Paul,

How about selecting or creating a short narrative passage with multiple events, perhaps not necessarily sequential.  Present the passage to the class in the past tense and with consistently distal deixis, and then change one event to historical present so they get a sense of how that changes the narrative.  Then have them experiment in groups with changing the deixis of different events to see what different effects that has on the meaning of the narrative.

I don't have a sample available to illustrate this.

Herb

Herbert Stahlke, Ph.D.
Professor of English
Director of Graduate Programs
Department of English
Ball State University



-----Original Message-----
From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar on behalf of Paul E. Doniger
Sent: Fri 5/11/2007 4:58 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Literary present
 
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. 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.

Thanks,

Paul

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