Survey for Approaches to Teaching Ondaatje's The English Patient
Edited by Chelva Kanaganayakam and Paulo Lemos Horta
This survey is designed to gather information about instructors' methods and materials for teaching Ondaatje's The English Patient, for the purpose of developing a new volume on the work in the MLA series Approaches to Teaching World Literature. Respondents are invited to answer the questions related to their teaching below. They are also encouraged to submit a proposal for a contribution to the volume, either by responding to question 16 or by mailing a proposal directly to the editors (see addresses listed in the next paragraph). Proposals and survey responses are due 15 February 2010, after which the survey will no longer be available online. All respondents will be acknowledged in the published volume.
Please answer the questions on the form below and click Submit when you are finished. Your responses will go directly to the volume's editors. The editors welcome supplemental materials such as course descriptions, syllabi, assignments, and bibliographies. You may upload them (see the end of the form); send them by surface mail to Paulo Lemos Horta, World Literature, Simon Fraser University, Surrey, 250 – 13450 102nd Avenue, Surrey, British Columbia, V3T 0A3, Canada; or email them to phorta@sfu.ca and ckanagan@chass.utoronto.ca. You may also forward queries or comments to the editors at those addresses. Thank you for helping in the development of this important project.
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1. List and briefly describe the courses in which you teach The English Patient. Please indicate for each course the discipline, course title, lecture or seminar format, elective or required, regularly offered or special topics, how often you teach it, and the primary function the novel is intended to serve in these courses.
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2. Which edition of the novel do you use and why?
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3. List the secondary materials (e.g., critical studies, journal articles, sources on historical or cultural background) you consult in your preparation for teaching any of the courses listed above.
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4. What secondary texts, if any, do you assign as required or recommended reading for students?
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5. What Internet, electronic, or audiovisual resources, if any, do you find helpful in your own preparation, in the classroom, or for use by students outside the classroom? How do you use these resources?
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6. If you use online discussion groups, communal blogs, or other interactive electronic forums in your teaching of Ondaatje's novel, please discuss how you do so.
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7. What written and other assignments (papers, presentations, in-class and online exercises, and so on) do you require? Which do you find most successful and why?
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8. What aspects of Ondaatje's work do you and your students find most engaging? most challenging?
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9. What are the principal difficulties you encounter in teaching The English Patient, and what approaches do you use for overcoming them?
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10. What specific themes and issues do you emphasize in your teaching of Ondaatje's work?
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11. Which particular historical, cultural and literary contexts do you privilege in situating Ondaatje's novel (e.g., Sri Lankan, Canadian, contemporary anglophone, postcolonial/ diasporic)?
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12. Which other texts do you associate with The English Patient and why?
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13. How, if at all, do you engage with Ondaatje's views of literature, film, politics, and history?
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14. If in teaching The English Patient you stress a particular theoretical approach, please describe which texts you assign to the students, and how you read the novel in the light of theory in the classroom.
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15. What specific concerns would you like to see addressed in a volume on teaching The English Patient?
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16. If you would like to propose an essay for this volume, please submit a one- to two-page abstract in which you describe your approach or topic and explain its potential benefit for students and instructors alike. You may use the Browse button(s) below to upload your abstract as well as to forward any supplemental materials, such as syllabi. Alternatively, you may send your abstract directly to the editors by surface mail or e-mail. Please also submit a brief curriculum vitae.
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To send supplemental materials with this form, click the button below and select a file or files from your hard drive.
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