Unit 10  American literature

while introducing the writer and his poems, show the portrait of walt whitman and the book and the log cabin where the work was born on the screen.

 
 
t: now let’s appreciate the verses from one of his poems.
show the verses on the screen.
o captain! my captain! our fearful trip is done; the ship has weather’d every rack, the prize we sought is won.
——o captain! my captain!
walt whitman
t: can you taste the deep meaning?
ss: sorry ...
t: here walt whitman compares america to the ship, lincoln to the captain. the ship “has weather’d every rack”, while their great captain lay down forever.
ss: ... (the ss will feel very sorry when hearing this.)
t: yes. that is what good literature works bring us. look, you must have read this book.
show the book the adventure of tom sawyer on the screen.  
 
ss: yes! almost everyone has read the book. that’s very interesting and exciting and meaningful!
t: who wrote it?
ss: mark twain!! 
show the picture of mark twain.
t: mark twain is his pen name. do you know his real name?
ss: samuel langhorne clemens.
t: that’s right. can you count more of his works?
sd: certainly! besides the adventure of tom sawyer, he wrote many interesting and humorous stories such as adventures of huckleberry finn, the mysterious stranger, life on the mississippi, the gilded age and son on.
se: along with essays, critical works, and more.
t: very good! here on the screen are some more information about mark twain. please go through it by yourselves.
about mark twain:
 mark twain, pen name of samuel langhorne clemens, was a great literary giant of america, who was considered “the true father of our national literature”.
 the typical theme in clemens’ writing was the narration of a story by a young or native person. when he wrote about youth, the youth was usually wise beyond his years but remained an idealism which clements compared with the insincerity and cruelty of the adult world.
t: till now, we’ve learned about many famous writers of america and their works, but have you read this work?  pointing to the poem on page 82.
ss: no, we haven’t.
t: now please read it carefully twice or three times, then go though the questions given below and have a discussion in groups of four. a few minutes later, i’ll check your jobs.
if there is enough time or the students have enough knowledge about the american literature and writers, the teacher can have the ss talk more about them.
a few minutes later.
t: are you ready?