Proceedings First International Conference. Teaching Literature in English for Young Learners

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Proceedings of the

1st International Conference:

Teaching Literature in English for Young Learners

Facultat de MagisteriUniversitat de València

25-26 October 2012

Edited by

Agustín Reyes TorresLuis S. Villacañas de Castro

Betlem Soler Pardo



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The ‘I International Conference: Teaching Literature in English for Young Learners’ was held on the

25th and 26th of October, 2012, at the Facultat de Magisteri (Universitat de València), and was orga-

nized by the Departament de didàctica de la llengua i la literatura of the aforementioned university. Its

coordinators were Agustín Reyes Torres, Luis S. Villacañas de Castro and Betlem Soler Pardo, while

Beatriz Martín Marchante, Xavier Mínguez, Joaquín Espinosa and María Alcantud-Díaz were ap-

pointed secretaries. The event received financial support from the following institutions: Departament

de didàctica de la llengua i la literatura, Vicerrectorat d’Investigació i Política Científica de la Univer-

sitat de València, Sociedad Española de Didàctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, and Centro de Forma-

ción Lenguas Vivas.



978-84-15323-54-9

V-3064-2012

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Table of Contents

1. Princes and Trolls Love Pink Too! Using Children's Literature in the E.S.L. classroom toavoid boy's gender stereotypes, Alba Alonso Feijoo ........................................................ 7

2. A poem a day keeps the boredom away. Please English teachers don’t forget aboutchildren’s poetry!, Maria Luisa Alonso .......................................................................... 14

3. The importance of reading to children.The same old story? , Marina Arcos ...................... 204. Picture book Learning: Multialfabetització i Literacitat mitjançant l’Àlbum Il·lustrat ,

Clara Berenguer & Margarida Castellano ...................................................................... 275. Thinking through Literature: Reading and Writing Workshops on Fairy Tales, Jelena

Bobkina & Miriam Fernández de Caleya Dalmau .......................................................... 336. Oscar Wilde for teachers and pupils: a model for teaching L2 to young learners, Rowena

Coles ............................................................................................................................... 427. Literature and Education: Proposal of an English Literature Program for Young Learners

as an Integrated and Interdisciplinary Tool for TESL, Esther de la Peña Puebla. ......... 488. La inmanencia de la tradición británica en “El hobbit”. El intertexto como posibilidad

didáctica, Eduardo Encabo Fernández & Isabel Jerez Martínez .................................... 569. Using picturebooks to connect learning across the curriculum: the Flat ‘Cool’ Cat

experience, Teresa Fleta & Sandie Mourão…………………………………………….62 10. El teatro en el aula como didáctica de la segunda lengua. Presentación de la obra ”The

Story of the Drawbridge”. Lectura conjunta para escenificar en el aula en Educación Primaria, Mª Teresa García Navarrete ..........................................................................67

11. Un taller literari intertextual amb literatura del nonsense, J. V. García Raffi ................. 72

12. Once Upon a Time, Vicent Gimeno Bosch ........................................................................ 7813. Did you say writing comics?, Mª Victoria Guadamillas Gómez ........................................ 9114. Metodología para realizar un taller de lengua y literatura inglesa contemporánea con

alumnos de 4º de E.S.O., Julia Haba Osca ...................................................................... 9715. Responsible Reading: Narrative and Theme in Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why, Colin

Haines ........................................................................................................................... 10116. A Story Covers All: using children’s literature for acquiring cross-curricular competences

in Early Childhood and Primary CLIL contexts, C. Harris & R. Fernández Cézar & C.Aguirre Pérez ................................................................................................................ 107

17. Linguistic means of fairy tale and the EFL development of a child, Agnieszka Horyza . 11318. Using the Multiple Intelligences theory and learning strategies to teach literature in the

Primary Classroom, Elisa Jiménez Lazcano ................................................................ 120

19. Light and Silence: Teaching approaches to Vermeer’s Women through Painting and Poetry, Tzina Kalogirou ............................................................................................... 126

20. Welcome aboard! Nuevas experiencias de lectura en inglés para las primeras edades, Rebeca Martín García…………………………………………………………………132

21. “Tell me and I'll forget...involve me and I'll understand”: Teaching English Literatureand ICTs, Laura Monrós Gaspar ................................................................................... 139



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22. Gerald Durrel: ¿Una lectura en peligro de extinción?, Eva Morón Olivares & ConsueloMartínez Aguilar ........................................................................................................... 146

23. Picturebooks, literary understanding and language development , Sandie Mourão ........ 15224. Every afternoon, when school was over...Treballar a classe d’anglés amb textos d’Oscar

Wilde, Miquel Àngel Oltra Albiach & Rosa Maria Pardo Coy .................................... 16325. Introducing Literature in English in Spanish Secondary Schools, Elena Ortells ............ 171

26. Judging a Book by Its Cover: Reading Comics as Literature, Mercedes PeñalbaGarcía.............................................................................................................................177

27. Exploring interculturally competent teaching with Aesop texts in the English classroom,María del Rosario Piqueras Fraile & Susana Montero Méndez & Isabel AlonsoBelmonte & María Fernández Agüero .......................................................................... 188

28. Children’s Literature and Communicative Classrooms: Lesson Plans by In-ServiceTeachers, Malin Reljanovic Glimäng ........................................................................... 193

29. Clásicos infantiles para adultos. Últimas adaptaciones cinematográficas de cuentos

tradicionales, José Rovira Collado & Pilar Pomares Puig .......................................... 19930. Relevancia de la Web 2.0 en la recepción de Los Juegos del Hambre en España.

Posibilidades Didácticas, José Rovira Collado & Jaime Albero Gabriel & Pilar PomaresPuig ............................................................................................................................... 206

31. Reading at School: What do Children think they Learn by Reading Children’s Literature?,Purificación Sánchez Hernández .................................................................................. 212

32. ‘Dragons Be Here’: Teaching Children’s Literature through Maps, Björn Sundmark .. 22033. Intercultural Learning through Traditional Folk Stories, Juan José Valera Tembra ...... 22534. Using graphic novels to promote critical literacy in the English secondary classroom:

Teaching "Persepolis" , Karaiskou Vasiliki & Paparoussi Marita ............................... 22935. The Use of Literary Translation in the Foreign Language Class: a Methodological Approach for Young Learners of English, Sonia Petisco ............................................. 235



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Princes and Trolls Love Pink Too!Using Children's Literature in the E.S.L. classroom to avoid boy's gender stereotypes

Alba Alonso Feijoo(University of Vigo, ANILIJ)

Introduction

There was a time when you just needed to be able to speak English as the only requisiteto become an English teacher. Fortunately, things have severely changed throughout the yearsup to the extent that some E.S.L. teachers have become recognizable experts in their field. Wecannot fail to acknowledge that this so-called expertise involves self-motivation above all(which is usually conquered through attendance to all types of teaching courses on the onehand and reading of a vast quantity of books that deal with the subject of teaching English asa Second Language on the other) plus hardworking auto-imposed schedules executed to keepup with I.C.T. on education or to prevent some possible deterioration of our language abili-ties. Hence, as E.S.L. teachers are becoming more and more prepared pupils are supposedlyalso receiving a more enjoyable and worthy language teaching practice.

Among all the training that E.S.L. teachers often undergo there is a constant premise onreminding us to use children's literature as a crucial tool in our everyday lessons. Accordingly,we are usually shown the numerous advantages that reading books involve in the E.S.L. per-formance and thus, children's literature and more specifically picturebooks tend to become thestars of book corners or tiny libraries established in already stuffed classrooms. However, acommon error persists which entangles the use of these reading times as simple vacuum fillers

or individual fast finishers' rewards. Daniel Defoe once said “the soul is placed in the bodyand it is like a rough diamond it must be polished within”. This quote might as well be appliedto picturebooks as they are like rough diamonds too and it is our task to polish them to obtainthe best attributes in order to accomplish our E.S.L. practices in a fun engaging useful envi-ronment.

Once we have become fully aware of the importance of making use of picturebooks inthe E.S.L. classroom we will also have to look at the possible dangers of not doing it the rightway. As a matter of fact, this paper focuses on one of these risks since it contemplates thehazard of spreading gender stereotypes through the use of picturebooks in the E.S.L. class-

room.

Gender Stereotypes

Whenever we discourse on the gender stereotypes realm we usually encounter two opposite views concerning the topic. On the one hand we have those who maintain that gender issomething innate which is inherited as any other biological trait and on the other hand we willfind those who approach socialization as a main cause for gender differences. The first groupof people advocate for hardwiring as the reason why boys like blue and girls pink or why girls



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prefer dolls while boys keep choosing trucks among many other differences. Leonard Sax orMichael Gurian are firm supporters of this theory and have even clustered a new single-sexedschooling wave which exposes brain differences between sexes as main causes for their sexseparation approach. Opposed to these beliefs the second group aforementioned do insist onthe fact that it is education at home, school, through films, media and direct contact with thesociety, i.e. socialization, what makes boys or girls choose one or other path. Neuroscientistsas Lise Eliot, psychologists as Cordellia Fine or authors such as popular speaker Peggy Oren-stein represent some of these last group components who believe that gender differences havevery little to do with the brain. They do agree on the existence of certain differences betweenthe sexes but these are however contemplated as far from being responsible for the huge gapexistent between them.

Cordellia Fine, for instance, is an academic psychologist who has written some bookson the neuroscience topic. Her second book on the subject titled Delusions of Gender. Thereal Science Behind Sex Differences is a thoroughly researched book on the gender stereo-

types issue and its bond to neuroscience. Throughout its chapters Cordellia Fine dismantlesmany authors' theories by analyzing the poor “scientific” basis of their studies, which in manycases are just carried out taking a tiny group of people as a sample in representation for awhole sector of the population.

“Again and again, claims are made by so-called experts that are 'simply coating old-fashionedstereotypes with a veneer of scientific credibility”(...)Yet, this 'popular neurosexism' easilyfinds its way into apparently scientific books and articles for the interested public, including

parents and teachers. Already sexism disguised in neuroscientific finery is changing the way

children are taught (Fine, xxviii). ”

What is more, the groups used in many of those “scientifically remarked” investigationsare in many cases purposely composed so as to obtain a concrete result, which makes anyoutcome doubtful in its essence. However Cordellia Fine firmly supports neuroscience in itsmost advanced theories;

“The new neuroconstructivist perspective of brain development emphasizes the sheerexhilarating tangle of a continuous interaction among genes, brain and environment. Yes,gene expression gives rise to neural structures and genetic material is itself impervious to out-side influence. When it come to genes, you get what you get. But gene activity is another sto-ry: genes switch on and off depending on what else is going on. Our environment, our behav-ior, even our thinking can all change what genes are expressed (Fine, 176)”.

Princes and Trolls love pink too

Just as we think of women and girls whenever we hear the word “gender”, “gender stud-ies” or “gender violence” we also tend to think of lack of adventurous, risky, fun, femininecharacters in literature when we approach the subject of gender stereotypes in the books. Nev-



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ertheless, the aim of this study is to address our views to an often ignored sector of the societywhich encompasses all those boys that do not apply to the well-known hegemonic masculinityvalues, to use R. Connell terms (Masculinities, 77), and that conform another representationof the gender stereotypes issue in children's literature. Boys who like music, reading, painting,dancing, i.e. arts in general have not been given their place in picture books yet . Boys who

prefer not having to hold the bravery flag weight all the time but who instead do wish to sharetheir emotions whether these involve love, sadness or fear cannot see themselves reflected intheir readings either.

After all, why does it have to be just girls the ones who like pink, wear dresses or havelong hair? Many mothers have belligerently argued about the fact that it is all girls who love

pink and that it must be a natural thing since this takes place from their very first years. It isthen that they are reminded of the fact that their own mothers did not like pink so much andthat up to the 19th century all babies (no matter their sex) wore neutral colors. Hence, the

pink-blue world stands as an discernible marketing strategy which in no case reflects a genetic

trend related to having a penis or a vagina. Furthermore, and as Peggy Oreinstein points out inher amusing Cinderella ate my daughter by citing Jo Paloetti, a proffessor of American Stud-ies at the University of Maryland:

“ Children weren't color-coded at all until the early twentieth century(...) What's more, both boys and girls wore what were thought as gender-neutral dresses. When nursery colors wereintroduced, pink was actually considered the more masculine hue, a pastel version of red,which was associated with strength. Blue,with is intimations of the Virgin Mary, constancyand faithfulness, symbolized femininity” (Oreinstein,35).

All these simple but self-explanatory examples demonstrate once more the vehemencewith which our children are infused one or other choice or taste by society, thus limiting themfrom any other possibility due to, in this case, sexual characteristics. What happens then when

boys do not follow the dictated masculinity rules assembled by a patriarchal society? PhyllisBurke in Gender Shock is able to make anyone's hair stand with her vivid examples on whattruly happened to many of these types of boys some years ago. Boys as Kraig (Burke, 33)who with only four years old was taken to a clinic at UCLA to undergo endless treatment ses-sions for his supposedly illness and ended up attempting suicide some years later. Fortunately,there are now laws that prohibit these kind of cruel useless practices from being carried out inany case but nonetheless, the stigma still remains. These boys may not be taken to clinics to

be diagnosed with GID (Gender Identity Disorder) anymore but they are still ostracized by ahypocritical society who says one thing and does another. Boys must keep being brave princeswho save weak princesses, not being able to afford to fear any monster on their duties by anymeans. In the 21st century boys may also see themselves reflected as more contemporary in-sensitive heroes who violently fight their enemies to obtain whatever end, which stands foranother version of the same “macho tale”. Many of these boys may or many not like pink,which actually bears no importance, but we certainly should provide them with the opportuni-



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ty to choose from a wide variety of hues. As a matter of fact, this color decision just functionsas a metaphor on the quantity of things boys might be missing for having to be just “boys”.

What do we do then with “Sleeping Beauty”, “Tarzan of the Apes” or “Tom Sawyer”?

We, as teachers, need to learn how to use all types of books available in our classroomsto impart the best neutral education as possible, and the E.S.L. classroom is a no less im-

portant place to avoid the spread of gender stereotypes among our youngsters. This practicenotwithstanding, derives in two severe pitfalls. Firstly, we usually encounter classrooms al-ready pre-stuffed with tons of picturebooks that might have been bought in the Quaternary,that is, they may seem as too traditional to stand for contemporary pupils. Our first thoughtswill probably deal with discarding these traditional old books in favor of new ones but beforetaking any action I do recommend to read Bruno Bettelheim's book The Uses of Enchantment:The Meaning and Importance of Fairy Tales through which the well-known psychologist

takes us on a one-way journey to highlight the benefits that fairy tales have on children's mat-uration process.

“los cuentos de hadas tienen un valor inestimable, puesto que ofrecen a la imaginación delniño nuevas dimensiones a las que sería imposible llegar por sí solo (…) la forma y la estruc-tura de los cuentos de hadas sugieren al niño imágenes que le servirían para estructurar sus

propios ensueños y canalizar mejor su vida”(Bettleheim,14).

Bettelheim insists on the need for children to have these traditional characters so as to

stand for all those fears and secret dreams children will sooner or later confront in their lives.Thus, dialogue and conversation on the traditional story itself will help cope with outdatedvalues regarding gender without missing the opportunity to enjoy fairy tales at the same time.

As might be expected the interaction will depend on the age of our listeners. As we al-ready know picture books are not just addressed to little kids, thus we may be facing a class-room of older pupils with whom we may, for instance, discuss gender from a historical pointof view. Happen our pupils to be in their first years this option will be discarded for otherssuch as open group conversation in which to scrutinize the book using adequate vocabularywithout ceasing to encourage children's interactions. Nevertheless, before any discussion weshould present our pupils with other non gender stereotyped works to be compared and re-ferred to in their reading assembly. I could provide here a handful of questions so as to intro-duce gender discussion into the classroom but there are too many factors that would makethem unacceptable for one or other specific target group. We must be aware for instance ofhow the treatment of the subject must be carried out in a total different way if dealing with arural school, in which certain values are deeply fixed for generations, or a town school, whichmight be a little more open as regards the gender topic. It is up to the teacher and her or hisknowledge of the school entourage to decide on the type of questions.



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Apart from initial conversational sessions in which to highlight roles, vocabulary orclothing among other aspects and why these are depicted just as masculine or feminine thereis a great asset whose availability makes it worth the try, and that is: drama. By walking onother shoes kids will get a new perspective closer to reality and farther from preconceivedideas on gender (Rice). Let's give a boy the opportunity to be a prince who is saved by a prin-cess and if he happens to feel comfortable with the role, the others will be receiving a lessonon how boys may feel lonely or sad sometimes and in need for a girl's help too, which is total-ly acceptable. The fact of putting a boy in this situation might give us teachers a handful ofopportunities to discuss the usually ignored disadvantages of traditional masculine roles.

Secondly, in our classroom library we may also discover another pile of books that havefound a place there due to some worthy editorial bet on good prices, nice personal treatment,

pretty covers or hopefully good teacher's decisions. Let us not shout victory yet as the factthat these books are newer does not make them freer of gender stereotypes. However, if weare as lucky as to find books which promote new types of masculinities such as The Incredi-

ble Book Eating Boy, PiggyBook or Prince Cinders it means we are on the good path. Let us briefly cover some of these wonderful stories so as to analyze their educational potential:

The Incredible Book Eating Boy (2007) by Oliver Jeffers presents us the way a boy finds out about his love for literature. Beautiful and hilarious illustrations show us a boywho bites a book by chance and ends up being famous for gulping loads of them. The badoutcome is that all that information gets mixed up inside his head with the outcome that heturns into a silly boy. Fortunately, although by chance too, the protagonist decides to startreading books instead of eating them which makes him a happier smarter boy. This book ishighly recommended for boys who consider literature as a feminine thing being also advisable

for pre-primary and primary classrooms in order to avoid certain negativity from boystowards literature from being internalized. After its reading pupils may comment on theirfavorite reads and even a contest could be set up to see which of them might turn into “the

book eating pupil of the month” (not “the book eating boy” thus avoiding an unnecessaryseparation between boys and girls) by reading books not eating them of course.

PiggyBook (1990) is a clear loud denounce of gender stereotypes. AnthonyBrowne provides us with the image of an exhausted mother who works both inside andoutside home to provide for his husband and boys who do nothing except eating and watchingT.V. The pictorial comparison Browne makes between this type of masculinity and the pigs isfunny whereas quite instructive. Older kids could be asked to rewrite the story by changingsexes, roles or even putting themselves as characters of the book. Group work and further outloud presentation of their stories would lead to very interesting argumentations.

Prince Cinders (1997). Author Babette Cole attempts to make a type ofCinderella's masculine version by writing this book. Instead of Cinderella we are introducedto Prince Cinders who has to work non-stop to iron, clean and wash for his three brothers.Prince Cinders wishes he was big and hairy like them and a fairy appears so as to make hiswish come true. However, he somehow ends up turning into a fat ugly monster. Too big toenter the party he meets a princess outside but runs away leaving his trousers behind. The



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princess travels the world looking for him as her hero and once she finds him they get marriedand live happily forever after. Prince Cinder's three brothers are turned into house fairies to doall the palace housework. This version provides much food for thought as regards boys genderstereotypes. It is interesting though, how once more the ideal masculinity to attain isrepresented by the hegemonic masculinity; “big, hairy man”. Fortunately in the end PrinceCinders does not need to turn into one of them to succeed in life.

Conclusion

If there is a teacher who in some way gets second thoughts about boy's gender stereo-types through the reading of this article my main intention will be satisfyingly fulfilled. It iswidely-known that the path towards the abolition of this type of bias is arduous and above allvery slow. Nonetheless, step by step we teachers of E.S.L can make a significant differencetoo. I have hereby provided some tools to combat boy's gender bias through the use of

picturebooks such as open discussion, debate, drama, rewriting of plots (by changing charac-ters, roles or stories), out loud presentations in front of others of conclusions achieved, etc.But these strategies will not find its end if it is not for teachers who act as orchestra conduc-tors leading the class to an open world in which there is room for every boy no matter histastes or preferences.

Children's literature and picture books in particular must definitely make a crucial partof our teaching but let us not overlook the hidden curriculum we may be transmitting by usingwhichever book. As soon as we are able to become conscious of the risks our improper teach-ing might be entailing practically every reading will be able to make part of our library since

it is our duty and responsibility as teachers to make a good use of it.

Works cited

Bettelheim, Bruno. Psicoanálisis De Los Cuentos De Hadas. Barcelona; México, D.F.:Editorial Crítica ; Grupo Editorial Grijalbo, 1988. Print.

Browne, Anthony,. Piggybook . New York: Knopf, 1986. Print.Burke, Phyllis,. Gender Shock : Exploding the Myths of Male and Female. New York: Anchor

Books, 1996. Print.Cole, Babette. Prince Cinders. New York: Putnam, 1988. Print.Connell, R. W. Masculinities. Berkeley, California: University of California Press, 1995.

Print.Eliot, Lise. Pink Brain, Blue Brain : How Small Differences Grow into Troublesome Gaps--

and what we can do about it . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2009. Print.Fine, Cordelia. Delusions of Gender : The Real Science Behind Sex Differences. London:

Icon, 2011. Print.Jeffers, Oliver. The Incredible Book Eating Boy. New York: Philomel Books, 2007. Print.Orenstein, Peggy. Cinderella Ate My Daughter : Dispatches from the Front Lines of the New



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Girlie-Girl Culture. New York, NY: HarperCollins, 2011. Print.Rice, Peggy S. Examining the Effectiveness of Entering the Story World of Characters

Portraying Diverse Gender Roles., 2002. Print.



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A poem a day keeps the boredom away Please English teachers don’t forget about children’s poetry!

Maria Luisa Alonso(University of Cambridge)

Poetry is a neglected genre in the classrooms and the case is more significant when wetalk about teaching a second language (Fernandez 2003). One of the reasons seems to be thatteachers do not really know how to deal with it. Recent research shows however that teacherswho read and enjoy poetry themselves are quite able to pass on their love and joy (Cremin2010).

Poetry, despite being a genre which has traditionally been tightly controlled byconventions and artifice, it is the literary genre more intimately associated with feelings,expressions of self and spontaneity. This intense form of language that makes us experiencedifferent feelings and situations by reducing them to manageable proportions, nourishes theyoung reader’s minds even before the acquisition of reading skills.When thinking aboutchildhood and the importance of children’s literature we realize that “it is usually the wordsand images of often physically small texts that turn out to be filling the minds of generationsof young readers with the mental tools necessary for thinking about themselves and the worldthey inhabit” (Reynolds 2009:99).

So if poetry is important for people who are growing up, it can make sense to consider itas a friendly ally when it comes to learn a second language. If the language is English it might

probably be even more convenient to consider lyric texts in the classroom taking into accountthe vast and rich tradition of English children’s poetry accessible through multiple sources. At

the same time, an ever-growing contemporary lyrical production for young people (scholarstalk about a new golden age) is easily available in all sorts of formats: picture books,anthologies, audio files, live performances, etc.

I want to highlight that I am chiefly talking here about genuine children’s poetry. I willtry to explain which kind of poetry I am talking about and what are the reasons that (I hope)should persuade you to use more of it in the school and probably privilege it from more adultoriented options.

Children’s poetry is a difficult field to delimit because of its hybrid and miscellaneousnature. This fact is certainly one of the causes for its neglect in the academic field of

children’s literature. What we usually find under the category of children’s poetry rangesfrom nursery rhymes to texts where the lyrical coexist with the narrative. Children’s poetryalso concerns readers from very different age groups.



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A common belief is that there is “a canon of great and genuine poetry that childrenshould read sooner or later” (Styles 2009: 237); we can just feel it if we take a look at poetryanthologies for children or even language or/and literature schoolbooks distributed in Europe.We notice at the same time a belief that poetry written for children is inferior to poetry foradults. Peter Hunt expresses this observation with these pertinent words “behind even themost well-intentioned and empathetic approaches to children and poems there seem to be thelurking idea of absolute values in literature and art” (Hunt 2010: 20). However, for the

purpose of enjoying poetry and let it develop what’s good on it that enables us to be moreconscious about the possibilities of language, to be reflective and critical thinkers or evenhappy people, we should widen the way we look at poetry for children and this should, aboveall, take the young readers into account.

If authors and scholars do not agree on a definition of children’s poetry, we can at leastagree that children’s verses should have a strong appeal for children. Now, pleasing childrenis another difficult concept to grasp. However, there are some distinctive features in children’s

verses, which have been proven successful for generations. Some of them are the accessibilityof its language, its playfulness and lightness, its musicality and closeness to oral traditions orthe ability to “say important things in an exciting and memorable way” as poet Michael Rosen

points out repeatedly. If we think about it, we see that all these features can help children totake in the rhytm of a language while new words are repeated, played, sang and memorizedinevitably.

My intention here is not to offer any methodological tools about how to teach poetry orany concrete didactical proposals. I need to point out that I believe, because poetry is relevantand close to emotions and feelings, it can not be taught or at least it should only be taught

under a reading for pleasure pedagogy. I agree with Peter Hunt when he argues that we shouldevangelize the idea that “children’s poetry should not be seen as a bridge or a ladder toanything –except perhaps as part of an openness of mind to language and its possibilities”(Hunt 2010: 22). Children should just be exposed to poetry so the love to it can comesnaturally. Poems should be there permanently as part of the children’s intelectual diet and as

present in the classrooms as the blackboards. Therefore, there should be nothing to be afraidof if you are a teacher because poetry would not make you feel snowed under an extra workload but, on the contrary, it should just smooth the language teaching. Some ideas, whichMichel Rosen points out, are: “Putting poems up on the wall, without saying why! Just

bung'em up and leave them there (..)You could gather them (kids) on the carpet and say, 'heylisten to this' and read them a poem. No questions asked. Just read it”(www.michaelrosen.co.uk).

http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/




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I would like to pay attention here to contemporary children’s poetry. Young people likecontemporay texts because they are themselves the most contemporary of us all. I havechosen to talk specifically about the poetry from a group of talented Caribbean/British poetsincluding James Berry, Grace Nichols, John Agar, Valerie Bloom and Benjamin Zephaniahwhose work is nowadays quite acknowledged in English speaking countries, even in theireducation systems. These poets write, and often perform, attractive vivid contemporary poemsfor children, which contain non-traditional approaches about different cultures and socialconstructions (including childhood). These poems go beyond a “feel good version ofmulticulturalism” (Fisch 1997) because they help children understand that cultural hybridity isthe main characteristic of world they live in. These verses do not necessarily deal withcultural or racial estereotypes explicitly nor they are overtly didactic about the importance ofan education in cultural diversity. However, they offer the young readers clues and tools toreflect about poetry,about language and cultural constructions from a non conventional andnon homogenising perspective.

Scholars who, like Lissa Paul or Morag Styles, have paid some attention to this kind ofwork, argue that these poets are helping to “sort of re-making of the tradition of children’s

poetry in English” (2009). These lyrical voices are revitalising the English language and can be very interesting and attractive for young people learning English as a second language.They can make children aware of the flexibility of this tool.

This group of poets seem quite tuned with young people who are natural iconoclasts.My practical experience with young people showed me that young readers share a stronginterest in these vibrant and sometimes rather subversive lyric voices. Morag Styles arguesthat “the best poems for children are those that aspire to be in the playground” (2009: ) and I

believe this is the case of the poems I am talking about. I would also add that some of themalso aspire to be in Facebook, Youtube and Itunes.Let’s explore briefly some actual poems looking at some features that can contribute to

its appeal.

“Play is the highest form of research” (Albert Einstein)

Poetry Jump Up by John Agard (extract)

Words dancingWords dancingTil dey sweat

Words like fishesJumpin out a net

Words wild and freeJoining de poetry revelry



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Words back to backWords belly to belly

Children enjoy language playfulness because it shows them the malleability of this tool.This poem deals with the issue of exploring the possibilities of language through play andinvite young people to be creative and interact freely with words.

The metaphoric condition of poetryCome On Into My Tropical Garden by Grace Nichols

Come on into my tropical gardenCome on in and have a laugh inTaste my sugar cake and my pine drinkCome on in please come on in

(…)

O you can roll up in the grassand if you pick up a fleaI'll take you down for a quick dip-washin the seaBelieve me there's nothing better

for getting rid of a fleathan having a quick dip-wash in the seaCome on into my tropical gardenCome on in please come on in

Indigenous metaphors can provide new possibilities for new constructions ortransformation of selves and communities. Metaphor can be a prior conceptual and linguisticsite of both intercultural and intertemporal exchange (Ramajani 2001). This tropical gardensymbolizes a reversal of cultural confrontation. The garden seems a perfect meeting point

welcoming children to intercultural adventure.

Aurality and musicalityWha Me Mudder do by Grace Nichols (extract)

Mek me tell you wha me mudder dowha me mudder dowha me mudder do..



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Me mudder chase bad-cowwith one ‘Shoo’she paddle down riverin she own canoe

Ain’t have nothingdat me mudder can’t doAin’t have nothingdat me mudder can’t do

Mek me tell you

Children’s poetry has always been specially linked to oral traditions whose principalcharacteristic is their strong sound patterns. Children feel an innate attraction for very

immediate musical language and are naturally open to new sound patterns. Iona and PeterOpire demonstrated in years of research that attraction for musicality, as a childhood feature,is a universal phenomenon.

Poems like Wha Me Mudder Do show us an example of how British Caribbean poetrymediates between oral practices inherited from various indigenous peoples and importedliterary forms.

Young reader’s empathy with dominated peoples and the notion of“unhomeliness”

Wherever I hang by Grace Nichols (extract)

I don’t know really where I belaangYes, divided to de oceanDivided to de boneWherever I hang me knickers – that’s my home.

This poem illustrates the crisis of longing and the dilemma of the cultural referenceshared by Postcolonial poets. Children can be very empathic about experiences of“unhomeliness, awayness” (Bhabba 1994) because home is a very important reference inchildhood. According to Lissa Paul, texts that bring to children’s literature voices from

postcolonial groups (and these Caribbean/British poets can be considered as such under a postcolonial approach), “are especially attractive for young people because they feel a specialempathy towards the expressions of culturally or politically dominated people as they arethemselves dominated people (by adults)” (Watson and Paul 2009). It seems a good idea thatchildren learn to think critically about cultural freedom versus cultural domination in a worlddominated by large corporations eager to homogenize us all for the sake of their businesses.



