It's a pity that Literature is not taught at the upper secondary levels here at Outram - lack of teachers/resources and demand (dwindling school population, lower tier so they are weak in language). Last year there was only 10 Sec 4 students who were doing Things Fall Apart.
I am assigned to observe and teach Literature lessons to Secondary 2 NA students. They started the term learning the (very) basic structure and literary devices of poems - narrative, free verse, theme, rhyme, rhythm. They were provided with examples and scaffolding, and have since written 2 poems of their own, in preparation for the Poetry Slam competition that takes place in July. The drafts were edited by my CT to make sure they are on the right track before transcribing onto coloured paper with a personal touch. They want to make literature fun for the kids, and most seem relatively enthusiastic and take pride in their work (the poems will be graded on content and personal effort/ deisgn for CA). Next term, they will get into groups, choose a poem for each group to be performed for Poetry Slam.
They will be reading The Clay Marble in Term 3 and 4.
Sigh ... looks like the teachers are making it exciting with a Poetry Slam and the kids are coming on board so it is indeed a pity that more attention is not paid to Lit. Why The Clay Marble?
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