Teaching literature, in the pandemic, through rereading in Spanish language classes. Don Quixote, present!

Abstract

To include literature into high school Spanish classes expands students’ linguistic knowledge, as well as the knowledge about specific time periods and countries, while enables moments of literary enjoyment. With these aspects in mind, adaptations and new versions of the literary classics can contribute to connect students with the original literary texts, nourishing the curiosity and reading interest. This article presents a structured sequence of activities which took place during the Covid pandemic in 2020 and 2021 with the purpose to approach students of High School 3rd year, from a Santa Catarina state school with the novel El Ingenioso Hidalgo Don Quijote de la Mancha (1605 and 1615), by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra (1547-1616), utilizing different literary works, both in Foreign Language (Spanish) and Native Language (Portuguese), such as comic books, songs, cartoons, “cordéis”, TV series and literary adaptations. The multi-modality in these different texts had contributed to imply new meanings and students, besides understand and learn the importance of the novel, in which chivalry is sent up by Cervantes, could observe the presence of cultural and linguistic aspects, engage in creative writing activities such as creating a comic cartoon reimagining sceneries and characters in a different context, using contemporary technologies, social networks and web and mobile applications.