120123 SE Literary Seminar: Teachers and Teaching Methods in Selected Eng Narrative Lit. (198os to 2007) (2008S)

The seminar will explore Frank McCourt's Teacher Man (2005) and ten short stories by contemporary authors (including H. Simpson, Eilis Ni Dhuibhne, W. Trevor, T. C. Boyle) featuring different kinds of teachers from different cultural and social backgrounds. In these texts teachers of diverse educational institutions are shown either within the classroom or in their private spheres. Several of the texts highlight the teaching methods employed and the teacher's didactic skills (or lack of them). The narratives dealing with the teacher's private life address such issues as the detrimental impact of the teaching job on the teacher's love-relationships and/or married life, as in Mary Scott's Language (1991), in which a teacher's obsession with "English grammar" results in the destruction of her marriage. Frank McCourt's memoir is based on thirty years of his experience as a teacher in various New York high schools, before he became the acclaimed author of Angela's Ashes (1997). McCourt's autobiography is a comprehensive and illuminating resource for the study of various class-room situations in a multicultural environment as well as for exploring (and critically assessing) his methods of teaching English literature and his pedagogic skills.
Assessment:
Seminar paper in English written by each participant individually (no group work!) 10.000 words+; PPT presentation (individually or as a member of a team) max. 30 minutes, supported by handout; regular attendance (imperative); active participation in the discussions in class, final essay. - Deadline for submitting the SE-paper: one week after the presentation.