This week's post is provide by Erinn Bentley and one of her students, Jessina Anderson. I don't know about you, but at the midpoint in the semester, I am ready for a fall break. If you don't have a fall break (we don't.) then it Isn't reasonable to fantasy about future trips or spend some time remember a past trip? Erinn has experienced something I am still dreaming about. She was able to do a study abroad experience and teach young adult literature at the same time. Thanks Erinn and Jessina for sharing your summer semester abroad with us.
YA Literature and Study Abroad: Making Learning a Lived Experience
by Erinn Bently and Jessina Anderson
This past summer, I was given the opportunity to teach my dream class, affectionately named the “Harry Potter Class” by my students. I gathered a group of undergraduate English majors and whisked them away to the magical city of Oxford, England to study YA literature. For seventeen days, our classroom became cobblestone streets, museums, gardens, cathedrals, and markets. We explored the very places that inspired iconic texts, such as the Harry Potter series, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, and the Chronicles of Narnia.
I anticipated that the students would be enthralled with the texts and entranced by the places we visited. The challenge for me as an instructor, though, was how to connect these two course components: literary study and study of the host country and culture. I wondered, How do I help students use the YA novels as “lenses” for viewing their study abroad experiences? In this blog, I will describe a few activities I developed in the hopes of fostering these learning goals.
I anticipated that the students would be enthralled with the texts and entranced by the places we visited. The challenge for me as an instructor, though, was how to connect these two course components: literary study and study of the host country and culture. I wondered, How do I help students use the YA novels as “lenses” for viewing their study abroad experiences? In this blog, I will describe a few activities I developed in the hopes of fostering these learning goals.
The first activity was the Alice in Wonderland Scavenger Hunt. As the birthplace of the immortal Alice, Oxford contains several sights related to Carroll’s novels. For this scavenger hunt, students were given a series of tasks to complete in their free time. Some tasks required students to visit Alice-related sights; others required student to complete activities related to themes in the novel. Finally, students took a “selfie” of each completed task to document their progress. Some tasks included:
During the scavenger hunt, students were able to explore their surroundings through Alice’s point of view. By sharing their selfies, we all discovered new and interesting ways to view ourselves, the text, and Oxford.
- Who doesn’t love tea time? Take a selfie as you enjoy afternoon tea.
- At various times, Alice feels “too big” or feels “too small” compared with her surroundings. Take a photo of a place that makes you feel “big” or “small” in some way.
- Alice is often lost, which leads her to new adventures. Take a selfie of a time when you feel “lost” either physically or metaphorically.
- Find the Dodo bird and take a selfie.
During the scavenger hunt, students were able to explore their surroundings through Alice’s point of view. By sharing their selfies, we all discovered new and interesting ways to view ourselves, the text, and Oxford.
Another activity was the Harry Potter Sorting Hat. In this activity, students “sorted” experiences they encountered during the study abroad trip into one of three categories: Muggleish (ordinary or mundane), Magical (fantastic), or Made-Up (unreal or over-the-top). For each experience, students wrote a brief explanation on a notecard and posted that notecard in its respective category on a wall in our classroom.
Interestingly, most students sorted the “touristy” sights in Oxford and elsewhere (e.g., Platform 9 ¾ , the London Eye, and Picadilly Circus) as Made-Up or Muggleish. The Magical experiences were the everyday ones, such as eating fish and chips at a local pub, or the experiences they encountered outside of our required field trips (e.g., visiting local museums, going to live performances, and venturing to favorite authors’ birthplaces). Through this activity, I was able to read students’ cards and literally see their study abroad perceptions, their impressions of their host country, and their moments of culture shock posted there on our wall.
Interestingly, most students sorted the “touristy” sights in Oxford and elsewhere (e.g., Platform 9 ¾ , the London Eye, and Picadilly Circus) as Made-Up or Muggleish. The Magical experiences were the everyday ones, such as eating fish and chips at a local pub, or the experiences they encountered outside of our required field trips (e.g., visiting local museums, going to live performances, and venturing to favorite authors’ birthplaces). Through this activity, I was able to read students’ cards and literally see their study abroad perceptions, their impressions of their host country, and their moments of culture shock posted there on our wall.
In closing, I would like to share a course reflection written by one of my students, Jessina Anderson. Jess is a self-proclaimed Harry Potter fan, and when I asked her to describe the most memorable aspect of this course, I was certain she would talk about our Harry Potter walking tour in Oxford or our trip to the Warner Brothers Studios outside of London. Instead, her response was similar to her peers’ Magical experiences. That is, Jess focused on an everyday experience that was not a planned component of our course.
