ENGLISH LANGUAGE ARTS RESOURCES

THE CANTERBURY TALES: A MODERN PILGRIMAGE

Planning Points

Approximate Time Needed: 3 Days
Correlation to English I SCS 1.02, 5.01, 5.02, 6.01
Correlation to NC High School Exit Exam Competencies: C1, C2, PI11, PI12, PS15

Lesson Objectives:

• The students will vividly describe, using language that appeals to the senses, 5-10 modern character types.
• The students will reconstruct a modern pilgrimage using 5-10 modern pilgrims that identifies purpose, drawing a connection and relevance to Chaucer's intended purpose.
• The students will apply satirical devices to either praise or criticize their created characters.

Materials Needed:

• Text: Geoffrey Chaucer's "The General Prologue" of The Canterbury Tales
• Notes on Chaucer's use of satirical devices
• Poster paper
• Markers

Description:

• After reading "The General Prologue" and discussing the characteristic traits of each pilgrim and the social perimeters that define each character, the students, either individually or in partners, will create 5-10 (teacher discretion) modern day character types that represent different facets of our society (i.e., the intellectual, the politician, the womanizer, the athlete, the devoted mother, or any other character type they create).
• The students will choose a starting point and a destination-these places should hold some significance to the chosen pilgrims.
• The students will identify the purpose of the modern pilgrimage (entertainment, spiritual enlightenment, intellectual enrichment, companionship, etc.)
• The students will write a vivid description of each modern pilgrim-using language that appeals to the senses. The teacher could specify the number of words or lines of that description or leave a little more open ended. In the description, they must included physical, mental, personal, emotional, and social traits.
• Students, through their description, must select some area of the character's personality to either praise or criticize.
• Either in booklet format or on a piece of poster paper, students will create a visual road map of their destination placing a visual representation of each character along the road map, according to social and class distinction-a modern chain of being. Then, they will place the description of their pilgrim underneath the illustration.

Assessment:

The assessment will come through both the written and the visual displays, evaluating the student's detail and accuracy in each description and the creativity and accuracy in the representative illustration, making sure the illustration corresponds to the written description.

Additional Notes:

For more advanced students, the teacher may have the students write the description modeling the style of Chaucer-rhyme scheme, meter, uses of figurative language. Or, they may have their students write the description in prose form.

After discussing Chaucer's use of subtle satire-mockery, irony, sarcasm, understatement-students could include examples of these satirical devices in their own writings.

Teacher's Notes:

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