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Conclusion

Let’s not forget about this joyful wordy toy that can help children to improve theirlanguage skills while allowing them to grow as critical and reflective thinkers. Let’s also takeinto account that by infusing English language with new energies we can contribute to makeEuropean young readers aware of the fact that European culture should be an “ongoing anddecolonizing enterprise” (Pozanesi and Blaagaard 2012: 85). Europe is not the cradle of

poetry, despite Greco-roman heritage, as it is not even the cradle of civilisation or humanity.We should always bear in mind that it has also a painful and violent background, likeimperialism and racism, which is not very interesting to perpetuate for the sake of all.

Works cited

Agard J. “Poetry Jump Up” in http://poetrystation.org.uk/poems/poetry-jump-up/ accessedAugust 2012

Bhabba H. (1994) The location of culture. London and New York. Routledge classics.Cremin T (2010) “Exploring poetry teachers” In Styles M., Louise J. y Whithey D. (eds) Po-

etry and childhood . Stoke on Trent. Trentham Books.EA300 DVD1, no.8 (2009) “Grace Nichols Reworking of Poetic Tradition” Nicky Watson

interviews Lissa Paul. Open University.Fisch S. (1997) Boutique multiculturalism or why liberals are incapable of thinking about hate

speech. Critical Inquiry. Vol 23 n°2.

Hunt P (2010) « The non theory of children’s poetry » In Styles M., Louise J. y Whithey D.(eds) Poetry and childhood . Stoke on Trent. Trentham Books. Nichols G. “Wha me Mudder Do” and “Come on into my tropical garden” in Mac Grough R.

(2001). 100 Best Poems for Children. Londres. Puffin Books.Pozanesi S, Blaagaard B. (2011) Deconstructing Europe: postcolonial perspectives. London

and New York. Routledge.Ramajani. J. (2001) The Hybrid Muse postcolonial poetry in English. Chicago. The Universi-

ty of Chicago Press.Reynolds K. (2009) “Transformative energies” in Maybin J. and Watson, N.J (eds) Children’s

literature. Approaches and Territories. Basigstoke. Palgrave Macmillan.Rosen M. http://www.michaelrosen.co.uk/ accessed August 2012Styles M (2009) “From the best poets? Anthologies for children” in Maybin J. and Watson,

N.J (eds) Children’s literature. Approaches and Territories. Basigstoke. PalgraveMacmillan.

http://poetrystation.org.uk/poems/poetry-jump-up/



http://poetrystation.org.uk/poems/poetry-jump-up/



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The importance of reading to children.The same old story?

Marina Arcos(Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

It is what you read when you don't have to that determineswhat you will be when you can't help it

(Oscar Wilde)

Introduction

Throughthis paper I shall exemplify the reasons and importance for reading aloud toyoung children and ways to develop this to its full potential. For this to happen, the teachershouldnot only teach children the mechanics of reading, important as they might be, but also

make them eager readers and instill in them the love for books.By reading to young children in English is meant theteacher promoting emergent litera-cy in a second language by means of reading booksaloud in class in awell thought out and

proactive fashion. This type of reading is sometimes called dialogic, interactive or sharedreading. The main difference among them is the degree of involvement required on the part ofthe children.

Reading aloud might be associated with entertainment and fun.But there is more to itthan that -reading also conveys the promotion of literacy skills at an early age.This allowschildren to learn to read. From this platform they can acquire a variety of knowledge, skillsand learning strategies of paramount importance for their linguistic, cognitive, and affective

development. In short, it is a domino effect. As Krashen said (1992: 24) “we read for interestand pleasure and engage in problem-solving, and language acquisition and intellectual devel-opment occur as a result” (Krashen, 1992: 24).

Why is reading in English to young children important? The linguistic and affective domain.

The linguistic domain

Reading aloud to childrenfacilitates the developmentof listening and comprehension

skills through communication and dialogue. Similarly, for the case of English as a secondlanguage,it is particularly relevant since “reading aloud contributes significantly to the lan-guage and literacy development of children who are learning to read in a school-based lan-guage that is different from their home language” (Teale, 2003: 113). In the particular case ofstories, listening to them exposes children to a full text at discourse level not justto aspectsrelated to the vocabulary and structure of the language. Stories are complete units of commu-nication with a logical structure based on three fundamental elements: introduction, develop-ment of action and outcome. It also allows children to be exposed to stress, rhythm, intonationand connected speech.



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According to one of the most reputed experts in second languageacquisition, “currenttheories of literacy development hypothesizes that we develop literacy the same way we ac-quire language, by means of comprehensible input” (Krashen, 1992: 8). Krashenrepresentscomprehensible input by the formula “i+1” (Information + one), being “information” the lin-guistic competence and extra-linguistic knowledge that the learner possesses, and “one” newknowledge or language structures that he should be ready to acquire. The most significantcharacteristic of this input is that it should be at a level slightly beyond thelearner’s currentlevel of competence (Krashen, 1992).For Krashenthe most adequate methodfor language ac-quisition is one thatprovides learners with aural comprehensible input, and reading aloud can

be an ideal source for this.The experience of reading aloud can be considered as the zone of proximal development

referred to by Vygotsky(Cameron, 2001)since it provides children with knowledge that theycould not have otherwise accessed. This is possible because the teacher transforms the writtentext into aural language helping the child to go from the known to the unknown.

The affective domain

However, in order to implement these linguistics and cognitive skills, we shouldnot for-get the affective side of the learner. According to a humanistic approach it is essential to con-sider learning as a global endeavour addressed to the intellect as well as the emotions of hu-man beings. In fact, affective factors such as motivation, personal experience, self-esteem and

belonging, have been overseen in traditional teaching. Thehumanistic approach emphasizesthat if certain psychological conditions such as a stress-free context are not met, learning will

not take place. Krashen (1992) devised the affective filter hypothesis in the context of lan-guage learning to explain that negative “affective variables …prevent input from reachingwhat Chomsky has called the ‘language acquisition devise,’ the part of the brain responsiblefor language acquisition”(Krashen, 1992: 6).

Consequently, stories could be a favorable ground to unite the cognitive and affectiveconstituents of learning. Pederson (1995: 1) points outs that “stories help children to knowthemselves and to know others so they can cope with the psychological problems of growingup”. De Andres (1999) indicates that in order to work on topics that children are personallyinterested in, she read stories from English children's literature that included topics such asanger, isolation, lies and rejection. By doing so, she obtained two aims on linguistic and per-sonal levels, firstly, learning English as a second language, and secondlyfosteringstudent per-sonal growth and emotional development. An important number of storybooks include implic-it or explicit messages related to values, attitudes, feelings and ways of behaving that can beused to achieve these goals.

Reading aloud, and its corollary interventions, can also incorporate a form of socializa-tion, referred by Pederson (1995) as “a time to share feelings” when children can easily rein-force their sense of belonging. With respect to the integrating power of shared reading



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Machura (1983: 78) expresses that “sharing the same activities and experiences unifies thegroup establishing close bonds among children as well as between children and teacher.”Reading should create situations where children can share their opinions and feelings, whilenegotiation about meaning takings place.

It is important for the teacher to also acknowledge the silent period,a time when chil-dren are not psychologically readyto express themselves in the language they are learning.They need time to assimilate the new knowledge before they are capable of articulating it.

Nevertheless, during this period children can demonstrate comprehendthe messageby nonver- bal means.

Anearly experience in reading is likely to have an emotional impact on children. Ac-cording to Fletcher and Reese (2005: 21) “children represent their book reading experiencesin the form of an internal working model and these memories (i.e. positive or negative) willimpact the likelihood of future reading interactions”. Therefore, teachers should try to makethis experience memorable providing the children with all the affective support that they need.

How can we go about reading aloud?

Reading aloud to children can be a very empowering educational instrument. However,it is a very complex phenomenon and great care should be taken to achieve the objectives ofreading aloud. In this section I shallproffer an evaluation guideline to help teachers deal withreading. In addition,and given limitation of space, I willdiscusssome of these aspects that ap-

pear to be particularly important from a practical point of view.

Evaluationguideline

So far, the literature has expressed the importance of reading aloud; however, sincethere are many variables that intervene in reading, it is advisable for the teacher to be aware ofand control them as much as possible.

For this purpose, I suggest a framework made up of eight variables that can be used to plan and evaluate the reading aloud experience:

1) Nature of the book reading2) Book characteristics3) Student needs and characteristics4) Teacher needs and characteristics5) Time allotted to reading6) Physical characteristics of the place7) Curricular integration8) Home-classroom connection



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The whole framework intends to be adaptable to a wide variety of reading situations,five variables are drawn from Dickinson et al. (2003) and Fletcher and Reese (2005).Theteacher should be the person in charge of completing these eight sections with the characteris-tics that in their opinion each aspect of the teaching experience should have.

Interaction

Reading books to children is not a one-way system. Teachers should take initiativetogauge children`s reactions. They should find ways of engaging the children in a dialogue withthe book, the teacher and other classmates. As Teale (2003:124) argues, “what teachers andchildren talk about before, during and after reading has a significant impact on any contentlearning that does take place, and also affects children’s absorption of literacy concepts andstrategies from the reading”. The level of student engagement in bookreading is related to themotivation levels of students in terms of participationand therefore overall learning.Teale

even suggests the idea that children’s literacy skills can be more influenced by “discussionsintertwined with the reading” than by the book itself and adds that “it is not merely the pres-ence or frequency of reading aloud that is important, but the what and how of that practice.”Teale (2003: 116). The quality of the interaction with the children is of crucial importance totheir learning.

Furthermore, Fletcher and Reese (2005: 19) distinguish between readers with a per-former style who tend to “discuss story meaning at the end”; and readers with a describerstyle who “focus on labeling and describe pictures”. Based on the research carried out byFletcher and Reese (2005) it is advisable to start with a describing style and move on to a per-

forming style in later readings.

Books

Picture books withillustrations are the most appropriate for young learners that are be-ginning to take an initiative to reading. The contents of these books can be classified into twomain categories: informational books (most of them deal with a topic such as counting, thealphabet, colours, shapes, opposites) and fictional books such as stories -the most popular

books with children- or poetry. According to Teale (003:120),”the ability to read and compre-hend a variety of types of text is central to the process of becoming a proficient reader.”

Teachers should take the responsibility for choosing the books that best suit their stu-dents. Books have to be carefully selected avoiding what Tomlinson (1.998) calls “the flicktest”. The selection of storybooks should take into account students’ age, interests, needs,learning styles, personalities and degree of competence in the target language. Teachersshould also consider their own personal strengths and weaknesses and the possible use of the-se skills in selecting stories for their students. They need to feel at ease reading the story; theyshould check if they have enough resources to make it understandable and if the story meetsthe learning objectives of the curriculum.



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The controversyaboutusing adapted books for non-native learners of the language ver-sus authentic books, books published for native speakers of English, does not seem to holdwater. Both, English as Foreign Language (EFL) and authentic books can be very useful inteaching a second language because there is a wide range to choose from, and the

probabilities of finding a suitable book are much greater. For instance, teachers can find manyauthentic books with the features of a good story for language learning. Some of thesefeatures are: the appropriate length of the book, its content is of interest to the age group, it isrepetitive but not boring, it is organised around a specific language pattern or around an areaof vocabulary and children can interact with the themes, events and characters.This proves asa good example of language in-use and in-context, and the pictures support or expandthemeaning.

Reading or telling

It is advisable to start off by reading books. Only later and in parallel to this practiceshould story telling be introduced. According to a survey that I conducted, student teachers

preferredreading a story in English instead of telling it from their memory. Some advantagesof reading a story are that teachers do not need to know the text by heart,thisavoids lexical orgrammatical mistakes.Teachers can repeat storiesusing the same words while the illustrationsaccompanying the captions attract and help children understand the meaning of the story.Bothset a good example for children to imitate.Some key techniques that might help teachers toread a story aloud are: diaphragmatic respiration, adequate volume of voice, right pace, cleardiction, memorization of key phrases from the text to maintain eye contact, use gestures and

body language to convey the meaning of actions and feelings and use different voices for dif-ferent characters.

Frequency

As it is difficult for children to discover the benefits of reading on their own,book read-ings should be systematized and planned in advance. Book reading should be incorporated inthe teaching schedule and should not be used as an odd time filler.Hence, it is also importantthat teachers read on a regular basis because they can set a good example for reading that thechildren can emulate.

As a great deal of research has revealed, the place of reading aloud in many classes isvery limited or non-existent. After collecting and analyzing data about reading habits in NewEngland over a period of ten years, Dickinson et al. (2003: 100) show that “group book read-ing …is often used as a transitional activity with the content of reading being determined bythe vagaries of the moment”. In addition, in a study with 3 and 4-year-olds carried out byDickinson et al. (2003: 99) over two years found that only “roughly 45% of the teachers

planned to spend 1.5 or less of their weekly class time on book reading”.



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Last academic year I carried out a small-scale survey to find out about the experiencesof85 student teacherswith respect to telling and reading storiesin their first years of primaryeducation.A summary of the results shows that only about half of the students (49.5) hadteachers that read to them in Spanish whereas the gross majority of the students(96%)indicated that their teachers did not readstories in English to them.

According to the data collected by Dickinson et al. (2003) and the results of my own re-search, half of the teachers in mother tongue contexts did not read books aloud plumbing thisfigure to only 4% when referred to reading in a foreign language. Apparently these teachersgenerally did not include reading aloud in their own schedules. From these date we can con-clude that the importance attributed in the literature to reading aloud to children does notmatch with the experience of the respondents in the surveyed analyzed.

Repetition

Research and teachers’ personal experiences indicate that reading a book for a secondtime or as many times as children request them can have a positive effect on theirliteracy andlearning process. According to Fletcher and Reese (2005: 23) “repeated readings have beendemonstrated to affect vocabulary learning...and children’s participation during reading, eitherthrough imitation...or repeated opportunities to process novel words in an appropriate con-text.” An instance of the latter iswhen students transfer some key expressions to their every-day life., for example, “don’t forget the bacon” from the story of the same name by PatHutchins servesas a kind reminder that one should not forget important things.

Students sometimes end up knowing books off by heart even before they formally know

how to read. This is because of repetition - the more they listen to them the more they likethem. Fletcher and Reese (2005: 66) manifest that “repeated readings are supportive of youngchildren’s efforts to actively participate during reading interactions”.Machura (1984: 75)states that “I read the book several times and found that the children never tired of it. On thecontrary, they seemed to enjoy it more and more and joined me in reading aloud”. Further-more, Trelease (2006)highlights that “even when children reach primary grades, research hasshown that repeated (at least three) picture book readings increases vocabulary acquisition by15-40 percent, and the learning is relatively permanent”.

Conclusion

Reading is a lifelong experience that has to be nurtured throughout the entire school lifeof our students. The promotion of this experience will take different forms depending on theage group and other factors but it should not be neglected or compromised at school level.

If research has demonstrated and teachers consider reading to be a fundamental skill forlinguistic, cognitive and affective reasons, we should have to find ways to motivate childrento read so that they become avid readers themselves. One of the first steps in this direction isreading aloud in the classroom. In order for this type of reading to develop its full potential



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and, therefore become an effective educational instrument, it has to be carried out profession-ally and wholeheartedly by the teacher. However if we say how important reading is and wedo not show any signs of practicing it, reading aloud will continue to be just an old story formany years to come.

Works cited

Arnold, J. (Ed.)(1999). Affect in Language Learning . Cambridge: CUP.Brumfil, C., J Moon and R. Tongue (eds) (1995).Teaching English to Children. Harlow:

Longman.Cameron, L. (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: CUP.Bauer E. et al., (eds). (2003). On reading books to children: parent and teachers. Mahwah,

New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, publishers.De Andrés, Verónica (1999) Self-esteem in the classroom or the metamorphosis of butterflies

en Arnold, J. Affect in Language Learning , Cambridge: CUP.Dickinson et al. (2003). A framework for examining book reading in early childhood class-

rooms in Bauer E. et al., (Eds.).On reading books to children: parent and teachers.Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, publishers.

Ellis, Gail y Jean Bruster (2002). Tell it Again! Penguin English. Harlow: Pearson EducationLimited.

Fletcher, K. and E. Reese (2005). Picture book reading with young children: A conceptualframework. Developmental Review 25 (2005) 64–103.

Krashen, S. (1992).Fundamentals of Language Education. Chicago: MacGraw-Hill.

Machura, L. (1995). Using literature in language teaching in Brumfil, C., J Moon and R.Tongue (Ed.). Teaching English to Children. Harlow: Longman.Pedersen, M. (1995). Storytelling and the art of teaching. Forum, Vol 33 No 1, January -

March 1995. http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/1995.htmlStahl, S (2003). What do we expect story book reading to do? How storybook reading impacts

word recognition in Bauer E. et al., (Eds.). On reading books to children: parent andteachers. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, publishers.

Teale, W. (2003). Reading aloud to young children as a classroom instructional activity: in-sights from research and practice in Bauer E. et al., (Eds.). On reading books to chil-dren: parent and teachers. Mahwah, New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum associates, pub-lishers.

Tomlinson, B (1998). Materials development in Language Teaching. Cambridge: CUP.Trelease, J. (2006) The Read-Aloud Handbook. 2006 6th ed. :Penguin.Trivette C. and C.J. Dunst (2007) Relative Effectiveness of Dialogic, Interactive,and Shared

Reading Interventions CELLReviewsVol 1, (2) 2007, 1-12.Williams, M. and R. Burden (1997) Psychology for language teachers.A social constructivist

approach. Cambridge: CUP.

http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/1995.html

http://exchanges.state.gov/englishteaching/forum/archives/1995.html



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Picture book Learning: Multialfabetització i Literacitat mitjançant l’Àlbum Il·lustrat

Clara BerenguerMargarida Castellano

(Universitat de València)

Resulta inqüestionable que l’àlbum il·lustrat és l’aparador més popular de l’art de lail·lustració infantil; tradicionalment dirigit a un públic entre tres i set anys, els seus contingutses comuniquen mitjançant dibuixos recolzats per unes poques paraules. Podríem definir-los,

per tant, com aquelles formes artístiques integrades per signes i codis lèxics i visuals quecol·laboren junts per tal d’establir una interacció incessant entre paraula, imatge i lector.

Més enllà d’aquesta explicació formal, ja a les darreries del segle XX, Sandra L.Beckett1, defineix el gènere com a “crossover literature” pel fet que es tracta d’un tipus deliteratura que s’adreça tant a infants com a adults. D’aquesta manera, actualment, la idea queels àlbums infantils no estan sols destinats als xiquets sinó que abracen un espai entremigentre el món de l’adult i el dels infants es troba força arrelada cosa que, a més, reconeix queels límits precisos entre aquests dos mons es poden desplaçar i tornar a traçar amb un objectiu

principal d’entretenir i contribuir en l’educació i la cultura.Amb tot, al llibre La magia de los cuentos infantiles de Seth Lerer 2 es destaca el fet que,

des de sempre, els més menuts han llegit els llibres acompanyats d’il·lustracions. Així,assenyala un fragment d’un papir de l’Egipte bizantí en el qual es conten els treballsd’Hèracles i on apareix un dibuix de l’heroi i el lleó. Lerer explica com al llarg de la històriasón molts els textos il·lustrats que s’han conservat. Per això, és habitual la presènciad’exemples com el que acabem de nomenar al llarg dels segles i destinats a l’aprenentatge

dels més menuts. A més, un dels textos que va sorgir amb la finalitat clara d’ajudar als infantsen la lectura, va ser l’Orbis Pictus. El pedagog Comenius publicà el 1650 un abecedariil·lustrat destinat a l’aprenentatge de l’alemany i del llatí, convençut que la representacióvisual del que deien les paraules podia ajudar a despertar un interès per la lectura. Aquestaobra seria, sens dubte, el principi d’un nou concepte de llibre.

Tot i això, la idea que els xiquets adquireixen els primers coneixements amb elsobjectes perceptibles començà a divulgar-se a partir dels escrits de filòsofs com ara JohnLocke . Així, al seu Assaig sobre l’enteniment humà (1690) i, d’una manera més precisa a

Pensaments sobre l’educació (1692), Locke ofereix una teoria de la pedagogia basada en

fonaments filosòfics mitjançant la qual explica que l’esser humà està mancat de idees en elmoment de nàixer i és a partir de l’experiència en el món i de les imatges que l’envolten que pot arribar a aprendre paraules i conceptes.

Seguint aquest raonament, Locke, arribà a la conclusió que ensenyar els més menutsresultava molt més fàcil quan els textos s’acompanyaven amb imatges i, amb aquesta finalitat,s’encarregà de publicar una edició de les faules d’Isop il·lustrades. De manera que, el propòsit

principal era conjuminar la paraula impresa i la imatge dibuixada per convertir-les en

1 BECKETT, Sandra .L. a HELLIGE, H.; KLANTEN, R. (eds), p. 72 LERER (2008), p. 491.



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màquines impressores que exercien la seua funció sobre la planxa de la ment del lector. Lament es transforma ací, per tant, en una pàgina en blanc en la qual van imprimint-se les idees.

Les investigacions recents sobre aquest tema ja subratllen la importància de les imatgesi el fet que l’aprenentatge de les lletres comporta, per força, un inseparable aprenentatge del’observació. A més, des de fa unes dècades les il·lustracions han anat assolint una posiciódestacada en el món de les arts i apareixen en la literatura infantil cada vegada mésinterrelacionades. Aquestes, en els nostres dies, ja no es presenten com a simplesacompanyants del text sinó que han passat a tenir una presència més destacada i, amb l’àlbumil·lustrat, la imatge gràfica està arribant a assolir el mateix o fins i tot més protagonisme que eltext.

Ara bé, les teories de Locke s’insereixen dins d’un llarg procés cultural durant el qual es promourà una revolució pausada en la manera d’entendre els llibres per a infants. En aquestsentit, John Newbury fundà a Anglaterra la primera impremta dedicada a la publicaciód’obres infantils que subministrarien material de lectura als xiquets de Gran Bretanya del

segle XVIII i John Harris fou un dels primers editors, també anglès, en oferir llibres infantilsamb il·lustracions de millor qualitat que les xilografies que solien contenir aquests tipus de

publicacions.A mitjans del segle XIX, les noves tecnologies de la litografia permeteren l’aparició

d’una varietat més gran d’il·lustracions i, el que és més important, instauraren una novaconcepció dels llibres per a xiquets que, a partir d’aquest moment, s’entenien ja com objectesil·lustrats. A més, la cromolitografia —tècnica que permetia la utilització de diferents colorsen una mateixa imatge a més de poder fer estampacions successives— es descobrí a finals dela dècada de 1830 i Die Struwwelpeter va ser un dels primers llibres il·lustrats elaborat amb el

procés cromolitogràfic. El 1844, un metge alemany, Heinrich Hoffmann, cansat de buscar unllibre il·lustrat que li semblara suficientment adequat per al seu fill, va tornar a casa amb unquadern escolar en blanc on va escriure i il·lustrar unes quantes històries que ara coneixemsota aquest títol.

Tot i la importància d’aquesta obra, si ens detenim uns instants en el focus anglosaxó,no hem de deixar de banda alguns exemples pioners d’obres considerades com a clàssics delsàlbums il·lustrats i que són una xicoteta mostra de l’evolució i els canvis formals i estilísticsque aquests tipus de llibres han sofert al llarg dels anys. De manera que, hem de citar nomscom ara Kate Greenaway, responsable del llibre A apple pie (1856) considerat com un dels

precedents del que avui coneixem com a llibre il·lustrat. És tracta d’un abecedari amblitografies i on cada lletra origina una frase molt breu amb l’objectiu de contar que és el queva ocórrer amb un pastís de pomes. La presència d’un protagonista principal, el pastís, com adesencadenant de les vint accions proporciona una unitat formal i argumental insòlita fins araen un abecedari.

La història moderna de l’àlbum britànic il·lustrat, però, arrenca amb RandolphCaldecott, considerat per Maurice Sendak 1 com un dels grans de la història de la il·lustracióinfantil: el pare del concepte d’àlbum il·lustrat anglès degut a la juxtaposició, insòlita fins

1 Hellige, H.; Klanten, R. (2011), p.4



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aquell moment, que va fer de la imatge i la paraula i que podem trobar a llibres com ara TheThree Jovial Hunstmen (1880).

Les experiències en benefici del llibre per a infants arribaren fins al segle XX, períodeclau per al desenvolupament d’aquesta classe de publicacions. Beatrix Potter és conegudagràcies al seu Peter Rabit (1902). Els editors li havien rebutjat el seu manuscrit nombrosesvegades argumentant que tenia un format massa menut i unes il·lustracions excessives.Precisament aquest era el concepte que desitjava impulsar l’autora: llibres que pogueren serllegits pels més menuts i que pogueren guardar-se a la butxaca. Potter forma part d’una novageneració d’il·lustradors en què destaquen altres com ara Arthur Rackham i el seu mónimaginari i encisador i que evidencia ja la marca de l’art decó dels anys 1920.

Seguint els passos d’aquests autors, l’any 1942 es publica Rosie’s walk, de PatHutchins. Aquesta conta la història de la gallina Rosie que decideix anar a passejar i no sen’adona que una rabosa la persegueix amb no massa bones intencions. Allò més destacat ésl’ús únic de tres colors per al desenvolupament de la història, taronja, groc i verd, presentant

un model de llibre d’una gran economia formal i senzillesa però amb una gran bellesa visual.Cal afegir que aquesta autora ha assolit una gran popularitat a Anglaterra i ha guanyat premisnacionals importants com el que va aconseguir amb The wind blew el 1974.

Així, a partir de 1960, i 1970 sobretot, començà a créixer la valoració del plaer proporcionat per les imatges. La il·lustració es dirigia a interpel·lar, a sorprendre o a provocarvisualment el lector. No hem d’oblidar que culturalment s’advertien ja els senyals d’un canvide mentalitat provocat per una nova cultura de masses i de consum que tenia el mateix poderde transformació que va tindre la revolució industrial. A l’àlbum il·lustrat també arriben lesnoves aportacions culturals dels nous llenguatges visuals, com ara el cine i la publicitat, que

s’incorporen al món de la comunicació infantil, lliurant com a resultat exemples com araWhere the wild things are (1963) del reconegut i ja mencionat Maurice Sendak, No kiss for Mother (1973) de Tomi Ungerer o Dear zoo (1982) de Road Campbell, aquest últim amb unaaparença senzilla i amb solapes que s’obrin s’ha convertit en un clàssic del disseny i hagenerat molts imitadors.

Finalment, no podem acabar aquesta selecció sense nomenar dos noms que, enl’actualitat, es mantenen encara actius al camp de la il·lustració com són Quentin Black,conegut per il·lustrar els contes de Roald Dahl o Anthony Brown que ha transmès la seuafascinació pels goril·les als seus llibres i els ha convertit en protagonistes de moltes de lesseues històries.

Reprenent el nostre discurs sobre la finalitat instrumental i educativa dels àlbums, caldir que l’objectiu principal d’aquest és que tots els elements del llibre es posen al servei de lahistòria: el text i la il·lustració (amb una idea de conjugar l’aspecte intel·lectual amb el

propòsit estètic...) però també el format, el fons de la pàgina, la disposició dels elements, latipografia, la textura del paper, etc. Les il·lustracions, en conseqüència, no s’ofereixen comuna sèrie d’imatges aïllades sinó que totes elles contribueixen a lectura global del llibre i, així,la veu del narrador no és l’única encarregada de conduir la història ja que aquesta es



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complementa amb la representació plàstica. La funció d’una bona il·lustració és la d’establiruna relació dinàmica amb el text a través de la qual ambdós acaben recompensats.

Així, aquests beneficis dels àlbums il·lustrats els podem traslladar a les classes d’anglésutilitzant-los com una eina profitosa per l’aprenentatge de noves paraules, conceptes i valors a

partir de continguts visuals i textuals. Per a exemplificar de quina manera aquest gènere“crossover” ajuda a adquirir les competències bàsiques del currículum i, a més, és el gènereidoni per a tractar a tot tipus d’aula (per la multialfabetització i la literacitat que aporta) hemclassificat uns quants àlbums il·lustrats en llengua anglesa però ben diversos segons lafinalitat, així com també segons les competències que s’hi desenvolupen amb ell.

En primer lloc, trobem els àlbum que ajuden a aprendre vocabulari o a practicarvocabulari concret. Es tractat d’àlbums com ara Alphabet de Paul Thurlby, idoni per als

primers nivells d’anglés, així com un llibre bàsic per a tindre present a l’aula i integrarvocabulari utilitari. En el mateix sentit trobem l’àlbum mut ALFabeto, de David Peña i editat

per Kalandraka, amb el qual no només s’hi desenvolupa la competència lingüística i

comunicativa, sinó també l’artística i cultural. Aquest darrer suposa un pas endavant respecteal primer, ja que ací no només hem de cercar el vocabulari específic de cada imatge, sinótambé podem crear jocs lingüístics (com ara poesia, endevinalles...) o bé interpretar la històriade la imatge. També de kalandraka, What would you like to be? D’Arianna Papini ens ajuda a

practicar estructures lingüístiques; en aquest cas, mitjançant una història circular en què es pregunten diferents personatges què els agradaria ser, allò que estem practicant en anglés sónels usos dels diferents condicionals. D’altres estructures concretes que es poden practicar sónles “Wh-Questions”, com ara al ja famós It’s a book de Lane Smith, el qual fins i tot es potcompletar amb el curt animat.

Continuant en el sentit de la interpretació d’imatges, podem situar l’àlbum El viaje,d’Arianne Faber. Es tracta d’una il·lustració molt senzilla, sense paraules, i amb la qual podem, després d’observar el llibre, inventar la història i desenvolupar no només lacompetència comunicativa sinó també l’artística i cultural, una vegada més. És també el casde Zoom o Re-zoom de Istvan Banyai, amb el qual no només reinterpretem històries, sinó quea més aprenem vocabulari i practiquem els connectors relatius.

