(no subject)
Feb. 10th, 2010 08:03 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elucrehHere's the thing about my Teaching English to High Schoolers class: what I want to do for my big project is teach them to write fanfiction.
Good fanfiction, I mean. I don't want to say, "write about the characters from Romeo and Juliet being attacked by zombies." Because then, before you know it, they're saying "Juliet hauls out a chainsaw and kicks ass."
I want to give them an activity sheet that says, "Find three problems Juliet faces. What does she want that she can't have? How does she attempt to achieve her goals? Does she succeed? Does she learn from not succeeding? Does she always try to solve problems the same way? What do her problem-solving methods say about her as a person?"
And then I want to say, "Zombies attack Verona. Knowing how Juliet approaches problems, what does she do next? Is she the kind of person who tries to save herself, the kind of person who tries to save herself and her family/friends/beloved childhood pet, or the kind of person who tries to defeat all the zombies and save the city and its orphans and thieves and beggars and annoying Aunt Marges who once told her she should marry a fat old guy because she won't get a better offer? Whatever it is she tries to do, how does she try to do it?"
And yeah, I'd be teaching them a lot about how Shakespeare tells by showing, about characterisation, about finding motives, about how stories are driven by problems and the people trying to find their solutions.
But mostly, I intend to be in fandom for decades yet, and I want the upcoming generations to write good AUs.
Good fanfiction, I mean. I don't want to say, "write about the characters from Romeo and Juliet being attacked by zombies." Because then, before you know it, they're saying "Juliet hauls out a chainsaw and kicks ass."
I want to give them an activity sheet that says, "Find three problems Juliet faces. What does she want that she can't have? How does she attempt to achieve her goals? Does she succeed? Does she learn from not succeeding? Does she always try to solve problems the same way? What do her problem-solving methods say about her as a person?"
And then I want to say, "Zombies attack Verona. Knowing how Juliet approaches problems, what does she do next? Is she the kind of person who tries to save herself, the kind of person who tries to save herself and her family/friends/beloved childhood pet, or the kind of person who tries to defeat all the zombies and save the city and its orphans and thieves and beggars and annoying Aunt Marges who once told her she should marry a fat old guy because she won't get a better offer? Whatever it is she tries to do, how does she try to do it?"
And yeah, I'd be teaching them a lot about how Shakespeare tells by showing, about characterisation, about finding motives, about how stories are driven by problems and the people trying to find their solutions.
But mostly, I intend to be in fandom for decades yet, and I want the upcoming generations to write good AUs.
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(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 02:52 pm (UTC)It makes so much sense. This is going to be in my mind for a long while; thanks for giving me something to think about. ♥
(no subject)
Date: 2010-02-11 04:01 pm (UTC)