All of us are worried about death; all of us have thought about death, we do not understand exactly what happened when we die. We have a lot of questions related to death but nobody can answer them but I can guarantee 100% that we will die someday. Everyday million of people die around the world and we have not noticed. Moreover, at school it is not a common topic, indeed it is a taboo topic and for that reason many teachers avoid discussing about death because it is very complex, sometimes they do not know how to face difficult questions or what kind of material they could use. Thus this paper deals with the following question, why literature can help teachers to discuss about death in EFL classes? I raise this question because death can not be a taboo topic in the classroom. On the one hand I will provide two definitions about death, in order to have a holistic understanding of the meaning. On the other hand, I will present the reason why literature helps teachers to discuss about it and I will give some examples of poems and novels that are focused in this topic and they could be helpful to introduce the theme in EFL classrooms.
According to the biologist Nasif Nahle, death always occurs as a deterministic event because all living beings will die. Death is a final state of any biosystem that is intimately linked to a state of maximum entropy; thus, death is an irreversible final state. Thus, dead organisms, humans included, will never return to life.
Now, a Christian perspective mentions that,
The Bible tells us how to face death. From God's perspective it is not physical death that we should fear. Physical death is only the soul being separated from our physical body. There are really three types of death. Besides physical death, there are spiritual and eternal death. Spiritual death is separation from God because of our sin. God cannot be in the presence of sin (disobedience to God). Spiritual death started with Adam and continues today whenever we sin against God. Spiritual death is only a temporary condition, but eternal death is forever. Eternal death is eternal separation from God. If we have not accepted Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior, we will face death that is eternal on Judgment Day.
These perspectives give us an obvious sense of its meaning, death is the end of life. It does not important if we have a scientific or a religious point of view because it is clear that all of us born, then we grow up and finally we die. However, the main differences between these points of view are what happen after we die.
Clearly this topic is very difficult for all of us, but it does not mean that it has to be left aside by teachers. Teachers should be prepared to talk about it, for that reason in their initial programs should encourage them to discuss and analyze complex topic such us death, euthanasia and abortion. In that way, they would acquire knowledge about these topics and it would not be so difficult to discuss them in their classes.
One way to introduce the topic to EFL classrooms is through Literature due to the fact that literature reflects a constant process of trying to understand death and all its implications. (Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, 2009).Moreover,
the history of death in literature reveals a culture that has evolved from one that accepted death as a natural part of life, to one that invested it with primary religious significance, to one that almost fetishized death, to one that tried to deny it for its now apparent irrationality. Literature suggests that as death has become increasingly less "natural" and concomitantly less meaningful, people have had to find new ways to negotiate it. (Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, 2009)
Having in mind that idea, literature provides a historical background about death, indeed this topic has been written since ancient times. So far, literature has demonstrated that it is an excellent tool to incorporate this topic to EFL classrooms. Many writes have written about death so there are million resources like poems, short stories, novels, etc to apply in classes. For instance, “When I Have Fears that I may cease to be” by Keats is excellent poem to discuss in classes because he wrote about his fears of death and not being remembered. So, students could understand emotions and feelings that in the poem appear. In that way, students could understand a different point of view about death and how Keats dealt with his feelings. So, in that way teachers could raise awareness of emotions, learners could feel identified with the poem and they could understand that they are not the only ones how feel fear of death. It is important to mention that teachers should foster students to research, share opinions, discuss deeper, and solve problems related to this topic because these activities could help them to compare their ideas with others, to listen classmates’ experiences and points of view. In this manner, learners are practicing emotional skills and critical thinking.
To conclude, death has different perceptions like the biological and the religious but those perspectives are not a difficulty to discuss it in classes. Indeed, literature helps teachers to discuss about death in their lessons because it has always reflected on death. Besides it is and excellent resource due to the fact it has real language, it provides historical contexts, many writers have written about it and it brings different perspectives and emotions to the classroom. When teachers and students discuss about this topic, they can understand their feelings and fears and others’ perspectives, how death has faced through history and they can put into practice emotional skills and critical thinking.
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Work cited
<http://www.deathonline.net/what_is/defining.cfm>
“Death”. Encyclopedia. Com. 2009. 02 Dic 2009
< http://www.encyclopedia.com/doc/1O94-death.html>
Nahle, Nasif.. Biological death. Biology Cabinet Oct 2006. 02 Dic 2009.
<http://biocab.org/Biological_Death.html>
“Death in Literature” . Encyclopedia of Death and Dying, 2009. 03 Dic 2009 <http://www.deathreference.com/Ke-Ma/Literature-for-Adults.html>
1 comentario:
Hello，這裡真是百看不厭的部落格..................................................................
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