Pel que fa al tractament d’altres competències més específiques, centrades en conviure ihabitar el món, així com educació en valors, trobem també àlbums que desenvolupen unaprenentatge multicultural o bé tracten les diferències i els prejudicis. Estem parlant de

Dancing in the Clouds, de Vanina Starkoff; The Hueys in the New Sweater , Lost and Found oThe Way Back Home, d’Oliver Jeffers o altres àlbums muts com ara The Chicken Thief deBeatrice Rodríguez o Mi león, de Mandana Sabat. El primer parla dels somnis en principiimpossibles que, al final, amb l’ajuda col·lectiva, sí que es poden aconseguir. La idea delàlbum és ben bonica: de quina manera les ciutats creixen amb gent vinguda de tot arreu.Tracta el tema de la immigració, les diferents cultures, el respecte i la vida en societat. El

primer dels àlbums d’Oliver Jeffers tracta el tema de la diferència i la identitat: els Hueys erentots iguals, pensaven igual i actuaven igual, fins que un d’ells es proposa portar un suèter... i,al remat, tots intenten ser diferents. És un àlbum idoni per a parlar de temes com ara la moda,



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les marques, la globalització, la publicitat, etc. Lost and Found i The Way Back Home secentren més en temes més personals: l’amistat, la fidelitat, l’estima. Amb un vocabularisenzill i unes il·lustracions netes, aquestes històries s’adrecen als aprenents dels primersnivells de llengua anglesa, 2n i 3r cicle de primària.

Seguint en la línia dels àlbums que ajuden a conéixer altres realitats o que amplien laidea de multiculturalitat, no podem oblidar-nos de l’autor i il·lustrador Shaun Tan. The arrivalés una novel·la gràfica sense paraules que conta la història de qualsevol emigrant, desplaçat orefugiat que ha hagut de fer un viatge cap a la incertesa. Es tracta d’un àlbum-homenatge atots aquells que han hagut de deixar enrere la seua terra i allò conegut, per endinsar-se en allòdesconegut. La il·lustració, magnífica, pot ajudar a investigar a secundària no només sobre elsmoviments migratoris, sinó també sobre la història no tan llunyana dels Estats Units(conéixer, per exemple què fou Ellis Island o Angel’s Island). The Rabbits, d’altra banda,s’endinsa en els processos colonitzadors i, en especial, en la colonització d’Austràlia a mansdels anglesos. Tots dos són llibres interdisciplinars que ajuden a entendre part de la història

dels països anglòfons. Ambdos desenvolupen la competència de coneixement i interacció ambel món físic, així com la social i ciutadana. Sadako’s Cranes, de Judith Loske també és und’aquests llibres que ens aproximen a realitats històriques allunyades no nomésgeogràficament, sinó també temporalment. A partir d’un fet artístic japonés tan simbòlic comés la papiroflèxia, la història de Sadako és la història dels qui van haver de patir els

bombardejos d’Hiroshima i Nagasaki.D’altres àlbums il·lustrats ens faciliten dinàmiques de presentació o bé jocs

d’autoconfiança. D’una banda, The Onion’s Great Escape, de Sara Fanelli ens endinsa en elmón identitari des del principi, amb la pregunta inicial “Who Am I?”. Es tracta d’un àlbum

que podríem utilitzar a les primeres classes de l’assignatura, a un nivell d’educaciósecundària, com a suport a diferents dinàmiques de presentació o de tutoria. The Dot , de PeterH. Reynolds, tracta el tema de la creativitat i de la confiança en u mateix, mitjançant unvocabulari senzill i un context conegut: les classes d’educació artística.

Tot plegat, amb aquesta comunicació hem volgut fer una aproximació a la història del’àlbum il·lustrat en anglés: quines han estat les seues funcions tradicionals i quins avantatgesens proporciona actualment aquest gènere eclèctic. Un gènere que barreja l’expressió artísticaamb la literacitat, i l’aprenentatge no només d’estructures lingüístiques i/o vocabulari, sinótambé d’un ampli ventall de codis culturals i socials.

Referències

Lerer, S. (2008), La magia de los libros infantiles, Barcelona, Ares y Mares, Crítica.Salisbury, M. (2004), Ilustración de libros infantiles. Cómo crear imágenes para su

publicación, Barcelona, Acanto. Nel, P.; Paul, L. (eds). (2011), Keywords for children’s literature, New York University

Press, Nova York.



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Hellige, H.; Klanten, R. ed. (2012), Little big books. Illustrations for children’s picture books,Gestalten, Berlín.



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Thinking through Literature: Reading and Writing Workshops on Fairy Tales

Jelena Bobkina(Universidad Complutense de Madrid)Miriam Fernández de Caleya Dalmau

(CES Don Bosco. Universidad Complutense de Madrid)

Introduction

The Spanish National Curriculum standards in foreign language teaching are being re-formed nowadays in order to meet new demands towards preparing bilingual students, criticaland imaginative thinkers, effective communicators and active learners. One of the ways toreach these objectives is through introducing authentic literature texts into language class-rooms.

Through analyzing and composing a diverse range of literary texts, students develop better understanding of cultural, social and technical aspects of the target language.

From the linguistic point of view, literature provides teachers with a chance to organizethe learning process around a number of grammatical structures, contextualized in the body ofthe text. Besides, from the cultural point of view, literature facilitates students’ contact withthe cultural heritage of the target language country.

Finally, from the aesthetic point of view, the advantages of working with literary textsare undeniable. They not only offer the teacher a chance to introduce his/her students into theworld of art, but also let them start their own way towards the search of harmony.

In spite of offering potential benefits of a high order for students of English, until re-

cently literature has not been given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom.

Use of authentic literary texts in the classroom.

For many years the teaching of literature and the teaching of language in the EFL class-room have been viewed as two very separate activities, where the reading of authentic literarytexts has been regarded as a task available only for advanced students.

Thus, Lee (1986) claims that language learners are linguistically incapable of under-standing literary texts until they reach the advanced level proficiency. This opinion is shared

by other educators (Taillefer, 1996), (Laufer, 1997) who are likely to regard L2 competenceas a necessary precondition for successful L2 reading.As a result, the early years of instruction are generally devoted to mastering the lan-

guage itself, and authentic literary texts are not introduced unless the students are in a postsecondary literature classroom (Kramsh, C., Kramsh,O., 2000).

As a response to these claims, Frantzen (2002) affirms that studies in SLA “underscorethe importance of incorporating reading skills development in beginning and intermediatelevel foreign language classrooms” (p.116).



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In fact, Maxim (2002), having investigated the use of authentic literary texts with for-eign language beginners, reported that students were able to read a full-length authentic text

being complete beginners. What´s more, the time devoted to the reading task did not affectnegatively to their standardized exam results.

The other reason for the lack of interest towards the use of literature in language class-rooms is the rise of communicative competence methodologies, favouring mostly the devel-opment of oral language skills. According to Kramsch&Kramsch (2000), the interest towardscommunicative competence during the 1980s made literary texts disappear from the foreignlanguage curriculum.

The contemporary view on literary texts, based on the latest developments of text-basedteaching, calls for an end to separation of language and literature courses and recommends acurriculum “in which language, culture, and literature are taught as a continuous whole”(Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World., 2007).

What´s more, an increased role for reading at the lower level of instruction, particularly

the reading of culturally authentic texts is one of the central claims for curriculum reform inEFL teaching (Arens,K., Swaffar,J., 2000), (Dupuy, 2000), (Swaffar, 1999) .

Thus, the latest perspectives in the EFL methodology, especially those based on text- based teaching, promote the introduction of the authentic texts at the earliest levels of lan-guage acquisition.

Although using authentic texts with language beginners might be a relatively difficulttask, findings indicate that benefits are undeniable (Rice, 1991).

In Spain, there is at present a high degree of uncertainty about the role of literature in aschool foreign-language course. Although literature clearly benefits the teaching of language

skills, quite a number of teachers still feel reluctant to include literary blocks into the lan-guage curriculum.Those of the Spanish teachers who try to use literature in the classroom inevitably en-

counter a series of problem, such as lack of preparation in the area of literature teaching inTEFL; absence of clear-cut objectives defining the role of literature in EFL; absence of the

background and training in literature, and, finally, lack of pedagogically-designed appropriatematerials that can be used by language teachers in a classroom context.

Clearly, a change is needed to re-establish literature in the foreign-language curriculumin Spain. One of the possible ways to do it is through introducing a genre-based activities inthe language classroom.

Genre-based Approach to teaching language.

Genre-based Approach was developed in 1980s in Australian academic settings, but be-came especially popular at the end of the 1990s. In fact, it has been successfully incorporatedinto the language curriculum of Australia, New Zealand, Indonesia, and Brazil, among others.



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Based on the ideas of Systemic Functional Linguistics (SFL), it treats language in termsof social functions: every act of language is an act of meaning and “to mean is to actsemiotically" (Halliday, forthcomig)

On the other hand, the importance of discourse/textual approach to text is being defend-ed. The focus on the whole text implies that there is higher level of order and patterning inlanguage than just in sentence-grammar at the level of discourse organization of grammaticalfeatures. The notion of text, for Halliday (1985), goes beyond what is said and written. It alsoincludes “non-verbal going-on – the total environment in which a text unfolds (p.11).

According to Lin (2006) in genre-based approach, teaching and learning focuses on theunderstanding and production of selected genres of texts. Educators begin by modeling genresand explicating their features using the Hallidayan socially based system of textual analysis.Students are then expected to reproduce those genres.

To teach genres, the proponents of Genre Based Approach suggest the framework ofteaching called as “Teaching and Learning Cycle”. As described by Paltridge (2001), the cy-

cle consists of four main stages: building knowledge of field, modeling of text, join construc-tion of text and independent construction of text.

The above model emphasizes the shift from teaching text to context, on the one hand,and relating linguistic patterns to social and disciplinary ones, on the other one.

The other application of the SFL approach has been designed in the Brazilian educationsetting, proposing a pedagogy that emphasizes the reciprocal relationship between text andcontext. The model of training, known as the “academic writing cycle” (Motta-Roth, 2009),consists of three activities: context exploration (involves learning to interact with the envi-ronment in order to learn the language), text exploration (involves experiencing analytically

the relationship between text and context), and text production and editing (involves becom-ing a discourse analyst by writing one´s text).The Brazilian model starts with early reproduction of the genre based on students’ pre-

vious knowledge and experience, and then moves to analysis of genre within rhetorical andsocial contexts, culminating with reproduction of the genre (Bawarshi, A.S., Reiff, M., J.,2010). In this way, as Motta-Roth (2009) affirms, learning process brings together a focus ongenre awareness, analysis of linguistic conventions, and attention to social context.

Teaching Genre in the foreign language classroom: Fairy Tales.

When working with beginner level students, a good way to introduce a genre-based approach in the language classroom is through fairy tales. As far as many learners are not prepared to work with complex fiction stories, fairy tales could provide them with easier samplesof authentic, engaging literary texts.

Thus, it is much easier for students to recognize the theme and messages explored inthese simple texts: their stock characters never change, their plots are straightforward, lan-guage is direct, symbols are clear, and conflicts are always resolved neatly. By working withfairy tales students are likely to develop strategies for recognizing themes and interpreting the



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message of the author. These essential skills, once learned through simple stories, can be applied to a large number of narrative texts.

To sum up, introducing fairy tales into the classroom enables students to recognize anduse the power of story, helping them to identify meaning in all narrative texts.

According to Lattimer (2003), “engaging students in the process of planning and writingfairy tales expands their ability to think abstractly about narrative texts” (p. 203). While retell-ing the story, the learners experiment with the manipulation of characters and conflicts. Thisis how they learn to create their own stories, both fairy tales and other types of narrative text.

Reading and writing workshop on fairy tales: The Paper Bag Princess.

When talking about the language classroom, we understand a genre study as an inquiryinto a text. The class reads exemplary text of a fairy tale and writes original pieces repre-sentative of the genre. The goal of the inquiry is to develop habits of reading and writing that

enable students to master the genre itself.In continuation, we are offering a model of a Reading/Writing Workshop based on a

Robert Munsch fairy tale The Paper Bag Princess (Munsch, 1980). The suggested guideline isorganized upon three stages: context exploration, text exploration and text production andediting (Motta-Roth, 2009). The context exploration stage focuses on a fairy tale as a genreand its characteristic features, the text exploration stage is directed towards analysis the mean-ing of the story, its themes and messages, meanwhile the text production stage is centered onthe crafting of a new story. A number of sample activities are offered as well.

Suggested design of workshop

CONTEXT EXPLORATIONDefining a Traditional Fairy Tale.Students will develop a definition of a traditional fairy tale and a retold fairy tale.1. What are examples of fairytales?2. What do you expect to find ina fairy tale?3. Do you think a fairy taleteaches us a lesson?4. What do you think a retoldstory is?5. In which way are retold storiesdifferent from traditional fairy tales?

2.1. What kind of characters? Princesses, princes, witches, magical creatures, etc.?2.2. What kind of events? Prince rescues prin-cess, magic solves problems, etc.?2.3. What kind of settings? Make-believedlands, castles, woods, etc.?2.4. How does a fairy tale end? Happy end-ings?

TEXT EXPLORATIONFinding meaning in a storyStudents will learn to analyze text for meaning, support their interpretations with text evi-



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dence, and evaluate the relevance of author´s message.Students will use differences between tradi-tional and retold tales to develop an interpre-tation of the author’s message.

1.

In which way is this story dif-ferent from traditional fairy tales about Prin-cesses and Princes?2. Why do you think the authorincluded these differences?3. What message is the authorcommunicating through his story? Find evi-dences from the text to justify your point ofview.Talking about the themes and messages of the story.

Students will learn to identify the themes and messages of the story1. How are the three charactersand their actions portrayed?

2. What is the major conflict andhow it is resolved?

3. How does the story end?4. Do you like the ending? In

which way the ending different from the oneyou expected? Would you prefer the tradi-tional one instead?

1.1. Who is the villain? Who is thehero? Why?1.2. What do they do?

2.1. What problem do the charactershave?2.2. Who tries to help the prince?How?

2.3. Who carries off Prince Ronald?

TEXT PRODUCTIONCrafting the story.Students will learn to retell the story1. What is exposition? What isdialogue? What is action? Identify theseelements in the story.

2.

How does the author use theseelements to tell the story?3. Which are the most effectiveto tell this story?

Communicating the message.Students will analyze and learn to use techniques that effectively communicate meaning intext.



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1. Look for and analyze the ef-fectiveness of techniques:

1.1. The three-rule pattern.1.2. Repetition of language.1.3. The use of symbols.1.4. Rhymes.1.5. Expression of characters’ hopesand fears.

Engaging the audience.Students will analyze and learn to use techniques to engage the audience.1. Which texts do you find mostinteresting? Why?2. How do authors use plottwists, surprise endings, irony to hold theattention of the audience?

Suggested activites

1. CHARACTERS.

Students are asked to describe the characters of the story and compare them with the charac-ters of the traditional fairy-tale.

CHARACTERS

NAMES DESCRIPTION:TRADITIONAL FAIRY-TALE

DESCRIPTION:RETOLD TALE

PRINCESSbeautiful, sweet, likes beautifulclothes, lives in a castle, waits

for the prince to save her

brave, smart, ready to save the prince, with paper bag clothes,trustworthy, caring, fair, takes re-

sponsibilities, decision-maker

DRAGON fearful, terrible, horrifying,heartless, brute

reasonable, demonstrates good char-acter

PRINCEbrave, intelligent, charming,elegant

arrogant, selfish, cruel, lazy, heart-less



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2. ELEMENTS OF THE STORY.

Students work to identify the main elements of the story, such as characters, setting, problem, solution and moral.

CHARACTERS: Who is the main character?

SETTING: Where does the story take place?

PROBLEM: What is the problem?What does the character want?

What is her goal?

Solution: What does the character do to solve the prob-lem?

1 st task:2nd task:3rd task:

Moral: How does the story end?

3. PLOT.

Students are asked to sequence the story, identifying the most important events of the

plot. 1The prin-

cess Elizabethlives in a beauti-ful castle andshe is going tomarry the princeRonald. A drag-

2 3 4 5



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on burns herhouse and car-ries the princeoff.

4. CREATE YOUR OWN STORY.

Students create their own stories based on the story of the Paper Bag Princess. Name

the charac-ters

De-scribe thecharacters

Setting Describethe main prob-lem

Give thesolution

Howdoes the storyend?

1.-

2.-

3.-

1.-

2.-

3.-

Time:

Place:

Attempts:

1st

2nd

3rd

Conclusion.

Literature authentic material could be highly beneficial for the foreign language devel-opment because students have to cope with language intended for native speakers, gainingadditional familiarity with many different linguistic uses, forms and conventions. In addition,literature provides exposure to the culture of its speakers by examining universal human expe-rience within the context of a particular setting and the consciousness of a particular society.

Linguistically, literature has the potential of serving as the central focus of the unit of study inthe classroom. A number of different activities, based on the main language skills, may bedeveloped around the reading of a literary work. While reading a text, students get involvedinto the story, eager to find out what happens next. They feel close to certain characters andshare their emotional responses. Our proposal includes different exercises designed both tohelp students to develop linguistic skills and different language areas, and also to offer them adirect contact with the target language culture.



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Works cited:

Arens,K., Swaffar,J. (2000). Reading Goals and the Standarts for Foreign Language Learning. Foreign language Annals (33), 104-122.

Bawarshi, A.S., Reiff, M., J. (2010). Genre. An Introduction to History, Theory, Research,and Pedagogy. Indiana: Parlor Press.

Dupuy, B. (2000). Content-based Instruction: Can it Help Ease the Transition from Beginningto Advanced Foreign Language Classes? Foreign Language Annals (33), 205-223.

Foreign Languages and Higher Education: New Structures for a Changed World. (2007).Recuperado el 2 de septiembre de 2012, dehttp://www.mla.org/pdf/forlang_news_pdf.pdf

Frantzen, D. (2002). Rethinking Foreign Literature: Towards an Integration of Literature andLanguage skills at all Levels. En M. T. Scott, SLA and the literature classroom:

Fostering dialogues. (págs. 109-130). Boston: [email protected], M. A. (forthcomig). Meaning as Choice. En L. B. In Fontaine, Systemic Functional Linguistics: Exploring Choice. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.

Halliday, M.A.K., Hasan, R. (1985). Language, Context, ant Text: Aspects of Language in aSocial-semotic Perspective. Melbourne: Deakin University.

Kramsh, C., Kramsh,O. (2000). The Avatars of Literature in Language Study. The Modernlanguage Journal (84(4)), 553-573.

Lattimer, H. (2003). Thinking through Genre. Portland: Stenhouse Publishers.Laufer, B. (1997). The Lexical Plight in Second Language Reading: Words you don´t know,

words you think you know, and words you can´t guess. En J. H. Coady, Secondlanguage vocabulary acquisition. (págs. 20-34). Cambridge: CUP.

Lee, J. (1986). Findings and Implications of L2 Reading Research. Hispania, 69 , 181-187.Lin, B. (2006). Genre-Based Teaching and Vygotskian Principes in EFL: The Case of a

University Writing Course. Asian EFL Journal , 8 (3).Maxim, H. (2002). A Study into the Feasibility and Effects of Reading Extended Authentic

Discourse in the Beginning German Language Classroom. The Modern Language Journal , 20-35.

Motta-Roth, D. (2009). The Role of Context in Academic Text Production and WritingPedagogy. En C. Bazerman, Genre in a Changing World. (págs. 321-340). Fort Collins:

The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press.Munsch, R. (1980). The Paper Bag Princess. [Recuperado el 27 de agosto de 2012, de

http://cculc.ccu.edu.tw/pdf/paper.pdf ].Rice, D. (1991). Language Profeciency and Textual Theory: How the Train Might Meet.

ADFL Bulletin , 22(3), 12-15.Swaffar, J. (1999). The Case for Foreign Languages as a Discipline. ADFL Bulletin (30), 6-

12.Taillefer, G. (1996). L2 Reading Ability: Further Insight into the Short-circuit Hypothesis.

Modern language Journal (80), 461-477.



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Oscar Wilde for teachers and pupils:a model for teaching L2 to young learners

Rowena Coles(Universidad de Urbino)

The paper describes a project proposed as a model for teachers of young learners ofEnglish experimented first at university level and then at a primary and kindergarten school inItaly. It was inspired by the belief that teachers can benefit from a linguistic analysis of ac-claimed literature both regarding their personal enrichment as well as their professional prepa-ration. But it was also inspired by the belief that stories are a invaluable tool for teaching Eng-lish as L2 from a very early age. The paper will first briefly refer to the importance of storiesin the lives of all individuals. It will then provide an example of the type of linguistic analysismade at university level, moving on to illustrate what is involved in transposing a text. Thetransposed story, its presentation and teaching activities proposed to the young learners will

be described and final conclusions made.Everyone enjoys a good story, but the value of fairy tales is not simply limited to en-

joyment and pleasure. The German poet Schiller (2006) talks of the ‘deeper meaning’ of fairytales. The child psychologist Bruno Bettelheim (1989:12) has described at length the impor-tance of literature in a child’s development, referring to ‘The delight we experience when weallow ourselves to respond to a fairy tale, the enchantment we feel …’ .There can be littledoubt of the value for children of fairy tales from a pedagogical point of view. But what is thevalue of using fairy tales as a pedagogical instrument for adults, and specifically for teachers?The editor, Peter Hunt (1990:2), of ‘Understanding Children’s Literature’ claims:

All the writers in this book share an unspoken conviction that children’s literature isworth reading, worth discussing and worth thinking about for adults.

And M. Mac Liammóir concludes his Introduction to Wilde’s The Happy Prince andOther Stories (1962: 9) thus:

To me they seem to have been written for everybody who is or who has ever been achild in the complete sense of the word, and who is fortunate enough, or wise enough to have

preserved something of what, in childhood itself, is fortunate, wise and eternal.There can be no doubt that children’s literature is a valid instrument of learning in the

global sense not only for children but also for their teachers.

Having briefly described the value of the instrument, the specific choice of OscarWilde’s The Selfish Giant calls for explanation. I can see no good reason not to select an au-thor who guarantees quality, so as to avoid falling into the trap that Bettelheim (ibidem: 4)sees in selecting books for children that are:

… so shallow in substance that little of significance can be gained from them.

Wilde’s story is the foundation of the project in hand, upon which the students mouldtheir work: the higher the quality of the foundation the better quality the work built on it will



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be. Besides these considerations of general quality, why the choice of ‘The Selfish Giant’? Itssetting (a garden, a castle), its protagonists (The Giant, children), its themes (selfishness, love)would be meaningful to the very young learners who were to be protagonists of the project.

Last but not least is the consideration that introducing a well-known author’s works,even in transposed and simplified form, provides the children with a stepping-stone to readingthe original story once the necessary language skills have been acquired. The project may alsothus be considered as a door opening on to the joy in a child’s future of reading a text in itsoriginal language rather than in translation. Imprinting a story on a child’s mind is in fact thefirst stage to approaching great works of literature, as Charles and Mary Lamb (2007) declarein the Preface to ‘Tales from Shakespeare.’:

The following Tales are meant to be submitted to the young reader as an introduction toShakespeare.

As a general objective, this project hopes likewise to be a sort of ‘literary launching pad’.

A very brief illustration will now be given of the type of text analysis carried out at uni-versity level, from which the student teachers gained greater insight into the language theywill in turn be teaching. The example text is made up of just 81 words from ‘The Selfish Gi-ant’, where the Giant’s garden is described.

It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach–trees that in the spring-time brokeout into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit. The birds saton the trees and sang so sweetly that the children used to stop their games in order to listen tothem. 'How happy we are here!' they cried to each other.

From the lexical point of view,1. frequent alliteration: large lovely; green grass; pink and pearl; sang so sweetly; howhappy

2. frequent assonance: here/there; grass/stars; broke/bore3. dynamic personifying verbs: stood/broke out/bore/sat4. use of simile: like stars

From the syntactical point of view:1. contrast between direct and indirect speech2. use of marked word order (AVS): Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers

like stars; 1 3. structural parallelism: in the springtime broke out … in the autumn bore 4. strong cohesive ties. Repetition ( grass); pronoun reference (it/their/them) connectives

(and; so … that; in order to)

From the point of view of information structure2:1. careful packaging of theme before rheme through use of marked word order and exis-

tential ‘there’: e.g. Here and there over the grass (THEME) stood beautiful flowers like



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stars (RHEME), and there (THEME) were twelve peach–trees (RHEME) that (THEME) in the spring-time broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl(RHEME)

2. cohesion aided by simple linear Thematic Progression 1 (Danês,1974:114)….. the children (Th 1)used to go and play in the Giant's garden.(Rh 1)

It (Th 2 = Rh 1) was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass (Rh 2) .

Here and there over the grass (Th 3 = Rh2) stood beautiful flowers like stars,And by Thematic progression 3 with hypertheme (the garden) and subthemes (parts of gar-

den: green grass/peach-trees/birds/children):3. use of marked word order allowing prosodic stress to be given to key words (a large

lovely garden; stood beautiful flowers; How happy we are here! )

The example shows how much language can be learnt from just a few lines. Such analy-ses are valuable in honing the language skills of trainee students as well as in-service teachers,and it is to be hoped that university teacher training courses will in future provide text-bookswith similar detailed linguistic analyses of well-known literature for such purposes.

Having completed the linguistic analysis of the story, its morphology was considered,

using Propp (1968) as a model. An identification of the functions of the story characters andits events enabled the student teachers to give a solid base to their transposition proposal byrespecting the morphological framework of the original. So, for example, the banning of thechildren from the Giant’s garden has the function of Interdiction, the ‘music’ the Giant hearsmarking the beginning of his conversion has the function of Receipt of a Magical Agent, thefunction of Victory is realised when the Giant helps the little child, and so on.

When the student teachers had completed an analysis of the whole story from the lin-guistic and morphological point of view, they transposed the original text into a form whichwould best fit the needs of the classes in which the project would be experimented. Here fol-low two brief examples of students’ transpositions. Both open the story: one for a primaryschool class and the other for a kindergarten class. Both transpositions, although different,gather much of the lexical, grammatical and informational structuring learnt by the studentsfrom the original.

1. Once upon a time there was a little town in England where there were a lot of chil-dren.



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Every afternoon after school, the children played in the Giant’s garden. It was a largeand lovely garden, with soft green grass, beautiful flowers and twelve peach-trees. There thebirds sang, the bees buzzed and a gentle wind blew. (primary school)

2. Once upon a time there was a village. In the village lived many children. The chil-dren used to play in a beautiful gigantic garden.(kindergarten)

The first experiment3 was carried out during teaching practice in a class of primaryschool children aged 10-11 years, with 4 years of English as L2. The project was developed in4 lessons. In preparation for the story telling, key words were introduced prior to the tellingregarding the seasons, the weather, the months and characteristics of the story’s protagonists.

In the first lesson only the first part of the story was read aloud by the trainee teacher.Then the pupils’ comprehension was tested and explanations given if necessary. The pupilswere then divided into 3 groups named ‘Spring’ ‘Summer’ and ‘Winter’ (seasons that are fo-

cal points in the story) and they were asked to enact the events so far. Each group’s proposalwas slightly different, but the enjoyment and satisfaction of immediately being able to usewords only recently acquired was clear.

The second lesson consisted in consolidation of the new words and expressions usedthrough games such as hang-man. During the third lesson, the second part of the story wasread and then the pupils were told that they would be building a castle. Each group was givena specific task: the ‘Autumn’ group had to build the castle walls, the ‘Summer’ group had tocreate artistically the seasons of summer and spring and the ‘Spring’ group autumn and win-ter. The pupils were given simple material to work with and verbal interaction in English was

encouraged. The results were gratifying, as can be seen from the photographic documentation.In the final lesson the pupils were asked to imagine how the story would end and try to

explain their thoughts in English. Finally the last part of the story was read, the children’scomprehension tested, and the work assessed by the class teacher with positive results. Theattitude of the pupils was extremely positive: it is enough to quote just one child who askedthe teacher trainee: “When can we have fun again?” Unfortunately the time allocated to the

project was limited but despite this, it is clear that this approach to language learning was suc-cessful.

The second experiment was proposed in a class of 22 five-year olds in a kindergarten,They had had approximately 12 hours of English as L2. Whereas the primary school childrenalready possessed most of the language skills to be able to understand the transposed story,the children at the kindergarten did not, and therefore more time was spent doing preparatoryactivities before the transposed story was read aloud. Games, songs, nursery rhymes, playactivities were proposed in the initial stage of the project to present key words to the children.The story prepared for these children was based on just the first half of the original story, tothe point when the Giant, having had a change of heart, welcomed the children back to hisgarden. The morphological analysis had allowed the student to identify this part as a complete



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story structure. The trainee teacher created a large size A3 pop-up book of the transposedstory with both the written text and pop-up images. In this way the children could associatethe language they would be hearing with the pictures and make mental reference to their inter-textual knowledge of stories.

The story was divided into four parts. The reading of the story took place in traditionalstyle, with the children sitting on the floor around the trainee teacher who continually guidedthe pupils through the story events indicating the illustrations of what she was reading in Eng-lish.

In every lesson, the story was read from the beginning again and a new part added. Af-ter each reading a series of activities were carried out to re-enforce the language presented.The activities involved singing, acting out, playing music, colouring, sticking on, playinggames etc.; in sum, activities which involved the young learners actively both as a group orindividually. There is time here for just one example of such activities: the colouring and pin-ning of fruits by each child onto cardboard trees when spring came to the garden and the sub-

sequent stripping of the fruit from the trees to indicate the arrival of winter. Finally the wholestory was dramatised chorally and presented in front of the children’s parents. Assessment ofthe project was carried out by both the class teacher and teacher trainee and, as shown by thewritten and visual-audio documentation collected, proved to be very positive.

