Lesson 2

Lesson 2

Aim: How is the desire to maintain traditions universal?

Objectives: Students will gain an understanding of their personal biases towards the story "Marriage is a Private Affair", and compare and contrast its literary elements to another story.

Materials: Copy of the story "Marriage is a Private Affair"; Venn Diagram; copy of monologue from Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare

Prerequisite Knowledge: Students should have already read the play Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare or another story with a similar plot line (star-crossed lovers). A clip from West Side Story would substitute well.

Do Now: Share HW predictions with a partner

Procedure:
1. Students share reactions to hearing various predictions.

2. As a class, read to the end of the story Marriage is a Private Affair.

3. Ask students how they feel about the ending. ( Many students will say that the ending leaves you hanging and they wish they knew what happened)
a. Why do you think the author ended it with no resolution?
b. How can traditions tear families apart?
c. Who do you have sympathy for? Why?

4. After discussing these questions, ask students to Free Write: How do your views about love and marriage affect how you feel about the story.

5. Share.

6. Explain to students that many stories share the same theme. One story that shares the theme of love with family consequences is Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Read monologue from Romeo and Juliet.

7. Ask students to make a Venn Diagram that compares and contrasts the two stories. See student sample

8. Have students reflect on the process they went through to critically read the story:
a) Predict
b) What are the themes?
c) What do you agree/disagree with?
d) Characterization
e) What are your biases? How do they affect how you read? Change them.
f) What other stories does this remind you of?

Summary: Discuss the students' reactions feelings about animosity among family members and how these problems are universal. Link this idea to themes in stories and how they are universal as well. Students should begin to see how themes in literature can be carried across time as well as genre.

HW: Write a short essay comparing and contrasting Romeo and Juliet and Marriage is a Private Affair.