New, motivating English fiction for late Mittelstufe (grade 8-10) students will be presented in this workshop. Participants will be invited to try out tasks for themselves which aim to activate and maintain intermediate learners’ interest.

A selection of contemporary British and American novels, such as Swindells’ Abomination, Trueman’s Inside Out, Alexie’s The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, Lowry’s The Giver, Doherty’s Dear Nobody, Sachar’s Holes, and Rai’s (Un)arranged Marriage will be discussed and examined in the context of what they have to offer for the advanced intermediate EFL classroom.

A further topic for discussion during the workshop will be the potential of some of these novels for dramatization, and the workshop will include demonstrations of how they can be successfully dramatized for learners in the upper Mittelstufe. Workshop participants will be encouraged to take part in the various tasks actively (playing roles, speaking and acting). This should enable them to experience for themselves how these learner-centered tasks may be received by their students when used in a classroom environment.

In the course of the workshop, many additional recommendations – including picture books and graphic novels – for the entire Mittelstufe (grades 5-10) will be given, providing participants with food for thought and a list of tried-and-tested literature.