At both primary and kindergarten levels, the positive assessments at the level of lan-guage learning showed that the story telling and related activities, which allow new languageto be presented in a meaningful and exciting context, is a valid didactic instrument for L2learning at even a very young age. The class teachers appreciated the model proposed, whichallows L2 teaching to be shaped on individual class needs. The teacher trainees appreciated

the linguistic enrichment that the project allowed them, and the creative cues it provided. The pupils expressed enthusiasm and pleasure in their language learning. The project was thus judged to be successful by all participants. It is not suggested that this should be the solemethod of teaching L2 to young learners, but it certainly could well be integrated into L2teaching activities. The model can be applied to any class and any age and has the advantageof offering both the teachers and the children involved high quality language, a stimulatingcontext and the magic of a tale in learning a foreign language. In her book ‘ Enchanted Hunt-ers: the power of stories in childhood’ , Maria Tatar (2009: 31) states:

If there is a lesson to be derived from these meditations on childhood reading, it lies inthe power of words to serve as magic wands.

I believe this project can give young learners of English such ‘magic wands’ with whichto learn English in an enjoyable and natural way.

References

Schiller Friedrich (2006) The Piccolomini, III 4. The Project Gutenberg EBook.Bettelheim Bruno (1989) The Uses of Enchantment , New York ,Vintage.Murray Isobel (ed.) (1998) Oscar Wilde Complete Shorter Fiction, Oxford, OUP.



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Daneŝ Frantisek (ed.), (1974) Papers on Functional Sentence Perspective. Mouton, theHague.

Lamb Charles and Mary (2007) Tales from Shakespeare, London, Penguin Classics.Wilde Oscar (1962) The Happy Prince and Other Stories, London, Puffin Classics.Coles Rowena (2005) Word Order in a Contemporary Story for Children, Urbino, Editrice

Montefeltro.Coles Rowena (2010) A Companion to Grammar and Information Structures, Urbino, Quat-

troventi.Propp Vladimir J.(1968) Morphology of The Folk Tale, Indiana, The American Folklore Soci-

ety and Indiana University.Tatar Maria (2009) Enchanted Hunters: the power of stories in childhood, New York, W.W.

Norton.



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Literature and Education: Proposal of an English Literature Program for Young Learners asan Integrated and Interdisciplinary Tool for TESL

Esther de la Peña Puebla.(Universidad de Sevilla)

The Development of Teaching Methodology in Language Class.

The history of the methodology of language teaching over the last hundred years offersa great variety of methods which mostly respond to social, political and educational reasons.Thus, changes in methodology have occurred with a certain frequency (Howatt andWiddowson, 2004).

The first language that was regularly studied as a dominant force in the Western coun-tries was Latin. During the 16th century English, French and Italian appeared as languages that

would progressively displace Latin to the academic sphere, as a subject of scholar study.Therefore, Latin became the model to study other languages, and this would continue until the19th century (Richards and Rodgers 2001: 3).

Lessons were mostly based on translation, grammar analysis and vocabulary. Sentenceswere analyzed following grammar patterns and textbooks offered examples of these practices.The oral competence was basically reduced to reading and repeating the sentences they had

previously translated or repeating the teacher´s commands in class.The 19th century put under question some of the teaching techniques about language

learning in Europe. Teachers started to promote the oral competence as an important skill in

language learning, and new conversational texts were included along with reading and gram-mar. Those developments were assets in the process of language learning, and major im- provements were made in relation to the oral competence.

The 20th century offered a wide range of methodological techniques and resources that pursued the successful acquisition of a second language. The oral communication stands outas one of the skills that methods try to foster (Larsen-Freeman 2000:121). Linguists and other professionals advocated for the active participation of the student in thelearning process. New approaches and theories emerged about language and methodology,and they all contributed to enhance certain aspects in the progress towards language acquisi-tion.

The Challenge of Literature in Teaching Methodology

The study of literature has historically been characterized by a lack of unity and agree-ment regarding its didactic approach. Historical events, sociological reasons and differenteducational approaches have shaped the teaching of literature in the field of the Humanities,and it is not usually included in second language curriculum yet, despite literature is part ofthe syllabus of the language courses.



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According to this, the teaching of literature is a relatively new area of knowledge (espe-cially in Spain, with little recognition) which offers great interdisciplinary possibilities. Theteaching of literature can be applied to almost all fields of studies and it fosters competentspeakers, reflective readers, and efficient writers (Mendoza Fillola, 2003). Literature also con-tributes to character formation through critical and comprehensive readings. Therefore, theintegration of literary texts in the syllabus of English as a second language can be an asset forany educational system interested in the formation of competent individuals.

How can literature help students become better thinkers?

What literature can do for character education is usually underestimated by most curric-ula in Spain. Therefore, when it comes to the syllabus of the different courses, when literatureis associated with the terms “ethics”, “moral values” or “character education”, suspicion and

reluctance arise to admit any connection between education and morality or ethics. As compared to Finland, Spain lacks the excellence the 2009 Pisa1 Report results attribute to theFinnish Educational system. Literature is one of the crucial subject matter that is consideredessential in the learning process of students. Borrowed from the German model, reading isunderstood as a necessity in most disciplines for a better integration, and character education.2 Taking as a capital reference the works of Bordieu (1977; 1984; 1990) and Coleman (1988),the Finnish curriculum promotes what they call “the cultural capital” (ibid , p. 85), which con-sists of the gradual acquisition of a high status culture. This process is closely related to the“values and preferences” of the student. These personal values concentrate on the developing

identity as a learner, and therefore as an individual. Cooperation and self-efficacy are de-manded from all students. The role of literature appears as an integrated tool in the curriculumand in the family life too (see p. 92-93).

Reading provides students with a wide range of discussion topics that promote creativi-ty, critical thinking and problem solving. Communication and collaboration with other part-ners in class increases tolerance and reaffirms conviction through reasoning. The teacher cansurely stimulate research, debates, and lead positive and productive relationships among stu-dents. The interaction between subject matters such as history, philosophy or art can be anasset for any educational program. In this light, there are many activities and resources forteachers and educators in general available in the web3. Consequently, it can be concluded

1http://stats.oecd.org/PISA2009Profiles/#app=85dc&2fb9-selectedIndex=0&fbcb-selectedIndex=4&e625-selectedIndex =0&1a08-selectedIndex=0&581e-selectedIndex=0&5545-selectedIndex=0&4084-selectedIndex=0&a606-selectedIndex=0&4254-selectedIndex=0&571a-selectedIndex=0&2d7d-selectedIndex=02 For further details, see the following considerations on the “Northern Countries” Excellence in education,http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/31/16/33684855.pdf (pages 53; 85-99)3 For a few examples, visit the following sites:http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/webwatch/21centuryhttp://www.reading.org/Resources/LessonPlans.aspxhttp://www.bu.edu/ceit/teaching-resources/online-resources-about-teaching/

http://stats.oecd.org/PISA2009Profiles/#app=85dc&2fb9-selectedIndex=0&fbcb-selectedIndex=4&e625-selectedIndex%20=0&1a08-selectedIndex=0&581e-selectedIndex=0&5545-selectedIndex=0&4084-selectedIndex=0&a606-selectedIndex=0&4254-selectedIndex=0&571a-selectedIndex=0&2d7d-selectedIndex=0




http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/31/16/33684855.pdf

http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/webwatch/21century

http://www.reading.org/Resources/LessonPlans.aspx

http://www.bu.edu/ceit/teaching-resources/online-resources-about-teaching/

http://www.bu.edu/ceit/teaching-resources/online-resources-about-teaching/

http://www.reading.org/Resources/LessonPlans.aspx

http://www.readingonline.org/newliteracies/lit_index.asp?HREF=/newliteracies/webwatch/21century

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that literature, as an interdisciplinary tool, not only helps students build up their character, butalso foster their academic potential.

Literature as an Integrated Tool in Language Teaching

For centuries in the past, the use of literary texts was intended to foster grammar transla-tion in a learning process based on grammar acquisition. Therefore, the inclusion of literaturein the foreign language instruction was essential to learn the language and develop readingskills.

Nowadays literature is being re-considered as a valuable resource for an integrated edu-cation. The many possibilities literary texts offer teachers and students are being considered

by many schools and universities as an essential part of their curriculum. In this sense, it isespecially interesting the cultural program developed by the University of Düsseldorf,

Interaktive Literaturdidaktik (didactics of interactive literature), in which literature is applied

to different fields of study to enhance the student´s competence in the world around him.In the light of these new perspectives, the following section will intend to support the

benefits that literature can bring to the language class.

The Advantages of Using Literature in the Language Class

“Both literature and language teaching involve the developmentof a feeling for language. Teaching of literature to non-native speakers

should seek to develop responses” (classroom interaction between

teacher and learner) Brumfit and Carter (1986: 42).

Literature embodies a great number of activities and resources that have a common corein language use. For this reason, the study of literary language is considered by many authorsas a way to improve the learner´s awareness in the acquisition of language and its proficiency(Lazar, 1993:28; Carter and Long, 1987; Widdowson, 1984).

However, there are still some controversies against the use of literature in the teachingof language. The first one and the most common argument defend the idea that sometimesliterature provides the learner with a complex and peculiar grammar difficult for the student tounderstand. A second debate is opened when literature is viewed as inefficient to accomplishthe student´s academic objectives (O´Brian, 1999). Finally, a third claim is made when litera-ture is considered as a biased source of information for learners. According to O´Brian(1999), this fact confuses and disorients students.

In answer to the first argument that supports that literature is not efficient in grammaracquisition, Collie and Slater (1987: 121) support the idea that literature promotes languageacquisition by offering different contexts to interpret new language. According to them, litera-ture enriches the vocabulary and it offers students new frames of reference. Throughout thereading process, students deduce unconsciously grammar constructions from the examples



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provided, whereas in a regular grammar lesson, rules and patterns are presented in a way inwhich the student has to memorize them. The role of literature is to facilitate assimilationthrough an enjoyable unconscious process.

As for the second argument, supported by O´Brian (1999) who considers that literaturedoes not fulfill the student´s academic objectives, this is clearly refuted by many professionalsand institutions which see in the teaching of literature a powerful tool to be integrated in mostfields of study. Literature promotes and enhances the students’ competence in language acqui-sition.

The third argument that claims that literature is a biased based source of information forstudents can be easily rebutted too. According to Professor Joaquin Aguirre Romero 1, theteaching of literature should be understood as an interactive space for a “dynamic experimen-tation”. He discredits the function of literature as a “static” assimilation of knowledge, wherethe teacher imparts the class telling his students what to think. Instead, he proposes an alterna-tive method with the students´ participation in the learning process as a fundamental step to-

wards a successful education. For Professor Gerald Graff 2, the teaching of literature shouldinclude the teaching of “the conflicts” to the students in order to make them part of their learn-ing experience. He believes that the development of a critical perspective enriches theknowledge and reinforces the student´s competence to discern the different perspectives aboutliterature.

Apart from the debates mentioned about literature and the language class, there are anumber of other reasons for which literature should be included in the syllabus of the lan-guage class. The benefits that literature can offer in the language class are very clearly stated

by Collie and Slater (1987:9). They postulate that the four main incentives to include litera-

ture in the language class are: valuable genuine/authentic material, cultural enrichment, lan-guage proficiency/enrichment, and personal involvement. Along with these reasons, the socio-linguistic richness that literature provides is also considered by many professionals. Duff andMaley (1990) propose other elements that also support the use of literature in classrooms:universality, personal relevance, variety, interest, suggestive power and ambiguity.

However, it is still a common belief among language teachers that literature is a complex and undesirable tool for language learning. According to Hall (2005: 86) the difficultieslearners have to face when reading a piece of literature make unsuitable the use of this tool.Hall mentions the problems derived from literary vocabulary, patterns of language and stylis-tic appreciations which may confuse and frustrate the learner.

On the contrary, Muyskens3 argues that the use of literature provides language practice,reading comprehension, and writing competence at all levels of language instruction. She de-

1 http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero21/eliterat.html2 Graff, Gerald. Professing Literature, online resource:http://books.google.com/books?id=GT8c60fpavoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Professing+Literature:+An+Institutional+History&source=bl&ots= 3 Judith A. Muyskens, “Teaching Second-Language Literatures: Past, Present and Future”.The Modern Lan-

guage Journal. Vol. 67, No. 4 , Winter, 1983: 413-423. Published by: Blackwell Publishing on behalf of the National Federation of Modern Language Teachers Associations

http://www.ucm.es/info/especulo/numero21/eliterat.html

http://books.google.com/books?id=GT8c60fpavoC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Professing+Literature:+An+Institutional+History&source=bl&ots


http://0-www.jstor.org.fama.us.es/action/showPublisher?publisherCode=black

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fends the idea of a well-organized instruction and choice of literary texts to accomplish thedifferent goals of students, according to their level of competence. Thus, while for elementaryand intermediate students literature promotes reading comprehension and vocabulary practice;for advanced students, literature offers a wide range of possibilities such as: creative writing,literary figures, aesthetic appreciation, etc… As for the possible frustration students may feelwhen approaching a literary text, Muyskens precisely proposes anticipating the reading ofliterary texts in order to alleviate that feeling. The complement of other resources such asglossaries, anthologies, and audio-visual support are also recommended to provide a compre-hensive teaching. Finally, she acknowledges that an early initiation in literature (throughoutthe different genres) fosters the pleasurable custom of reading in students.

To conclude, the use of literature has been proved to be effectively approved as a toolfor language learning and character education. The following section will concentrate on howliterature can be an asset for the specific four skills in language learning.

Literature and the Four Teaching Language Skills

The integrated study and practice of the four skills in language learning (reading, writ-ing, listening and speaking) helps students improve their learning strategies and fosters theircompetence in production.1

According to Brumfit in Language and Literature Teaching: from Practice to Principle (1985:116) any work of literature “is a language act which exploits the resources of the timeand place in which it is written”. Thus, literature can be an important tool when used integrat-ed and according to the age and level of the students. At that point, Hill2 explains that litera-

ture enhances the four language skills by presenting evidence of linguistic knowledge throughexact syntax, vocabulary usage and complex grammar (1986: 62-63). The following sectionwill illustrate how literature contributes to the language learning process offering “genuineopportunities in group work and/or open-ended exploration by the individual student”(Brumfit and Carter, 1986: 15).

Literature and Reading

When students approach a literary text the role of the teacher is fundamental to makethe reading comprehensible and useful for the learners. Students prepare for the content of thereading by searching and discussing information about the author, time and historical context.A good initial background knowledge, which the student is unlikely to have, favors the impli-cation and interests of the students through collaborative work. Once this is accomplished, theliterary text is analyzed in terms of themes, motifs and symbols. This structure of study helps

1 Rebecca Oxford, “Integrated Skills in the ESL/EFL Classroom” in Center for Applied Linguistics:http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/0105oxford.html2 Hill, J. Using Literature in Language Teaching . London: Macmillan, 1986.

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students approach texts in a coherent way following a method of analysis which will revealthe significance of the story. The constant oral discussions about characters, events and otherissues related to the story encourage students to develop their critical viewpoint through rea-soning. This is one the most important parts of the reading process since the students have tosupport their ideas through an oral exposition where good expression and appropriate vocabu-lary are demanded. After completing all these activities, students will have mastered a com-

prehensive understanding of the literary text, cross-cultural background and critical perspec-tive.1

Literature and Writing

The writing competence of readers can be easily fostered through literature as a moti-vating model for inspirational topics. Following a coherent text plan and organization, stu-dents will be able to collect information, evaluate their thoughts, make sense of what they

want to transmit, reflect and refine their ideas to finally write their own composition.2 The types of writing proposed for the students, according to their age and level of com-

petence, are:

Controlled writing

Guided Writing

Essay Writing

Literature and Listening / Speaking

The role that literature plays in the teaching of speaking and listening is essential forany program addressed to language learners. According to Stern (1983: 330), literature pro-vides multiple ways of oral and speaking interaction among students in the language class:oral reading, role-playing, expositions, improvised discussions, and other group and/or indi-vidual activities.

The materials provided by the old and new technologies always related to the literarytexts (movies in original version; online resources: conferences, debates, lectures; computer-voice recognition etc…) also contribute to the promotion and proficiency of both competenc-es: oral and listening.3

To conclude, literature is a powerful tool to improve language learning and broaden thecultural knowledge of students through interdisciplinary fields. Critical development andcharacter education have also been considered as part of a comprehensive educational pro-gram. In the words of Roman Jakobson (1960), “A linguist deaf to the poetic function of lan-guage and a literary scholar indifferent to linguistic problems and unconversant with linguisticmethods are equally flagrant anachronisms” (Jakobson, 1960: 377).

1 For further information about Reading, http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/reading_digest.html2 For further information about writing, http://www.adlit.org/article/27894/3 For further information about speaking and listening, http://www.ncte.org/search?q=speaking%2c+discussion

http://www.cal.org/resources/digest/reading_digest.html

http://www.adlit.org/article/27894/

http://www.ncte.org/search?q=speaking%2c+discussion

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Works cited

Aristóteles. Moral a Nicómaco, Madrid, Espasa Calpe, 1993.Aguirre Romero, Joaquín Mª. La enseñanza de la Literatura y las Nuevas Tecnologías de la

Información, en Espéculo nº 21, 2002. — El fluido literario: Internet y la Literatura, en Espéculo nº 31, 2002.Berkowitz, M. W., & Fekula, M. J. “Educating for Character”, About Campus, 4, 1999.Bordieu, Pierre/Wacquant, Loïc, Respuestas. Por una Antropología Reflexiva, Méxi-

co,Grijalbo, 1995.Boyer, E. L. College: The Undergraduate Experience in America. New York, Harper Collins

(Harper & Row), 1987.Carr, D. “On the Contribution of Literature and the Arts to the EducationalCultivation of Moral Virtue, Feeling and Emotion”. Journal of Moral Education (34), 2005.

Carter, Ronald/Long, Michael N. Teaching Literature, New York, Longman, 1991.Carter, Ronald/McRae, John. Language, Literature and the Learner , Longman, 1996.Carter, Ronald/Simpson, Paul. Language Discourse and Literature, London, Routledge, 1989.Carter, Roland/Nunan, David. Teaching English to Speakers of other Languages. Cambridge,

Cambridge University Press, 2001.Ceserani, Remo. “Cómo Enseñar Literatura” en Bombini,G, Literatura y Educación, Buenos

Aires, CEAL, 1986.Collie, Joanne/ Slater, Stephen. Literature in the Language Classroom, Cambridge University

Press, 2007.

Cook, Guy. Language Play, Language Learning . Oxford, Oxford University Press, 2000.Culler, Jonathan. Barthes, London, Fontana Paperbacks, 1983.Damon, William. Greater Expectations, New York, Free Press Paperbacks, 1996.Dalton, J. C., Russell, T. R., & Kline, S. (Eds.) Assessing Character Outcomes in College.

San Francisco, Jossey-Bass, 2004.Davidson, M., Lickona, T., & Khmelkov, V. Smart & Good Schools: A new

paradigm for high school character education. In L. P. Nucci (Ed.), Handbook of Moral and Character Education. New York, Routledge, 2008.Demirel, Özcan, ELT Methodology, Ankara, 2004, in www.ccsenet.org/eltDuff, A/Maley, A. Literature: Resource for Teachers, Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990.Graff, Gerald. Literature against Itself , Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1979.

— Falling into Theory: Conflicting Views on Reading Literature, [compiled by] David Rich-ter. Boston, Bedford/St.Martin´s, 2002.

— Clueless in Academe. New Heaven, Yale University Press, 2003. — Professing Literature. Chicago, Chicago University Press, 2007.Garrido, Miguel Ángel, Nueva Introducción a la Teoría de la Literatura, Madrid, Síntesis,

2001.

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Howatt & Widdowson, A History of English Language Teaching , Oxford, Oxford UniversityPress, 2004.

Larsen-Freeman, Diane. Techniques and Principles in Language Teaching , Oxford, OxfordUniversity Press, 2000.

Lazar, Gillian. Literature and Language Teaching , Cambridge, Cambridge University Press,2003.

Lickona, Thomas. Character Matters, New York, Simon & Schuster, 2004. — Character Development in Schools and Beyond , Washington Council for Research in Val-

ues and Philosophy, 1992.Marina, José Antonio. “Elogio a la Lectura”, Website,

http://lenguayliteraturajaen.blogspot.com/2011/04/elogio-la-lectura-de-jose-antonio.html

— Las Culturas Fracasadas: El Talento y la Estupidez de las Sociedades, Barcelona, Ana-grama, 2010.

Mendoza Fillola, Antonio (coord.). Conceptos clave en didáctica de la lengua y la literatura, Barcelona, SEDLL, 1998.

— “El proceso de recepción lectora” en Mendoza Fillola, Antonio (coord.), Conceptos claveen didáctica de la lengua y la literatura, Barcelona, SEDLL, 169-188, 1998.

— Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, Madrid, Prentice Hall, 2003. — “Conceptos básicos en Didáctica de la Lengua y de la Literatura”, en Mendoza Fillola, A.

(coord.), Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, Madrid, Prentice Hall, 33-79, 2003. Moreno Arteaga, Jorge. De la didáctica de la Literatura a la transmisión de la Literatu-

ra:Reflexiones para una nueva educación literaria, en Especulo nº 31, 2005.

Muñoz, Molina, Antonio/García Montero, Luis. ¿Por qué no es útil la literatura?, Madrid,Hiperión, 1993.Muyskens, Judith. “Teaching Second Language Literatures: Past, Present and Future”. The

Modern Language Journal . Vol. 67, No 4 (Winter, 1983), pp. 413-423. Blackwell Pub-lishing.

O´Brian, Teresa. Language and Literacies, Multilingual Matters, Ltd., 1999.Richards, J.C. and Rodgers, T.S. Approaches and Methods in Language Teaching , Cam-

bridge, Cambridge University Press, 2001.Savater, Fernando, Etica para Amador , Barcelona, Ariel, 1992.

— La Aventura de Pensar , Barcelona, Debolsillo, 2009. — El Valor de Educar , Barcelona, Ariel, 1997.Spang, Kurt. Hablando se entiende la gente, Madrid, Iberoamericana, 1999.Stern, H. Fundamental Concepts in Language Teaching , Oxford, oxford University Press,

1983.Widdowson, H.G. Aspects of Language Teaching , Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1990.

— Defining Issues in English Language Teaching , Oxford, Oxford University Press 2003.







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La inmanencia de la tradición británica en “El hobbit”. El intertexto como posibilidad didáctica

Eduardo Encabo FernándezUniversidad de Murcia

Isabel Jerez MartínezUniversidad de Castilla-La Mancha

Introducción

La Literatura como manifestación estética creada por el ser humano tiene funcionesconcretas como proporcionar entretenimiento o intervenir en la formación de las personas. Enlo que respecta a este segundo aspecto la cultura queda inscrita en el citado proceso educativoy por ello, los textos son fuente de transmisión de valores y conocimiento de sociedades y

lugares concretos. En el caso que nos ocupa, el texto creado por Tolkien va a presentar unaserie de rasgos culturales que, desde nuestra perspectiva, pueden hacer, partiendo de laintervención del mediador, que la lengua y la cultura inglesa sean mejor conocidas. Estafigura de mediador será fundamental, ya que si no se produce su intervención, puede que lalectura no sea atractiva y es posible que la misma precise de una introducción y de la dotaciónde algunos elementos clave que faciliten que el lector se aproxime al texto y busque en elmismo ciertos aspectos que no le hagan abandonar su lectura. Planteamos en esta aportaciónla conexión de El Hobbit con otras obras o textos así como con otros contenidos culturalescon el fin de mostrar que la literatura es fuente de conocimiento y de enseñanza.

El hobbit, ¿literatura infantil, juvenil o literatura?

A la hora de plantear si El hobbit es Literatura infantil, juvenil o simplemente literatura,acontece un explícito problema de clasificación. Nosotros queremos reflexionar acerca de sies necesario dicho encasillamiento. Objetivamente, el texto posiblemente no podría serubicado en la literatura infantil ya que la extensión y determinada complejidad de loscontenidos del mismo haría que niños de menos de doce años pudiesen leerlo pero nocomprenderlo en su totalidad. Ahora bien, su estructura narrativa y su naturaleza de cuento síque podrían hacer que fuese literatura infantil. Pensemos en el inicio muy similar a losclásicos Érase una vez o Hace mucho tiempo:

“En un agujero en el suelo vivía un hobbit” (página 31)

En el caso de plantear su ubicación como literatura juvenil, la comparación con otraobra del autor como es El señor de los anillos, podría hacer pensar que, por su menorcomplejidad no constituyese una lectura atractiva para el lector juvenil. Si bien por las



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consideraciones intertextuales generadas por El hobbit se podría pensar en la aparición de unhorizonte de expectativas que satisfaría la visión de la persona lectora.

En esta disquisición, retomamos la reflexión de González Gil (1979: p.278) referente alconflicto emergente cuando nos planteamos si podemos segregar la literatura infantil y juvenilde la Literatura general y convertirla en algo específico:

“Literatura General y Literatura Infantil tienen unas características comunes; pero, aveces, no es suficiente añadir unas notas diferenciadoras para clarificar nuestra cuestión. Larealidad es compleja y observamos hechos como el siguiente: se encuentran niños y adultosque se identifican y satisfacen con obras literarias idénticas, o una obra literaria gusta a unadulto y a varios niños... ¡Difícil delimitación la que tiene que contar con el gusto y la libertaddel arte!”

Teniendo en cuenta esta cuestión nosotros preferimos considerar El hobbit como

literatura y no incidir en clasificaciones ya que anclar el texto en una determinada edadsupone que otros lectores puedan tener cierto rechazo ante la aproximación al texto. Ubicadocomo literatura el espectro de edades que comprenderá, podrá oscilar desde la lectura contadaa estudiantes de Educación Primaria hasta personas mayores de edad avanzada.

Hermenéutica de El hobbit. Alusiones culturales e intertexto lector

Al analizar el texto de Tolkien hallamos alusiones culturales que se relacionan con lacultura inglesa, aunque, antes de hablar sobre ello, podemos indicar la naturaleza religiosa del

texto. Ware (2006), nos invita a la reflexión acerca del trasfondo cristiano de esta obra. Esteautor aprecia que existe un paralelismo entre la sugerencia religiosa basada en dejar el hogar yla familia, vender las posesiones y ayudar a la personas menos agraciadas económicamente.En definitiva, se trata de seguir un camino nuevo. Esto es lo que hace Bilbo Bolsón cuandodecide salir de la comarca ante la propuesta de Gandalf y los enanos para embarcarse en laaventura.

Además, en el contexto planteado por el autor galés se entremezclan cuestionesculturales muy británicas. Pensemos en el objetivo de los enanos y Bilbo: conseguir el tesoroque alberga o custodia Smaug el dragón. Aunque no podemos evitar encontrar la alusión almito germánico de Sigfrido, conforme avanzamos en el argumento de El Hobbit se observacómo se observa en el trasfondo de la trama, la leyenda de San Jorge y el Dragón.Recordemos que en la misma los humanos, habitantes de una determinada ciudad debíanapartar diariamente el dragón de la fuente para conseguir agua. Por ello, ofrecían diariamenteun sacrificio humano que se decidía al azar entre los habitantes. Al resultar la princesaseleccionada, cuando estaba a punto de ser devorada por el dragón, apareció Jorge deCapadoccia en uno de sus viajes, enfrentándose al dragón, matándolo y salvando a la princesa.Dicha acción supone la conversión de dicha ciudadanía al cristianismo. En El Hobbit , es el



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personaje de Bardo quien como capitán de los arqueros lucha contra el dragón y le vence,dando libertad ala ciudad. La flecha negra de Bardo les dio la libertad:

“Cayó estrellándose en medio de la ciudad. Los últimos movimientos de agonía loredujeron a chispas y resplandores. El lago rugió. Un vapor inmenso se elevó, blanco en larepentina oscuridad bajo la luna. Hubo un siseo y un borbotante remolino, y luego silencio. Yése fue el fin de Smaug y de Esgaroth, pero no de Bardo” (página 315)

Otro aspecto que Tolkien incluye en el texto tiene que ver con el personaje de Beorn,éste es caracterizado como en el libro como el hombre-oso, y es quien tiene un destacado

papel en la batalla de los cinco ejércitos. En el texto se alude a este personaje como:

“¡Sí, sí, por supuesto! ¡No, no podría! Y lo he explicado muy bien –respondió el mago,enojado-. Si necesitáis saber algo más, se llama Beorn. Es muy fuerte, y un cambia pieles

además”

Nos indica Mellizo (1997)sobre el origen del nombre Arturo que una de las hipótesismantiene que procede de raíces arcaicas galesas Arth, que significa oso, y gwr , pronunciado“gur” que significa valiente o héroe. De ahí se concibeque el Rey Arturo también fueconocido como el hombre oso. De ahí que podamos establecer una relación entre ambos

personajes ya que curiosamente su trascendencia es equiparable.También el capítulo cinco nos remite a cuestiones culturales británicas, ya que el gusto

por los acertijos o juegos de palabras tenía que quedar reflejado en el texto, se produce en el

momento en que Bilbo y Gollum plantean un duelo en la cueva. Así, acertijos como (página123):

Riddle one: What has roots as nobody sees,

Is taller than trees, Up, up it goes,

And yet never grows? Mountain

Adivinanza uno:Las raíces no se ven

Y es más alta que un árbolArriba y arriba sube,

Y sin embargo no crece La Montaña

Muestran el gusto por la rima y la adivinanza por parte de la cultura británica, ya que elduelo entre ambos personajes se extiende en el capítulo y son múltiples las adivinanzas que

plantean. Esto dentro de la cultura inglesa es un hecho corriente, pero para otras culturas no estan fácil de comprender esa presencia en el texto y ese modo de proceder por parte de los

personajes.Por tanto, en estas cuestiones podemos comprobar la inmanencia de la tradición

británica y cómo Tolkien transpone en su obra El Hobbit aspectos que le son cercanos y que pretende trasladar de una manera implícita al lector. Al igual que otro autor británico como



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Roald Dahl, las obras escritas por estos autores tratan de mostrar en sus textos sus raíces y lasconstantes alusiones culturales, motiva que el lector tenga que, o conocerlas u obviarlas. Eneste segundo caso, si no se conocen las referencias culturales, la interpretación del texto noserá completa, ya que faltará información y no se podrá conocer bien la intención del escritor.

