20th century novels are still relevant and can provide ESL students opportunities for developing 21st century critical thinking skills. This presentation focuses on student and teacher reflections on Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby in a college composition course. Teaching materials and lesson ideas are provided.

1. Using 20th Century Books to
Teach 21st Century Skills
Emily Tichich
Catherine Clements
Minnesota English Language Program
University of Minnesota

2. Using “classic” novels with ESL students
Questions we ask ourselves…..
● Is the story relevant? Are the characters engaging?
● Is the story accessible? Can students overcome any lack of historical
context to engage in the novel?
● Are they enjoyable to read?
● Is the reading level appropriate?
● Does the story provoke students to ask “why?” (critical thinking)

3. Presentation Overview:
WHAT? Teaching The Great Gatsby (TGG) and Of Mice and Men (OMAM) in an
IEP with high advanced learners
WHY? Student and teacher feedback
HOW? A wealth of lesson ideas giving students the opportunity to engage in
critical thinking skills

4. WHAT: Teaching context
High advanced reading/ composition course taught at an IEP at a university
in the Twin Cities.
Our students have:
- various academic goals
- often not ever read a novel in English before
- a wide variety of nationalities
- busy lives

5. WHAT: Program learning outcomes
● Analyze and evaluate written material
○ Independently compare and contrast multiple readings and/ or authors
● Engage in extensive reading
○ Increase reading fluency
○ Demonstrate critical thinking in response to reading
○ Make connections across readings
○ Prepare for and participate in group and class discussions about books
Students must achieve an “S” to pass their courses (≥ 70%)

6. WHAT: What are 21st century critical
thinking skills?
“Critical thinking involves not only discovering meaning in a work but also
substantiating an interpretation by carefully reading and weighing the “evidence”
in the text, by analyzing that evidence in a logical manner, and by drawing well-
reasoned conclusions from the material.” (Esplugas et al)
Critical thinking skills include the ability to summarize, synthesize, narrate,
& respond.

7. WHAT: Novels taught in the program (examples)
Montana 1948 Larry Watson
Of Mice and Men John Steinbeck
The Great Gatsby F.Scott Fitzgerald
A Long Way Gone Ishmael Beah
The Perks of Being a Wallflower Stephen Chbosky

8. Why: Teachers’ views
● A classic is a classic for a reason
○ Themes are timeless, characters are interesting, plot is engaging
● Through stories students can become aware of the L2’s important “cultural
narratives” (the “American Dream”)
○ No one would deny the need for Spanish majors to know the Quijote, or Classics majors to
learn the Odyssey in their original languages.
● A teacher’s enthusiasm can be catchy

9. WHY: Students’ views
Survey (October 2015)
1. What is your opinion of reading John Steinbeck’s novel Of Mice and Men
a. Please explain your response to the previous question
2. Do you think Of Mice and Men is a good choice to read in this course? Why
or why not?
3. Do you think Of Mice and Men was appropriate for your English reading
level?
a. Please explain your response to the previous question
4. Is there anything else you would like to tell me about your experience
reading this novel?

10. Why: Is the story relevant? Are the characters engaging?
● “Liked it- I think it’s really interesting because it teaches us about
friendship and loyalty”
● “Loved it- Good story! Good characterization! Good description!”
● “Loved it- Second, I was completely attracted wonderful story.
Every character has the meaning, and so we can read and think
about the theme combining story outline, character's personality
and their meaning.”
● “Loved it - the relationship is warm but the end is surprising.”

11. WHY: Is the story accessible? (context)
● “Yes! This is a great novel and is not too hard to read.”
● “Liked it because everyone’s character is obvious. And it’s a
surprise and dramatic ending. I can learn American culture
from this book.”

12. WHY: Are the novels enjoyable to read?
● “Yes, the way the writer wrote this novel makes it
enjoyable to read.”
● “It is the first novel I have read yet. The vocabulary,
description and organization are very excellent.”

13. WHY: Is the reading level appropriate?
● “Even though it has many dialects, it doesn’t influence my
understanding about its theme”
● “Some words are so old.. but it doesn’t affect us to understand
this story.”
● “We can learn a lot of writing skills and improve the reading
skill by reading it.”
*Formative and Summative Assessment results showed students met the
program outcomes

14. WHY: Does the story provoke students to ask “why?”
● “It made me surprised a lot because I thought they would
be happy at the end. But it’s a sad story.”
● “The story kind of ended in a strange way.”
Critical thinking is addressed through various assignments...

