Teaching Introduction to Lit. Studies

As the semester winds down, I start thinking about how I would do things differently. In my Introduction to Literary Studies, which I taught for the first time, I used Aproximaciones and pretty much followed the organization of the book: Narrativa, Poesía, Drama. I think that next time I teach the course I will begin with poetry and spend more time on it than the other genres, since it seems to me that poetic language is part and parcel of good literature. I also think I would proceed in reverse chronological order, dealing with the Siglo de Oro/Baroque last, since it is more challenging and I think it would be good for students to become accustomed to poetry before diving into Garcilaso or Sor Juana. I did ask students to memorize and recite a poem this semester, though.

Any thoughts? Have you used other textbooks worth recommending?

The Onion's take on "illegal re-emigration" in light of the souring US economy

See article.

Resources for Teaching Literature

This section on the auladeletras site had some materials that may ( or may not) be useful for teaching basic literary concepts to undergraduate students. I found their powerpoint-esque introduction to _DQ_ to be quite interesting.

Publication update

I noticed that the Pastor and I are both in Volume 11 of eHumanista. Hopefully the links will be active soon.

Consensus: Speak mostly Spanish; write only in Spanish

Thanks for ya'll's thoughts on this issue. This is the first time I've given students the option of writing and presenting their work in either Spanish or English. I've had mixed results in the past but the majors and minors have done it. I think I will strongly encourage the majors to write and present in Spanish. I'm not sure what to do with the minors. Reviewing my original post I have succumbed to a false dichotomy that I have identified on this blog but have obviously yet to overcome. Why can't learning to express subtle or even basic ideas, themes, etc. in Spanish be part of a student's intellectual development? Why separate the two skills? I think I need to have more faith in my students abilities and be more comfortable with silence. But I can also imagine myself getting very exhausted and impatient as I try to help them find words to express what they really want to say in Spanish (circumlocution?). But I suppose that is part of my job here.

I think it is correct to point out that language skills or fluency is a minimum requirement for graduate school. I can't recall anywhere on an application asking for my ability to speak Spanish. I guess it is assumed. At the undergraduate level it probably needs to be a priority.

On another note, how is everyone's writing coming along this semester? I'm making good progress on my revision, slowly but surely, which is due 12/1. I also sent off an abstract Friday for a conference next April in Kentucky.

English or Spanish?

In my upper division course this semester I have given the students the option of using either Spanish or English for their final paper and oral presentation. My new division chair opposes the move. She prefers to use only the "target" language in her upper division courses. (She also loves to speak in education-ese, often talking about learning "outcomes," a term that sounds to me as if she were speaking of excrement.)

My lectures are all in Spanish as are most of the films. (The others are in French). All have English or Spanish subtitles. I encourage my students to speak Spanish, but when they can't, I don't mind at all if they speak English to make their points. I am mainly concerned with their intellectual development, and if language becomes an obstacle for them, I remove it. I'm sure most will write in English and present in English.

Have any of you had similar concerns?

My Newest Tool

No, it's not an iPhone. Have any of you used this? It seems to have what I have been looking for. I have been using RefWorks recently, but this seems a lot more flexible.