Her response reminded me that my carefully crafted lesson plans and instructional activities may facilitate students’ comprehension of literary works; however, the most powerful learning experiences are often ones students design themselves. I thank Jess (and her peers) for showing me the importance of allowing students opportunities to “go off the syllabus” and make learning a personal and lived experience.
Her response reminded me that my carefully crafted lesson plans and instructional activities may facilitate students’ comprehension of literary works; however, the most powerful learning experiences are often ones students design themselves. I thank Jess (and her peers) for showing me the importance of allowing students opportunities to “go off the syllabus” and make learning a personal and lived experience.
I, Jessina, have spent my entire life doing walk-abouts in cities all over the country. I grew up as an Army brat, so my family has explored from the Pacific to the Atlantic. We loved to walk down to Pike’s Place Market in Seattle, the River walk in San Antonio, and even Broadway in Columbus, GA. Although each city had different buildings, businesses, and people, the atmosphere was always the same. There were advertisements for sports, movies, and politicians plastering the streets. People were hustling from one place to another without considering what was around them. Everything was either new and modern or old and rundown. It was always the same stuffing in a different wrapper.
In June of 2017 I was given the opportunity to study Young Adult Literature in Oxford, England. I recall the meetings about culture shock, and I remember thinking to myself that it’s an English speaking country with similar customs to ours. I didn’t expect much culture shock at all. However, I soon learned how wrong I was. I remember walking into downtown Oxford the day after arriving in England. I finally understood the meaning of the term culture ‘shock.’ It was as if the new world and the old lived in perfect harmony. There were smartly-dressed business people on cell-phones, and there were stores lining the streets with all the modern merchandise. On the other hand, time seemed to have frozen hundreds of years ago.
The buildings in the United States are just that, buildings. In Oxford the buildings are a storyline. Even without someone there to interpret the story for you, which we were very lucky to have, you can look at the details and they spoke for themselves. The carvings in the walls were full of characters and personality. One of the prominent buildings in Oxford, the Radcliffe Camera, had giant stone busts surrounding its perimeter. The detail in each man’s face was so distinct it was almost as if you could see what they were thinking at the time. There was careful consideration put into every centimeter of the statues. They were awe-inspiring. Furthermore, the whole city was full of them. Oxford streets were lined with men from the ages looking down at you. Nothing in my life has ever made me feel more connected to the past than admiring the way the British preserved their history.
The architecture was just the surface of that admiration though. The love of classic literature is what really took my breath away. Where Americans line the streets with football team logos, British line them with Alice in Wonderland, Jane Austen, and museum artifacts. The posters were of plays and museum displays. The entire atmosphere was an appreciation for the past happily married to the present. For people, like me, that have a passion for classic literature it was emotionally overwhelming. Every street that we walked down was full of historical preservation. It was an experience unlike any other, and I will forever have a deeper appreciation for the contrast between classic and modern through the eyes of the British.
In June of 2017 I was given the opportunity to study Young Adult Literature in Oxford, England. I recall the meetings about culture shock, and I remember thinking to myself that it’s an English speaking country with similar customs to ours. I didn’t expect much culture shock at all. However, I soon learned how wrong I was. I remember walking into downtown Oxford the day after arriving in England. I finally understood the meaning of the term culture ‘shock.’ It was as if the new world and the old lived in perfect harmony. There were smartly-dressed business people on cell-phones, and there were stores lining the streets with all the modern merchandise. On the other hand, time seemed to have frozen hundreds of years ago.
The buildings in the United States are just that, buildings. In Oxford the buildings are a storyline. Even without someone there to interpret the story for you, which we were very lucky to have, you can look at the details and they spoke for themselves. The carvings in the walls were full of characters and personality. One of the prominent buildings in Oxford, the Radcliffe Camera, had giant stone busts surrounding its perimeter. The detail in each man’s face was so distinct it was almost as if you could see what they were thinking at the time. There was careful consideration put into every centimeter of the statues. They were awe-inspiring. Furthermore, the whole city was full of them. Oxford streets were lined with men from the ages looking down at you. Nothing in my life has ever made me feel more connected to the past than admiring the way the British preserved their history.
The architecture was just the surface of that admiration though. The love of classic literature is what really took my breath away. Where Americans line the streets with football team logos, British line them with Alice in Wonderland, Jane Austen, and museum artifacts. The posters were of plays and museum displays. The entire atmosphere was an appreciation for the past happily married to the present. For people, like me, that have a passion for classic literature it was emotionally overwhelming. Every street that we walked down was full of historical preservation. It was an experience unlike any other, and I will forever have a deeper appreciation for the contrast between classic and modern through the eyes of the British.
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