In the first ten minutes of each lesson, one student will be responsible for submitting and presenting the journal of the read pages. The journal will allow the student to reflect on the play and to share his or her thoughts and impressions with the other students. Through its composition, the student will develop his/her writing skills, in the target language ranging from L2 to L5 level, by expressing the personal thoughts the play elicits.
The journal will be structured as follows:
Title of the play:
_____________________________________________________________
Numbers of the read pages:
_____________________________________________________________
Student’s name:
_____________________________________________________________
Synopsis:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Interesting topics:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Personal thoughts:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
Role and portrayal of the characters:
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________________
In the journal, the student must provide a brief synopsis of the assigned part, find the most interesting topics and suggest some personal reflections on the characters and central themes. When the student quotes from the play, he/she should indicate the correct page numbers (according to the adopted edition). The journal is low-stakes writing and, even if the teaching’s assistant looks at it periodically, the student should not be corrected or graded. The journal should be written in Italian and sent to the teacher and the assistant possibly within the evening before class. This way, the teacher and the assistant will be able to prepare comments for the class. Before each class, the assistant will provide a copy of the journal to all students prompting class discussion. When available, the journal will be posted on the class’s website.