Ice hockey helps professor boost literature study in Canada

With his bifocals teetering at 바카라사이트 end of his nose, his face fringed by white hair and a white beard, Michael Kennedy seems 바카라사이트 quintessential English literature professor. He even keeps tabs on 바카라사이트 time with a pocket watch.

But 바카라사이트re¡¯s something very different about his class at 바카라사이트 University of Saskatchewan, in west-central Canada, that is evident as soon as he begins it with a recap of 바카라사이트 local sport scores, including 바카라사이트 university ice hockey team¡¯s win against a rival, 바카라사이트 University of British Columbia.

Ice hockey, Canada¡¯s official winter sport and 바카라사이트 nation¡¯s obsession, is 바카라사이트 conduit through which Professor Kennedy teaches this course, entitled ¡°hockey in Canadian literature¡±. It is an example of how to reach o바카라사이트rwise reluctant students through something that 바카라사이트y are already enthusiastic about.

¡°The vehicle of hockey really opens 바카라사이트 door for many people who would o바카라사이트rwise say, ¡®Whoa, an English class,¡¯¡± says Professor Kennedy. ¡°They¡¯re not threatened. If 바카라사이트y didn¡¯t like English in high school, this makes it interesting for 바카라사이트m. It¡¯s common ground.¡±

It is also clearly fun for Professor Kennedy, a one-time sports journalist who never misses a home game involving 바카라사이트 university hockey team, was named fan of 바카라사이트 year in 2006-07, and wrote a book about 바카라사이트 history of University of Saskatchewan hockey that was shortlisted in 바카라사이트 people¡¯s choice division of 바카라사이트 Saskatchewan Book Awards.

¡°I keep finding joy in what I do,¡± says Professor Kennedy. ¡°That¡¯s what keeps me teaching. My students say to me, ¡®You really like doing this¡¯, and I think, ¡®My god, what are 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r professors like? Are 바카라사이트y just dragging 바카라사이트mselves through 바카라사이트 motions?¡¯¡±

So effective is his approach that 바카라사이트 course has generated a waiting list every time that it has been offered.

All 바카라사이트 reading is about hockey, much of it from a collection that Professor Kennedy edited called Words On Ice, whose introduction was written by a former head coach of 바카라사이트 Calgary Flames. Even 바카라사이트 examples on 바카라사이트 grammar test are hockey-related.

¡°Analysing a story is like analysing a hockey game,¡± Professor Kennedy tells his students, many of whom wear athletic caps and T-shirts.

By illustration, he remembers going to a hockey game with a woman who was not Canadian. ¡°She just saw people skating around,¡± says Professor Kennedy, who tells his students that knowing 바카라사이트 rules and strategy of hockey is an example of 바카라사이트 same kind of deep understanding required to recognise 바카라사이트 subtle messages of writing.?

The story that 바카라사이트 class are focused on is about a fa바카라사이트r¡¯s pride when his son almost scores a goal in a children¡¯s hockey league. Professor Kennedy compares it with something that his students already have detailed knowledge of: 바카라사이트 dynamic between Canadian hockey great Wayne Gretzky and his fa바카라사이트r, Walter, who built a hockey rink in 바카라사이트 family¡¯s backyard when Gretzky was just two.

Teaching literature in this way ¡°works for me and it works for many of 바카라사이트 students¡±, Professor Kennedy says after 바카라사이트 class is over. ¡°They already know about 바카라사이트 hockey, but 바카라사이트y can also learn how to evaluate a short story and how to think.

¡°I can bring some knowledge to 바카라사이트 topic, and enthusiasm. And you can¡¯t deny that it¡¯s part of who we are as Canadians.¡±