El hobbit una historia interesante para enseñanza de la cultura inglesa

La intervención didáctica que se puede plantear desde el uso de El Hobbit ya sea en eltercer ciclo de Educación Primaria o en los primeros niveles de Educación Secundaria tieneque ver con las conexiones culturales que hemos apuntado. Y es que sin necesidad de recurrira textos complejos concernientes al ciclo Artúrico, sí que se puede trabajar en el aula conadaptaciones de la obra (bien en lengua inglesa o española). Por ejemplo, textos como los deGilles Massardier (2010) denominada La fabulosa historia de Merlín y el Rey Arturo o el de

Jordi Sierra i Fabra (2008) que tiene por título La fabulosa leyenda del Rey Arturo pueden ser perfectamente relacionados con el personaje de Beorn, pudiendo explicar su parte de lacultura británica, en este caso la importancia del rey Arturo.

Por otra parte, es posible acometer la misma situación con la leyenda de San Jorge y elDragón, en este caso se puede animar al alumnado a profundizar en la trascendencia de estahistoria. Comenzando por la inclusión de dicha leyenda en la bandera inglesa (Cruz de SanJorge). El Hobbit , en los capítulos en los cuales Bardo libera a la ciudad del dragón tiene queservir como ejemplo acerca de la importancia de dicha leyenda en la tradición Británica, y

para comprender cómo, para un habitante de la citada zona geográfica, dicha historia es

significativa. Igualmente se puede comprobar la importancia e influencia de dicha leyenda enotras latitudes. Una adaptación de esta leyenda en lengua española para niveles de EducaciónPrimaria la podemos hallar en la aportación de Nesquens y Guirao (2011) que tiene por título:San Jorge y el Dragón.

El tercer eje que hemos comentado en la sección anterior tiene que ver con el uso deadivinanzas o juegos de palabras en el aula. El hecho de apreciar estas manifestacioneslingüísticas y literarias permitirá al alumnado o a las personas apreciar vocabulario y formasque se insertan en la cultura británica. Es más, el enfado de Gollum, acusando a Bilbo de faltade honor viene originado por un juego de palabras. Por lo que hacer uso de este recurso en elaula hará estar en contacto al alumnado con la rima, le ayudará en su pronunciación y le

permitirá adquirir vocabulario, además de hacer que su cognición mejore, dado que estará pensando en la solución a lo planteado. Tener las adivinanzas en las dos lenguas nos permitirárealizar un ejercicio de gramática contrastiva mejorando el aprendizaje.

Este planteamiento tiene su sustento en la gran cantidad de textos literarios que serelacionan con el ámbito infantil y juvenil, o al menos se suelen encasillar en el mismo, porejemplo, las obras de Roald Dahl, los textos de Rowling o de C. S. Lewis. Dichas obrascontienen alusiones a la cultura británica y a través de sus líneas transmiten cuestionesimportantes de la misma. Hemos de ser conscientes de que a la hora de enseñar cualquier



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lengua, ligada a la misma se encuentran sus manifestaciones culturales y una de ellas es laliteratura. Por ello, nos parece importante promover un uso de la literatura basado en unenfoque funcional y comunicativo que incide en la búsqueda de textos que activan elintertexto lector y que amplían el horizonte de expectativas de la persona lectora.

Conclusiones

Uno de los pilares que sustenta nuestra aportación es la gran cantidad demanifestaciones culturales provenientes del Reino Unido (bien realizadas por británicos o poramericanos) que como espectadores o lectores recibimos pero que, pese a que tienen potencialdidáctico para ser trabajados, muchas veces, se olvida esa situación y se convierten en meros

productos de consumo. No criticamos tal situación, ya que es perfectamente lícito que lo sean, pero hay que ser conscientes de que pueden convertirse en un recurso didáctico. Este año2012 podemos citar ejemplos como Brave (la última producción de Pixar donde parte de la

cultura británica, concretada en Escocia es expuesta por sus creadores, siendo una leyendaautóctona de dicho país el hilo conductor de la película). Didácticamente sería posible extraerdicha leyenda y poder trabajar textualmente en el aula, aprovechando el contexto cultural alque se refiere.

De igual modo, este año 2012 tendrá lugar el estreno de la primera parte de la trilogía de El Hobbit dirigida por el director neozelandés Peter Jackson. Un ejercicio clásico decomparación entre película y texto podría suponer un acto formativo para el alumnado.

El hobbit como libro encuadrado en un determinado canon, cuenta con contenidosrelacionados con su cultura de referencia, en este caso la occidental, y concreta los mismos en

la geografía británica. Su clasificación pudiendo ser exclusivamente infantil y juvenil, debe proyectarse para ser considerado como literatura y aunque su estructura como narración ocuento permite que edades tempranas accedan a él, también los adultos pueden y deben leerlo.

Concluimos este texto indicando que El Hobbit nos parece una obra óptima para eldescubrimiento de algunos aspectos que se encuentran en la literatura británica. Por tanto,atendería perfectamente a los intereses de la literatura relacionados con el entretenimiento ysobre todo con la formación y el aprendizaje. El hecho de que las personas puedan leer ellibro debe convertirse en un viaje inesperado y debe derivar en la nueva situación que vivióBilbo una vez que hubo retornado a su hogar:

“...se sentía muy contento; y el sonido de la marmita sobre el hogar era mucho másmusical de lo que había sido antes, incluso en aquello días tranquilos anteriores a la Tertuliainesperada...” (página 368).

Referencias bibliográficas

González-Gil, D. (1979). “Literatura Infantil. Necesidad de una caracterización y de unacrítica literaria”. Cauce, 2, 275-300.



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López Valero, A.; Jerez-Martínez, I. y López, M. (2009). “Propuestas didácticas para laeducación infantil mediante el uso de adivinanzas y canciones populares. El uso estéticode la lengua en el mcerl”,en Revista OCNOS nº 5, p. 87-96.

Massardier, G. (2010). La fabulosa historia de Merlín y el Rey Arturo. Barcelona: Oniro.Mellizo, F. (1997). Arturo, Rey. Madrid: Huerga y Fierro.

Nesquens, D. y Guirao, D. (2011). San Jorge y el Dragón. Zaragoza: Apila.Sierra i Fabra, J. (2008). La fabulosa leyenda del Rey Arturo. Madrid: Edebé.Tolkien, J. R.R. (2012) [1937]. El hobbit . Barcelona: Minotauro.Ware, J. (2006). Finding God in The Hobbit . Colorado: SalRriver.



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Using picturebooks to connect learning across the curriculum:the Flat ‘Cool’ Cat experience

Teresa Fleta(Alcalá de Henares University)

Sandie Mourão(Freelance)

Introduction

This presentation is about an international project which originated in a workshop at theAnnual IATEFL Conference held in Brighton in 2011. The project starting point was FlatStanley picturebook and it involved a Flat ‘Cool’ Cat made from a paper plate, tissue paper

and sequins by teachers at the workshop. Like the main character in the picturebook, the Flat‘Cool’ Cat was sent off by snail mail to different cities around the World. The teachers andstudents who received Flat ‘Cool’ Cat carried out activities as part of their integrated reading,writing, language, social studies, arts and crafts and mathematics programmes. As each coun-try was visited, a collection of activities were recorded and included in the envelope with Flat‘Cool’ Cat when he was sent to his new destination. .

In the communication era, this inspiring literacy project provides opportunities forteachers to work in collaboration with teachers in other countries and helps students to de-velop their language skills in a creative and amusing way. In addition, during Flat ‘Cool’

Cat ’s stay at schools, students develop positive attitudes towards other cultures and other lan-guages.This paper introduces the international Flat ‘Cool’ Cat project with reference to the Flat

Stanley picturebook and then describes what Flat ‘Cool’ Cat did in the first three countries ofhis journey around the world.

The Flat Stanley picturebook

The Flat Stanley picturebook (Jeff Brown, 1964) was the first of a series of Flat Stanley stories. The main character, Stanley wakes up one morning to discover that a bulletin boardhas fallen on him and flattened him. He is taken to the doctor and though apparently fine, heis only half an inch thick. Being flat allows Stanley to have some adventures and do funthings, like to go under closed doors, between bars; to fly like a kite; to travel on holidays toCalifornia through the post in an envelope or, hidden in a picture frame, to help the policearrest some art thieves, for which he was awarded a medal. One day Flat Stanley’s feelingswere hurt because the other children at school were teasing him and his brother Arthur got theidea of pumping air into him to get him back to normality. The story ends with Stanley andhis family drinking hot chocolate to celebrate.



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This picturebook went on to prompt the Flat Stanley Project , created by a schoolteacherin Canada (Dale Hubert, 1994). In this project children sent pictures/cut-outs of Flat Stanley to schools or to parents in other parts of the country or around the world to have adventures.Then, the picture/cut-out is sent back home with information about the places Flat Stanley had visited. Since 1994 Flat Stanley has travelled around the world having adventures andmaking new friends. Information about this project can be found at:http://www.flatstanley.com/

The Flat ‘Cool’ Cat Project

The Flat ‘Cool’ Cat Project originated in the IATEFL Pre-conference Event (PCE) or-ganized by the Young Learner and Teenager Special Interest Group (YLT SIG) which washeld in Brighton in 2011. The PCE looked at the topic of creativity in the young learnersclassrooms, books and in teacher training courses. The PCE explored various aspects of crea-

tivity and culminated in a workshop on “Creating Language Rich Arts & Crafts Project” inwhich groups of teachers, stimulated by the Flat Stanley picturebook and project made FlatCats from paper plates and craft material. The teachers in each group decided on which aspectof Young Learner teaching and learning around the globe they wanted to investigate further.The idea was that each Flat Cat goes into a classroom with a set of objectives and the findingsare then shared with the teachers and the children in each country. Then, the Flat Cats werereleased to begin a voyage of discovery throughout the YLT classrooms all over the world. Avideo of the workshop on the creation of the Flat Cats can be seen here:http://ylandtsig.ning.com/video/caroline-linse

The Flat ‘Cool’ Cat experience

The objectives of this particular Flat Cat , also called Flat Cool Cat because he liked parties, he was to celebrate birthdays in the different countries he visited. Cool Cat arrived inthe first classroom with an English party game, (Pin the tail on the cat), and a recipe for a

party food (Chocolate crispies), as well as the ‘Happy Birthday’ song. In return the childrenin each country would show Flat ‘Cool’ Cat how to sing ‘Happy Birthday’ in their language,explain how to play a typical party game and share a typical party recipe. Cool Cat thus, be-gan his voyage in Brighton and the first port of call was Portugal.

Flat Cool Cat in Portugal

The children who welcomed the Cool Cat in Portugal were 5-6 years old, learning Eng-lish for one hour a week. A trip to the post office was organized, so that the children couldcollect a large envelope with Flat Cat inside. They decorated the classroom with streamers,

banners and balloons before Flat ‘Cool’ Cat ’s arrival, to welcome him. To celebrate his birth-day they organized a party in which parents were asked to collaborate, with Portuguese party

http://www.flatstanley.com/


http://ylandtsig.ning.com/video/caroline-linse






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food and party games. They brought gifts for him such as: ribbons, decorative bands, flowersand they drew pictures. They played the English party game, as well as a Portuguese partygame: “Lenco, lencinho” (Hankie, little hankie). They ate cat cakes and a “Chocolate salami”cake and sang “Happy birthday” in English and in Portuguese. They talked about Portuguese

party food in English and gave Cool Cat a special birthday present, a carnival cat mask. Afterthe party they made a collection of the games, songs and recipes as well as Cool Cat ’s presentand a map of England and Portugal, showing the places Cool Cat had visited, put them into anenvelope and sent them off to Estonia. The experience was rich and lived through with muchenthusiasm and for the next year children asked about Cool Cat and his whereabouts con-stantly. They were lucky to receive an envelope some months later with photos and a calen-dar from Estonia, which fuelled their interest further.

Flat ‘Cool’ Cat in Estonia

Students who welcomed Cool Cat in Estonia were 9-10-years old and learning Englishin a private language school twice a week. Despite the teacher’s initial worries, that olderchildren would not be interested in what preschool children had done with a paper plate cat

puppet, Cool Cat was warmly welcomed by the children in Estonia, who enjoyed listening tothe CD with the two versions of the happy birthday song, they tried out the Portuguese game,and thought the recipes looked delicious. In addition, they studied the map of Europe andlearned the names of countries in English They compared the size and population of the UK,Portugal and Estonia, using comparative language, and enjoyed working out the possibleroutes for travelling from Brighton via Portugal to Estonia learning the appropriate vocabu-

lary. They were convinced that Flat ‘Cool’ Cat took the Eurostar from London to start. Theyalso learned some words in the different languages (Pão – bread – leib; Amigo – friend –sõber) by doing a chant.

As was agreed, the Estonian students also celebrated Cool Cat ’s birthday, they made birthday cards as a present for Cool Cat . During the party they decorated a biscuit cake made by one of the boys (Raimond’s biscuit cake), and they all made a special present - a birthdayhat decorated in the colours of the Estonian flag - as well as birthday hats for themselves andhappily performed “a cat with a hat” chant from their English textbook CD using the karaoke

part with a special verse devoted to Cool Cat and his party hat. They played several Estoniangames, and took many photos. The envelope representing Cool Cat ’s trip to Estonia includeda recording of “a cat in a hat” chant with an extra verse for Cool Cat and the song “HappyBirthday, Cool Cat !” in Estonian. The children also included two birthday hats, some birth-day cards, a map of Estonia, the recipe for “Raimond’s biscuit cake”, as well as instructions to

play two Estonian games: “A long nose” and “Grandad’s old trousers”, and four postcardsfrom Estonia.



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Flat “Cool” Cat in Spain

Cool Cat returned to being Flat Cat when he arrived in Madrid, it will become clearwhy later. He arrived just before the Christmas holidays, when the students involved in the

project were still on holidays; so, he spent a few days waiting, and joined in the Christmasand New Year celebrations in Spain. He especially liked his Flat Cat “King’s Day” pendant,a present given on the 6th January celebrations in Spain.

Flat Cat ’s visit to Madrid involved spending some days at a bilingual school in Madridand in a classroom with 6-7 year olds. Before his arrival, the children’s teacher read them theoriginal Flat Stanley picturebook. To set up Flat Cat ’s arrival the children were told thatwhen Flat Stanley got flat, his pet cat was with him and he got flat too and became a Flat Cat .A perfect introduction to Flat ‘Cool’ Cat’s appearance! In one of the picturebook episodes

Flat Stanley helps the police to arrest some art thieves, and so the children were told that one

of Flat ‘Cool’ Cat ’s wishes was to celebrate his birthday in Spain, and to visit the famousSpanish museums to see other flat cats in paintings by Spanish artists.

The children were introduced to Flat Cat’s past trips through a short power point pres-entation, and then opened the envelope, met Flat Cat and were shown the rest of the materialfrom Portugal and Estonia. This led the children to writing and illustrating welcoming cardswith the Spanish flag and the Madrid shield.

In Madrid, Flat Cat and the children were virtually taken to a number of museums tolook at the cats in Spanish paintings:

• Retrato de Don Manuel (Goya, 1746-1828)

• Gato acosado (Goya, 1746-1828)• Riña de Gatos (Goya, 1746-1828)• Las hilanderas (Velázquez, 1599-1660)• Clotilde con gato (Sorolla 1863 – 1923)• Dora Maar con gato (Picasso, 1881-1973)• El pequeño gato (Miró, 1893-1983)From these paintings, Flat Cat especially liked Miró’s “El pequeño gato” painting and

so the teacher talked about Joan Miró to the children and to Flat Cat . Together they discov-ered about how Miró painted using primary colours, lines and shapes. Using appropriate scaf-folding techniques, the children were encouraged to imitate Miró’s technique and to draw acat of their own, using pencils. The figure had to have a head and could be running, sitting,flying or dancing. The children could also draw shapes. Then, they coloured the picture usingnormal size and big crayons, and felt tip pens. While drawing the character, the children hadto think of the body, divide it into different shapes and colour these shapes using differentcolours. For the background of their drawing children were asked to use crayons and to give ita nice texture with bright colours, the inside of the body should be coloured with felt tip pens.The face should be coloured with very light colours. Once finished, the children’s work wasdisplayed in the corridor for other children to see.



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The next step was to ask Flat Cat some questions. Using wh- questions, the children be-gan with: Why do you …?; Why are you…?; Why did you … ? or Do you…? Their questionsfocused on Brighton, Portugal, Estonia, Slovakia and Scotland; Christmas in Spain; Spanishartists; Miró; likes and dislikes, etc. Then, they played the "Hot seat" game pretending to be

Flat Cat and answering for him.Finally, the children were asked to write a poem for Flat Cat with words rhyming with

“Cat” or with “Flat”. Then they sang happy birthday to Flat Cat in English and in Spanish andsent him off to Slovakia in a very large envelope with his King’s Day pendant, examples ofthe welcoming cards, the cat drawings and a their poems, as well as a CD with their version ofthe happy birthday song and some recordings of their poems.

Summing up

Flat Cat’s trip to Madrid was a little different to that of Portugal and Estonia as the

children were brought back to the original story and his visit contributed to the cross-curricular work in the bilingual school. In general terms, although the project aims changedslightly in Madrid, the children’s experience is very rewarding in all countries. Flat Cat ’sversatility not only has an impact on students but also on the teacher’s approach to teachingand learning. After Madrid trip, Flat Cat has been to Slovakia and to Switzerland, where weheard that he had lost an eye and so became a pirate. The project continues and Flat ‘Cool’Cat keeps travelling around the world and the countries to be visited next are Taiwan, Japan,Latvia and Argentina.

Works cited

Boden, M. A. (2001): Creativity and knowledge, in A. Craft, B Jeffrey and M. Leibling(Eds.): Creativity in education. London: Continuum.

Brown J. and S. Nash (1964): Flat Stanley. Harper Collins Children's Books.Gardner, H. (1995): Reflections on Multiple Intelligences: Myths and Messages. Phi Delta

Kappan, Vol.77, 3, 200-209.Halliwell, S. (1993): Teacher creativity and teacher education, in Bridges, D. andKerry, T. (eds): (1993): Developing Teachers Profession, London: RoutledgeMason, A. Andrew; S. Hughes and J. Barron (1995): Miró (Famous Artists) Barron's Educa-

tional Series.Micklethwait, L. (1995): Spot a cat. Kindersley Book. DK CHILDREN edt.Mink, J. (1999): Joan Miró (Basic Art). Taschen.Pugliese, Ch. (2010): Being Creative: The challenge of change in the classroom. Delta Pub-

lishing.Wright, A. (2006): `Being Creative: things I find useful´. CATS . The IATEFL Young Learn-

ers Publication.



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El teatro en el aula como didáctica de la segunda lengua. Presentación de la obra ”The Story of the Drawbridge”.

Lectura conjunta para escenificar en el aula en Educación Primaria

Mª Teresa García Navarrete(Instituto de Estudios Psicografológicos” y “Audes Formación”

Universitat de València)

Introducción

Antes de comenzar a enseñar hay que transmitir la necesidad y ventajas de aprender.El instinto de adquisición de conocimientos viene incorporado en nuestra carga

genética, pero sólo actúa cuando sirve a la satisfacción de las necesidades básicas o conllevaalgún beneficio constatable. Se aprende de los resultados, no de los actos que los motivan.

Las palabras, inicialmente, son sonidos articulados que al emitirse producen un efecto,que si resulta útil al emisor, cual ser vivo, no sólo habrán nacido, sino que crecerán y semultiplicarán. Incluso morirán si pueden ser sustituidas por otras más productivas.

En la Pirámide de Maslow, la necesidad de comunicar con fines de socialización oexpresión de sentimientos aparece sólo cuando están cubiertos los requerimientos fisiológicosy de seguridad, lo que explica que el lenguaje conducente a ello sea prioritar

Con esto queremos reparar en la importancia de la motivación en el aprendizajeincipiente y la dificultad para crear expectativas ante la incorporación de una segunda lenguacuando el niño ya conoce una forma de lenguaje suficiente para desenvolverse y llegar a sus

objetivos.Anteriores generaciones nos enfrentábamos a la asignatura de inglés porque eraobligatoria, sin saber exactamente para qué. Los resultados son evidentes. Hoy se hatransformado la obligación en privilegio, y este avance es empresa de docentes que han sabidonormalizar lo que antes era una carga.

Se han incorporado metodologías de extraordinario valor didáctico y se han buscadorecursos de tal atractivo que han generado en los alumnos la necesidad de aprender, ante lavisualización de los caminos que se abren gracias al dominio de otras lenguas.

Colaborando con los profesionales de la enseñanza de inglés, proponemos laincorporación de la representación dramatizada en el aula como instrumento de aprendizaje, ysugerimos “THE STORY OF THE DRAWBRIDGE” por sus constatados resultadosdidácticos y gran aceptación en el mundo infantil.

Aplicaciones didácticas de la interpretación en el aula

Durante el curso existen oportunidades para llevar a cabo la puesta en escena de unaobra dramática, dirigida por los profesores o por aquellos alumnos capacitados para asumir talrol.



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La mayoría de los niños aceptan el reto con ilusión por su componente lúdico y lasatisfacción de la necesidad de protagonismo que éste les ofrece. Otros, sin embargo, noacogen la idea con entusiasmo porque albergan temores relacionados, generalmente, con suautoestima.

Para los primeros, la interpretación es un obsequio y para el resto podría tratarse de unaforma de terapia que, dependiendo de la filosofía de la obra y la pericia del profesor, ayudaríaa superar sentimientos de desventaja o incapacidad que arraigaron en su personalidad a travésde experiencias anteriores, y que posiblemente, se constatan en la relación diaria con loscompañeros.

Con frecuencia observamos que el mismo niño, año tras año, figura estático en elescenario ataviado con tronco y ramas, mientras que el eterno príncipe renueva su vestuariosuperando el anterior. Lo curioso es que unos y otros se sienten cómodos en su rol. Y lo

preocupante, que esto no se resuelva.Tendremos que generar recursos para que todos intervengan igualitariamente, dispongan

de su espacio y su tiempo, y que no sea precisamente el juego, el que establezca distinciones ysinsabores, objetivo por el que tendremos que trabajar en equipo.

Proponemos el análisis de las ventajas didácticas del teatro como instrumento deconocimiento y desarrollo de aptitudes en general, y muy particularmente si a éstasincorporamos el valor añadido del conocimiento de una segunda lengua, o incluso, conguiones ya aprendidos (lo que supone comprender sin traducir), una tercera.

“The Story of the Drawbridge” está diseñada atendiendo a dos líneas de interpretación:1. - La lectura conjunta con escenificación parcial sin necesidad de un espacio

mayor que el que ofrece el aula.

2. - La puesta en escena completa sobre un espacio amplio y adecuado, con el guión previamente aprendido, o mejor aún, libremente asimilado, puesto que se contempla la posibilidad de que los actores improvisen parte del diálogo.

Lectura dramatizada en el aula

La lectura conjunta de un texto gestado para ser interpretado en el escenario, esrelativamente novedosa en el aula. Requiere preparación y el acatamiento de unas normasque elevan el ejercicio por encima de otras actividades de lectura.

Desde nuestro punto de vista, debe afrontarse como una actividad compleja con ensayosy preparación de la misma forma que se haría en el caso de que fuese a representarse, a fin deque el alumno asuma un proyecto común dando relevancia a la aportación individual.

Así, podría seguirse una secuencia de actuación que implique a todos desde el primermomento.

Esta es nuestra propuesta:Antes de acceder al texto escrito, el docente puede narrar la historia en líneas

generales, sin reparar en los detalles, suscitando así la curiosidad y el ánimo de conocerlos.



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Mediante esta fórmula se facilita una visión de conjunto que “pone la maquinaria enmarcha” para ir ideando modos de ejecución e ilusionándose con el proyecto, a lo queañadiremos la ventaja que supone (aunque nadie les advierta de ello) la ficticia convicción deque no necesitan aprender el guión porque siempre tendrán acceso a él.

Esta despreocupación desbloquea las sensaciones de incapacidad y reduce el nivel deansiedad, dando lugar a un estado de libertad que permite trabajar con mayor productividad.

Después, cada cual dispondría de la obra a fin de afianzar lo comprendido,rectificar lo que no se entendió inicialmente y descubrir los entresijos sobre los que habíadepositado sus expectativas.

Se puede establecer un orden de intervención sin dividir por actos, a fin de propiciar la alerta continuada. Formar parte activa del guión en todo momento exige un altonivel de atención e implicación.

Pueden realizarse ensayos facilitando la memorización de las frases y laasunción definitiva de su contenido, ofreciendo la posibilidad de perfeccionar el nivel de

lectura, puesto que se enfrentan a una gran variedad de figuras gramaticales que deben serexpresadas correctamente a partir de la detección inmediata de los signos que las identifican.

En este momento podría valorarse, dependiendo de la edad y el conocimientodel idioma, la modificación o introducción de frases nuevas, creadas expresamente por elalumno para acomodar el texto a sus sentimientos o deseos, especialmente cuando éste serefiera a ellos mismos o sus funciones, desarrollando su imaginación y reforzando suidentificación con el proyecto.

Esta asociación de lectura y juego propicia una situación útil a diversos fines didácticos,

logrando una combinación de ejercicios de retención (puesto que los ensayos despertaron lanecesidad de memorizar párrafos en el afán de mejorar y agilizar), de lectura espontánea einventiva, que facilitan considerablemente lo incorporación de una nueva lengua.

Representación dramatizada en escenario

Es evidente que aumentan las posibilidades de aprendizaje y consolidación del idioma silos textos se memorizan completos, y pensamos que mucho más si se ofrece al “actor” la

posibilidad de improvisar o sustituir, total o parcialmente, estos por otros si en el momentoclave lo considera oportuno o recursivo.

La representación de “The Story of the Drawbridge” no sólo permite este juego sinoque, además, lo propone como característica identificatoria.

Cuando un personaje habla de su trabajo (previamente elegido, incluso entre los que nofiguran en la obra, puesto que puede diseñarse uno nuevo en los ensayos) debe hacerlo con

positividad, encontrando sus ventajas y ensalzando su relación con él. La mejor forma de que parezca natural es que lo sea. El niño podría crear y desarrollar su intervención de formaespontánea y personalizada.



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Hemos comprobado en actuaciones anteriores el gratificante efecto sorpresivo que causaen el niño su desenvoltura (en ocasiones desconocida) para improvisar algo que tiene comoconsecuencia una respuesta positiva, interesante o divertida en el ambiente. Esto se multiplicacuando, además, la expresión ha surgido en inglés sin que tuviera que pensarla previamente,

porque evidencia más de una capacidad.Continuamos, por tanto, haciendo referencia a la importancia de las asociaciones

positivas en el programa docente: el descubrimiento de las propias capacidades en unmomento de reconocimiento personal y social, excita la necesidad de aumentarlas.

La sensación de poder (ser capaz de) estimula, y la consecución del logro lo confirma,llegando a lo que llamamos éxito, que no es más que el resultado visible de una secuencia deconvicciones que impulsaron el esfuerzo.

La preparación de la puesta en escena no es muy diferente a la de la lectura conjunta, puede llevarse a cabo en el aula y durante el tiempo que el profesor estime oportuno, puestoque la incorporación del género también ofrece pautas teóricas, no solo creativas y

gramaticales sino de comportamiento o éticas que pueden ser instrumentalizadas a su criterio.La única diferencia viene dada por la puesta en escena, dado que se incorporan pautas

disciplinarias para que la libertad no se convierta en caos. Este es trabajo de director que, enocasiones, se ve forzado a frenar el entusiasmo de los actores.

Sin embargo, aprovechamos la oportunidad para reflexionar sobre algunos detalles queconforman la filosofía de la obra y que como valores que pretenden ser, deben ser absorbidos

por los actores y captados por su público, porque el fin último de ésta es transmitir conductasejemplares de convivencia, tolerancia e igualdad entre unos y otros, descartando cualquieracto dañino a pesar de la diferencia de comportamientos o pareceres de sus protagonistas.

Comprobaremos que el propósito inicial no fue crear una obra literaria, sino inventar uncuento en entregas progresivas, narrando acontecimientos ideados siempre con un fin: hablar.Hablar de lo que está bien o está mal; hablar de otros que no son conocidos evitando así lacrítica; hablar de lo importancia de ser útil a los demás y hacerlo de la mejor forma… Y, loque es mejor, establecer un sistema que haga deseable el momento de hacerlo.

Llamarlo cuento o narración para entender mejor este juego, no tiene importancia.Tampoco la tiene su calidad literaria ni el discurso de los aconteceres, lo que es realmenteatractivo e interesante es la función de vehículo de comunicación ya sea en casa, en el aula osobre un escenario.

Así, se fue improvisando en el tiempo una historia de aventuras sin violencia, y comoencontramos en sus primeras páginas y reproducimos literalmente “ No hay buenos y malos, nivencedores y vencidos. No hay lucha, ni armas, ni heridas, y sin embargo, es la historia deuna conquista en la que vencerá el ingenio y la colaboración y se doblegará la vagancia y la

falta de solidaridad.” Se cuida especialmente la ausencia de términos belicistas, insultos o humillaciones pero

no se cercena el sentido del humor, las expresiones irónicas o jocosas (siempre que no seanhirientes), o el lenguaje tedioso pero simpático de “aquellos” que pasan el día ociando.



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También ponemos especial atención al reparto de profesiones sin tópicos sexistas y lasfunciones que expresan, evitando las reparadoras y potenciando las formativas, preventivas o

productivas.El “Puente Levadizo” simboliza la puerta que debemos abrir o cerrar para seleccionar

las personas con las que debemos convivir, aunque no se distinguen por razas, status o culturasino por actitudes.

