My family often refers to me as “the questionnaire” because I am constantly peppering people with questions during all of our conversations. What can I say, I spent four years as both an English literature student at Bates and a reporter for my college newspaper. I just always have questions to ask of myself and those around me. And I can’t stand silence – why sit back quietly when you can talk, discuss, laugh, challenge and learn.
I never leave a situation, project, paper, or classroom without feeling as though I have thoroughly understood everything and put worth my best effort and energy. I am eager to continuously learn how to improve and better educate myself. This inquisition has pushed me to be very mindful about how I interact with others. The ability to think critically about lesson plans, student behavior, and educational theories is a skill I believe to be invaluable – and one I am constantly battling to integrate into all of my ESL classes.
This week I taught William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet to the majority of my students. I watched a modern version of this classic, tragic romance in Stratford-Upon-Avon a couple of years ago as an English major at Bates prepping for my senior thesis. However, the last time I actually read, analyzed, and discussed the text was my freshman year of high school. And I didn’t fully appreciate the themes and nuances that lie between the lines of well-known scenes and acts.
My indifference to English literature changed during my junior year of high school. During this year I signed up for a course called “Modern American Literature” and had a teacher who constantly questioned my thinking of classic American novels and plays, such as Of Mice and Men, Catcher in the Rye, The Scarlet Letter, and Death of a Salesman, by asking me strings of thought provoking questions. While in this class I learned about the importance of close-reading and rereading. I learned about the significance of seemingly small, out of place, moments. I loved feeling as though I could speak my thoughts about the reading and have my teacher challenge me to think through something even further. These are the moments that pushed me to become an English major. And these are the moments that I hoped to bring to my English classes this week.
I was definitely nervous before the start of these classes because I planned my Shakespeare lesson in a cafe after dropping Alex off at the airport on Sunday. Then, I finished planning the lesson on the train returning to Česky Têšín. My head was still in Dresden and Prague but I managed to piece together a basic summary of the play, stumble upon a visual/audio summary, compile a list of discussion questions, and then brainstorm potential mini assessment ideas – this seems like a long list of activities but it took a series of sporadic hours throughout the day to accomplish.
I didn’t know this at the time but as the week of lessons unfolded, I realized that I loved the challenge of transforming a complicated Shakespeare class into a story that can be understood and appreciated for my students – students who are not native in English, let alone Shakespeare’s wild version of English. I realized that transforming Shakespeare into a story for non-native English speaker was a convoluted art form but one that I absolutely loved figuring out.
I was told to teach the basic plot of Romeo and Juliet in 45 minutes. No more, no less. This seemed an impossible task for me. But after the first lesson, I realized that simply discussing the basic plot with my students not only helped their conversational English skills but also their inquisition. I was able to show the students that the tragic plot points can actually impart beautiful messages for readers.
When having the students discuss the play, I walked around to each group, sat with them, and asked them many follow-up questions to the answers they gave me. At first, they were stumped as to why I kept on asking them all of these questions. But then slowly as they kept answering my questions, they realized the deeper meaning and looked shocked and proud as they shared their thoughts with me. The sight of these students’ faces showed me that not only has the Czech Republic provided me space to discover my passion for teaching…this country has also granted me an opportunity to figure out what I want to teach – English literature.
During most of my lessons I asked my students the following questions:
–> Where does the story take place?
–> When at the Capulet party, did Romeo know the name of the girl he had fallen in love with? Explain.
–> What plans did Juliet’s father have for her? What did Juliet decide to do instead?
–> Why didn’t Romeo and Juliet’s plan succeed?
–> Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is known as one of his most famous tragedies. What is a tragedy and why is Romeo and Juliet’s story a tragedy?
While these questions seem to be merely about the major, basic plot points of the story, they are actually meant to scaffold the students’ understanding of the underlying themes. As I walked around to each group of students, I not only asked them the questions listed above, I also had them walk me through the story and explain why they think I asked them these questions. Again, seems annoying and excessive but this process actually allowed the students to not only think but rethink and reflect upon how they could transform basic plot points into a thematic conversation.
At the end of every lesson I asked the students, “Why do you think Shakespeare would kill off these two young, innocent lovers? What’s the point? What’s his purpose?” When the students looked at me like I was a crazy person who was clearly overthinking the play I again had them walk me through the basic plot points: The Montagues and Capulets hated each other, Romeo fell in love with Juliet without knowing her name at the Capulet ball, they decide to secretly marry, Friar Lawrence gives Juliet a potion that allows her to fake her death, Romeo is unaware of the plan, sees Juliet dead and kills himself, Juliet sees Romeo dead and kills himself, and the two families make peace. This is Shakespeare in under 50 words and it is not a perfect summary by any means.
That said, by rehashing these points I helped the students see that the deaths of Romeo and Juliet, two young individuals who fell in love without considering differences in identity, showed their families the importance of peace and love regardless of conflicts rooted thousands of years ago. The students and I talked about the importance of living in the present and learning from the past to move forward and love fully in the future. We were having a thematic conversation in English and we were all taken by surprise!
This lesson was pretty ambitious considering Shakespeare’s language is complicated for American university students. However, knowing that the students can pick a part and discuss Shakespeare’s iambic and archaic version of English gave them more confidence about speaking with me in passing after class. One lesson I planned mentally scattered on a train became a week of continuous development as a teacher, community member, and friend for my students and colleagues.
I also had to alter this lesson to work for a more active and talkative class. I took extra time after my lessons on Tuesday to think about each student in this class and how I could develop a lesson that would ensure we had a productive and effective lesson about Shakespeare and Romeo and Juliet. This involved creating a scavenger hunt, designed to test the students’ reading comprehension of various Shakespeare biographies. I also included questions that were not found in the biographies, forcing the students to ask me questions in order to receive the answers they needed for the scavenger hunt. Creating this lesson reinforced the importance of thinking about the different ways different groups of students learn in my various classes.
