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Chico ENGL 232 - Bertrand Russell - Teaching tips

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Bertrand Russell - Teaching tipsGraham Thurgood (ENGL 232) 101 Bertrand Russell - Teaching tips Narrative topics — stories and such — have a natural chronological organization so students usu-ally do not have much trouble organizing their writing. Thus, it is usually not as important for the students tohave done a lot of preparation before writing a summary of a story. However, essay topics have no such natural organization. With such topics, students often have agreat deal of trouble organizing their writing — especially in a second language. Thus, it is quite important that much of the following reading lesson will also serve to prepare thestudents to write — in a way, this is a bonus we receive for planning ahead.When we prepared this material, we had matriculation or even teacher training college students inmind.But then, as always, you know best what level and class it is suitable for.Prepare students to read Bertrand Russell's speech by talking about his life and then by examiningthe title of the speech.In Bertrand Russell's Nobel Prize acceptance speech, as its title suggests, he tells about what hetried to accomplish in his life. To prepare the class to read it, tell them a little about his life and work. For example, tell them thathe gained international fame in two areas. Early in his life, he became famous for his work on mathematics and in philosophy. Together withAlfred North Whitehead, he did pioneering work on mathematical theory. In the later years of his life, Russell devoted much of his energy to the cause of world peace. Next, put the title of his speech on the board and examine it — a good strategy that can be used withmost texts. Even if we did not know that he is giving a speech accepting the Nobel Prize, the title “What I havelived for” suggests that Russell will tell us what he has spent his life trying to do.Handout Student Worksheet 1, and have the students do the activity in pairs. While they are work-ing, write the title and the first line of his speech on the board — the title and the first line are also on the Stu-dent Worksheet 1. If you intend to have the students do the writing activity at the end of the lesson, this is a good timeto provide them with some short-term motivation by letting them know that later they will have to write ashort summary of Russell's speech (without notes!).After the students have completed Student Worksheet 1, discuss the answers together. Handout out Russell's speech and Student Worksheet 2, and have the class work through Activity 1,again in pairs. After they have completed this, discuss the results together.At this point, you need to decide if the outlining activity is going to be done individually, in pairs,or by the class as a whole (or, of course, skipped entirely). The purpose of this activity is to make the orga-nization of the essay even clearer, in preparation for the writing that they will do at the very end of lesson.The vocabulary exercise can be skipped, if you wish, without impairing the flow of the lesson.Postscript: We have made some changes in the Bertrand Russell speech. For this, we make noapology; without doubt, the original is more moving, more poetic, and better written. But, without changes,it would not be as useful for teaching, and, teaching is what we are trying to do, isn't it?Graham Thurgood (ENGL 232) 102 Student worksheet 1 In pairs, examine the title and the first line of Bertrand Russell's speech and try to predict what can aboutwhat he will say and how he will organize it. Use the questions below as a guide. What I Have Lived For Three passions, simple but overwhelmingly strong, have governed my life: the desire forlove, the search for knowledge, and great sadness at the suffering of mankind. …1. What has Russell lived for? That is, what has governed his life?2. What are Russell's ‘three passions’? That is, what are his three topics?3. You can make some guesses about the overall organization of the speech from the order in whichRussell introduces the three topics. Which one does he mention first, which second, and whichthird?4. From the order that he mentions the three passions in the first line, what order do you think that hewill mention them in the speech?5. From the order in which he first mentioned the three topics, which one of the three do you think ismost important to Russell? Love? Knowledge? Or, human suffering?Graham Thurgood (ENGL 232) 103 Student worksheet 2Activity 1: Overall organization of the essay 1. One sentence summarizes the main idea of the whole essay.a. Where is it found?b. What two words in this sentence suggest how the essay will be organized? _____________c. What three phrases give more details about the two words you listed to answer question(b)?_____ _____ _____ _____ ,_____ _____ _____ _____ , and_____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ _____ .2. In a word or so, what is the main idea of the second paragraph?3. In a word or so, what is the main idea of the third paragraph?4. In a phrase, what is the main idea of the fourth paragraph?5. In various places, Russell evaluates his achievements.a. Where does he evaluate his search for love? ________b. Where does he evaluate his search for knowledge? ______c. Where does he evaluate his attempts to lessen the suffering of mankind? _________d. Where does he evaluate his life as a whole? ___________ Activity 2: Outlining (optional) Prepare a quick, informal outline of the main ideas in Russell's speech. (Note to the teacher: Thisactivity may be done either individually, in pairs, or by the class as a whole). Activity 3: Vocabulary Sometimes, with the help of hints in the text, you can guess the meaning of a difficult word. In this exercise,you will have to examine how words and phrases are used in this essay and then choose the correct meaningof the word. Instructions:(1) Find each of the words and phrases from Column A in the essay and then underline them twice. (2) Then, study each word or phrase in the sentence that you found it in and decide its meaning.Choose the meaning from Column B that best describes the way the word is used in the essay. Putthe appropriate letter in the


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