Greek and Roman mythology have always enticed us because of its fascinating qualities. Our attraction cari be thus utilized as a catalyst to drive our students’ imagination into an unsatiable thirst for knowledge. Our lure is a result of mythology’s systematic, and logical explanation of mysterfes and natural calamities, Because of this intrinsic power of myths, we, as educators, could tap a bottomless well of interest and successfully motivate students and inspire in them a love of learning.
This unit has a dual purpose. Its primary function will be to teach English to speakers of other languages (ESOL) through the myths of love and passion while concurrently introducing students to mythology. It has -been developed for students who need a hands on approach to learning. This curriculum can be taught in grades 6-12. It can also be easily adapted to accomodate any student of world literature and/or any other English course,
The title,
Mythological Soaps
, was selected as a further enticement since most of our students get personally involved with TV soap operas, In fact, at times, they cannot distinguish between the real world and and the soap world, In view of this and since mass media have made being in love so glamorous, I have limited myself to the study of the myths of love and romance. At the same time love should be categorized. Some of these categories should includet pure love, famflial love, Prince Charming love, the Romeo and Juliet motif (the ill-fated love), the Beauty and the Beast motif, destructive love, triangle love, slanderous love, unnatural love, and figurative love.
In the unit, I have included three skits which have been adapted from
Bulfinch’s Mythology.
These constitute the myths of Daphne and Apollo, Pyramus and Thisbe, and also Aphrodite and Adonis. They have been written to provide ready-made material for the instructor in order to save time, and also to teach English as a second language through drama.
The most important aspect of language acquisition is articulation, In fact, speaking occurs before reading and writing can take place. Students love to put on performancesi thus, with skit adaptations, educators can channel students’ enthusiasm in a learning experience,
