In days gone, creative works of art like songs, narratives, poems, riddles and proverbs were passed down through spoken word around fireplaces, village arenas and social gatherings. Then, as now, works of art express human experiences, emotions, and ideas with tasteful intention and aesthetic merit.
Creative forms of literature were central in the lives of the communities involved because they helped in preserving the culture of the people and fostering cohesion. They also acted as powerful tools of transmitting knowledge across generations.
Fast forward and today most forms of oral literature such as song, play, poetry and the novel are now written. While this helps in posterity, a lot is lost once a work of art is written down. Dramatisation, improvisation, audience involvement, tonal variation, rhythm, pregnant pauses and aesthetic beauty no longer come out clearly in most written forms of the erstwhile oral literature.
The onus of breathing life into literature and making it captivating to learners falls on teachers. Literature teachers must first fall in love with the subject; there is no option. When they do so, their enthusiasm will shine through so that their students can feel the works of art.
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A literature teacher impacts more by walking his or her class through emotions and human experiences involved in a work of art than through displaying his or her content mastery.
Therefore, a teacher of literature must radiate a unique and contextual interpretation of any work and more so fire his or her learners imagination in interpreting the same in their own ways. To reinforce the experience about a particular book, literature teachers are advised incorporate drama in their day to day classroom delivery. Emotions should flow freely while analysing works of art. It pays to encourage learners to shout, jump, smile, grimace and use as many facial expressions as possible.
A literature lesson need not be confined to the classroom and creative teachers can take their learners out to the field to dramatize the books. The learners can act the roles of the set books characters in their own unscripted ways. When their facial expressions and body language mirror the author’s line of thought, the lesson sinks home in a profound way.
The teaching of literature can be further made interesting if teachers organise a work’s content by the themes explored by the author or content creator. A good teacher can direct learners to explore the main issues through discussions and research. In doing so, the learners should draw examples from their immediate society that relate to the content.
The writer is a teacher at Nyabururu Girls
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By Moraa Nyakeyo