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Română Author(s): Corina Velișcu, Școala Gimnazială ”C. Parfene” Romania
- Age: 13 - 15
- Hours: 1h - 2h
Introduction
Students discover common interests in the gothic novel and speculate on whether the new discoveries in science can also have drawbacks, while reading in tandems and using some online tools/apps. Students have the possibility to work in groups, discuss on topics of interest and discover a type of book they might enjoy reading.
Learning Objectives
- - Encourage students to find common interests in reading while familiarizing them with the gothic novel characteristics.
- - Stimulate students` imagination and creativity while reading in tandems;
- - Develop critical thinking, cooperative and collaborative skills in students;
- - Exploit and develop students` digital and artistic skills.
Process
1. Students are shown pictures of scientists working in lab and are asked to answer some questions: - What are these people doing? - Can you name a famous scientist? What do you know about him/her? What did he/she discover? - Do you think Science can be dangerous? Why/Why not? 2. Using the online resources, students are asked to find out information about the Scottish writer Robert Louis Stevenson and put it in a spidergram with Spider Diagram Maker. 3. Teacher explains students what a gothic novel is about: themes, plot, examples of gothic novels and famous characters. Students make a poster with the key words characterizing the gothic novel (horror, fiction, suspense, mystery, supernatural) using Pic Collage. They can also use suggestive pictures (group work). 4. Students are given a worksheet with a fragment from the chapter ` Last Night` and are asked to read it in tandems ( `Jekyll, I want to see you`….`I`ll come back before midnight and then we`ll call the police`). This could be done at school, in different rooms or corners of a more spacious classroom or at home. 5. Using the Story Jumper app students are asked to imagine and write a short fragment illustrating Poole`s line in the chapter: `This mirror has seen some strange things` (group work). 6. Each group act the outcomes in front of the other classmates who may ask questions or express their opinions on the final products. 7. In reading tandems, students are then asked to read the chapter `Dr. Lanyon`s letter`. Then, using the Pixton Comic Maker app, they are asked to imagine the scene after Mr. Hyde turned back into Dr. Jekyll. They have to imagine a dialogue between Dr. Lanyon and Dr. Jekyll as Dr. Jekyll tries to explain his transformation. 8. In reading tandems, the final chapter, ` Dr. Jekyll`s confession`, is approached followed by discussions on statements such as: a. Everybody has two sides to their character. b. One side of a person`s character is always evil. c. Scientific experiments on animals and plants are all right but experiments on people are wrong. d. Are scientific discoveries only beneficial to humans?
Conclusion
Students may discover mutual interests in the gothic novel and would like to read more such novels as suspense and horror are much liked at this age. They also become aware of the possible drawbacks that science could have on mankind. The teacher may suggest other novels or stories of this genre to be read.