15. HOW: Critical Thinking Lesson Ideas
Sample Essay Question #1:
Both Of Mice and Men and The Great Gatsby have characters and situations that
demonstrate morality or immorality. Make a comparison between two
characters from the novels and why you consider them moral or immoral based
on their actions and the decisions they make in the stories. Use specific
examples to support your ideas and make sure you connect the two novels in
some way.

16. HOW: Critical Thinking Lesson Ideas
Sample Essay Question #2
In The Great Gatsby, Nick states that Gatsby “turned out all right at the end; it was
what preyed on Gatsby…” (p.2). This statement suggests that Gatsby was a
victim of his environment or society and although his heart was good, he was
unable to be a good person in his society. Discuss this idea with specific
examples from the book and make an argument about one character in Of Mice
and Men who was also a good person but unable to be so because of the society
or environment he/ she lived in.

17. HOW: Critical Thinking Lesson Ideas
Sample Essay Question #3
Fitzgerald and Steinbeck both develop the following themes in their novels:
1. The optimism and futility of the American Dream
2. Powerlessness (social, economic, intellectual)
3. Discrimination (sexism, racism, ageism)
4. The insincerity of the elite
Choose ONE of these themes and make an argument that describes how the authors develop the theme
in their novels. Discuss characters and/or events and use specific examples to support your claim. Be
sure to draw a connection between the novels.

18. HOW: Critical Thinking Lesson Ideas
In-class discussion: If George & Lennie/Gatsby lived now in your home country.
● Who would they be?
● Who would their bosses be?
● Where would they live?
● Why would they do what they do? What circumstances would have led them
to their current location?
○ Gatsby as a drug dealer in the USA
○ Gatsby as a factory owner in China

19. HOW: Student Teaching Possibilities
Students teach a class, illuminating one of the themes from the book. (Themes
can be teacher- or student-provided)
● Women in the 20s
● Bootlegging and Prohibition
● Cars in the 1920s
● The Stock Market Crash

20. How: Critical Thinking Lesson Ideas
Summarize the book in a few key scenes/pictures.
● Use a comic generator for this.
○ I like ComicLife, but many free comic generators exist
● Great for disengaged students (e.g., young men)
○ How it’s done:
■ Download a variety pictures from the movie.
■ Put them into a shared folder.
■ Tell students to use ~6 pictures to summarize the story.
○ Make sure only crucial narrative images are used in final product.
○ These visual summaries are then used to write longer summaries.

22. HOW: Other Tech-Based Lesson Ideas
Teachers should embrace the wealth of resources available on-line for these
books to enrich lessons.
● Of Mice and Men in Context
○ BBC video about John Steinbeck’s California
● Gatsby Background
○ Rich resource including interviews, Reader’s Guide, Teacher’s Guide, more
Ask students: What elements of the authors’ upbringing do you see in the
novels? (Compare and contrast)

23. Other Tech-Based Lesson Ideas
Audio Books are a huge help -- use these in or out of class
Very helpful with OMAM for vernacular
● Ask students: whose speech is “best”? Why/how? What does this tell you
about the characters?
Bring CD to class for students to download, or put MP3 files in a shared folder

24. Final thoughts
● Using “classic” novels with ESL students provides them with a rich source of
content which helps them meet their learning outcomes.
● The themes and stories can provide them with an opportunity to become
aware of cultural narratives (e.g., migratory workers, American Dream)
● More quantitative and qualitative research must be done to assess the
effectiveness of these and other novels in meeting program learning
outcomes.

25. Discussion
Have you taught either of these books, or other classics? What was your
experience?

26. Thank you
Catherine Clements cleme050@umn.edu
Emily Tichich tich0017@umn.edu
Shortlink to this presentation: http://bit.ly/1PsGFkY

27. References
Esplugas, C. and M. Landwehr. 1996. “The Use of Critical Thinking Skills in
Literary Analysis”. Foreign Language Annals. 29 (3). 449-461.