Literature classes: practicing in two languages

During my literature classes, in the framework of Erasmus+ and the etwinning project "Somos erasmus+", over the last two years (Grade A & B), the pupils studied the work of Greek and foreign writers through specific thematic areas. They read all works in the Greek language.

In the first year (2015-2016) we studied the role of woman diachronically through works such as Fragias’ "People and houses", Vincenzo Kornaros’ "Erotokritos” and James Joyce’s "Eveline". The pupils worked in groups,  researched the above topic and, after four months, they presented their storytelling work to the whole class, using the storybird digital tool. Furthermore, the product from each group was then presented in English and the pupils worked with my colleague Maria Pitsaki (English language teacher) for this purpose. The competency level of the pupils in English is C1. The result was a bilingual text (Greek and English) for the needs of our Erasmus+ project. 

Some of the pupils' work is available here:

https://storybird.com/chapters/a-fragias-people-and-houses-1955/?token=3668znsbyd

https://storybird.com/books/aretousa-from-erotokritos-1626-1646-by-vincenzo-ko/?token=79kryuc56b

In the second school year (2016-2017), the pupils explored Helen's myth through different writers, in different periods. For this project, they worked using the same methods (groups, storytelling, storybird presentations etc). For the needs of the Erasmus+ project, their uploaded presentations were in English and Maria Pitsaki assisted them. 

An example of their work can be seen here:

https://storybird.com/books/helen-a-trip-in-the-minds-of-creators/?token=85jg9yngf7

The two years' work showed that literature can be an engaging way for pupils to practice and produce in their mother language (Greek) and also in a foreign language (English). In both languages, they practiced skills such as speaking, listening, comprehension and writing. All these skills were combined with experiential activities such as working and discussing in groups, organizing the presentation’s structure, oral and written speech production.

Irini Kassotaki (Greek Language & Literature Teacher)

Experimental General Lyceum of Heraklion