The significance of reading in the English class. A lesson plan with Khaled Hosseini's "A Thousand Splendid Suns"

Seminar paper from the year 2011 in the subject Didactics for the subject English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 1,7, Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (Lehrstuhl Fremdsprachendidaktik), course: Seminar -Young Adult Fiction-, language: English, abstract: Teaching English as a foreign language means a great challenge which would certainly be answered by all English teachers in the affirmative. Today every school in Germany offers English as school subject, even the primary schools. Consequently it must be put great emphasis on teaching it accurately by taking into consideration any aspect of English language acquisition when learning it, for example the acquisition of a distinctive vocabulary, the ability to use grammar rules correctly, the ability to spell correctly, the ability to understand what is been said when native speakers talk in English which we call listening comprehension. Another very important part of learning English as a foreign language is undisputedly reading comprehension. The ability to read out correctly, to understand what is been read and to be able to work with a text effectively is not only a competence that should be concentrated on in the foreign language but also in the mother tongue. The PISA Study is a perfect proof of this which will be mentioned later on. In this paper I will try to accentuate the importance and significance of reading in the English class.
In order to illustrate this I will introduce the novel A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini, an American author and doctor with Afghan origins, and use it for the elaboration of the importance of reading activities in the English class. Initially I will focus on the didactic analysis which includes the reference to the syllabus. The syllabus is of course the signpost in terms of guidelines when planning the lessons, choosing age-appropriate media and methods. What role does reading play in this context? What is said in the syllabus when it comes to reading? The next step would be to explain why I have chosen A Thousand Splendid Suns in this context. For what reason I am of the opinion that it can be read in the grade and school given below. I also focus on the topics that can be made use of in class when working with the novel, which aspects given in the text could be used to discuss it with pupils. Then the novel will be summarized in short by also taking into account the author's vita in short to have a better understanding of what is important in the usage of the book.