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Geoffrey Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales
Lessons and projects by students and teachers on the works of Geoffrey Chaucer, especially The Canterbury Tales.
Canterbury Tales Prologue Character Chart
This handout can also be started as a group work in school -- it lists attributes (physical, job, irony present) for each of the major characters in Chaucer's Prologue to The Canterbury Tales. It is useful for both studying the characters as well as laying the ground work for Group Work #2 on the Prologue. I do not make a big deal of having students copy what they are finding -- they will use the charts to study from and they will be working with partners in class. I have been known to initial what they finish in class though -- by the time the bell rings, I do want them to work on the rest of it on their own. If they didn't need to study from them, I would probably collect them at the end of the period.
Canterbury Tales - The Prologue Group Work
A coooperative in-class assignment that has students start by comparing what they came up with for their Prologue Charts. From there, they try to figure out who the pilgrims are and why they are all going to this place, and what differentiates them. There is also one question relating the Prologue to Grendel and a question that briefly goes over Chaucer's deathbed retraction. When I am writing these group works I often wonder how universal they are to other classes because I try to relate and make connections from one work to the other. That is the main reason that I make them available in Microsoft Word Format -- so they may be modified by other teachers.
Canterbury Tales - Character Analysis
One of my kids' favorite assignments... It's pretty basic, but it does help kids to get involved with the pilgrims of The Canterbury Tales since our textbook does not provide the piece in full. This "divide and conquer" method also helps the students gain exposure to all of the tales and pilgrims, not just the traditional Pardoner and Wife offered in the book. The presentation could be replaced with an illuminated text, which is what I think I'll do next year.Note: there are factors on here that will obviously need to be edited in MS Word. Please be advised. [It should be noted here what a complete and thorough job the handout that accompanies this lesson does - and it continually brings the students back to the text with specifics that don't let them drift away from Chaucer - JRS]
Frederigo's Falcon (from the Decameron) - Group Work
Though this work is Italian, I usually teach it directly after we study The Canterbury Tales, as Chaucer was influenced so heavily by The Decameron. This is a cooperative exercise designed to be completed by 3-4 students in one class period. The assignment has the students do a close reading of the story while answering fairly directed questions that lead to bigger and bigger (I hope) moments of critical thinking. It also looks at the idea of what happens to Frederigo and his love, and how that theme of not knowing what you want till it's gone (yes, the song by Joanie Mitchell is part of the group work and I play it while the students are working) is repeated throughout literature (as in "The Gift of the Magi).
The Wife of Bath's Tale - Group Work
Though I have always believed that The Wife of Bath's Prologue is more significant than her Tale - I do believe that her story is still important for a number of reasons. One reason, of course, has to do with how it fits in with her Prologue. She seems to be vilified by many of the Pilgrims (and society at large) so the her Tale's thesis of "what a woman wants" seems particularly appropriate. There are some ironies and subtlties in her story that become even more appearant in the context of the Tales in General and her Prologue in specific. All the more reason, for my concern that many text books are giving shortened versions of her Prologue or leaving it out all together (I give my students a complete copy).
Canterbury Tales - Animated Tales Part 2 & 3 - Handout
A handout with movie questions that are to be answered after and while watching the excellent animated version (I only show Part 2 & 3) of The Canterbury Tales (it was shown on HBO, and is available on Video (here in the U.S.) and DVD [only from the U.K.]). I have revised the worksheet this year to include animations from part 3 as well. The last time that I checked Amazon - the DVD of these animations are now available in the U.S. as well
Intro to Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales Group Work
This group work introduces students to Chaucer and The Canterbury Tales. It utilizes a brief excerpt by John Gardner (on the life of Chaucer) as welll as the text's other introductory material. It asks students to consider the reasons that the pilgrims are going to visit the tomb of Saint Thomas a Becket as well as some of the linguistic problems and opportunities found in translating this work of Middle English.
Canterbury Tales Art Project
A lesson originally created by Natalie Leki-Albano. This assignment has students read a different tale than one that is covered in class. After they read the story, and go over that character's coverage in the general prologue -- they must create a three dimensional model (or puppet) of that character. The assignment uses specific criteria to have the student use as much of the text as possible in creating their "model." A chart also goes with this project to help keep track of who did what.
Investigating Irony in "The Pardoner's Tale"
This lesson will introduce students to the three forms of irony: verbal, situational, and dramatic. A power-point presentation provides a definition of each along with examples from literature, pop culture, and everyday life. After the presentation, students work in pairs to come up with their own examples of each form of irony.
Students work in groups to identify examples of irony in Chaucer's "The Pardoner's Tale". Each group member has an assigned role: reporter, recorder, quote finder, or vocabulary wiz.
Three Activities for the Prologue to the Canterbury Tales - Chaucer
This multipart assignment approaches The Canterbury Tales from at least four (though there are three parts) approaches and engages students by getting them to look at the characters using multiple intelligences. For the first part they must fill out a chart (see below), and they will skim the reading with a guiding series of questions (another chart found below). For the second part of part 2 they will answer some critical thinking questions and finally they will answer another series of "big" questions.The Wife of Bath's Tale
Lesson Topic: Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales – The Wife of Bath’s Tale
Description: This three day lesson has students use learn vocabulary, think critically, and create a presentation on The Wife of Bath's Tale from The Canterbury Tales.
Objectives: Learnerswill understand the structure of a frame narrative, the historical setting of the piece, and its relevance to contemporary issues.
Canterbury Tales - Blake Portrait Extra Credit
In this extra credit (how I use it) assignment, student use a picture of all the pilgrims done by William Blake along with their copies of the prologue to identify in the picture, who is who.
It forces students to closely examine the text -- and Blake is masterful in his details: they really can determine identity of the pilgrims by using and examining the text and picture together.
Senior English Final Presentation
This lesson is a final senior English presentation for the end of the year that asks students to chose a particular work they have studied, then relate it back to a modern times via a specific theme. The main point of the lesson is to teach students that literature, and its themes, are timeless and are consistently always relevant to any current situation. If you have not taught any of the attached pieces, then please replace them with what pieces and themes you have taught. Also, please feel free to adapt the lesson to fit your own curriculum.
End of Canterbury Tales questions
This lesson is meant to be done at the end of Canterbury Tales. To answer it they have to have some background knowledge on Beckett and who he was etc. Then the idea is to conjecture [it is at this point that I believe it is possible to make this wonderful assignment even more text centered by telling students that they must come up with two direct quotes to support their characterization - JRS] as to why each character is going to see him at Canterbury. You can assign different characfter to different people/groups. The average answers will say that people like the Pardoner, Friar etc. are going because they want to change their ways; which they don't.
Canterbury Tales: Learning to speak Middle English
I find that students are fascinated by the sound of Middle English. Although learning the pronunciation can be difficult initially, it is actually quite achievable. This highly-interactive lesson usually takes 2 class days and includes a homework assignment. [Materials added: Recording of lines 1-42 of the General Prologue, spoken in Middle English, with accompanying text hand
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