Formation Continue

“How to Live. What to Do”: The Place of Poetry in the Twenty-first Century.

This year’s Formation Continue borrows its title from a poem by Wallace Stevens, “How to Live. What to Do.” Toward the middle of his life, Stevens proposed two affirmative questions that contain just about all the other questions we may ask ourselves, possibly even more so in times of crisis. This course proposes to envisage the role of poetry in a disenchanted world and explore the pedagogical possibilities that this reputedly difficult literary genre can offer in our classrooms. One of the aims of the course is to show that the alleged difficulty of reading poetry can be confronted and overcome and can yield unforeseen results that will light up the students’ relation to language and reading. We propose that poetry is a satisfying way of entertaining questions that encompass and confront the difficulties of relating to others and to the world. Whether we consider our place in the natural world, the agency we have in our lives and the lives of others, or whether we wonder how to deal with the beauty and the horror of the world, poetry invites us to read and reassess these questions.

Full Programme, Abstracts and Bio Notes can be found here.

More info can be found here.

What would the world be without books? How would that change our apprehension of the world? Fahrenheit 451 and other texts pose that question at a time when we seem to be moving to radically new information technologies and cultural practices. This 1-day course proposes to examine the role of dystopian fiction in addressing contemporary threats and issues. While writers have used fiction to explore imaginative possibilities or to express concerns about real enough forms of social conflict, religious violence, political oppression and ideological manipulation, fiction tends to escape from the safe confines of the book into the world and shape it as a place. It also provides a space in which the reader can reflect on reality, develop critical thinking and forms of resistance. Whether that place is utopia or dystopia, fiction constantly interrogates its blissful and damning force, and its capacity to ask uncomfortable questions, quarrel with the world, and imagine it anew.

More info can be found here.

Young Adult fiction encourages readers to discover or rediscover the wonders,
pleasures and challenges of reading with books that wield their special magic,
opening up fantasy worlds and teaching about life, self and the world, as well
as the power of words.
Like Jane poring over Bewick’s History of British Birds as a source of comfort in
Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre or David reading the Arabian Nights ‘as if for life’
in Charles Dickens’s David Copperfield, many writers have stressed the role of
books read in childhood as a memorable and life-changing – sometimes even
life-giving – experience. In fact, many stories for children, young adults or a
crossover audience represent books as magical, spell-binding objects, and
words as a source of wonder: the word ‘grammar’ itself is etymologically
related to ‘grimoire’ or book of spells, and the ancient image of the world as a
book to be deciphered is still relevant today.
This Formation Continue programme focuses on texts and stories that
stimulate curiosity about language, reflection and imagination in young readers
so that they may experience reading as a source of delight, knowledge and
self-knowledge, critical thinking and creativity. This course will focus on ageold
fairy tales revisited and recent crossover classics (Narnia Chronicles, The
Lord of the Rings, Harry Potter and Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy).
It will also propose alternative texts and genres that bring a fresh approach to
the subject, such as the poetry of Laura Kasischke, short story collections,
graphic novels, and even Jane Austen’s juvenilia.
The course will alternate lectures, discussions and workshops in order to
introduce participants to a range of texts and approaches with a focus on the
benefits of close reading and the magic of books. Six scholars, including
renowned specialist of the field Professor Diane Purkiss from Oxford, will share
their favourite works and teaching strategies to re-enchant the reading
experience. They will propose ways to stimulate pupils and teachers’ interest in
building a culture of readers. The course material will be made available
beforehand on our Moodle site and participants are encouraged to share their
experience and pedagogical reflections on the role of books and literature for
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growing up and coming of age in a complex and challenging world.

Program

“Art exists that one may recover the sensation of life“ (V. Shklovsky). How can literature help us reconnect with the non-human world in the Anthropocene ? Through lectures and discussions, the course will introduce participants to relevant literary texts and modes of reading, and to ecocriticism as probably the most topical and compelling emergent critical approach in the Humanities today.

On September 15th six renowned scholars have shared their favourite works and teaching strategies to sensitize students, teachers and the general public to this crucial issue. Participants have been encouraged to share their views on the role that literature, poetry and art-making can play in heightening a sense of connectedness with the fragile beauty of the non-human world and the need to preserve it for future generations.

Program

Morning lectures :

• Welcome 

Prof. Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Head of Continuing Education for English and Comparative Literature, UNIL

• Of birds, bugs, poets and trees: Undersongs of the natural world

Prof. Rachel Falconer, Modern English Literature, UNIL

• The Sketch: A Tradition of American Environmental Writing

Prof. Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet, American Literature, UNIL

• The Economy of Reading and ‘the lingua vernacula of Walden Pond’

Dr Boris Vejdovsky, Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche, American Literature, UNIL

Afternoon lectures and activities :

• Global collapse and ecological catastrophe in post-apocalyptic literature from 1950s to the present

Dr Marc Atallah, Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche, Littérature moderne, UNIL

• Reading in the Anthropocene: Theory and Conrad

Prof. Nidesh Lawtoo, ERC principal investigator, University of Bern

• Walking workshop based on Where My Wellies Take Me

Rachel Nisbet, English Literature and Interdisciplinary Studies, UNIL

• Q & A session

On September 9, 2016, the English Department held a daylong continuing formation which focused on the steady increase and effects of English as a lingua franca in the international, the European, and the Swiss context.

