Medieval English Literature in the Classroom

Medieval English Literature in the Classroom is suitable for students with an interest in Medieval English literature and medieval studies. It enables ambitious MA students to explore in depth an area in the field of medieval English Studies that may play a vital role in their future careers, as teachers, writers, translators, or researchers. This course will help students develop their own educational material, their abilities to incorporate academic scholarship into their teaching, to reflect critically on their findings, and to develop ideas about integrating medieval literature in modern teaching practice. Each year a different text or set of texts and themes from the Anglo-Saxon period or High Middle Ages will be selected. This course can be fruitfully combined with the MasterLanguage course ‘Language variation and change from Old to Middle English.

Despite its huge influence on modern politics, arts and culture, medieval English literature is rarely taught at secondary schools today. This course explores ways in which current research into medieval English literature can be translated to a classroom context. This year, the course will focus on the Old English epic poem Beowulf (a world classic), the popular Middle English legends about King Arthur as well as Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Prospective course outline

• Session 1. Introduction: Why teach medieval English literature? How to teach history and culture of medieval England with modern adaptations (medievalism)?
• Project 1. Beowulf
• Session 2. Beowulf
• Session 3. Teaching project: Beowulf
• Project 2. Arthurian Literature
• Session 4. King Arthur
• Session 5. Teaching project: King Arthur
• Project 3. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
• Session 6. Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales
• Session 7. Teaching project: Geoffrey Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales

The course is aimed at students who plan to teach medieval English literature in secondary schools and/or wish to develop educational material that can be used at university level.