'n Middelnederlandse teks vir die moderne Afrikaansklaskamer

Abstract

Due to the fact that Afrikaans is such a young language with a young literary tradition, the Afrikaans classroom has no real equivalent to older texts like Chaucer or Shakespeare. The absence of these types of texts from the Afrikaans classroom may leave learners culturally and literarily impoverished. In an attempt to find a way to fill this gap this article proposes the use of Medieval Dutch literature like the plays Elckerlijc (Everyman), Walewein and Van den vos Reynaerde as a possible answer to an apparent need in especially the grade 12 Afrikaans classroom. What follows is a short discussion on the possible reasons why, and ways in which, a Medieval Dutch text can be adapted for classroom use by learners and teachers alike.