I usually leave the school on Thursdays completely wiped with no patience leftover. And I thought this Thursday was going to be even worse after spending such a beautiful time in Dresden and Prague the week prior. But this Thursday, I left the school with lots of energy and my mind was racing and thinking about how I can structure my next literature lesson about Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea, a classic American novella. This was a nice surprise and one I surely wasn’t expecting which made me feel all the more rejuvenated and hopeful.
So, to ask or not to ask? This should NEVER be the question because questions only improve learning and cultivate curiosity – traits that will translate to social and conversational skills far outside any classroom setting. The act of asking questions is how I am able to meet and interact with so many people here in the Czech Republic. I would be lost if I couldn’t ask questions. I probably be somewhere lost in the eastern side of the Czech Republic waiting for a non-existent train on the wrong platform and track if I couldn’t ask questions. I am able to confidently write this blog because I have been surrounded by a community of individuals eagerly trying to answer all questions I throw at them and know I am only going to keep on asking more and more. And I hope my students and friends keep asking me more as well.
Additionally, this weekend, for the first time in 3 months, I also gave myself permission to have no travel plans and to simply tackle tasks and adventures that would allow me to balance feeling rested and productive. I spent Friday in Ostrava talking with my family about our upcoming reunion and Christmas trip and leading another conversation lesson at the American Corner. Friday’s American Corner lesson was my most packed to date. Typically I have 5 or 6 students attend my conversation lessons. On Friday, I had 15. We made Holiday Greeting cards, came up with creative Christmas stories using A-Z vocabulary, talked about St. Nicholas’ Day in the Czech Republic and how this compares to Santa Claus in the US, and then finally laughed and discussed the various Christmas markets we have all visited and ones that must be seen this holiday season.
The Holiday Cards were a great start to the lesson. Everybody laughed, smiled, and wrote to family, friends, or colleagues they wish they spoke to more. Two people from the group even wrote to each other, exchanged cards, and shyly smiled down at the table, grateful for the moment. I couldn’t have asked for a better example to show the group why I had them write cards. A simple Holiday greeting card is something my family checks the mailbox for everyday to see how those we love are doing. To read about what everybody has accomplished throughout the year is very special and comforting. It is also always a process to pose for the perfect Christmas card (especially with seven siblings who are incapable of all smiling and keeping eyes open at the same)…but its tradition and always ends up being some sort of unique family memory. I hope that everybody can share their cards with those they love because even though it seems simple, it really does make somebody’s day and is a tremendous time to reflect and realize how lucky we are to be surrounded by so many people looking after us.
I ended the evening at another Croatian restaurant with the primary school teacher I have fortunately befriended. We shared fish dishes and glasses of wine and made plans to visit some Christmas markets this coming weekend. I love these meetings and I especially love how we are able to continually reconnect, grow as friends, and establish solid plans outside the classroom with each other. Again, while this woman is not my age, her friendship means the world to me as our time together creates even more roots for me in the Czech Republic.
Finally, on Saturday, I spent the day similar (missing the Polish Christmas markets) to how I would in the United States – and this was just what I needed to finally feel fully rebooted. I ran through trails by my flat first thing in the morning, cooked, and worked on graduate school/teaching fellowship applications in my favorite café. While writing, I received a WhatsApp video call from my mom and younger siblings. We laughed and chatted about our dog Frank constantly eating socks, and discussed our Christmas trip. I couldn’t stop smiling after this call (and couldn’t stop thinking about seeing them soon). I then ended the evening checking out Cieszyn’s Christmas markets, and catching up with family, friends, and loved ones from Andover, Lewiston, and Grosse Pointe. I felt as though I finally had the time and mental space to reach out to people and have conversations lasting more than a few minutes. While it is amazing meeting new people and furthering my connections to them here in the Czech Republic, it also important to stay connected to people back in the states – especially my family and loved ones. So, I felt relieved to be able to do so this weekend.
Sunday saw another trip to the Czech mountains with Roman and Pavlina – an easier but beautifully unique path to views of peaks from the Czech Republic, Poland, and Slovakia. It was a nice way to ease into the morning and day with light conversation and fresh air. We ended the evening of course at our favorite pub, prepping for the week ahead. I also received more calls from home and truly let myself take a step back, rest and unwind.
And what’s next? I have officially submitted my first Graduate School application! One down, many more to go…I will keep applying and submitting more applications over the course of the forthcoming weeks. But hey it’s a great start and nice to have one in the books.
I will be continuing my literature lessons and will teach Ernest Hemingway’s The Old Man and the Sea this week to most of my classes. While teaching Hemingway and this novella I will continue peppering my students with questions and focus on having them discuss the symbolism laced throughout this abstract story about an old man, a young boy, and the pesky sea.
The next travel destination for me (příští zastávka): Wroclaw, Poland. Here, I will be traveling with my school community to visit the Christmas markets, walk through some museums, and explore the history of the city. I also hope to hit more markets this weekend of course and then will prepare for an entire week of Christmas festivities (flea market, Christmas parties and Christmas concert) at the school and finally…. a long-awaited reunion with my favorite 01810 squad 🙂
Listen to some favorite holiday songs, share some special moments with family and just enjoy this joyous season and month!
Now a little Czech (thanks Roman and Google!) to end this blog:
Doufám, že všichni mají pěkný týden a mohou si užít oslavy svátků!
And…as always, ahoj!
Redefining Escape 