Understanding and Interpreting Texts. 'The Hobbit' by J.R.R. Tolkien (Englisch 10. Klasse Realschule)

Lesson Plan from the year 2017 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,7, University of Augsburg, language: English, abstract: The lesson described in this paper is based on the book The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. The lesson is intended for a year 10 class in a grammar school, the recipients of the lesson will therefore be 14 to 17 year old pupils. The fantasy novel The Hobbit was chosen for several reasons. The book was originally written for children which means that it contains relatively easy vocabulary and is fun to read at the same time. Pupils are likely to enjoy this book as it is set in a fictional world that is lovingly described and is packed with action as the protagonists have to survive many exciting adventures. Furthermore, J.R.R. Tolkien is listed in the syllabus for Realschulen as an author that could be discussed in year 10. As the pupils at grammar school are the same age, should have similar competences and most likely have similar interests as pupils in a Realschule, the book should be appropriate for grammar school pupils too. The lesson described in this paper would be the first of about eight lessons on the book and would be 45 minutes long. The main focus of the lesson is set on reading comprehension and so the overall goal of the lesson is for the pupils to be capable of summarising the first two chapters of 'The Hobbit' in their own words as well as being able to reflect on the novel. This goal is based on the syllabus for English in grammar schools in year 10. The aims of reading comprehension that should be attained by the end of year 10 are described here. Among other things, Pupils should be able to read long and complicated literary texts and understand them on their own. This is expected of the pupils in the lesson on The Hobbit, as the homework due for the lesson is to read the first two chapters of The Hobbit on their own. In the section on understanding texts, there is a passage stating that pupils in year 10 should read either a novel or a drama of the twentieth or twenty-first century and understand, interpret and give their own opinion on the text (ISB 2004). The novel The Hobbit fits into the category of novels from the twentieth century as it was published in 1937 (Tolkien 1997) and in the course of the lesson will be understanding, interpreting and giving their own opinion on the text.