This daylong education programme provided insight into current debates on English as a lingua franca, its acquisition, and its economic value.

Morning session
 

• Welcome by Martine

Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère

• The role of English on a regional, national, and international level (discussion)

Anita Auer, Patricia Ronan, Jennifer Thorburn & Marije van Hattum

• “Teaching English as a lingua franca : different types of variation’”, followed by Q&A

Guest lecture by Dr. Mercedes Durham (Cardiff University)

Afternoon session 
 

• Multilingualism in everyday life (interactive element)

Patricia Ronan, Marije van Hattum

• Early or late foreign language acquisition? Presentation of different theories

Anita Auer, Jennifer Thorburn

• The economic value of English in Switzerland

Anita Auer, Patricia Ronan

• Workshop on English language-related teaching resources, activities and projects, e.g. Vaud Multilingue project Q & A session

(@ Eugénie Ribeiro)

On September 11, 2015, the English department held a day of continuing formation focusing on the Nobel Prize-winning American novelist Toni Morrison (1931-). This program was designed to stimulate ideas and insights for teaching one of contemporary literature’s most important figures.

Through talks, discussions and practical demonstrations, the course presented how to approach and teach Morrison’s challenging texts. Participants were also invited to share their own approach.

Program

• Welcome

Prof. Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Head of Continuing Education Programme for English, Modern English and Comparative Literature, UNIL

• Introduction to Toni Morrison

Dr Joanne Chassot, Maître Assistante, American Literature, UNIL

Prof. Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet, Head of the English Department, American Literature, UNIL

Dr Boris Vejdovsky, Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche, American Literature, UNIL

• The Bluest Eye: a lecture on Morrison’s first and most popularly acclaimed text

Dr Joanne Chassot, Maître Assistante, American Literature, UNIL

Prof. Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet, Head of the English Department, American Literature, UNIL

Dr Boris Vejdovsky, Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche, American Literature, UNIL

• Innovative approaches to teach Morrison through the film version of her novel, Beloved

Prof. Agnieszka Soltysik Monnet, Head of the English Department, American Literature, UNIL

• Recitatif : a short story linked to a discussion of the different discourses and constructions of race in the United States and Europe

Dr Boris Vejdovsky, Maître d'Enseignement et de Recherche, American Literature, UNIL

• Q & A session and book exhibition

Matthew Wake from Books Books Books

(© Gaëlle Ramet)

This day-long continuing education programme explored imaginary places in English literature, and focused on two great modern classics for adults and children – Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan – and their literary and cultural reception. The 2014 ‘Wonderlands’ programme was designed to stimulate reflection on the significance and relevance of imaginative literature today, from Milton’s great epic to contemporary crossover fiction.

Program

• Welcome

Dr. Kirsten Stirling, Head of the English Department, UNIL
Prof. Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Head of Continuing Education for English and Comparative Literature, UNIL

• Wonderstruck, the threshold crossing into otherworlds

Prof. Rachel Falconer, Modern English Literature, UNIL

• Gender in Neverland : Peter Pan, Lost Boys and Curious Girls

Dr. Kirsten Stirling, Modern English Literature, UNIL

• Eve in Eden, Alice in Wonderland

Prof. Neil Forsyth, Prof. hon. Modern English Literature, UNIL

• « Curiouser and Curiouser ! »: Alice’s Mitteleuropean Journeys– from Jan Swankmeijer’s Alice to Angela Carter’s Alice in Prague or the Curious Room

Prof. Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, English and Comparative Literature, UNIL

• Alice directed by Roelof Overmeer

With Roelof Overmeer as Lewis Carroll (C. L. Dodgson) and AnaMaria Rengifo and Elodie Miserez as Alice. Cello : Pascal Desarzens / Lighting : Romy Sigrist

• Q & A session and book exhibition

Relevant English books were displayed in the foyer of the Grange de Dorigny by Matthew from Booksbooksbook.
 

On September 13, 2013, English teachers from the secondary I and II took part in a day-long formation continue designed to stimulate reflection on the significance and relevance of Shakespeare's drama today.

Program

•     Welcome

Dr. Kirsten Stirling, Head of the English department, Modern English Literature, Faculty of Letters, UNIL
Martine Hennard Dutheil de la Rochère, Modern English and Comparative Literature, UNIL

•     Shakespeare’s English – the language of Hamlet

Dr. Patricia Ronan, English Linguistics, UNIL

•     Shakespeare today – Hamlet on screen

Prof. Neil Forsyth, Modern English Literature, UNIL

•     Workshop “Staging Hamlet”

Dr. Roelof Overmeer, Modern English Literature, UNIL
The Sun & Moon Theatre Company, created and directed by Roelof Overmeer

•     “Hamlet” – played on stage

Performed by The Sun & Moon Theatre Company