I did a lesson today based around a short documentary film about Albert Schweitzer. With my morning class I had a preliminary discussion about what was to come and wasn't at all surprised to find out that none of them had heard of him. However afterwards, in the staffroom, I was shocked to find out that only one of the other teachers had heard of him and even she was only vaguely familiar with the name.
So in the afternoon class, after establishing that no one there had heard of him either, I asked how many people knew of Hitler. They were more or less contempories with Hitler being born 14 years after Schweitzer and dieing twenty years before him. Naturally everyone had heard of Hitler. Similarly everyone new Idi Amin and most knew Pol Pot. They even volunteered more names to add to the list - Mussolini, Saddam Hussein.
Then we watched the film, viewing it in sections, answering questions about it and discussing the issues raised. Finally I had them write their own brief biographies from their notes. It all worked very well.
Now, I realise that you know all about Albert Schweitzer already so you can skip this bit, but just in case anyone doesn't...
Albert Schweitzer was a German doctor who spent most of his life working as a medical missionary in Africa. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1953. The newspapers of the day called him "The Greatest Man Alive". He was a passionate anti-war and anti-nuclear weapon advocate. He wrote books on medicine, theology, philosophy and music. He was a renowned concert organist. He devised a philosophy based on the principle of "reverence for live". He died in 1965, aged 90 having worked almost up to the end. He was a truly remarkable man.
And my unscientific straw poll found nobody who had heard of him.
It seems that good men are forgotten while the monsters - the Adolf Hitlers, the Idi Amins - are remembered through the ages; that you become better known by killing people than curing them. There must be something in the human psyche that draws us to this darker side of history, or perhaps it's just that we never learn about it in school and never even find out that it's there to learn.
It's not, as todays lessons showed, for lack of interest. They were two of the most successful lessons I've done this year. They paid attention to the DVD, answered the questions and were eager to discuss the issues raised. Four of the students asked me after the lessons if I could give them any information about buying biographies of Schweitzer or even any of his works, though I suspect that for the moment they would find them very heavy going.
That's what I call a great lesson outcome.
I just wish people knew more about the world's good men than its bad men. I suppose I can live in hope.
So in the afternoon class, after establishing that no one there had heard of him either, I asked how many people knew of Hitler. They were more or less contempories with Hitler being born 14 years after Schweitzer and dieing twenty years before him. Naturally everyone had heard of Hitler. Similarly everyone new Idi Amin and most knew Pol Pot. They even volunteered more names to add to the list - Mussolini, Saddam Hussein.
Then we watched the film, viewing it in sections, answering questions about it and discussing the issues raised. Finally I had them write their own brief biographies from their notes. It all worked very well.
Now, I realise that you know all about Albert Schweitzer already so you can skip this bit, but just in case anyone doesn't...
Albert Schweitzer was a German doctor who spent most of his life working as a medical missionary in Africa. He received the Nobel Prize for Peace in 1953. The newspapers of the day called him "The Greatest Man Alive". He was a passionate anti-war and anti-nuclear weapon advocate. He wrote books on medicine, theology, philosophy and music. He was a renowned concert organist. He devised a philosophy based on the principle of "reverence for live". He died in 1965, aged 90 having worked almost up to the end. He was a truly remarkable man.
And my unscientific straw poll found nobody who had heard of him.
It seems that good men are forgotten while the monsters - the Adolf Hitlers, the Idi Amins - are remembered through the ages; that you become better known by killing people than curing them. There must be something in the human psyche that draws us to this darker side of history, or perhaps it's just that we never learn about it in school and never even find out that it's there to learn.
It's not, as todays lessons showed, for lack of interest. They were two of the most successful lessons I've done this year. They paid attention to the DVD, answered the questions and were eager to discuss the issues raised. Four of the students asked me after the lessons if I could give them any information about buying biographies of Schweitzer or even any of his works, though I suspect that for the moment they would find them very heavy going.
That's what I call a great lesson outcome.
I just wish people knew more about the world's good men than its bad men. I suppose I can live in hope.
3 comments:
Michael Jackson has just died. Will he be remembered for his music, or his odd behaviour?
Being a German, reading your entry made me very glad. Being a teacher on my own (German as a foreign language) know far too well that such figures are kind of 'endangered species' - most of my students made Hitler a German and had no answer to who Mandela was/is, where Mother Teresa was born...however thanks to such lessons of you still keep hope that knowing them in future.
Danke. Ich bin Englisch als Fremdsprache Lehrer, aber ich versuche, mit einer breiten Palette von Themen zu lehren. Wenn ich etwas interessanter als "einkaufen gehen" oder "den Arzt besuchen" finde,benutze ich es.
Sie haben wirklich genossen die Unterricht über Albert Schwietzer und viel gelernt - nicht nur Englisch.
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