Beowulf and Kennings in the Language Classroom

This work encompasses the process of planning, designing, and delivering an online educational workshop directed at students enrolled in various semesters of the bachelor’s degree in English Language Teaching at a Normal University in Mexico. The workshop focuses on the exploration of Old English poetic devices known as kennings through the philological and literary study of Beowulf, merging two important frameworks—language education and philological studies. The aim is to present an introductory base of historical and linguistic content, which they could incorporate into their teaching practices at the secondary education level. The final structure combined instruction in theoretical concepts with guided analysis of selected texts, passages from the original version of Beowulf found in the London, British Library, MS Cotton Vitellius A XV, ff. 132r–201v, as well as the electronic edition published by Kevin Kiernan. The syllabus highlighted the cultural, linguistic, and rhetorical properties of these resources and encouraged participants to conduct group analyses and develop relevant teaching materials. At the end of the workshop, feedback was collected and analyzed in an effort to evaluate its effectiveness and relevance. The findings suggest that a mixed approach combining literature and philology can offer engaging instruction and support the integration of such content into modern language teaching practices.