looking at your partners picture, only by asking questions?
Example questions:
Is there a pear in your picture?
Is it light yellow?
Can you see a TV set?
Before you start: Find the objects and actions below in the picture.

Activity 1:
Choose the correct ending to each sentence
1. Homer does not like:
to be alone
to go to the hills which were far away.
to live on a farm
2. The Homer cries Wolf! Wolf! because:
he does not want to be alone
he wants to have some fun
he wants to keep his sheep safe
3. When the Homer cries Wolf! the third time, nobody
come to help him because:
the people think it is a joke
the people dont believe him
the people dont hear the boys cries

Activity 2:
Teacher will ask students to retell the story with the
beginning, middle, end and put the boxes in order.

Then children will have to coloured the story in

comic-strip boxes.

Activity 3:
Write a letter to Homer: What advice would you give
to Homer?

Closure/ round up: Checking

Bibliography:
Material entregado en clase.
English Literature a survey for students by Anthony
Burgess.
Material entregado por German Sierra en clase.