STRUCTURE OF THE MODULE

Title: Pinter’s early plays

Class: upper secondary school

Level: B 1 according to the Common European Framework

Timing: 6 hours of 50 minutes

Prior Learning: basic aspects of the history of the English Theatre[E2][E3]; general knowledge of Samuel Beckett’ s plays; general knowledge of some realistic and naturalistic authors

Approach: genre-based, textual, thematic

Methodology: individual activities, work in pairs activities, plenary discussion, plenary explanation, role plays, class discussion, one lesson where students are asked to perform the play. (Learning through drama![E2][I1])

Learning Objectives:

By the end of the unit students should be able to

• skim three excerpts of Pinter’s plays through the help of guiding questions

• scan the passages for specific information through a set of questions and of charts

• learn the main themes of Pinter’s works and its language style

• compare Pinter’s style and themes to other authors

• identify characters, plot and setting of the play

• identify the most important themes of the play

• develop appropriate skills (reading and comprehension, critical analysis of literary texts)

Contents: three extracts from The Room, The Dumb Waiter, The Caretaker written by Harold Pinter

Materials: handouts, extracts from “The Room”, “The Dumb Waiter”, “The Caretaker”, a newspaper, a matchbox, a tube, braces

Keys of each activity: written in italics

Explanations: written in italics after the activities

Aims of the activities: written in a blue colour