Josianne Block

Josianne is a senior teaching associate at the University of Malta. She holds an MA in Applied Linguistics and TESOL and, having taught integration and induction programmes for several years, she is particularly interested in language dynamics within multilingual contexts.

Integrating linguistic diversity into classroom haikus

Many of the students I have taught over the years disliked literature with a passion. They often found poetry and prose difficult to comprehend, unrelatable to contemporary contexts, long and old fashioned. However, social media culture, along with the rise of slam poetry in the 1990s and 2000s, has significantly influenced literature trends among young adults. I have often heard students admit they lack the patience to read an entire book but enjoy reading short poems on social media platforms because, despite their brevity, the meaning remains impactful. This shift led me to rethink my teaching approach. I teach induction...