Language Resident Name:
MARIA GLUKHOVA
Day and Date:
Tuesday, 10/08/2019
Language and Level (intermediate or advanced class):
Russian, Advanced
Class theme/topics discussed:
Poetry and translation
Goal of the class:
To work on translation skills and to perform poetry.
How did you structure the class?
0. Greetings, announcements, general questions.
Activity 1: Discussion. What is more important in the translation of poetry: to keep the form (rhythm, the literal meaning of every word, etc.) or the ideas and images beneath the text?
Activity 2: Students receive a poem by Wallace Stevens “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a Blackbird” in English. They should read it first and then we talk about ideas, technics, images, etc. that are present in the text. Then students work in pairs: their task is to translate 2-3 stanzas from English into the Russian language, keeping in mind the style of each stanza. Once everyone is ready, they should read what they have come up with, one by one. We edit the translation together and then read out loud one more time.
https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/45236/thirteen-ways-of-looking-at-a-blackbird
Activity 3: Students have to write their own stanza for a collective poem “Thirteen Ways of Looking at a [Human]”.
Conclusion and a follow-up discussion.
What technology, media or props did you use? (internet resources, playmobiles, handouts, etc.)
A whiteboard, handouts
What worked well in this class? What did not work?
The class worked out great! Students were very creative and poetic J
How could this class be improved/ modified? I would leave it as it is.