Death can not be a taboo in EFL classes

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

Australian Museum . Defining Death Death the last taboo. 2009. 02 Dic 2009

<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>

final essay ouline

title: Death can not be a taboo in EFL classes
Outline

1. Introduction

a. biological definiton about death
b. cristian definition about death

2. Body
a. literature and its relation to death
b. examples
c. applicability

3. Conclusion

September 1, 1939 by W. H Auden

Clearly, just reading the title of this poem I understood that the author was pointed out historical facts. On September 1, 1939 was the invasion of Poland and that issue was the beginning of the Second World War. Moreover in 1939 was the end of Spanish Civil War. These two historical aspects determined this poem.

In the following stanza he is criticizing the consequences of the invasion of Poland,

waves of anger and fear
circulate over the bright
and darkened lands of the earth,
obsessing our private lives;
the unmentionable odour of death
offends the September night

Auden in this part of the poem illustrates the fear of people and the imminent death of million of human beings. He also explains how the land had been destroyed by the invasion, desolation and darkness controlled the streets of September 1.

He also refers to religion, he mentions Luther to place us in a specific context that from him until now, religion has controlled the way we see God and what children have to learn about religion. As consequence they have developed a psychopathetic, with multiple personalities and mentally ill.

When he says “All I have is a voice”, he wants to be listened to and he also wants to express that through his voice we can criticize authority, progress, democracy, collective man, religion and nationalism.

To conclude, this is an excellent poem to analyze and to present it in an EFL class because it has many contemporary topics that are affecting our society nowadays.

Nicole's blog

I really like Nicole's post about D. H Lawrence because it was very interesting and she wrote about what called her attention. She mentioned the most important topics of the Rocking Horse winner but she could explain little bit more about them. I completely agree with her, the end of the short story is surprising!! I’ve never expected that Paul died.
Her questions were excellent, I think that she could use this short story in her elab. Probably she could use some quotes and then ask them those questions.
To conclude, she did a great job her reflections were good and she mentioned the important topics.

The waste land by T. S Eliot

Just analyzing the title of the poem, “The waste land”, I wonder where is the waste land? It is important to consider that this poem was published after the First World War, so the waste land could refer Europe after the war. Devastation, desolation, death and loneliness were aspects that predominated in during the interwar period. The massacre of innocent people in the war denoted the lack of awareness of …..In fact weapons were more important than human beings’ lives. Eliot combined different languages such as German and French. Probably he wanted to demonstrate that languages were not a boundaries, the waste land was conformed by all European countries. In the first subtitle “The Burial of the Dead” we can recognize how the land was devastated in the war. “And the dead tree gives no shelter, the cricket no relief, And the dry stone no sound of water” .To conclude, this poem criticized the European society and how the war damaged the land and human relations.

The rocking- horse winner by D. H Lawrence

Mother and children relationship is a key issue in the Rocking- horse winner because D.H Lawrence combined his real experience with fiction.

Analyzing his life and this story, the image of the “mother” is seen as an unhappy woman, who takes care children and control all aspects of her children’s life. On the one hand, in the case of the story the mother didn’t love her children and they felt that. There was a wall between them. However she tried to do her best in order to look like a good mother. Another aspect to consider is that she didn’t have a good relationship with her husband. Moreover she said that she was an unlucky woman because she got married to an unlucky man. In other words, she passed on the responsibility of unluckiness to her husband.

On the other hand, Lawrence’s mother had a close relationship with him, in fact she encouraged him to study arts and poetry. In that way she controlled his life because she didn’t want that he become a miner as his father. In addition she didn’t get along with her husband, they had frictions due to the fact they belonged to different social status. She passed on the responsibility of they poverty to her husband. To conclude his life had a lot in common with the rocking- horse winner. Probably he wanted to express what he lived through a story.

A room of one’s own by Virginia Woolf

To be honest I don’t like this essay. I think it is boring, maybe because it’s about gender issues and I believe that it is not a controversial topic nowadays.

However in this post I’ll focus on the need to have a space to write.

When she wrote about the need of having a room of one’s own she was referring to have physical and mental space to have inspiration to write.

Probably Charlotte Brontë didn’t have a physical space to write but she had a mental space where she was free to do whatever she wanted. She created that place and for that reason she could write Jane Eyre and other novels.

To have a room of one’s own is important not only for women, but men also need a space to be free. Women and men are human beings so, they have the same rights and duties. Gender equality is important to develop a better world. If Shakespeare was one of the greatest writers, women can be the greatest and most important writers too.