HNDE circle Advanced Technological Institute Jaffna: 2013

· Types of tasks: English has 24 consonants, 12 vowels, and 8 diphthongs. Practice writing them in phonetic script giving examples. Practice producing them.

Received pronunciation: standard English

· Introduction to RP.

· Why study RP? It will help a student to realize what sounds he uses when he speaks. We also need to recognize that there must be some model for listeners and speakers to work towards. RP is easily understood in many countries.

Standard Sri Lankan pronunciation and pronunciation problems of Sri Lankan speakers

· What is standard Sri Lankan English? (Discussion)

· Pronunciation problems and the reasons

- Absence of particular vowel and consonant sounds

- Consonant clusters: school, street etc.

- Changing of meaning / word class according to stress

- Intonation patterns

Pronunciation exercises: reduced and full forms

· Focus: Function words (articles, prepositions, pronouns, conjunctions) which serve to express grammatical relationship in a sentence, can have a full vowel sound or a reduced form according to the context.

· Types of activities:

- The words underlined have the sound, but they have a full vowel sound when they come at the end of the sentence. Practice saying them.

e.g. Is it for you? What’s it for?

I’ve bought some bread. Can I have some?

- Complete the sentences with given words. Mark the words that have the sound

Pronunciation practice: Initial and final clusters

· Write words with initial and final clusters and practice them.

e.g. schools, tricks, bricks

HNDE Syllabus Year 1 – Semester I - EN 1108: English Literature I

EN 1108: English Literature I

Brief introduction to English literature

· Different genres; short story, novel, poetry, drama

· Sri Lankan literature in English: brief introduction of the characteristics

· Post-colonial literature: an introduction to writings of African, Indian, Caribbean, Nigerian writers

Poetry

· Different forms: ballad, sonnet, ode, lyric, free verse. A brief explanation of each form.

· Different ages: Elizabethan, Metaphysical, Romantic, Victorian Augustan, modern

· Language in poetry

Difference between a novel and a short story

· Introduction to the novel and the short story

· Difference between the two types in terms of length, characters, themes, setting, plot

Introduction to drama

· Short history

· Elements of drama: plot, characters, theme, dialogue, dramatic conventions, stage craft,

Language skills

The following aspects with regard to prescribed poetry, novels, short story and drama should be dealt with throughout the literature program

Language skills for appreciation.

· Recognizing and appreciating patterns of syntax

· Aspects of cohesion,

· Register – levels of formalities,

· Language varieties,

· Vocabulary,

· Inference

· Tone, how dialogue and spoken discourse operates

· How and why linguistic patterns operate in a text

Language skills for production

Expressing opinions / feelings confidently, giving information clearly

Reading skills

Use reading skills (activities) to understand the poem / short story / novel / drama

Literary skills

· Identifying and understanding the effect of figurative language-simile, metaphor etc.

· Rhyme, rhythm, assonance, alliteration

Content areas

· Setting – social / cultural / political / educational background

· Plot structure, character development, and theme

Teaching poetry

· Recommended text

English and American Poetry

- William Shakespeare: 1564-1616 (Under the Greenwood tree (as You like It)

- Thomas Campion: 1567- 1620, Rose–cheeked Laura

- Robert Herrick: 1591-1674, To Daffodils

- William Wordsworth: 1770-1850, My Heart Leaps Up, Daffodils

- Alfred Lord Tennyson: 1809-1892, Charge of the light Brigade

- Wilfred Owen: 1893-1918, Dulce Et Decorum Est.

Sri Lankan and Post-colonial Poetry,

- Kamala Wijeratne (Musical, Monument)

- Patrick Fernando, Fisherman Mourned by his Wife

- Nissim Ezekiel, Entertainment

- John Pepper Clerk, Night Rain

· Consider the following aspects

- Genre: e.g. sonnet, lyric etc

- Background: age, cultural/ social setting

- Form: e.g. 3 quatrains and a couplet

- Structure: e.g. 1^st 3 quatrains express 3 different ideas, each growing out of the preceding Idea; argument is tied up in the couplet.

- Theme: futility of war, love, beauty of nature, etc.

- Techniques: e.g. use of imagery, repetition, simile, etc.

· Types of activities:

Select tasks which match the cognitive level of the students, which is more developed than the language level. Activities which assist in understanding difficult language will bridge the gap between language level and text level. Activities should aim at developing the following aspects with regard to each poem.

- Understanding the meaning: pre-text task, Introduction to key words, Prediction activities, reorganizing / matching / comparing / scanning activities.

- Understanding the context:

- Learning to empathize: power of understanding and imaginatively entering into another person’s feelings’ character / events / scenes

- Learning to appreciate the poem: figurative language, theme, genre, words, sounds

- Learning to be creative express feelings / mood / tone, describe characters / events / settings.

Teaching short stories

· Recommended text

- Chitra Fernando: Missilin

- Saki: Open Window

- Rabindranath Tagore: The Postmaster

· Draw attention of the students to the following aspects

- Setting: How does the writer establish social / cultural background?

- Plot: how does the writer develop the plot / organize incidents / develop the problem or conflict as the story progresses / the climax of the story / what happens after the climax.

- Characters: How are the characters developed? What does the story tell us about their appearance / qualities, how do they contribute to the development of the plot and to present the theme?

- Structure: Point of view, narrative, use of dialogue etc

- Language: the kind of language the writer has used

- Techniques: symbolism, stream of consciousness, flashbacks etc.

Teaching the novel

· Recommended text

- R.K. Narayan; The Guide or

- Ediriweera Sarathchandra: The curfew and the Full Moon

· Consider the following aspects

- Narration: 1^st person, 3^rd person

- Structure: descriptive, narrative, dialogue, length of the novel

- Plot and parallel plots, sub-plots

- Themes: Unlike a short story a noel will deal with many themes

- Characters: central, major, minor

· Create awareness of the following

Knowledge of the author, period in which the novel was written / the period of time the novel is focusing

· Type of activities:

- to understand the plot: arranging a list of jumbled events in order, summarizing a chapter

- to understand the themes: select from a number of themes etc.

- to understand literary devices and their effects: analyze selections of texts to identify literary devices

- to express learner’s views: presentations on issues related to the novel, writing appreciations, dramatization

- to identify character traits: identify relationship between the characters and the development of the relationships

Teaching drama

· Recommended text

- Arthur Miller: The Death of a Salesman or

- Bernard Shaw: The Arms and the Man

· Draw attention to the following aspects

- Background to the drama

- Genre: Comedy, tragedy

- Theatre conventions: props, structure, props, lighting, costume, sounds, asides, soliloquy, chorus

- Themes

- Development of the plot: exposition, initial incident, rising action / growth / complication, the climax / crisis / turning point, falling action / resolution / denouement, conclusion or catastrophe

- Development of the characters

- Significance of language: blank verse, poetry, colloquial