Why and How to Present Proverbs in English Classes at Albanian Schools

Abstract

This paper focuses on reasons, possibilities, and ways to present English proverbs to Albanian children in a secondary level class. On the basis of their correspondence, the English and Albanian proverbs that can be dealt with in a secondary level class are classified into three groups. Proverbs that share a. the same or nearly the same lexicon and structure (be them metaphorical or not); b. their messages, but either the English or the Albanian proverb is apothem while its counterpart is metaphors; c. their messages, which built on different metaphors. Once classified, they have presented class activities. Pupils are invited to find proverbs that suit certain situations and stories, make drawings that illustrate proverbs, write dialogues and dramatize. The activities evidence the effectiveness of the comparative use of proverbs in the English classes. The pupils show fewer comprehensive problems with the apothem variants as compared to the metaphoric ones, especially to those that convey the same message through different metaphors. Keywords: class activities, foreign language acquisition, English proverbs, paremiology.