Friday, 27 April 2012

Novels in AEP Reading and Writing classes: Yes or No?

In most, but not all, AEP Reading and Writing classes, we read a novel, but it might not be obvious why we should do that, or even whether we should do it. What do you think?
  • Should we read a novel in our class this term? Why or why not?
    What are the advantages and disadvantages to reading a novel in class? (Quest has some useful notes on the language for talking about advantages and disadvantages on page 186 (Hartmann, 2007).) 
  • What are the characteristics which we should look for in choosing a class novel?
    If we decide to read one, I will choose it, but it's useful to think in advance about how that choice should be made. And I do like to get your opinions about what we do, and why we spend time doing it. 
  • Any other comments on this topic are welcome.
    What sort of novel, for example, would you like to read?
    Is there anything that you would prefer not to read?
    Any other ideas? 
I'll post another blog in a day or two, but you can start sharing your opinions in comments below as soon as you accept your invitation to join this blog. 

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References
Hartmann, P. (2007). Quest 2 Reading and Writing (2nd. ed.). New York: McGraw-Hill.
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5 comments:

  1. june_nen27 April 2012 at 14:28

    Dear all,
    I think it's a good idea to have a novel in class. Because we can practice reading and writing from it. We can learn how to scan, skim and get ideas from the story, we will also be able to write a criticism for this story. Moreover, we can learn how to write a story that make people feel interested. If it will be a novel in class, I suggest that we should a fantasy one, because we can learn many vocabs from it and it also make us think, think more creative and possitive. However, I don't want more homework, so if we can't geat a novel, it will be okay for me. :P Thanks for reading my comment.

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    Replies
    1. Peter.AUA27 April 2012 at 14:56

      June,
      Thank you for the encouraging response.
      The novel I have in mind is sort of a fantasy, which fits well with the topic of dreams that chapter 5 of Quest discusses.

      Unless there is a strong and persuasive comment to the contrary, I will be happy to follow your suggestions.

      Delete
    2. june_nen28 April 2012 at 17:17

      Dear Peter,
      Thanks for your reply. I'm sure the novel you have chosen will make us have so much fun and have much more knowledge about writing and reading. I'm looking forward for it. :D

      Delete
  2. Peter.AUA1 May 2012 at 08:08

    I am pleased to see that everyone wants to read a novel.

    We will probably start that this week.

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  3. Peter.AUA3 May 2012 at 23:03

    It's a worry.
    I usually read John Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men in rw4 classes: the story fits neatly with the abnormal psychology discussion in chapter 6 of Hartmann, and it's a great modern English classic, also very short.

    But since a couple of students have already read that novel, I thought it would be good to read something else. My next choice was another short, great classic: George Orwell's Animal Farm, but then I realised that someone in the class has also read that novel.

    So over the weekend, I'm reading again my third option to see if it might be a suitable choice. I think the language is OK, it's very recent, being published within the last decade, and also fits in with the unit on psychology in Quest; however, it's not quite so short as the other two. The chapter numbers go up to 233, and the number of pages is a bit more. I'll see what I think after I've read it again.

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