Para que este mensaje llegue como signo de igualdad y que los personajes sólo sediferencien por su comportamiento, se ha buscado un sistema de desdoblamiento del

personaje, interpretando el mismo actor el papel de hacendoso y vago, del limpio y el sucio. No está el ganador representado por el más fuerte porque minutos antes no lo era.

El “Pueblo” es la sociedad, el entorno, el hogar, el lugar que protege a los suyos peroacoge a los demás, que se defiende pero se comparte. Es el lugar donde hay normas sinimposición. Es la convivencia.

Los “Pájaros” son los soldados sin armas, los vigilantes, las criaturas que están alerta

para que los demás sigan su camino, ese cuidador imprescindible que, sin embargo, aportanlos episodios más divertidos de la obra, desdramatizando así su responsable rol.

El “Agua” simboliza todo tipo de limpieza, incluso de comportamientos y las “Cuerdas”la salvación, la mano que se tiende férrea para negociar y amable para ayudar, incluso aquienes inicialmente no lo merecen.

El “Público” que sube al escenario al ser requerido para “echar una mano” simboliza lacobertura de la familia o los amigos que están cerca cuando se les necesita, la sensación de noestar solos y encontrar cuando se busca.

Podríamos abundar en los simbolismos y las asociaciones de ideas, pero hay que

permitir las nuevas aportaciones del lector, el actor y el público, que con toda seguridaddescubrirán progresivamente.Únicamente añadir que todos son partícipes en la representación, que no hay

espectadores ni existe el personaje pasivo. Ardua labor la del director si se lo propone.La diversión de los actores está asegurada. Y si esto es así, habremos encontrado una

fórmula de aprendizaje gratificante y efectiva.



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Un taller literari intertextual amb literatura del nonsense

Josep V. Garcia Raffi(Universitat de València)

El canvi produït en les nostres escoles amb el contacte de diferents llengües a l’aula haobert un camí clar cap al multilingüisme i el multiculturalisme i també a lamultidisciplinareïtat. Som conscients de la diversitat de propostes que es poden obrir entretotes les llengües que s'estudien a l’ensenyament obligatori. Per tant, és ben adient el treballconjunt de les llengües que hi apareixen al currículum escolar. Així és possible, per exemple,el desenvolupament de tota una sèrie d'activitats destinades a posar en contacte l'anglès amb elcatalà. Poden ser adaptades als diferents cursos i nivells de coneixements lingüístics del'alumnat. La majoria dels estudiants valencians d'ensenyament mitjà aprenen tres llengües:

castellà, català i anglès, amb la possibilitat del francès com a primer o segon idioma.El professorat d'anglès pot incidir activament per a fornir i millorar un autèntic

ensenyament arrelat al país. Creiem que haurà de reflexionar sobre les següents qüestions:ésser conscient del problema lingüístic de la seua comunitat històricament i territorialment

bilingüe; ésser sensible cap a la cultura minoritzada i cap a totes les seues expressions itransmetre aquest interès als alumnes d'anglès; cercar paral·lelismes fonètics, morfosintàctics ilèxics entre els dos idiomes; fer servir com a llengua vehicular de comunicació el català,sempre que no utilitze l'anglès; remetre qualsevol exemple al món referencial de la nostracultura; posar a l'abast de l'estudiant materials, bibliografia i informació de suport en la classe

d'anglés escrits en català, sempre que les condicions ho facen possible; buscar activitatsinterdisciplinars entre les dues llengües, com ara la lectura de llibres anglesos amb traducciócatalana; potenciar l'estudi de la cultura pròpia a través de l'anglés; motivar la recercad'interrelacions entre la nostra cultura i el món en llengua anglesa.

Unes propostes d’activitats interdisciplinars en el nou context multilingüe

Les activitats realitzades a les aules les podem dividir en tres blocs:

1. Activitats lingüístiques. Van adreçades a la confecció d'uns materials bilingües. Es

dissenyen amb les següents particularitats: el seu estudi previ en cada llengua i lacorrespondència a un món referencial tangible i conegut per l'alumne.

2. Activitats de traducció. A l'ensenyament valencià, la situació sociolingüísticacondiciona que el castellà funcione normalment com una interposició o mediatització enl'aprenentatge dels idiomes que s'inclouen en el currículum. Les experiències que proposemtenen per objectiu la 'traducció' com a pràctica interlingüística, ja que ara consistirà en unatraducció de l'anglés al català sense passar pel castellà.



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Aproximació bilingüe al text literari. A partir d'un mateix títol, aprofitarem lesdiferents possibilitats de confrontació lingüística en llegir l'obra en versió original i la seuatraducció catalana. La lectura simultània del mateix text en anglès com en català ambl’objectiu del descobriment dels mecanisme de traducció; la lectura d’un easy reader com a

trampolí per a realitzar un ventall d’activitats relacionades directament i indirecta amb el temadel llibre i relacionar-ho amb el bagatge plurilingüe de l’alumnat ( project work ).

Les cançons bilingües. Els textos originàriament cantats en anglés poder ésserexplotats en l'aula a partir de les adaptacions en català. Així anem més enllà dels jatradicionals buidatges lingüístics de les cançons. Ací, com en altres casos, les possibilitatsmultidisciplinars amb altres àrees de coneixement són força àmplies.

Traducció i paremiologia. La recerca del paral·lelisme entre els refranysanglesos i catalans és també objecte d'estudi. Aquesta activitat, depenent del nivell decompetència lingüística de l'estudiant, pot veure's reduïda a les situacions on el català és L1 del’alumnat.

Traducció i semàntica. Cercar i analitzar els falsos amics ( false friends) queexisteixen entre les dues llengües. Aquest treball pot incorporar-hi també el castellà.

Taller de ràdio, enregistrament i doblatges. Amb la utilització de mitjansaudiovisuals, s'hi pot recrear l'ús de les dues llengües, tot fent servir materials autèntics icreats per l'alumne. A més hi pot cabre el joc de la traducció simultània.

3. Activitats literàries. Aquestes experiències reflecteixen les possibilitats del conreu del'anglès i del català en la literatura i en la comparació de les històries literàries paral·leles.

La intertextualitat poètica. La possibilitat de construir textos poètics jugant ambla capacitat expressiva de les llengües.

La literatura del Nonsense i Edward Lear. A partir dels alfabets i limericksd'aquest escriptor es creen noves versions en català.

Amb aquest treball interdisciplinari volem aconseguir tota una sèrie d'objectius: prestigiar el català, facilitar la creativitat i imaginació als nostres centres d'ensenyament, ialhora promoure un treball en equip. Coneguem, però, les dificultats que comporta aquestcanvi: situació interna dels departaments de llengües, la necessitat en la renovació de ladidàctica de l'aprenentatge lingüisticoliterari en el marc curricular, etc.

Una seqüència didàctica del taller ens permet aprofundir en l’educació literària imulticultural dels adolescents i aconseguir unes exemples de literatura visual, en dues o més

llengües i un tractament col·laboratiu de les llengües del currículum...

Un exemple de taller poeticointertextual: del cal·ligrama al limerick

La proposta de taller literari pot desenvolupar-se en el segon cicle de secundària,especialment en el 4t d’ESO. Recordem que segons el currículum d’ESO valencià alsestudiants se’ls ha de proporcionar instruments específics per a interpretar i recrear el discursliterari, per mitjà de la lectura activa i la producció de textos. Específicament en els contingutsde valencià (llengua i literatura) d’aquest curs l’avantguardisme apareix entre els moviments



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literaris contemporanis en els quals ja s’ha d’introduir l’alumne. Per tant aquesta etapa ensserà ben útil per emmarcar el taller i entendre l’element literari en la construcció dels textos.Pel que fa a l’assignatura d’anglès i la resta de llengües estrangeres, en aquest curs, elcurrículum marca la necessitat del coneixement i valoració crítica dels elements culturals méssignificatius dels països on es parla la llengua estrangera com ara l’art, la literatura, la música,etc. Per tant d’aquest taller de poesia poden ser partícips les assignatures de llengua catalana ianglesa dins dels objectius i les competències del currículum de l’ESO.

El taller té com a objectiu aprofundir en el joc literari, en el treball lingüístic del mateixtext, el contacte entre les llengües i les literatures. És de tipus poètic amb la possibleincorporació de l’educació plàstica i visual. Un taller literari és un procés comú que ésfonamentalment un mòdul d’aprenentatge que s’organitza a través d’un tipus de text, untreball que comporta un nombre de sessions important, un projecte d’aprenentatge que preténcrear un text amb unes estratègies i eines reutilitzables. (Jolibert, Camps i Fabrés, 1992)

Un dels objectius de l’educació literària dels nostres alumnes de l’ESO és el domini de

les característiques genèriques del text literari i augmentar-ne l’experiència lectora. La poesian’és un d’ells i, de vegades, té no poques reticències entre els lectors juvenils. La lectura de

poemes fa conèixer temes, autors i períodes del currículum, com ja hem assenyalat, així comtambé les diferents variacions formals del gènere i tot l’aparell retòric que s’hi desenvolupa.Hem d’ensenyar-los un bon ventall de propostes poètiques que poden anar entre la méstradicional o popular, a la més innovadora formalment com ara tot la poesia avantguardista(amb els cal·ligrames i els poemes visuals) o les produccions que podem llegir en la pantalla.En el món audiovisual s’incorporen a la poesia elements sonors, tipogràfics i de colors quetransformen la visió que tenen de la poesia els alumnes.1 Ara proposem també la revisió d’una

tradició poètica desconeguda per als alumnes, l’anglesa. L’artista Edward Lear, excel·lentdibuixant, poeta, humorista i un bon viatger del segle XiX, és conegut sobretot pels seuslimericks (divertides rimes de la tradició oral anglesa). Va iniciar allò que avui anomenenliteratura del Nonsense. Així va crear un món paral·lel, tot propi i diferenciat que s’allunya delsentit comú. Afegeix a la vida quotidiana éssers extravagants, alfabets lúdics, cançonsabsurdes, plantes estrafolàries i tot una mena d’altres fantasies que capgiren el món que ensenvolta.

A partir del model i la inspiració de l’alfabet de Lear (nonsense alphabet ) i amb laconnexió de les literatures d’avantguarda a l’aula es possible realitzar uns limericks, unalfabet, un bestiari i una botànic fantàstics i una sèrie de textos poètics diferents als models

poètics convencionals encara per als nostres alumnes de secundària. Així programarem elssegüents tipus d’exercicis per al nostre taller literari. Les sessions desenvolupades podenvariar depenent dels continguts poètics i de les possibilitats horàries de les classes de català ianglès: 6 sessions entre les dues llengües poden ser suficients. És important que entre el

1 Hi ha tota una bibliografia que ens mostra la poesia d’avantguarda europea i catalana. Anotarem només algunsexemples de poesia visual en format web de fàcil consulta pels alumnes de secundària:http://www.poesiavisual.com/p/galeria.html o http://www.slideshare.net/marudomenech/poesia-visual i els blocsde Toni Prat http://www.poemesvisuals.com o la Poesia visual de Joan Brossahttp://www.joanbrossa.org/obra/brossa_obra_poesia_visual.htm

http://www.poesiavisual.com/p/galeria.html

http://www.slideshare.net/marudomenech/poesia-visual

http://www.poemesvisuals.com/

http://www.joanbrossa.org/obra/brossa_obra_poesia_visual.htm

http://www.joanbrossa.org/obra/brossa_obra_poesia_visual.htm

http://www.poemesvisuals.com/

http://www.slideshare.net/marudomenech/poesia-visual

http://www.poesiavisual.com/p/galeria.html



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professor i els alumnes, en una posada en comú, extrauen les característiques de la poesiavisual i en comenten les impressions. A més poden elaborar poemes visuals relatius adiferents temàtiques proposades pel professor o d'elaborar poemes visuals jugant ambdiferents objectes quotidians. Aquestes composicions visuals seran fotografiades i editades enclasse per afegir text, colors, retocs... Amb el resultat final s'elaboraran presentacions(Powerpoint) que es penjaran al bloc de la classe.

En la primera sessió treballarem el cal·ligrama que ofereix moltes possibilitats. És unacomposició atractiva en si mateix i s’engresca tothom. Permet desenvolupar l’expressió i lacreativitat alhora que juguem amb el llenguatge. Llegim poemes de Salvat-Papasseit com ara“Les formigues” i altres de diversos poetes escrits en forma de cal·ligrama. A partir de lalectura, comprensió i comentari de text es proposa el treball col·lectiu de proposar una novasituació col·lectiva, per exemple, un sol resplendent i se segueix l’esquema de l’anàlisi del

poema treballat (buscar adjectius, comparacions, frases fetes, accions diferents de la natura...)Posteriorment recollim i seleccionem les propostes del alumnes. Com a treball individual

redactem el text a partir de les frases i expressions trobades entre tots i també de noves si esvol. Cal fer després un dibuix esquemàtic que siga adient al text i confeccionar el cal·ligrama.

En la segona sessió emprarem els diferents treballs individuals en la classe d’anglès. Nonomés podem traduir el text català a l’anglés sinó que poden combinar-los en una distribucióvisual. Cal marcar-hi l’escriptura: mida de les lletres, distribució en el full, tipografia, color dela lletra i la interpretació oral. Cal assegurar la correcta pronunciació de tots els sons de lallengua, i un domini de les variables suprasegmentals i gestuals associades al llenguatge oral.Després de la fase individual, cal passar a una dinàmica de grup que permeta criticar, corregiri matisar la recitació. En la tercera sessió, a la classe d’anglès, s’explicarà la literatura del

nonsense.1

El professor d’anglès comentarà el sentit d’aquesta literatura i a través de lesreproduccions o la lectura en pantalla s’accedirà a exemples d’obres de Lear (1986), MervynPeake (1983) o Lewis Carroll. A més, és ben possible mostrar exemples d’altres literaturescom ara textos de Cortázar, Vicente Huidobro o ‘las greguerías’ de Ramón Gómez de laSerna. En aquesta sessió del professor d’anglès es pot introduir ja el Nonsense alphabet .

Hi ha una llarga tradició d’escriptors que han utilitzat l’alfabet com a font de creació icom a professors podem jugar a desenvolupar el que hi ha d’espontani i fresc en ells i inventar

jocs i fórmules que tinguen com a base el llenguatge: text on cada frase comence per lamateixa lletra o uns de consecutiva de l’alfabet o escriure un poema, per exemple un acròstic.(Piñan 2004) Amb això començaríem la quarta sessió amb el professor de català. Podemseguir la següent seqüència:

a) L’alumne tria una paraula en català i una altra en anglès que comencen amb lamateixa lletra, per exemple: serp/Snake. Aleshores fa un petit poema en cada llengua quecontinga la paraula.

b) L’alumne escriu un poema amb les dues paraules barrejant de manera força creativa iespontània en les dues llengües.

1 Hi ha un útil bloc en espanyol dedicat a la literatura del nonsense i a Edward Lear, sobretot la seua obra artísti-ca i la reproducció dels textos originals: http://edwardlear.blogspot.com.es/ [consultat en setembre de 2012]

http://edwardlear.blogspot.com.es/

http://edwardlear.blogspot.com.es/



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c) Amb la paraula anglesa compon un poema en català i amb la paraula catalanacompon un poema en anglès.

d) L’estudiant tria una lletra de l’alfabet i escriu un poema barrejant les dues llengües ion descriu el que, segons ell, són els trets físics de la lletra escollida.

La cinquena sessió, ara a la classe d’anglès, es van repassant i adequant els textos enanglès. S’hi introdueix el Limerick , una estrofa típica del nonsense de cinc versos en què el

primer rima amb el segon, el tercer amb el quart i el cinquè amb el primer. El primer vers encatalà pot començar amb una fórmula semblant a “Això era...” “Hi havia...”, “Vet ací un...”,etc. en la qual es presenta el protagonista. En el segon vers s’indiquen les característiques del

protagonista o la realització d’alguna acció (molt sovint, per mitjà d’una oració de relatiu). Enel tercer i quart vers es presenten accions verbals. El cinquè vers reprèn el començament del

poema i inclou un adjectiu referit al protagonista (pot ser un adjectiu inventat per a l’ocasió).L’objectiu d’aquesta activitat és treballar, de manera lúdica, les categories gramaticals(substantius, verbs i adjectius, fonamentalment), promoure l’escriptura de textos humorístics i

desenvolupar la creativitat.1 Finalment el taller, en la darrera sessió (preferiblement de forma conjunta amb els dos

professors, el d’anglès i el de català) podem arrodonir alguna de les fases del projecte o béintroduir i produir un darrer text: el del bestiari i la botànica fantàstics. No cal dir la tradicióliterària que en tenen a les diferents cultures i literatures. Ara l’alumne dibuixa animals o

plantes fantàstiques (és a dir inventades) i les bateja amb noms compostos d’arrels de les duesllengües. Açò fa que l’estudiant cree una mena de paraules portamanteaux de tipus carrollià.Entre el material consultat, a més a més del de Lear, podem veure El jardí futurista d’Oswaldo Bot (1982). Bot va participar en el moviment futurista i va publicar en 1930 els

seus dissenys de flors futuristes.Pel que fa a l’avaluació del taller hauria de ser l’habitual per als textos escrits: lavaloració de la riquesa i la diversitat lèxica, la puntuació escaient, l’estil oracional, l’ús delsconnectors... i ara també avaluarem tot el procés, la creativitat i la conjunció de les duesllengües.

Referències bibliogràfiques

Ballester, Anna (2009), Poemania (Guia pràctica per a fer lectors i lectores de poesia),Alzira, Fundació Bromera per al foment de la lectura.

Bot, Oswaldo (1982), El jardín futurista, Poesia. Revista ilustrada de información poètica,Madrid, Ministeri de Cultura. [En línia: www.creatividadcursos.com pdf. Consultasetembre de 2012]

1 Així ho explica Anna Ballester que, a més proposa entre d’altres algunes activitats per escriure limericks comara “Cada parella ha d’inventar la seua història absurda i escriure-la en la part de dins d’un full doblegat. La partde fora es reserva per al títol. Quan estiguin acabats es posaran dins d’una caixa, es barrejaran i cada parella entriarà un a l’atzar, per a llegir-lo en veu alta, en una posada en comú col·lectiva. Si l’activitat es realitza en famí-lia, les estrofes poden ser de creació col·lectiva. Una persona inventa el primer vers i entre tots en proposen lacontinuació.” (Ballester 2009: 91-93)

http://www.creatividadcursos.com/

http://www.creatividadcursos.com/



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Jolibert, Josette, Camps, Montserrat, Fabrés, Núria & Groupe de recherche d'Écouen (1992),“Treballar per tallers”, Formar infants productors de textos, Barcelona, Graó, p. 39-53.

Lear, Edward (1983), Edward Lear’s Nonsense Omnibus, Middelsex, Penguin Books.Peake, Mervyn (1983), A book of nonsense, 2n Edition, Introduction by Maeve Gilmore,

Harmondsworth, Penguins books.Piñán, Berta (2004), “El taller de escritura creativa en secundaria. Una propuesta práctica”,

Anguita, Marisol ed., La composición escrita (de 3 a 16 años), Barcelona, Graó, p. 119-133.



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Once Upon a Time…

Vicent Gimeno Bosch(Universidad Católica de Valencia)

Tradicionalmente, a lo largo de nuestra historia, siempre han coexistido dosdimensiones claramente estructuradas. Por una parte, encontramos la dimensión que siempreha estado racionalizada o explicada por la ciencia, por la razón, por la historia y que, desdeniños, hemos sido instruidos a lo largo de las diferentes etapas educativas.

Ahora bien, paralelamente a esta dimensión “real”, en nuestra vida y en nuestrouniverso educativo también ha influido una vertiente o visión más fantástica, mas irreal ymaravillosa. Nos referimos a esos lugares remotos y difusos; a esos personajes sobrenaturales

– incluso a veces misteriosos o casi demoníacos – y a esas historias que han sido contadas ytransmitidas de generación en generación. Estas historias, estos espacios y personajes además

de entretenernos, han contribuido a educar, a establecer unas pautas o límites morales osociales – en alguna ocasión más o menos discutibles – y, como señala Joan F. Mira: “ lesnormes s’han de complir, el sentit dels límits o el sentit dels espais i del temps s’ha demantindre, les presències negatives (siguen dimonis, nyítols o serps) s’han de neutralitzar i lavida personal i social ha de continuar el seu camí ” (2007: p. 8). En cierta manera, y comoindica José Manuel Pedrosa, nos encontraremos frecuentemente con “elementossorprendentes, sobrenaturales o difícilmente explicables desde el punto de vista empírico,

pero que se perciben como posibles (e incluso a veces como reales, auténticos y hastaexperimentados en persona) por el narrador y por el oyente” (2001: 18).

Así pues, la presencia de personajes fantásticos ha estado presente tanto en la literaturade autor como en la proveniente de la literatura de tradición oral que, obviamente, muchasveces ha sido marco de inspiración para la literatura fantástica de autor. Vayamos, pues, por

partes. No obstante, y aunque a veces parezca lo contrario1, estas dos cosmovisiones no son

opuestas, más bien al contrario, son complementarias pues ambas pretenden dar unaexplicación al porqué de las cosas y al cómo debemos actuar. Presentan, por ejemplo, cómo el

bien gana al mal; cómo los obstáculos o dificultades se superan con el esfuerzo y la buenavoluntad o cómo se deben respetar las normas o tradiciones preestablecidas socialmente.

Los personajes fantásticos en la literatura de autor

Como ya hemos comentado anteriormente, este universo fantástico, provienegeneralmente de la tradición oral y del imaginario oral transmitido de padres a hijos. Así pues,

1 Frecuentemente estas tramas narrativas y personajes han reflejado también la división y las jerarquías socialesy pueden reflejar el deseo, por parte de los gentes menos favorecidas, de ascender socialmente así como la nece-sidad, por parte de los integrantes de las clases sociales más altas, de remarcar claramente y dificultar el ascensosocial. Por consiguiente, es fácil que nos encontremos, como señala Morote Magán, “lo que en cierto modo sim-

boliza el triunfo de las clases oprimidas sobre las opresoras” (2002: 180)



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si nos fijamos en esta literatura “propiamente de autor”, es decir, en la literatura “escrita”observaremos cómo, en las tres literaturas (inglesa, española y catalana) la presencia de

personajes fantásticos ha sido muy frecuente.Ya en el Poema de Gilgamesh (segundo milenio a.C.), escrito con caracteres

cuneiformes y obra que se considera la primera manifestación de literatura “escrita”,encontramos dragones y entes maravillosos relacionados con la cultura sumeria. Y éste serásolo el primero de múltiples ejemplos que encontramos en la historia de la literatura universaly que se acentuaron en la cultura clásica (casos de Grecia y Roma) y que continuaron en laEdad Media donde, por ejemplo, en la literatura española encontramos los escritos de SanIsidoro de Sevilla, San Basilio o San Ambrosio en los que encontramos entes fantásticoscomo el ave Fénix, el basilisco o el grifo.

También destacan en este periodo medieval los géneros de novelas de caballerías o bizantinas en las que podemos observar viajes a lugares legendarios habitados por personajesextraños y donde los protagonistas deben luchar contra monstruos, dragones o gigantes. Así,

en la Europa Medieval, hallamos manifestaciones literarias en las que es muy frecuente la presencia de personajes fantásticos o sobrenaturales. Por ejemplo, en el poema Beowulf ,encontramos como el valiente héroe se enfrenta un dragón y al monstruo Grendel y, en estaépoca, como explica surge otro personaje maravilloso como es el rey Arturo que “es una

perfecta mezcla entre mito y realidad. Más tarde aparecerán los cantares de gesta como Elcantar de Roldán, escrito en Francia y el cantar de gesta español Poema del Mío Cid . Con eltiempo los cantares de gesta se convertirán en perfectos ejemplos de cómo ha de comportarseun caballero amante de su patria y de la defensa del honor de ésta”. Y prosigue: “La fantasíaestá muy presente en los libros de caballerías. El primer lugar entre ellos lo ocupa el Amadís

de Gaula, uno de los mejores libros de fantasía escritos y un libro muy influyente en lahistoria de la literatura, lleno de belleza y misterio, de bosques y palacios, de héroes yvillanos, con un caballero que lucha contra el mago Arcalaus” (2007: pp. 347 -360).

En el periodo renacentista y barroco, con el resurgir de la mitología grecolatina1, vemoscomo la presencia de personajes fantásticos es evidente en obras de la literatura españolacomo Fábula de Polifemo y Galatea (1613) de Góngora (donde vemos el cíclope enamoradode una ninfa) o en la literatura inglesa, como podemos apreciar en el mismo Shakespeare(1564-1616), en obras como El sueño de una noche de verano (1595) donde vemos lainfluencia que ejercen las hadas sobre diferentes relaciones sentimentales2.

Posteriormente, durante el siglo XVIII y XIX, pese al racionalismo emergente, vemoscomo la presencia de personajes sobrenaturales o maravillosos continua patente en obras

1 Incluso desde la perspectiva nostálgica de pasados mejores y misteriosos, durante el romanticismo en GranBretaña también destacan autores como , Byron, , Coleridge, Wordsworth, Southey, Shelley y Keats2 Como señala Manuel Castilla (2007: 354): “Aunque Shakespeare no se considere un autor de literatura fantás-tica, podemos decir que Hamlet es un relato de fantasmas así como Macbeth es un relato de terror con sus apari-ciones y sus brujas. Macbeth nos cuenta la historia de cómo el personaje al que da título la obra recibe del rey ennuevo título nobiliario. Ahora ya es Señor de Glamis y Señor de Cawdor. Eso es algo que ya le habían vaticinadolas tres brujas con las que se habían encontrado Macbeth y su amigo Banquo”.



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como Frankenstein (1818) de Mary Shelley (1797-1851) o Los Viajes de Gulliver 1 (1726) deJonathan Swift (1667-1745) del que E. M Adams afirma que “owes its position amongchildren´s classics to Swift´s unchallenged position as a major author in British literature,and to their cheer power to fascinate and delight all readers, both young and old ”.(1999. 12)

Mención especial podemos hacer de los Chapbooks que V.E. Neuburg: define como:“Chapbooks may be defined as the paper-covered books offered for sale by pedlars, hawkersand other itinerant merchants known as ‘chapmen’ […] It was a small paper-covered book or

pamphlet, usually measuring some three and a half inches by six inches, containing 4, 8, 12,16 or 24 pages, and almost always enlivened by the inclusion of crude woodcut illustrations.These latter were not always even appropriate to the subject matter, but they undoubltelyadded a degree of visual charm. In content chapbooks did not differ to any marked extent

from the nontopical ballad sheets which had preceded them, offering stories, riddles, jokes – in fact, all kinds of traditional material –together with manuals of prophecy and fortune tell-ing (1997: 103) y que, hasta las primera décadas del siglo XIX, gozan de gran popularidad

social.Como vemos, la literatura “escrita” de autor, continuará inspirándose en personajes

fantásticos, brujas, vampiros, figuras fantasmagóricas, hadas o ghouls que podemos encontraren obras de Charles Dickens, Conan Doyle, Lovecraft, Poe, Arthur Machen o en obras como

Alicia en el País de las Maravillas (1865) o Drácula (1897) de los archiconocidos LewisCarroll (1832-1898) o Bram Stoker (1847-1912) respectivamente.

Ya bien entrado el siglo XX, encontramos obras que se han convertido en auténticosbest-sellers y que han originado auténticos movimientos sociales y han convertido la literaturafantástica en uno de los géneros con más demanda por parte de los lectores más jóvenes. Nos

estamos refiriendo a ejemplos como los de El Golem (1915), de Meyrink (1868-1932); de El Hobbit (1937), El Señor de los Anillos (1954-1955) y El Silmarillion (1977) de J. R. RTolkien (1892-1973) o la exitosa saga literaria de Harry Potter de la autora J. K. Rowling(1965-).

Los personajes fantásticos en la literatura de tradición oral

Una vez hemos realizado un repaso general a la literatura de autor, pasaremos acontinuación a analizar algunos ejemplos de tradición oral tanto de la cultura inglesa, como dela española y la catalana. Para ello, hemos considerado oportuno presentar, de formaesquemática y sucinta, algunos temas o narraciones en la siguiente tabla explicativa partiendode las características maravillosas que presentan sus personajes.

Obviamente, el corpus es muy general y podría ser mucho más extenso. Además somosconscientes que podríamos haber optado por una clasificación más compleja y “científica”,siguiendo por ejemplo las directrices, como indica Vicent Gimeno Bosch (2009: 137):“Models classificatoris més internacionalment utilitzat per la comunitat científica com és el deHans-Jörg Uther (ATU) que, al seu torn, es basa en l’acurat índex de tipus de contes folklòrics

1 Recordemos los habitantes de Brobdingnag y los liliputienses que evocan gigantes, trolles o duendecillos.



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d’Antti Aarne i Stith Thompson” o, en el caso de la catalogación en catalán, “fent servir lacatalogació proposada per Carme Oriol i Josep Maria Pujol [...] ja que, aquests autors, tambérecullen i revisen els postulats dels Aarne-Thompson, Joan Amades, Walter Anderson, JulioCamarena i Maxime Chevalier o el mateix Hans-Jörg Uther [...] o, centrándonos en el ámbitovalenciano, sobre los trabajos sobre las rondalles valencianes del profesor Rafael Beltran, deJosep Bataller o del propio V. Gimeno Bosch.

De una forma u otra, nuestro objetivo ha sido realizar el que puede ser un primer paso,el botón de muestra para que, después los docentes, puedan ampliarlo atendiendo a criterioscomo el nivel, el tema o la contextualización (espacial o temporal) donde desarrollan susclases (ver tabla).

