It’s Alive! Teaching with Horror Stories in the Classroom

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By Janel Sullivan

A challenge I face as an English teacher is not just providing my students with the skills they need to be active readers, but also finding ways to get them excited about reading.

Throughout my years of teaching, I’ve discovered that students are often more eager to read and discuss horror stories than other material. The genre naturally provokes excitement and a sense of morbid curiosity; even students who hate horror are still curious about what happens at the end. And, as an added bonus, scary stories can also teach critical life lessons and help kids learn to confront their fears.

When I was little, I was afraid of everything. I feared someone breaking into my house, the house burning down, snakes, monsters, the neighbor’s dog, and most importantly, the dark. I remember standing at the bottom of the stairs when the light went out in the hallway, too terrified to go up into the darkness. 

“If you’re too scared, I guess that means you’ve been watching too much Scooby-Doo,” my dad would remark, and the implication that I’d be cut off from my beloved TV show was enough to send me sprinting up to my bedroom.

In present day, I was recently reminiscing with another teacher about Saturday morning cartoons, and of course ScoobyDoo came up. “I bet Velma was your favourite,” he said. “You’re kind of like her.”

I did always aspire to be Velma, but she was not my favourite. It was Shaggy. Why? Because Shaggy, along with his faithful pal Scooby-Doo, was scared. Despite this, he would always follow through, help his friends, and solve the mystery anyways. Shaggy had been my childhood role model in learning to overcome fear, and although my real love of horror didn’t start until I was in college, I like to think he helped kick-start my interest in the genre.

Teaching in China

In 2013 I took a leap and moved to Shanghai to teach English at a bilingual school. A few months in, I remember telling a friend back home, “It’s like I’m playing a card game without a full deck.” 

I prided myself on my pop culture references. I was young and had never had any problems connecting with my students back home. But in Shanghai, none of my students even knew Scooby-Doo. They did love Marvel movies, but I didn’t know any of the heroes’ names in Mandarin. On top of that, I quickly realized the students were so afraid of being wrong that they would hesitate to answer questions. Needless to say, it was difficult to connect with them. Something had to change.

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Janel Sullivan is a caffeine-addict American living and teaching in Singapore. She has a morbid curiosity for things that go bump in the night and likes writing with really nice pens.

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Janel Sullivan
Janel Sullivan
Janel Sullivan is a caffeine-addict American living and teaching in Singapore. She has a morbid curiosity for things that go bump in the night and likes writing with really nice pens.

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