Visual: Literary Picture Books Can Provide A Stress-Free Beginning

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Visual

Literary picture books


can provide a stress-
free beginning.
Children are good at
finding meanings in
pictures, and
teachers can help
children discover
their abilities.

Developing
language and
aesthetic awareness
The verbal text is seen as central, the pictures as motivating
and supportive.

A verbal text that is pattern-driven (e.g. with repetition and
rhyme) and therefore predictable will effectively aid
childrens language acquisition (Linse 2006, 75-77).

The contribution of
picture books to
childrens personal
growth
Looking at complex pictures, children wonder, compare,
discover, infer and comprehend.

These are central concerns of literary reading, the need to
infer, which is a key skill for all learners to develop more
widely (Hall 2005, 21).

To encourage this skill, teachers can choose picture books
that suggest different meanings and interpretations.
What Do Bugs Dream
About
The boy who cried wolf

Sophisticated
content but often
very few words
Picture books such as this are multi-layered; the reader is
invited to read and re-read them, each time discovering
something new.

This puts the young readers in charge of the story, and
children often out-perform the teacher in discovering clues
in the pictures.

Children gain pleasure in their insightful response to literary
texts.

Irony and visual
literacy
The competence of visual literacy means an awareness of
how pictures may influence and manipulate the viewer.

An understanding of irony, saying one thing, and meaning
something else, is valuable training in critical insight.

Gaps encourage thinking skills: this gives children the
opportunity to create meaning.



Friends in childrens
books

It combines outstanding pictures with a serious
examination of the relationship between man and animals,
and the concept of keeping animals in cages.

The emotional power of Zoo is due to the persuasive
pictures, encouraging even the inexperienced reader to
bond with the silent animals, and given sufficient time
achieve a critical distance to the squabbling human visitors
at the zoo.

Fairy tales and
larger-than-life
characters
Fairy tales belong to folk culture, exist in different retellings,
and demonstrate admirably how stories may mean different
things to different people at different times.

First and foremost it is necessary to motivate children to
read at all.

This is where the sparkling, larger-than-life characters of
childrens stories can help.

Perhaps it is the excessive nature of many characters and
stories that makes them so appealing.

Intercultural literacy
Interaction with picture books above-all with the pictures
becomes a key to unlock new understanding.

Literature is a highly expressive carrier of cultural meaning.
Sawyer (2004) states that when considering language, one is concerned
with ABCs, colour words, word patterns, sequencing, solving puzzles,
rebus writing, labelling, name learning, literature, picture dictionaries,
listening, etc.
Language Learning Potentials
A device that can link and
integrate two or more
components to make
meaningful language learning
potentials.
Storytelling
Role play &
Dramatisation
Vocabulary Writing Reading
Rosenblatts theory
(1978), reading is a
process of taking from the
text or story only what is
put or printed in the text
or story.

Reading would be easier
for young learners if the
story or text is to their
language level and
indirectly would create
the reading interest in
them.
Reading
Target group: Standard Two

Content standard: By the end of the 6 year
primary schooling, pupils will be able to read
independently for information and enjoyment.

Standard contents: 2.3.1 Able to read simple
texts with guidance: a) fiction
Once upon a time, there was a little girl named Goldilocks.
She went for a walk in the forest. Pretty soon, she came
upon a house. She knocked and when no one answered,
she walked right in.
The young learners
tend to assimilate or
adopt what they like
of what they read and
hear and later build up
their writing skills.

They are well
equipped with the
writing skills and are
able to convey ideas
based on the stories
and the texts that they
have read.
Writing
Target group: Standard Two

Content standard: By the end of the 6 year
primary schooling, pupils will be able to write
using appropriate language, form and style for a
range of purposes.

Standard contents: 3.2.2 Able to write with
guidance: a) simple sentences

Write a different
ending to this story.
Pretend that you can
fly whenever you
wanted. Where
would you go?
Describe your 1
favourite character
with 5 adjectives
based on the story.
Knowing vocabulary words is
key to reading
comprehension.

The more words a child
knows, the better he or she
will understand the text.

Teachers can teach
vocabulary directly or
indirectly.
Vocabulary
To ensure mastery of more complex words and
concepts, you might want to follow these six ESL steps:

1. Pre-select a word from an upcoming text or
conversation.
2. Explain the meaning with student-friendly
definitions.
3. Provide examples of how it is used.
4. Ask students to repeat the word three times.
5. Engage students in activities to develop mastery.
6. Ask students to say the word again.

Role-play is any speaking activity
when you either put yourself into
somebody else's shoes, or when you
stay in your own shoes but put
yourself into an imaginary situation!

Jeremy Harmer advocates the use of
role-play for the following reasons:
It's fun and motivating
Quieter students get the chance to
express themselves in a more
forthright way
The world of the classroom is
broadened to include the outside
world - thus offering a much wider
range of language opportunities

Role play
/
Dramatisation
Storytelling is a unique
way for students to
develop an
understanding,
respect and
appreciation for other
cultures, and can
promote a positive
attitude to people
from different lands,
races and religions.


Storytelling
Other benefits of using storytelling in the
classroom

Stories..

Encourage active participation


Increase verbal proficiency


Enhance listening skills

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