Si observamos la tabla/resumen anterior observaremos que, en primer lugar, hemosdestacado la presencia en la literatura fantástica de las serpientes. La serpiente, de por sí, aligual que los dragones (que hemos situado en segundo lugar por la estrecha relación que tienecon las serpientes), siempre han sido seres malditos, condenados eternamente a arrastrarse por

el suelo. Como señala V. Labrado es “un animal esquemàtic, tot cap, coll i cua, perquè el colli la cua no té cos, així com fan les altres bèsties, i amb aquesta comoditat ella es veu méssolta, perquè sense cames bé camina i va sempre terrera, plana sobre el vent, movent-se ensecret i a traïdoria” (2007: 51).

En la narración inglesa, observamos como, después de que el hombre libere al ofidio,éste pretende comerse a su liberador. Vemos aquí el mismo argumento como en La serpdesagraïda valenciana. Por su parte, también vemos el paralelismo existente entre la versiónde Sancha castellana1 y La Serp de Sanxa valenciana, donde el niño – gran amigo de laserpiente pues la alimenta cada día – muere ahogado por el abrazo de cariño que le realiza

Sancha cuando le saludo después de una larga ausencia de éste.Como hemos comentado, vinculado con la serpiente tenemos el dragón. En la Literaturainglesa encontramos múltiples manifestaciones que hablan de dragones. De todos es conocidala historia de The Dragon-Slayer que narra como un héroe mata a un dragón y le corta lalengua. Casi paralelamente el rey promete la mano de su hija a quien acabe con el dragón. Unimpostor encuentra al dragón muerto y le corta la cabeza y se la presenta al rey argumentandoque fue él el que acabó con el monstruo. Poco tiempo después, el héroe regresa al reino y,

presentando la lengua que cortó al dragón en su momento, desenmascara al impostor. Estahistoria es muy parecida a El vencedor del dragón castellana. Por su parte, es obvio que lassimilitudes entre Saint George and the Dragon, La serp de set caps o El dragón de las sietecabezas o la leyenda del Drac del Patriarca son muy similares pues todas ellas narran lahistoria de como el héroe (Saint George / San Jaime / Sant Jaume o Sant Jordi) vence a lacriatura maléfica y libera el pueblo de su sumisión.

En tercer lugar, encontramos la presencia de personajes con cualidades excepcionales o poderes sobrenaturales (enorme fuerza, tamaño, rapidez, capacidad auditiva2, poder sopar un

1 El lector puede localizar esta leyenda registrada por Vte. Blasco Ibáñez en su novela de 1902 Cañas y barro(Obras completas, I, pp.882-823)2 Escoltim-Escoltaina en catalán.



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viento huracanado1, etc.). Este ejemplo es uno de los que demuestra la interrelación casiabsoluta que se produce en las narraciones de las tres literaturas. Prácticamente los modelosson idénticos y los argumentos se podrían combinar para cualquier recurso didáctico en losque se pretenda trabajar conjuntamente con los tres idiomas. Podemos ver el caso de

personajes forzudos que ayudan o son ayudados por sus compañeros – en The Strong Manand his Companions, El fortachón y sus compañeros o Ferrabràs para derrotar, por ejemplo aogros, gigantes o fantasmas2 como ocurre también en Jack the Giant Killer – o en personajesque destacan por tener la fuerza como para mover las montañas (Esclafamuntanyes3,Tombatossals), arrancar un pino del suelo ( Arrencapins), o fuerza en general Strong John.Caso curioso es el de Catorce panes (español) o En Pere catorze (catalán) o en la rondallavalenciana de El forçut de Xixona en donde el protagonista es tan forzudo y, como cometanto, el pueblo intenta librarse de él inútilmente.

Conviene destacar que, hemos incluido, en el apartado de literatura española la versiónliteraria de Fernán Caballero “La oreja de Lucifer” por si el lector está interesado en conocer

una versión literaria de este tipo y que, como R. Beltran afirma, la podemos encontrar en“Chevalier, Siglo de Oro; Amores, XIX ” (2007: 585)

Otro tipo de personaje maravilloso es el que destaca por su escaso tamaño. En esteapartado encontramos en la literatura inglesa el ejemplo de Tom Thumb4 o Thumbling quecomo explica María del Mar Carrasco Rodríguez (2005: pp.508-509): “ Este diminuto

personaje nació “in King´s Arhurs time” de una familia humilde pues “his Father was a Plow-man plaine/ his Mother milkt the cow. Ante la dificultad para engendrar, el matrimonioacude a Merlin y le piden un hijo, “though it might be no bigger than his Thumbe”. El magoles otorga su deseo y nace un niño que “in foure minutes grew so fast, / that he became so tall

/ as was the Plowmans thumbe in height”. Debido a su tamaño la vida no va a ser fácil y la primera dificultad que se encuentran es como proveer a su hijo de las cosas más elementales:

“His garters were two little haires, pull´d from his mothers eye,

His bootes and shoes a mouses skin,There tand most curiously”.

Como el lector supondrá, este argumento es muy similar al de Pulgarcito o Garbancitode la literatura española o al de Cigronet , En Patufet , El llenyater o en Nabet (versión deBèlgida recopilada por Enric Valor en su Obra literaria completa (1996) Valencia: Gora, vol.II, pp. 356-368) tan frecuente en la tradición oral catalana. En todos los casos el argumento

1 Bufim-bufaina también en la tradición catalana.2 En el caso de la versión Juan el Oso o En Joan de l’Ós, podemos ver como el héroe, que es hijo de un oso y deuna mujer, libera a los compañeros del poder del ogro o del gigante.3 Al igual que Juan el Oso, Esclafamuntanyes “és un tipus sobrenatural, barreja d’animal i ésser humà […] filld’un ós i una dona segrestada i violada per la fera (és el “Juan el Oso” de la tradición castellana)” (2007:585)4 Ya encontramos una primera manifestación escrita de Tom Thumb en la obra Discoverie of Witchcraft de Regi-nald Scot en el 1584.



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versa sobre el deseo de un matrimonio de tener un hijo aunque sea muy pequeño (como ungarbanzo, una semilla de tomate, una cabeza de ajos o un nabo). El héroe diminuto pasa pordiferentes aventuras hasta que es ingerido por una vaca (cuando ésta se come una col). Los

padres lo encontrarán porque Garbancito responde a una fórmula rimada.Distinto es el caso del Enano Saltarín, The Name of the Helper o de El nan saltador

que cuenta la historia de un molinero que afirma que su hija puede convertir el trigo en oro. Elrey lo escucha y le dice que, si es capaz de convertir en oro el trigo, la chica se casará con suhijo pero, si todo es una falacia, morirá. A la chica se le aparece un enano que, a cambio dedarle su primer hijo, convertirá el trigo en oro. La chica se casa con el príncipe y tienen unhijo. Posteriormente, cuando el enano reclama al hijo, la protagonista pacta con el enano que,si es capaz de adivinar su nombre, su hijo estará a salvo. Finalmente, un criado del palacioescucha cantar al enano y puede así saber su nombre.

En este ejemplo las versiones que encontramos son prácticamente complementarias y podemos trabajar conjuntamente con los tres idiomas.

Complementario, pero totalmente opuesto, al arquetipo que acabamos de describir sonlos personajes de tamaño inmenso. Estos personajes los podríamos relacionar también con elapartado que hemos denominado como personajes con cualidades excepcionales o poderes

sobrenaturales pues a su característica física de ser enormes les suele acompañar una fuerzasobrenatural.

En este apartado encontramos narraciones como The Dwarf and de Giant The Childrenand the Ogre The Ogre Blinded (Polyphemus) – en inglés – Polifemo (en castellano) o elarchiconocido Bufanúvols o la historia de Els nens i l’ogre o la de El gegant negre en catalán.

Aquí encontramos la típica historia del héroe que es prisionero de un gigante, ogro o

cíclope y escapa después de clavarle en el ojo un hierro incandescente y envolverse con una piel de oveja. También podemos detectar que los gigantes – como ocurre en la versiónvalenciana recopilada en Benidoleg (Alicante) El gegant negre – son los guardianes de lostesoros escondidos en cuevas o lugares recónditos.

En sexto lugar tenemos las brujas. Obviamente, el corpus de historias en los que apareceeste personaje frecuentemente relacionado con el demonio, es inmenso. Por ello, nos hemos

basado en una historia muy conocida y que los docentes fácilmente la podrán encontrar: Hansel and Gretel

Hansel and Gretel con las versiones castellanas de La casita de chocolate, La casita deazúcar o la De brujas que recopila A. Rico en la comarca de los Serranos (2007: 273); o lesrondalles catalanas Peret i Marieta; Peret i Margarideta; La casa de caramel o La xiqueta iel foc

En todos los casos se cuenta la historia de dos hermanos que son atrapados por una bruja que encierra en una jaula al niño para cebarlo y comérselo y, a la niña la coge comocriada. Cada vez que la bruja va a comprobar si el niño ya ha engordado, éste le enseña unoshuesos de pollo. Finalmente, el día que la bruja se cansa de esperar, le pide a la niña queencienda el fuego y, cuando la bruja se acerca, la niña la empuja y cae al fuego, Así es comoescapan los dos hermanos.



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El siguiente perfil de personaje fantástico corresponde a las almas en pena o fantasmas.En las distintas propuestas que planteamos como, por ejemplo, el hilo argumental de TheThree Old Spinning Women, Spinning Assigned to Girl , Las tres hilanderas, Las ánimas y Lesanimetes (registrada a Biar) son muy similares pues nos encontramos con el protagonista quequiere casarse con una mujer muy trabajadora. Una vieja le trae su nieta y le comenta que esmuy buena hilando, cosiendo y bordando. Pero realmente las que hilan, cosen bordan son tresalmas del purgatorio. Cuando se produce el casamiento aparecen las tres almas deformadas ycuando el protagonista les pregunta la causa de su deformidad ellas dicen que es de trabajartanto. Inmediatamente le dice a su esposa que no vuelva a hilar a coser y a bordar.

Por otra parte, encontramos leyendas como la de Soul Released from Torment o Els frares del pontarró en las cuales encontramos seres que han sido condenadas a errareternamente por actos injustos o impuros.

Otro ente muy frecuente son las Sirenas que aparecen en cuentos como The Nix of the Mill-pond ; El canto de la sirena, La sirena de la mar o El cant de la sirena que son un tipo

concreto de ninfas, inicialmente con cuerpo de ave y rostro humano, y que con el devenir deltiempo acabaron siendo mujeres preciosas con la parte inferior de pez. De todos es sabido quelas sirenas, que en Inglaterra se las ha conocido como Mermaids, tienen el poder de, con suscánticos, encantar a los marineros o, cuando tienen relación con algún humano, raramente leayudan pero a cambio de una contrapartida muy exigente1.

En lo concerniente a las hadas, como ya hemos indicado anteriormente: “The richtradition of English fairy mythology survived in the eighteenth century almost entirelybecause of chapbooks. Like the medieval romances, fairy legends and tales had remained

popular amongst educated people until about the middle of the seventeenth century, and they

declined similarly round about this time. Through chapbooks children had immediate andready access to a very considerable range of traditional literature that their more sophisticated elders had, for better or worse, outgrown”. (1968: 2)

Tal y como sucede con las brujas, como el corpus de narraciones es tan extenso, hemosconsiderado como ejemplo típico, también compartido entre las tres lenguas, de este tipologíade personajes, el caso de la Cinderella en la protagonista es obligada por su madrastra atrabajar duramente en las tareas de casa y cómo se burlan sus hermanastras de ello.Posteriormente, la heroína recibe la ayuda de una hada que le permite acudir al baileorganizado por el príncipe donde acude y se ambos se enamoran. Cuando el encantamientoexpira la muchacha huye precipitadamente perdiendo un zapato. Días después, el príncipeorganiza la búsqueda de su amada hasta que la encuentra y se casa con ella.

Otra criatura vinculada al lado oscuro y al eje del mal son los demonios que siempresuelen hacer favores a los mortales pero a cambio de quedarse con su alma. No obstante,

podemos ver en historias como The Evil Woman Thrown into the Pit , La sogra del diable o El Dimoni fumador en las que el demonio es vencido por la astucia de un humano. En altres

1 En algún cuento inglés también aparece la Glaistig , que habita en las aguas, y tiene cuerpo de mujer y piernasde cabra. Se alimenta de la sangre de los hombres que seduce con sus bailes. No obstante, suele ser compasivacon niños y ancianos.



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casos como en The Dog on the Bridge y El puente del Diablo vemos como es el diablo elencargado de custodiar algún lugar y, gracias a la astucia de alguno de los personajes,consiguen que su atención y vigilancia disminuya y el héroe pueda salirse con la suya.

Finalmente, hemos considerado un grupo de personajes fantásticos muy interesante yvariopinto como son los personajes con rasgos humanos y, a la vez animales. Suelen ser frutode la unión –o violación en algunos casos – entre una bestia y una humana o pueden haberobtenido este aspecto por una influencia maligna o por haber vendido su alma.

Tenemos, por ejemplo, el caso de Youwarkee que es de la estirpe de los glums una tribuque tiene alas y es mitad mujer, mitad pájaro. Según la leyenda vive en una isla perdida de losmares del hemisferio Sur. En Valencia tenemos el Pardal Caro que cuenta la historia de unser, mitad hombre, mitad pájaro que ha sido condenado eternamente por intentar engañar aDios. A grandes rasgos podemos decir que en esta historia se repite el tema de The Wandering

Jew cuando describe como el protagonista es condenado a errar eternamente por no haberdejado que Dios descansara un momento cuando llevaba la cruz.

Mención a parte tiene merece, por ejemplo, cuando vemos la irrupción de personajesmaravillosos – generalmente malignos – mediante los cuales se intenta influir en elcomportamiento de los niños (para que se comporten adecuadamente, se terminen la comida ose vayan a dormir). Nos referimos a casos como el hombre del saco o home del sac, a l’homedels nassos, al Coco, al Moro Mussa, la Quarantamaula, el Rabosot, el Miquelot , las brujas,bruixes o witches, los dragones o el saginer 1. Y es que, todos estos personajes han sidocreados para instruirnos desde pequeños y, aunque la apariencia física pueda diferir enfunción de cada lugar 2, lo cierto es que los temas, arquetipos y funciones se repitencontinuamente y, por eso, podemos utilizarlos en cualquiera de los tres idiomas.

En resumen, y a modo de conclusión, hemos intentado hacer ver que, cuando se pretende enseñar una lengua – y su literatura – no tenemos porqué caer en el error deconsidera la enseñanza de la lengua y la literatura como un compartimiento estanco,impermeable. La interdependencia lingüística – y cultural – así como la competenciasubyacente común que tenemos los hablantes hace que podamos aprender de formainterdisciplinar y, por consiguiente, el hecho de aprender y leer en una lengua nos ayuda aaprender en otras. Hemos intentado hacer ver que literatura es, posiblemente, la herramientamás eficaz – divertida e interesante – a la hora de adquirir la competencia comunicativa en unidioma. Consideramos que, los docentes de hoy en día, debemos optar por una didácticaintegrada de lengua pues, estableciendo relaciones, buscando puntos en común, es la únicaforma de alcanzar el ansiado – e incluso a veces casi utópico “trilingüismo”.

Además, si lo que pretendemos es que nuestro alumnado sea capaz de ser trilingüe, esdecir, de ser capaz de alternar con competencia tres idiomas, ¿cómo vamos a separarlos si

podemos conseguir, en muchas ocasiones, que confluyan? ¿Por qué no podemos realizar

1 Recomendamos al lector interesado en este tema la lectura de la obra de Víctor Labrado Llegendes valencianes:criatures mítiques de la tradició oral (Véase la referencia en la Bibliografía final)2 En Escocia encontramos los Kelpies que son hombres peludos que se convierten en caballo y que, los niños, alver que es un potro perdido lo montan. Y el caballo galopa hasta el mar o el río donde mueren ahogados. EnIrlanda se les conoce como Each-Uisge o Aughisky y en algunas partes de Inglaterra como Potamides.



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actividades como la “ensalada o cóctel de leyendas”, las dramatizaciones, las lecturasdramáticas, la invención de personajes o de finales de las historias o, incluso, las canciones deforma conjunta y “trilingüe”?

Esta aproximación general a unos personajes literarios tan frecuentes y de tanto caladoen nuestra sociedad, son solo una muestra que intenta hacer ver que el trazar nexos deaprendizaje comunes es factible. Ahora bien, este reto supone que el profesorado tenga queinstruirse e investigar en muchas más líneas pues, si bien los profesores de inglés, español ocatalán, hasta el momento tenían que preocuparse por diseñar recursos didácticos para su áreade estudio, ahora precisan de una visión más amplia y, consiguientemente, se requiere unmayor esfuerzo y preparación. Desde aquí, consideramos que merece la pena intentar elesfuerzo pues, como en las leyendas e historias que hemos repasado, al final, con esfuerzo,

buena fe y tesón conseguiremos que esta historia termine con un Happy End.

A modo de material complementario y de consulta, a continuación y, con el objetivoque los docentes tengan una referencia inicial de enlaces en la web donde poder encontrarvarios recursos didácticos y material literario para trabajar esta tipología de personajesfantásticos así como obtener textos que les permitan trabajar la educación literaria en losdistintos idiomas, les presentamos este tabla/resumen explicativa con los enlaces comentados.

Personajemaravilloso

Manifestaciones o ejemplos en las diferentes literaturasLiteratura inglesa Literatura española Literatura catalana

1 Serpientes The Ungrateful Snake Returned to Captivity

Sancha (dentro de Cañas y barro de Blasco Ibáñez)

La serp de Sanxa La serp Tereseta La serp desagraïda

2 Dragones The Dragon-SlayerSaint George and the

Dragon Beowulf

El dragón de las sietecabezas

La serp de set caps La mare dels peixos

3 Héroe confuerza o poderessobrenaturales

The Strong Man and hisCompanionsThe Three Stolen PrincessesStrong John

Jack the Giant KillerGuy of Warwick o Thomas

Hickathrift

Juan el Oso La oreja de Lucifer El fortachón y suscompañerosCatorce panes

Juanito l’Orso / En Joan del’Ós

Ferrabràs Esclafamuntanyes El forçut de Xixona En Pere catorze Arrencapins

Tombatossals Bufim-Bufaina Escoltim-Escoltaina

4 Personaje pequeño

ThumblingTom ThumbThe Name of the Helper

PulgarcitoGarbancito

El enano saltarín

Cigronet En Patufet / Es Ciuronet (a Balears) El llenyater Nabet El nan saltador

5 Héroe de The Dwarf and de Giant Polifemo Bufanúvols



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tamaño inmenso The Children and the OgreThe Ogre Blinded(Polyphemus)

Els nens i l’ogre El gegant negre

6 Brujas Hansel and Gretel La casita de azúcar La casita de chocolate

De brujas7 Almas en pena The Three Old SpinningWomenSpinning Assigned to GirlSoul Released fromTorment

Las tres hilanderas Las ánimas

Les animetes Els frares del pontarró

8 Hadas Cinderella Cenicienta La Ventafocs / LaCendrellosa

9 Sirenas The Nix of the Mill-pond ; , El canto de la sirena La sirena de la mar El cant de la sirena

10Demonios The Evil Woman Thrown

into the PitThe Dog on the Bridge

El puente del Diablo La sogra del diable El Dimoni fumador (E.Valor)

Me vaig tornar Satanàs

11 Personajeshumanos yanimales

Youwarkee Brownie/brounie o urisk (enescocés)

La Sirena del mar El pardal Caro

Enlace Descripción Idioma

http://ineverycrea.net/comunida

d/ineverycrea/recurso/Recursos-de-gramatica-y-literatura-inglesa-creados/70b41401-7a70-46d2-89f2-14b2f8cdff9c

Enlace creado donde profesorado y pedagogos crean y

comparten materiales

Inglés

Español

http://www.literature.org/On this site you will find the full and unabridged textsof classic works of English literature. Fiction fromauthors like Lewis Carroll, the Bronte sisters, JackLondon, Mark Twain, Ch. Dickens and many others

Inglés

http://www.andersenstories.com

/es/andersen_cuentos/index

Repositorio de cuentos de Hans Christian Andersen Inglés

Español

http://www.grimmstories.com/es/grimm_cuentos/index

Repositorio de cuentos de Grima Inglés

Español

http://www.storybus.org/es/cuentos

Repositorio de cuentos infantiles Inglés

http://ineverycrea.net/comunidad/ineverycrea/recurso/Recursos-de-gramatica-y-literatura-inglesa-creados/70b41401-7a70-46d2-89f2-14b2f8cdff9c





http://www.literature.org/

http://www.andersenstories.com/es/andersen_cuentos/index












http://www.literature.org/








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http://pacomova.eresmas.net/ Enlace con más de 600 cuentos ordenadosalfabéticamente

Inglés

Español

http://es.childrenslibrary.org/ Biblioteca Digital Internacional para niños Inglés

http://www.bhuhb.org/ Cuentos educativos en inglés con textos de FedericoJoselevich e ilustraciones de Paola Stefani

Inglés

http://www.waece.org/cuentos/tabla.htm

Libros de los cuentos del mundo ordenado por lectores Varios

Idiomas

http://www.rif.org/kids/leer/es/leerhome.htm

Lecturas para leer en familia. Español

http://www.soloprofes.com/enlaces/enlaces.php?&tag=recursos%20PDI

Material de recursos didácticos elaborado y compartido por profesores

Varios

Idiomas

http://elevalencia.wikispaces.com/P%C3%A1ginas+con+recursos+educativos

Enlace para la enseñanza del Español como LenguaExtranjera

Inglés

Español

http://www.xtec.cat/web/recursos/recursos

Xarxa telemàtica Educativa de Catalunya.Completísima

Variosidiomas

http://www.profes.net/ Material de recursos didácticos elaborado y compartido por profesores

Variosidiomas

http://portal.portaldidactico.es/ Material de recursos didácticos elaborado y compartido por profesores

Variosidiomas

Bibliografía

RECOPILACIONES DE NARRATIVAARCIPRESTE DE HITA, Juan Ruiz (1931): Libro de Buen Amor ̧ Bilbao. Espasa-Calpe.BATALLER CALDERON, Josep (1981): Contalles populars valencianes, I, València,

Institució Alfons el Magnànim. [Bataller, Contalles, I] ___ (1999): Les rondalles valencianes, Gandia, CEIC Alfons el Vell. [Bataller, Rondalles

valencianes]CORTÉS, Vicente (2000): El tío paragüero. Tradición oral de la Serranía I , El Villar del

Arzobispo, Centro de Estudios “La Serranía”. [Cortés, Serranía]GARCÍA DE DIEGO, Vicente (1953): Antología de leyendas de la literatura universal ,

Barcelona. Labor.

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http://es.childrenslibrary.org/

http://www.bhuhb.org/













http://www.profes.net/

http://portal.portaldidactico.es/

http://portal.portaldidactico.es/

http://www.profes.net/













http://www.bhuhb.org/

http://es.childrenslibrary.org/

http://pacomova.eresmas.net/



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GIMENO BOSCH, Vicent (2009): El gènere narratiu de tradició oral a la Valldigna.Tavernes de la Valldigna.

LABRADO, Víctor (2007): Llegendes valencianas, criatures de la tradcició oral , Xàbia,Bromera.

RICO BELTRÁN, Amparo: Col·lecció particular inèdita.SANCHIS GUARNER, Manuel (1982): Els pobles valencians parlen els uns dels altres,

València, Edicions 3 i 4, 5 vols. [Sanchis Guarner, Pobles valencians]VALOR I VIVES, Enric (1950- 1958): Rondalles valencianes, València, Torre, 3 vols. [1950,

1951, 1958] ___ (1975-1976): Obra literària completa, València, Gorg, 2 vols. [Valor, Rondalles]

CATÀLOGOSAARNE, Antti i Stith THOMPSON (1961): The Types of the Folktale. A Classification and

Bibliography, col. F. F. Communications, 184, Helsinki, Academia Scientiarum

Fennica. [Aa-Th].BELTRAN, Rafael (2007): Rondalles populars valencianes: Antologia, catàleg i estudi dins

la tradició del folklore universal . València. PUV. Publicacions Universitat de València[Beltrán, Rondalles]

CAMARENA LAUCIRICA, Julio i Maxime CHEVALIER (1995): Catálogo Tipológico delCuento Folklórico Español. Cuentos maravillosos, col. Biblioteca Románica Hispánica,IV, Textos 24, Madrid. Gredos. [C-Ch, Catálogo (Maravillosos)]

CHEVALIER, Maxime (1983): Cuentos folklóricos españoles del Siglo de Oro, Barcelona.Crítica. [Chevalier, Siglo de Oro]

ORIOL, Carme i Josep M. PUJOL (2003): Índex tipològic de la rondalla catalana, Barcelona.Departament de Cultura de la Generalitat de Catalunya. [Oriol-Pujol, Índex]OLRIK, Axel (1992): Principles for oral narrative Research, Bloomington. Indiana

University Press. [Olrik, Principles]UTHER, Hans-Jörg (2004): The Types of International Folktales. A Classification and

Bibliography. Based on the System of Antii Aarne and Stith Thompson, col. FFCommunications, 284, Helsinki, Academia Scientiarum Fennica, 3 vols. [ATU].

BIBLIOGRAFIA GENERALCASTILLA GÓMEZ, Manuel (2007): Las brujas y otros seres fantásticos en la obra de

William Shakespeare, Universidad de Sevilla, Comunicación nº 5, (pp. 347 -360)GÓMEZ, N. NÚÑEZ, G. i PEDROSA, J.M. (2003): Folclore y literatura oral: Ensayo de

historia, poética y didáctica, Universidad Almería, Grupo Editorial Universitario.HUNT, P. (2001). Children´s Literature. Blackwell Guides to Literature. Oxford: Blackwell.JANER MANILA, Gabriel (1979): Literatura infantil (apunts per a una pedagogia

desconolitzada de la lectura), Mallorca, Embat.



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LEINO, P. (1989): «The Interpretation of Tales in Folkloristics», dentro SIIKALA, ANNA-LEENA (Edit by) «Studies in oral narrative», Studia Fennica. Review of Finnish

Linguistic and Ethnology 33, Hèlsinki.MOROTE MAGÁN, Pascuala (2007): “Técnicas de recopilación y de recreación de cuentos y

leyendas” en La formación de mediadores para la promoción de la lectura. Universidadde Castilla-La Mancha. Cuenca. CEPLI (Centro de Estudios de Promoción de la Lecturay Literatura Infantil)

PROPP, Vladimir. (1972): Las transformaciones del cuento maravilloso, Buenos Aires.Rodolfo Alonso.



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Did you say writing comics?

Mª Victoria Guadamillas Gómez(Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha)

Introduction

Art historians consider comics as pop art, meaning popular art. Comics are part of mod-ern culture and found in mass media, from video games to movies. They have their own lan-guage and ways to convey emotions and messages.

Creative teaching is a collaborative enterprise; one which capitalizes on the unexpectedand enables children to develop their language and literacy in purposeful contexts that involveengagement and reflection. Such an approach recognizes that teaching is an art form and that“learning to read and write is and artistic event” (Freire, 1985: 20), and one that connects tochildren’s out-of-school practices. Teaching for creativity in English aims to enable young

people to develop a questioning and critically reflective stance towards texts, to express them-selves with voice and to generate what is new and original; allowing integration of studentswho possess a lack of motivation towards traditional learning methods.

Whenever there is motivation and desire, a comic can be created. Students usually lovecomic characters which may include magical creatures, superheroes or just ordinary kids fromanime and mangas, as Japanese comics are called. Students can use comics to represent whothey are and the world they live in, introducing cultural values through it. They can also createcharacters and invent stories. If you have effective ideas, give clear guidelines and encouragestudents to use their imagination, there will be no limits.

In this article I will present a specific approach of how comics can improve the writingskills of our students at primary level. Before presenting my proposal, we briefly outline someof the educational policies that connect arts and language learning nowadays.

European policies: artistic competence

Language knowledge is undoubtedly important in our globalised world and it is also oneof the specific goals of European Educational Policies. Increased mobility, internationaliza-tion and information society make it necessary that people can also communicate in languages

other than their mother tongue. European Commission states as a priority the development ofa set of competences, since they are an important part of the full development of every indi-vidual: “Language competencies are part of the core of skills that every citizen needs fortraining, employment, cultural exchange and personal fulfillment.” (European Commission2003: 7).

These Educational Policies focused on competences and their acquisition through thecurriculum areas; some of them are considered basic ones like communication in mother-tongue, and others are cross-curricular in nature. These should be supported by transversalcapabilities and skills such as critical thinking, creativity, sense of initiative, problem solving,



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risk assessment, decision-making and constructive management of feelings. It was generallyagreed that the successful promotion of the cross-curricular key competences, transversalskills and attitudes required a different, non-traditional pedagogic approach and changes inschool organization and management culture. Teacher competences have been declared equal-ly important. That is why the study focused on school practice and teacher training.

School practice has a fundamental role in promoting cross-curricular key competences.It should be seen in the broader context of educational policy, implementation efforts under-taken such as a communication strategy, curriculum development, quality assurance and in-spection, governance and school autonomy. Among these measures, assessment seems to bethe most critical and the biggest challenge.

Teaching English based on creativity and key competences development does not meanshort-changing the teaching of essential knowledge, skills and understanding of the subject;rather it involves teaching skills and developing knowledge about language in creative con-texts that explicitly invite learners to engage imaginatively and which stretch their generative

and evaluative capacities. That creativity emerges as children become absorbed in activelyexploring ideas, initiating their own learning and making choices and decisions about how toexpress themselves using different media and language modes, like symbols, pictures, etc.

Creative teaching is a collaborative enterprise; one which capitalizes on the unexpectedand enables children to develop their language and literacy in purposeful contexts that involveengagement and reflection. Such an approach recognizes that teaching is an art form and that“learning to read and write is and artistic event” (Freire, 1985: 20), and one that connects tochildren’s out-of-school practices. Teaching for creativity in English aims to enable young

people to develop a questioning and critically reflective stance towards texts, to express them-

selves with voice and to generate what is new and original; allowing integration of studentswho possess a lack of motivation towards traditional learning methods.One possible way to integrate the competences, particularly artistic competence, and the

language learning is the combination of both artistic tasks and use of language. Lately, amethod which is on the rise is CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning). The aim ofthis method is to improve both content and language skills (Maljers, Mars & Wolff 2007: 7f).It is being used in different educational levels, but mostly in Spain in Primary and SecondaryEducation through the development of Bilingual Programs. But, my aim in this article is notto define CLIL, not to conceptualize every single term and its implication, what I actually tryto do is to present a methodological application of arts and literature in a primary classroom toimprove writing skills, having into account the European policies and some other learningtheories like the holistic approach I will define below.

