In addition to meeting students and connecting through “English as a Second Language” courses, I also was invited to guest teach one literature class. In this class, students read both Hungarian texts and prominent literary classics that are translated into Hungarian. Most recently, the students had finished reading Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare.
In this class, the students were not arranged by English levels as the class is normally taught in Hungarian. The students told me they were worried about their English speaking abilities, and while there were diverse levels represented, the students were all able to fully participate in the lesson.
First, I asked the students to read a scene from Act I of the play in the Hungarian classic. In this well-known scene, Romeo and Julie flirt with one another through an extended metaphor about prayer. Even though I speak no Hungarian, one testament to Shakespeare’s dramatic genius is that I could follow the scene with ease (I’m sure the English translation helped a little). However, I could see the students had a love of the text.
Then, I introduced the book, William Shakespeare’s Star Wars, by Ian Dosecher, that I have used to introduce Shakespeare to students in the middle grades. This takes the original Star Wars movie and reworks it as a five-act Shakespeare play written in iambic pentameter. The author borrows heavily from Shakespeare in a parodic style.
We examined a scene from Doescher’s book where he models a conversation between Luke Skywalker and C-3PO off of Romeo and Juliet’s conversation. In this extended metaphor, the two characters use food as a vehicle to describe their desire to learn more about famous space battles.
The students were interested in the book and eager to read more. However, our lesson was to focus on extended metaphors. The final step, was for students to work in groups to write their own extended metaphors about being a teenager, living in Budapest, or both.
I wondered if the students would find this interesting or challenging. They did! Though the time limit was short, the students quickly produced their own extended metaphors using the Danube River, the weather in April, and favorite food.
Here are a few lines that moved the class when we did a read aloud:
- “Being a teenager is like April’s weather…Sometimes you feel you have a big storm above your head, but you know that flowers will bloom around you.”
- “The Danube [River] is the sweetest part of the [chimney bread]. It makes this treat special.”
- “Walking in these mysterious and narrow streets full with people might make a person ponder upon a moment. Is this the place I expect to live my life? This beautiful place full of thoughts, and their answers are much like a circle…”
Though the course was traditionally done in Hungarian, the students had an enjoyable time expressing their thoughts in English. I am filled with gratitude with the generosity and willingness of the students to dive in, write in a second language, and share their creations with others.
