One of the ways is regular reading of digests, i. e. short condensed accounts and summaries of the most important books.
a) Read a few book digests taken from "Thesaurus of Book Digests" and "Book Review Digest". See if you can get a good idea of the books under con-sideration.
THE DIDACTICA (1631) by Comenius. Jan Amos Komensky, better known under his Latin name of Comenius (1592-1670), last bishop of the Czech Church of the Unitas Fratrum, has been called the father of modern education.
In his "Didactica", Comenius sharply challenged most of the prin-ciples of medieval education; he continued in a second edition in the "The Great Didactica" of 1638, which was literally a volume to de-scribe the means of educating almost everyone. He demanded that education be made universal, without regard to age, country or sex. It was to be based upon instruction in the student's native language; memorizing of rules was to be replaced by object lessons and gener-al practical experience.
Gilda Berger. SMOKING NOT ALLOWED; THE DEBATE. N. Y., 1987. In the first part of this book the author aims to provide background information on the controversy over legislation restricting tobacco smoking. She discusses the history of smoking, early opposition to smoking, snuff, cigars and chewing tobacco and cigarettes, Part II ex-amines health effects of active and passive smoking and "the legal, eco-nomic, and social aspects of banning smoking. Grade seven and up."
CHARLEY'S AUNT (1892), by Brandon Thomas. This is one of the most popular farces in the English language. The action takes place in Oxford, where Jack Chesney and Charley Wykeham wish to ask their girls, Amy and Kitty, to lunch in order to propose marriage before the girls' guardian, Mr. Spettigue, hustles them off to Scot-land. Charley's aunt, Dona Lucia, from Brazil, is coming to visit him; they think she would be a suitable chaperon. When she wires she cannot come, the boys are desperate and press Lord Fancourt Bab-berly, who has been practising amateur theatricals, into service as Charley's aunt. He acts a very robust aunt and flirts outrageously with Amy and Kitty, who think him a dear old lady. When the real Dona Lucia turns up with Lord Fancourfs girl, Ela Delahay, the complica-tions increase rapidly, but there is a happy ending.
62 63
HARD TIMES (1854), by Charles Dickens. This novel is a protest against educators who think only of material things. "Facts, facts, facts," is Thomas Gradgrind's motto. His children, Louisa and Tho-mas, suffer from his materialistic teachings. Acting on her father's principles, in order to help her weak brother, Tom, whom she loves dearly, Louisa enters into a loveless marriage with Josiah Bounder-by, an elderly, and extremely practical banker. Tom, who is in the employ of the banker, robs him. He casts suspicion on an innocent weaver, Stephen Blackpool. James Harthouse, a heartless young politician, loves Louisa. To escape an affair with him, she goes to her father, who, shocked by the results of his teaching, protects her. She separates permanently from Bounderby. Tom flees the country; Blackpool is cleared of all accusations. Other characters are: M'Choakumchild, the exacting schoolmaster; Mr. Sleary of the cir-cus; Sissy Jupe, daughter of one of the circus performers; Mr. Spar-sit, Bounderby's housekeeper.
MODERN ARABIC POETRY: AN ANTHOLOGY. N. Y., 1987. In this collection of twentieth-century poetry, selections from the work of "93 poets from 15 middle east countries are rendered by 28 English language poets, who worked with copy from bilingual translators."
Speak to your group members giving your opinion of taking up digests as reading matter in the target language. Consider both the pros and cons of this kind of approach.
