Lesson 5: Literatura: La desesperación de las letras, Gines S. Cutillas
Duration of Days: 3
Lesson Objective
Students will be able to interpret the "suicide" of the books as a metaphor for the decline of traditional literature in a digitally connected world.
Students will predict what would happen to physical libraries if technology continues to dominate, using the conditional tense.
Students will compare the "feelings" of the books in the story to the real-world opinions about the media and the value of reading today.
Why does the author choose the word "despair" (desesperación) for the title? What are the books actually "feeling"?
In the story, the narrator stops reading to watch television. How does this reflect your own opinions about the media and its addictive nature?
If the books could talk, what would they say to the narrator about his digital habits? (Use the Conditional: Ellos dirían que...)
WL2. Interpretive Communication Understand and interpret written and/or spoken language on a variety of topics.
WL.2A - 2A. Understand main ideas, topics and specific information on a variety of authentic auditory or written materials.
WL.2B - 2B. Interprets information from written and/or spoken text.
Description
This micro-fiction piece (microrrelato) tells the story of a narrator who observes his books falling from their shelves and "dying" one by one. The story serves as a cautionary tale about how modern entertainment—specifically television—is replacing deep intellectual engagement. It is a perfect bridge between the unit’s focus on technology and the philosophical question of what it means to be "connected".
Purpose
The purpose of this text is to challenge students' reliance on digital consumption. It aims to:
Provoke a debate on opinions about the media and whether digital content is "killing" the art of reading.
Contextualize the Future and Conditional tenses (e.g., "What will happen to the books?").
DOK 1: Recall List the specific ways the books "commit suicide" and identify the narrator's initial reaction.
DOK 2: Skill/Concept Summarize the central conflict between the books and the television mentioned in the story.
DOK 3: Strategic Thinking Analyze the irony of the ending; why do the classics (like Shakespeare or Cervantes) "die" last? What does this say about their "personality" or cultural value?
DOK 4: Extended Thinking Create a "Digital Preservation Plan" for a library in the Dominican Republic, telling people what you will do to ensure books don't "despair" in the future.
Visual Sequence: Provide a list of the authors mentioned (Cervantes, Shakespeare, etc.) and have students rank them based on when they "fell" in the story to help track the narrative arc.
Mood Word Bank: Give students a list of adjectives to describe the atmosphere (e.g., triste, caótico, misterioso) to support their analysis of the text.
Teacher selected activities from the Vista Supersite.