Teaching and learning in a globalized world have become a rapid, somehow detachable, dynamic process. According to recent research, the attention span of young learners has decreased to 8.25 seconds. This is due to an overload of digital exposure, in which learners are constantly being bombarded with distracting information. In this fast-paced nature of things, teaching literature represents a huge challenge.

With this in mind, and after some worrisome reflection, a strategy to teach literature to young adults may have to do with the inner motivation of human beings: emotions.   To the first icebreaker question that I ask in my second-semester English literature class, do you like reading, or are you interested in literature? And to the clear and honest answers that say no, the best approach that I have found is to have them realize that literature deals with the human experience. If young adults, who are to be future educators, know how to channel these emotions and understand that literature is not merely an abstract notion or an academically difficult concept, but something that deals with what happens to them daily, they will probably quickly engage with it.

When literature is translated into feelings such as love, friendship, desire, loss, fear, and discomfort, and it remains closer to what we live, a big leap occurs between the classroom and the human experience. Join us at Pedagogía de los Idiomas Nacionales y Extranjeros UDA so you can be part of this journey.