His Dark Teaching Materials. Using Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials in a language classroom

Abstract

This essay argues the usefulness in an English language teaching context of the novel His Dark Materials by Philip Pullman in terms of a project focused around ethics, morality and the quest for personal identity. It also aims to deepen school students’ awareness of issues relating to gender, religion and ethnicity. Moreover, this essay explores the ways in which the novel can be used to help students form relationships with other people, not only in their school but also in their daily life. The pedagogical project using Pullman's novel will therefore allow students not only to discuss with each other in a meaningful, ethical way, but also to encounter different views of gender, ethnicity, identity and religion.