Using Children's and Youth Literature in German as a Foreign Language Courses

Take Stephen Zweig's The Burning Secret as an Example

Abstract

The use of literature in the teaching of foreign languages has always led to heated debates. The function and implementation practices of literature in foreign language teaching have long been studied from a variety of perspectives, including the types of materials used, i.e. the literary texts employed. Children's and youth literature has always attracted the attention of foreign language educators, thus stimulating controversial questions about the legitimacy, potential or procedures of using children's and youth literature in the GFL courses. The story of the conflict between a 12-year-old and an adult in Stefan Zweig's long novel The Burning Secret, and the child's inner grief in the conflict, always makes me think about this content. In this essay, I will therefore deal with a few guiding questions such as such as "Does Burning Secrets belong to children's and youth literature?", "To what extent does Burning Secrets belong to children's and youth literature? and "to what extent can Burning Secrets be evaluated as children's and youth literature in German as a foreign language courses?". This essay will ultimately prove that through the authentic reception phase with the film and the personal playing in the roles of the story, the reading competence-oriented GFL courses can be well complemented and extended with creative and independent work by learners.