Paul E. Doniger wrote:

> Hello all,
>  
> I'm looking for advice: This year, many of my high school sophomores 
> seem unable (unwilling?) to write about literature in the present 
> tense. They discuss events in a novel, story, etc., only as past tense 
> events.


You didn't ask why the do it but understanding that may help to resolve 
the problem. I expect that it has to do with conventions followed when 
reciting the plots or story lines of movies or TV shows. People tend to 
see these as real events so they talk about them in real time casting 
everything into the past. But there is another historical present tense 
commonly heard in on-the-spot reporting about crimes and disasters. This 
comes through all in the present tense.

> For example, a student wrote in one of his journals for /Brave New 
> World/: "Bernard was with Lenina when he* *met John, the Savage." How 
> can I get students to think in the present and write "Bernard is ... 
> he meets" instead? Has anyone else struggled with this problem? I'm 
> looking for teachable moments, here.

Why not explain to students the various conventions that they already 
know, and then just tell them that the usual convention followed in this 
kind of writing is the "exciteable present"?

Omar

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