The Wizard of Oz - A School Lesson
1. Introduction
“The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.” (James Bryce)
Reading is essential for language learning. It improves vocabulary, grammar and fluency. To get our pupils to read, often a book is chosen to read together in class. As a teacher, one might have difficulties to decide which book to choose. For sixth grade it must not be difficult or the children will not have any fun reading it, it should be exciting for them to read and should improve their foreign language. Those criteria are often quite difficult to combine. With original literature, students , especially younger ones, are often over-strained, they then soon are not motivated to read on or try other English books. If you choose easy children's books, the stories might not be appealing to them, because the books are written for much younger children. If the pupils are bored by the story, it might have the same effect as if they are unable to cope.
„The Wizard of Oz“ is a very famous, American story every child should know. It might not be found in a classic literature canon but for younger language learners, “who are not yet ready for [classic literature], [it] would be counter-productive and turn them off from classic authors” (Thaler, 19). It has similarities to a fairy tale. Sixth graders usually still enjoy stories with animals and fantasy figures like the talking scarecrow or the cowardly lion. The story contains elements that are a great start to interpreting stories, which is something students will need their whole school career. Some of these elements will be outlined later. There are various different movie versions, which can be used in class. Movies are usually a good motivation for children.
The version chosen for this term paper is an adapted version especially written for a sixth grade. It is a thin book with only 400 headwords and forty pages, which is not demotivating for the pupils and contains quite a few pictures. The six chapters
“The worth of a book is to be measured by what you can carry away from it.” (James Bryce)
Reading is essential for language learning. It improves vocabulary, grammar and fluency. To get our pupils to read, often a book is chosen to read together in class. As a teacher, one might have difficulties to decide which book to choose. For sixth grade it must not be difficult or the children will not have any fun reading it, it should be exciting for them to read and should improve their foreign language. Those criteria are often quite difficult to combine. With original literature, students , especially younger ones, are often over-strained, they then soon are not motivated to read on or try other English books. If you choose easy children's books, the stories might not be appealing to them, because the books are written for much younger children. If the pupils are bored by the story, it might have the same effect as if they are unable to cope.
„The Wizard of Oz“ is a very famous, American story every child should know. It might not be found in a classic literature canon but for younger language learners, “who are not yet ready for [classic literature], [it] would be counter-productive and turn them off from classic authors” (Thaler, 19). It has similarities to a fairy tale. Sixth graders usually still enjoy stories with animals and fantasy figures like the talking scarecrow or the cowardly lion. The story contains elements that are a great start to interpreting stories, which is something students will need their whole school career. Some of these elements will be outlined later. There are various different movie versions, which can be used in class. Movies are usually a good motivation for children.
The version chosen for this term paper is an adapted version especially written for a sixth grade. It is a thin book with only 400 headwords and forty pages, which is not demotivating for the pupils and contains quite a few pictures. The six chapters