Text as a Game: Modern Strategies for Working with Texts in Future Teachers’ Training (on L. Frank Baum’s tales “American tales”)

Abstract

The article deals with modern strategies for working with literature in the future teachers’ training process, especially in work with tales. Suggested technologies make it possible to move away from traditional text analysis, to offer interesting interpretations as well as to focus on details. A text comes to life as it receives new interpretations, and visual ones complement the verbal content. This strategy helps make the reading more stimulating. It helps unleash and develop students’ analytical and creative potential: interpret scientific texts, create a lapbook and scrapbook. The examples are discussed on the material of Baum’s tales, “American Tales”, which is a fascinating and original phenomenon of American literature for children, and it provides a considerable space for interpretation. These tales are bright, interesting, and funny and allows to suggest to play with text, details, characters. Such game is impossible without attentive reading and understanding the main ideas of the text. The authors of the given manuscript recommend the following methods of working with texts as calligrams, hero pyramid, mind mapping, six thinking hats by E. Bono, etc. As a result, students begin to read literature more carefully, pay attention to details and better memorize certain episodes. The success of applying holographic technologies in dealing with literature is proved. Thus, the following skills like reading, creative thinking, critical thinking, the ability to express thoughts have been developed as well as the fear of misinterpretation of texts has disappeared.