The Value of Marxism

NO, THIS IS not a political statement but rather a brief look inside one of my lessons at the CIV where I teach history/economy. I don't often write about my teaching but this past week I had lesson that was -- quite simply -- really fun!

In my Premier class (think junior year) we are studying Marxism as we prepare for a few weeks on the early history of the Soviet Union (no jokes about how long the French make us study Marxism and Communism). Because so much of our curriculum focuses on preparing students for the huge baccalauréat exam at the end of their terminal year, we often use class debate as a strategy to help the students feel as confident as possible speaking in public in English (keep in mind, part of the bac is a 20 minute oral exam in English covering the entire program -- and most of my students speak English as their second or third language). So on this day the students had prepared for a two-hour debate in which they role-played historical characters from the turn of the 20th century. We imagined we were in a cafe in London in 1900 discussing the merits of Marxism.

We had some playing historical figures like Marx himself (yes, I know, he had died by 1900), Lenin, Dreyfus, Teddy Roosevelt, Clemenceau, J.P Morgan, Queen Victoria, Emeline Pankhurst, Engels, etc. Then we had some role playing 'generic' historical figures: a Russian laborer, a German land owner, a Dutch communist, a Spanish peasant, a French Catholic priest, etc. Each student was given a week to research their character and when the entered the class they had to speak from that character's perspective. Each student was given 4 minutes to speak about their views on Marxism and then they answered questions posed by the other characters -- forcing them to, at times, defend their positions.

But what made this lesson fun was that the students really took to their parts. I had Marx talking with a thick German-Jewish accent, Lenin banging his fists on the desk, a Catholic priest defending the importance of Faith, American millionaires promoting capitalism, and a London dock-worker describing the exploitation he (played by a she) experiences every day at work.

Not everything I try in the classroom works. This seemed to work. At the end of the class the students asked if we could continue next week. I promised we could.
CJS