MOTIVATING THE READING OF CLASSICS THROUGH SERVICE LEARNING

One of the challenges that Language and Literature teachers must face in Secondary Education in Spain is the scarce interest in Literature shown by students and their usual reluctance to read classical master pieces. This paper presents a project carried out in a Secondary school as a successful way to solve this situation through service-learning. Being the approach and reading of “Don Quixote de La Mancha” by Cervantes as the main target, a series of ludic and creative activities designed by students proved to be highly motivating to enhance them read one of the most important works in Spanish narrative and classic literature. By means of service learning, junior students in high school tried to bring “Don Quixote” closer to their freshmen peers using different strategies and originally produced materials so as to make them both deepen in the rich content of the classical novel and enjoy Cervantes’ style. Not only the younger and older students did achieve the goal of approaching this classic, but also a wide range of social and personal values were promoted. Bringing “Don Quixote” closer to High School students proves to be closely related to finding new ways to express the underlying thoughts and feelings in Cervantes’ novel in a language and forms more easily recognisable by the new generation.