Holistic Learning through Arts

Modern teaching approaches outline the importance of developing students’ emotions,rather than just the cognitive side. Integrating feelings, emotions and personal experiencesinto the learning process must represent one of the main techniques. In this respect, Stevick



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defines affect “as proposes and emotions which take part in the learning process” (Stevick1999: 47). It is therefore an aim of education to promote the physiological well-being, since itallows our students to learn better (Arnold, 1999)

Recently, many researchers have tried to provide models of what holistic learning mightentail for teachers and learners in practical terms. Karsten (2004), for example, defines holis-tic learning as follows:

Holistic Learning is based on the principle of interconnectedness and wholeness. Thusthe student is seen as a whole person with body, emotions and spirit.

Holistic Learning seeks to develop approaches to teaching and learning that foster con-nections between subjects, between learners through various forms of community.

Holistic Learning seeks a dynamic balance in the language learning situation betweensuch elements as content and process, learning and assessment, and analytic and creativethinking.

Holistic Learning is inclusive in terms of including a broad range of students and a vari-

ety of learning approaches to meet their diverse needs.(Karsten 2004: 15)Artistic activities in the classroom connect students to their mental processes of expres-

sion, promoting their own motivation and self-esteem. Besides, learning English through ar-tistic activities fosters students’ positive attitude to learning languages and to the differentcultures. So that, the intercultural competence is reinforced, avoiding what Goleman calledemotional illiteracy, which is sometimes responsible for the failure of students at school (Go-leman, 1995).

Arts have been widely used in the English language classroom, obtaining positive out-

comes, since they allow the spontaneous language learning while students develop their po-tential creativity. In doing so, teachers use an instrumental language which is contextualizedfor the concrete activity. So the artistic tasks are responsible for generating new vocabulary,activating in that way the unconscious mechanisms which promote the second language learn-ing happens in a natural way, using similar mechanisms to the ones that were used whenlearning the mother tongue.

Integrating language and art in the same classroom allow students to create visual mate-rials, which can be visual support in other subjects. Then, the works of art also serve as didac-tic materials, erasing frontiers among disciplines or contents and establishing positive andnarrower relationships between curricular contents and promoting teachers’ cooperation.

In the classroom: connections between holistic learning, comics and writing

In this section, we will present some specific classroom activities using comics to showhow these materials have a great potential to learn how to write following the holistic ap-



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proach and other general theories of learning such as the multiple intelligences (Gardner,1983)1.

We will present four different activities which match with the four aspects of holisticlearning established by Karsten (2004) and the use of arts in the English class:

Characters

Holistic Learning is based on the principle of interconnectedness and wholeness. Thusthe student is seen as a whole person with body, emotions and spirit. (Karsten, 2004)

One of the potential of comics as a way of literatures is that they have different charac-ters which are well-defined through the various comic’s strips. So, it can be interesting in thefirst cycle of Primary and as a previous stage to create a comic, to creatively develop somecharacters the activity can follow these steps:

1. Teacher reviews some famous comic characters and their characteristics2. Every student create and draw a character, it can be an alien, a superhero, a vil-

lain...etc.3. Students write some of the characteristics of the character they have created, us-

ing adjectives that describe him or her physically and mentally.4. As a fourth step they assign a speech balloon so that the characters tell their

names, where they are from, mention their strongest point and explain their mission on earth.5. Students share their writings and teacher provides a feedback. These characters

can be used in the following classes by creating some friends and placing them in real comic

strips.

It’s a big world

Holistic Learning seeks to develop approaches to teaching and learning that foster con-nections between subjects, between learners through various forms of community. (Karsten,2004)

Another potential of comics is the possibility to establish a whole sequence in which a process or the consequences of a previous action is shown. In that sense, comics can also beused in the Social and Science subject to connect the language learning development to theacquisition of new contents in the target language. That’s an example of activity for the sec-ond cycle of Primary (4th year) where life processes and ecosystems are included in the cur-riculum:

1. Teacher previously present different sea and earth ecosystems.

1 In the early eighties, Gardner published his theory of Multiple Intelligences, proposing an initial seven intelli-gences which could be called upon in order to realice the full human potential of learning; one of these intelli-gences is the artistic one (Gardner, 1983)



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2. Students choose an animal which belongs to one of the ecosystems and draw theanimal in the correct ecosystem.

3. Students describe the ecosystem using the target language (TL)4. As the animal becomes a comic character it has different powers, so students

change the animal from ecosystem to ecosystem, describe its powers using adjectives.5. Every time the animal is in a different place, students describe the ecosystem by

writing and draw it.1.1.

It’s sound familiarHolistic Learning seeks a dynamic balance in the language learning situation between

such elements as content and process, learning and assessment, and analytic and creativethinking. (Karsten, 2004)

Holistic approach to learning also tries to promote creative thinking. So let’s propose anactivity in which real facts get together with fiction and promote a perfect situation for writingskills development. The aim of this activity is change real people into comic characters:

1. Teacher presents an example of her/his family as comic characters.2. First, students turn themselves into characters. They describe themselves and

their powers.3. Students turn their family (parents, sisters or brothers) into comic characters.4. Once they have all the characters draw and design, they can image themselves in

a crazy situation (i.e. a day in a farm).5. They need to describe the situation using ballons...etc..6. After the teacher feedback, they can exchange their comics strips and try to rec-

ognize each other families.

1.2.

Villains go to therapyHolistic Learning is inclusive in terms of including a broad range of students and a vari-ety of learning approaches to meet their diverse needs. (Karsten, 2004)

Some students can have some problems or feel emotionally touched at any moment, provoking that their needs or learning styles varied, so literature and comic in particular can be a perfect way for students to show their feeling and try to share them in class at the sametime the develop their learning. We present an activity which can help our students not just todevelop their writing competence, but also to express their emotions and try to help and giveadvice to others:

1. Students create a villain who is tormented because of the things he has done.2. They draw the characters and describe the action that is tormenting him/her.3. They imagine a session with a psychologist who gives him/her advice.4. They can role-play the situation in pairs after they have role-play.

Conclusions

This paper has presented some of the connections of a particular way of literature (com-ics) with the holistic learning approach and other recent theories for language learning. It has



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also focused on the integration of arts and language learning to develop the competences thathave been established according to the European Language Policies.

To conclude, integrating arts and foreign languages in the same classroom presentsmany advantages, since the visual nature of language makes easier the oral communication. Italso helps students to describe, think or reflect before writing. Besides, to design attractiveactivities in the English class promotes students positive attitude to the language and to othercultures, contributing the holistic education of both our students in teacher training programsand in primary education.

Works cited

Amara, Philip 2002. So, you wanna be a comic book artist? Scholastic.Arnold, J. 1999. Affect in Language Learning . Cambridge: C.U.P.European Commission, 2003. “Promoting language learning and linguistic diversity: an action

plan 2004-2006”, 1-29.Freire, P. 1985. Reading the World and Reading the Word: And Interview with Paulo Freire,

Language Arts, 62 (1): 15-21.Goleman, D. 1995. Emotional Intelligence: Why it Can Matter More that IQ. Nueva York:

Bantam Books.Karsten, Selia (2004): What is holistic learning? (Available at:

http://tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca/~skarsten/holistic/HolisticLeearning.html Downloaded15 July 2012)

Stevick, E. 1999. Affect in Learning and Memory: from Alchemy to Chemistry , Arnold J. (ed).

Affect in Language Learning . Cambridge: C.U.P.

http://tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca/~skarsten/holistic/HolisticLeearning.html

http://tortoise.oise.utoronto.ca/~skarsten/holistic/HolisticLeearning.html



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Metodología para realizar un taller de lengua y literatura inglesa contemporáneacon alumnos de 4º de E.S.O.

Julia Haba Osca(Universitat de València)

Introducción

Una de las máximas manifestaciones culturales de un país es la Literatura pero noobstante tiene poca presencia en el aula de lenguas extranjeras, lo que conlleva un escasodesarrollo de la Competencia Literaria1 del alumnado en éste área y por tanto, negando la

posibilidad de que el alumnado adquiera el conveniente conocimiento sobre la literatura de lalengua que estudia, a la vez que se le niega que aprenda las estrategias necesarias para leerla y

para escribir de forma creativa en otro idioma que no es su lengua materna.

El desarrollo de la Competencia Literaria en el aula de lenguas extranjeras puedeconvertirse en un proceso de desarrollo global del alumnado, como apunta Ruiz (2007) “en elámbito de las lenguas extranjeras, la lectura es una destreza bastante integral. A través del

proceso de lectura y de los textos, el estudiante se embriaga de una amplia gama de aspectosesenciales para ser competente en la lengua extranjera. Los textos son una fuente inagotablede esquemas culturales, de variedades de género, de estilo, de convenciones lingüísticas…”.Cerrillo y Sánchez (2007) especifican que la enseñanza de la Literatura se justifica por susfuncionares sociales y educativas, por lo que admiten que es necesario un cambio de laeducación literaria, en la que la adquisición de la Competencia Literaria debe ser objetivofundamental, para cuyo logro son muy importantes las obras literarias infantiles y juveniles.

Para estimular la lectura y creación de textos en inglés, así como los principiosmetodológicos del enfoque Whole Language2, queremos plantear una propuesta que pretendeque el alumnado desarrolle de forma integral la Competencia Literaria, a la par que el resto decompetencias que conforman la Competencia Comunicativa Intercultural, donde la literaturasea el recurso principal en torno al cual se diseñarán las actividades, talleres y unidadesdidácticas. Inspirados en el contexto que proporciona el concepto de Taller de Lengua yLiteratura, propuesto por autores como Guerrero y López (1992) o López Valero (2007), eltaller supone una alternativa a las clases tradicionales en lengua materna, donde lo importantees aprender haciendo, es decir aprender en la práctica. Tomando en cuenta esta nueva

perspectiva para abordar el área de Lengua y Literatura Inglesa que contemplan los autores, y junto con un enfoque global y comunicativo de la enseñanza-aprendizaje de las lenguasaunando teorías que tienen como objetivo primero el desarrollo de la competenciacomunicativa del alumnado como el Enfoque por Tareas, Whole Language, o las

Inteligencias Múltiples, pretendemos desarrollar un nuevo enfoque metodológico para la

1 Entendemos por Competencia Literaria el conocimiento de la literatura y la capacidad de uso de ésta por partede las personas.2 Principalmente, es un enfoque metodológico en el que se usa literatura, se trabaja el proceso de escritura, seconcibe el trabajo de forma cooperativa, y se interesa y preocupa por la actitud del alumnado.



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enseñanza de las lenguas extranjeras que gire en torno a la Literatura Juvenil, dentro delcontexto de aula creando un taller de lengua y literatura en lengua extranjera.

Por tanto, la investigación tiene como objeto el estudio de la Competencia Literaria enel alumnado de Educación Secundaria, concretamente 4º de la E.S.O. El recurso didáctico quese ha utilizado es la Literatura Juvenil y más concretamente poemas contemporáneos dediferentes figuras destacadas. Mediante una metodología basada en el Taller de Lengua yLiteratura se prueba y analiza la posibilidad de mejorar la Competencia Literaria en unalengua extranjera a la par que otras destrezas, procurando alcanzar una transformación escolara la par que social.

Método

Al pretender analizar los diferentes fenómenos educativos implicados en la experienciade investigación que proponemos, tal y como suceden en la realidad, y para ellos hemos

desarrollado una propuesta variada de procedimientos para llevarla a cabo, que podemosorganizar de la siguiente manera:

- Procedimientos didácticos: son todos los referidos a la puesta en práctica de laexperiencia y tienen que ver con la labor del profesorado, entre los que destacamos por unlado la planificación de la experiencia, que conlleva el definir y establecer los objetivosdidácticos, los contenidos, los criterios de evaluación, descripción de materiales, y laorganización del espacio y del tiempo; y por otro lado los procedimientos relacionados con la

puesta en práctica de la experiencia, adaptando la unidad didáctica programada a la realidaddel aula, y a las necesidades reales del alumnado.

- Procedimientos de la investigación-acción: estos procedimientos son los relacionadoscon el diseño de los instrumentos de medida de la experiencia como: el diario de aula, las pruebas de evaluación inicial y final, y las pruebas de evaluación continua de cada sesión.

Los participantes en este estudio son 23 alumnos en total (13 chicas y 10 chicos) conedades comprendidas entre los 15 y 16 años de 4º de la E.S.O. que cursaron la asignatura de

Inglés en el I.E.S. La Garrigosa de Meliana (Valencia). Todos ellos realizaron 45 horas de unTaller de Lengua y Literatura en lengua inglesa bajo la tutela de su profesora de inglés deEnseñanza Secundaria Obligatoria y, asimismo, fueron orientados y supervisados por elCoordinador del Área y la Directora del centro.

A estos estudiantes se les pidió que cada semana leyeran un poema contemporáneo enlengua inglesa, que reflexionaran sobre las competencias que, según a su parecer, estabandesarrollando con dichos aprendizajes, y realizaran una serie de ejercicios prácticos(responder a preguntas de comprensión lectora; ejercicios de vocabulario; confección en

parejas de un poema; averiguar más información sobre el autor; etc). Además debíancomentar tomando como referencia un mismo inventario de competencias, las competenciasque a su juicio estaban desarrollando como consecuencia directa de dichos aprendizajes y lascompetencias cuyo desarrollo estaba indirectamente relacionado con éstos.



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En cuanto a la recogida de datos del alumnado, se procedió a recogerlos a nivelindividual en cuatro tablas (comprensión lectora; expresión escrita; comprensión lectora yexpresión escrita de la poesía; y vocabulario). En ellas se recogen los resultados de lasactividades diarias que el alumnado realizó a lo largo de la experiencia, y el tanto por cientode respuestas correctas realizadas de la lectura de cada poema. De este modo, se expresan laconsecución de actividades que el alumnado realizó en cada sesión; además del tanto porciento de aciertos en una prueba inicial y final con el fin de poder contrastar las destrezas quetenían antes y después de la experiencia.

Resultados

Del total de alumnos que participan en la investigación referida a la enseñanza-aprendizaje del inglés como lengua extranjera a partir de las obras de Rainer María Rilke,Anna Akhmatova, Alexandr Solzhenitsyn, Czeslaw Milosz, Léopold Séndar Senghor, Yehuda

Amichai y Nguyen Thi Vinh; y según el análisis individual de cada una de las pruebas querealizan a lo largo de la experiencia, se concluye que de 19 de ellos mejoran su Competencia

Literaria en lengua inglesa, y 4 no; es decir, el 82,60% del alumnado mejora su CompetenciaLiteraria frente a un 17,39% que no lo hace.

Conclusiones

El análisis de datos obtenidos releva que, durante la realización del Taller de Lengua yLiteratura en el centro educativo, los participantes en este estudio han identificado numerosos

aprendizajes relacionados con las competencias que tienen que ver con los aspectos generalesde los procesos de enseñanza-aprendizaje, como son las características del alumnado, los procesos de comunicación e interacción educativa y la relación de la educación con el medioy la familia.

Para nosotros la Literatura debería convertirse en el material principal en torno al cualdiseñaremos las diferentes actividades de enseñanza-aprendizaje que bajo un EnfoqueComunicativo de las lenguas serían puestas en práctica, lo que podrá suponer de acuerdo conLópez Valero (2007), propiciar otro tipo de metodología en la enseñanza de la Lengua y laLiteratura, que supusiera una educación más dinámica y activa, orientada a la mejora decapacidades genéricas de las personas, contribuyendo a su vez en su formación integral.

La obra literaria es un material auténtico, que entra dentro del aula de lenguasextranjeras, y que facilita la creación del contexto significativo necesario para todoaprendizaje a y que a la vez motiva al alumnado; y que ayuda a encontrar sentido a lo que estáaprendiendo. Cuando un alumno piensa que la lengua que aprende no le sirve para nada,

pierde su interés en ella, sin embargo si comprende que la lengua extranjera va a ser unrecurso que le va a permitir entender textos literarios, el sentido queda establecido desde el

primer momento. Por ello, los profesores podemos favorecer el aprendizaje comunicativo de



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las lenguas extranjeras a través de la literatura, ya que con ella se produce un nivel decomunicación importante entre el texto y el lector.

Referencias

CERRILLO, P.C. y SÁNCHEZ, C. (2007): “Hacia una nueva educación literaria: laimportancia de la LIJ en la formación literaria”. En Lenguaje y Textos. Revista de laSociedad Española de la Didáctica de la Lengua y la Literatura, nº25, Junio 2007, 93-115.

GUERRERO, P. y LÓPEZ, A. (1995) (eds.): Aspectos de Didáctica de la Lengua y laLiteratura. Actas del III Congreso Internacional de la Sociedad Española de Didácticade la Lengua y la Literatura. Murcia: Servicio de Publicaciones Universidad de Murcia,787-791.

LÓPEZ, A. (2007): “El taller de la escritura creativa en la educación del siglo XXI”. En La

magia de las letras. El Desarrollo de la Lectura y la Escritura en la Educación Infantil yPrimaria. Madrid: Aulas de Verano. Instituto Superior de Formación del Profesorado.Ministerio de Educación y Ciencia, 43-66.

RUIZ, R. (2007): “Reflexión sobre la enseñanza de la lectura en lengua extranjera”. EnPrimeras Noticias, Abril 2007, 77-81.



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Responsible Reading: Narrative and Theme in Jay Asher’s Thirteen Reasons Why

Colin Haines(Oslo and Akershus University College)

In an introductory work on narrative theory, critic Jakob Lothe describes the needhumans have to “establish narrative patterns” as a part of everyday life. This need, as he seesit, indicates “the tendency we have to see life as a story – a temporally limited line ofdevelopment from beginning to end, from birth to death, in which we like to find each stagemeaningful and to justify the choices we make” (3). Not limited to fiction or film, narrativesaturates our lives. Our thoughts, as Lothe points out, “often assume narrative form,” andeven our dreams “are like incomplete and confusing stories” (3). In Jay Asher’s 2007 novelfor young adult readers Thirteen Reasons Why, narrative is used to give meaning not only to

one protagonist’s life and to justify (or, rather, explain) her reasons for ending it. It is alsoused to explain how another protagonist accepts his role in her life (and death), which, as will be argued here, is a role of responsibility. Treated thematically, responsibility is hereunderstood not simply as the “message” of the book, what the author has called therecognition or awareness of our “impact on the lives of others,”1 but the way in which thatmessage is structured through narrative means – in this case, its plot, point(s) of view, andcharacters. As this paper will argue, “responsibility” has to do with recognition and awarenessof others and is intimately connected with the process of reading itself.

Thirteen Reasons Why begins in medias res, which is to say “in the middle,” in this casequite literally between two narratives. Clay Jensen, one of the two teenage protagonists in the

novel, has received a package by standard mail, one without a return address. Inside is a bundle of audio cassettes, originally recorded by the other teenage protagonist, Hannah Baker.At the time Clay’s narrative – and the novel – commences, Hannah Baker is dead. Thecassettes, recorded just prior to her death, form a kind of protracted suicide note, one in whichHannah enumerates the reasons for killing herself, 13 in all. Each reason is connected with aspecific event and a specific person in Hannah’s life from the time she first began attendingthe unnamed high school and continuing up to her decision to kill herself. The cassettes,originally sent to the first person on her list (“Cassette 1: Side A” [7]), are listened to and re-sent by standard post from that person to the next in a process akin to that of a chain letter. In

this way, Hannah’s tapes pass from person to person so that all hear her reasons for, and theirown roles in, her decision to commit suicide. Accompanying the cassettes is a map, one inwhich locations around town are noted and numbered. Each listener is therefore able to

1 In an interview entitled “Thirteen Reasons Why: Between the Lines” appearing at the end of the British (Pen-guin, 2009) edition, Asher states that the “message” of the book, in his view, is “even though Hannah admits thatthe decision to take her life was entirely her own, it’s also important to be aware of how we treat others. Eventhough someone appears to shrug off a sideways comment or to not be affected by a rumor, it’s impossible toknow everything else going on in that person’s life, and how we might be adding to his/her pain. People do havean impact on the lives of others” (page not numbered).



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“follow” Hannah’s narrative not simply by listening, but by attending, physically, the place atwhich each event occurred.

From this initial exposition, the plot of the novel develops two narratives, or stories,simultaneously. There is, first, Clay’s narrative, as he travels from place to placeapprehending, second, Hannah’s narrative, recorded just prior to her death. Told concurrently,the two narratives are differentiated in the text by the inclusion of italics to represent thelatter. Hannah’s narrative, recorded in the past, is “replayed” in the present, as Clay’s ownnarrative is related using the present tense. If, as John Stephens suggests, “[t]he function of

present tense narration is to convey an illusion of immediacy and instantaneity” (79), then the plot of Thirteen Reasons Why emphasizes the impact and importance of the past on the present. Clay, for example, is forced to reconsider his own past actions (or lack thereof)within a larger narrative, one whose existence he was not fully cognizant of before. Thoughtold in the past tense, Hannah’s own narrative underscores this point. What she calls “thesnowball effect” (31, 41, 53, 81, 273), the way in which one action begets consequences

larger than itself, keeps what is in the past perpetually relevant, perpetually present. Indeed, itwould be difficult, if not impossible, to identify a “single reason” for Hannah’s suicide, as oneincident begets another sending her into what might be called a loss of self-definition and,later, apathy. Initially, the subject of a rumor that is itself untrue, Hannah finds that the rumor,sexual in nature, takes over her own ability to define herself. “ A rumor ,” she reflects, “ starteda reputation that other people believed in and reacted to. And sometimes, a rumor … has a

snowball effect ” (30-31).1 Consequently, Hannah finds herself the object of ridicule by her peers, as when, for example, Alex Standall includes her on his list of “WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT ” in the freshman class (39, 41); she finds herself the object of sexual harassment when,

following publication of Alex’s list, she is sexually assaulted (50-53) and, still later, has her privacy invaded by a peeping tom (74-90). She loses her network of support as her best friendat the time, Jessica Davis, “would rather believe some made-up rumor than what [she,Jessica] knew to be true” (68). Similarly, Zach Dempsey, in Peer Communications class,steals notes of encouragement that students routinely and anonymously distribute to eachother – yet, it is only those notes to Hannah that he steals (165). Even Clay, who harbored aromantic interest Hannah, was ultimately dissuaded from approaching her, fearing for his ownreputation: “if I hadn’t been so afraid of everyone else, I might have told Hannah thatsomeone cared” (181). Suffering an inability to define herself, Hannah, toward the end of thenarrative, becomes increasingly apathetic. She fails to confront Zach, for example, when shecatches him stealing her notes of encouragement (166). She fails to prevent another student’srape when she is witness to it (229). And, finally, she succumbs to the reputation that always

preceded her when, later, she gives herself to the same rapist: “ just like that, I let myself go”(264).

1 As has already been noted, Thirteen Reasons Why is comprised of two narratives, Clay’s and Hannah’s, whe-rein the latter is differentiated by its representation in italics. Unless otherwise noted, the use of italics in quotati-ons is original in the text. It reflects Hannah’s speech.



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While the above “list” of incidents and people is by no means exhaustive – indeed, thereare more – the narrative configuration is one emphasizing the interdependence of each.Indeed, there would have been no list over “WHO’S HOT / WHO’S NOT ” without the originalrumor (41). Hannah would have retained Jessica’s friendship had the rumor and the list notappeared (64-66). In other words, the plot of Thirteen Reasons Why is one emphasizing notsimply the impact of the past on the present, but the “snowball effect” of the past, which, inHannah’s case, overwhelms and, effectively, ends the present.

As two interrelated narratives proceeding concurrently, Thirteen Reasons Why engagestwo first-person narrators. Both Clay and Hannah narrate their own stories. Although it wouldcertainly be possible to regard Hannah’s narrative as embedded within Clay’s (it is throughhis narrative that hers is first presented and at certain points interpreted thereafter), its separatestatus is rendered stylistically by, as noted above, its representation in italics. It would be

possible, in other words, to read Hannah’s narrative without recourse to Clay’s. This use oftwo first-person narrators, while somewhat unusual in young adult fiction, is hardly

incidental. If, as Stephens points out, “readers will tend to align themselves” with a first- person narrator (80), then Thirteen Reasons Why encourages readers to identify not simplywith one character (Clay, for example) over another (Hannah). Rather, identification isaligned with both. This is important for, although Clay will at times interrupt Hannah’snarrative (adding his own perspective, interpretation, agreement or disagreement and, in thissense, filling out hers), the reader has direct access to Hannah’s perspective and voice withoutthe mediation of another character.1

As a sequence of what at times would appear to be isolated events in her life, Hannah’snarration is one that shows both listeners (other characters, in this instance, Clay) and readers

the connections between them. As a retrospective account, however, that “showing” is onefiltered by Hannah’s voice, that is, told by her and subject to her interpretation at the time ofrecording. In this sense, her “reliability” as narrator is open to question. For ShlomithRimmon-Kenan, a narrator’s “unreliability” may be related to her “limited knowledge,”“personal involvement,” and/or “problematic value scheme” (100). While this definition mayseem overbroad (indeed, to what extent could any first-person narrator be adjudged“reliable”?), there are nevertheless certain gaps in Hannah’s narrative re-telling. At times sheleaves out what could, even in her own interpretation of the events she narrates, be valuableinformation. This is something Hannah recognizes herself: “Yes, there are some major gaps inmy story. Some parts I just couldn’t figure out how to tell ” (201). Alluding to her formerschool, for example, she remarks: “ I had hoped – silly me – that there would be no morerumors when my family moved here. That I had left the rumors and gossip behind me … for

1 In Narrative in Fiction and Film: An Introduction, Jakob Lothe rehearses the distinction between perspective(“who sees?”) and voice (“who tells?”), a distinction that the term “point of view” does not necessarily preservein its usage (Lothe, 41). By presenting Hannah’s narrative in first-person and as distinct from Clay’s, Thirteen

Reasons Why allows this distinction to be collapsed; it is Hannah who both sees and tells. Nevertheless, the dis-tinction may still be important as “voice” may be related to the way in which the narrator relates what she hasseen, that is, her interpretation which is not the same as the events themselves. In other words, the distinctionhere may be one of temporality.



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good ” (66, ellipsis in original). Here, Hannah withholds information even at the time that shegives it. If, as she suggests, “everything … affects everything ” (202), which is herinterpretation of the “snowball effect,” then other rumors spread prior to the rumor she issubject to at her new school could seem relevant. At other times, Hannah leaves outinformation that Clay, remembering, fills in. Hannah mentions the rumor circulated followingher move – the rumor that initiates the chain of events in what she calls the “snowball effect”

– though does not name that rumor outright, merely alluding to herself as a “ slut ” (23). In thisinstance, it is Clay who remembers the original rumor: “Hannah took off her shirt and letJustin put his hands up her bra. That’s it. That’s what I heard happened in the park that night”(25).

Nor do other the other listeners of Hannah’s tapes necessarily regard her as reliable.Marcus Cooley, one of students included on Hannah’s list and who has already listened to thetapes at the time Clay receives them, disagrees with Hannah’s account: “‘I don’t belong onthose tapes,’” Marcus tells Clay, “‘Hannah just wanted an excuse to kill herself’” (110).

Hannah also recognizes she could be accused of “making mountains out of molehills,” whentelling of Marcus (145). Nevertheless, and what Marcus fails to apprehend, is how his ownunwanted sexual advance toward Hannah and the public humiliation he subjected her toafterwards fits into the larger narrative of rumor, sexual harassment, and repudiation.Hannah’s point in narrating at all – that “everything … affects everything ” (202) – appears loston Marcus. In this sense, the question of unreliability could be directed not simply at narrators

but at readers as well.In contrast to Hannah’s, Clay’s narrative is told in present tense and is therefore not

subject to the same temporal limitation of hers. As a present tense narration, not only does

Clay’s exhibit the sense of “immediacy and instantaneity,” as noted above, but it likewisesuppresses, in Stephens’ words, the “suggestion that the outcome is knowable in advance”(79-80). Clay follows Hannah’s narrative in two senses as he both listens to the cassettes andvisits the locations on the map accompanying that recording. Like Marcus and the othercharacters who have listened to the tapes before him, Clay functions as “reader” of Hannah’stext(s). He is “personally involved” on at least two levels; he was interested in Hannahromantically prior to her death and fears his own inclusion on the cassettes, something heinitially assumes to mean his own responsibility in her decision to commit suicide.

Like Marcus, Clay misinterprets Hannah’s narrative. Unlike Marcus, however, herecognizes what his own responsibility for it. According to Hannah, Clay “does not belong onthis list ” (200); she holds neither him nor his actions accountable. A kind of “innocent

bystander,” Clay’s inclusion is necessary if Hannah is to order and interpret the events thataffected her: “ you need to be here,” she says, “if I am going to tell my story” (200). In thissense, Clay is able to interpret “correctly”: “No one blames me” (220), “No one blames me”(221), he repeats after he hears of his own involvement in “Cassette 5: Side A.” Yet, he alsorecognizes that the role he plays is not without fault. At a party, while the two (Clay andHannah) were kissing, Hannah remembered her first kiss, the basis for the original, untruerumor spread about her. Becoming distraught at the memory and unable to continue with



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Clay, she bids him to leave her. Clay, in his own account, is concerned and confused, thougheventually complies with this wish. Hannah is then left alone in the room and is later witnessto Jessica’s rape (215-229). Although Hannah does not hold Clay accountable, something heinterprets “correctly” – indeed, he acted as she wanted at the time – Clay recognizes what hetakes as his own responsibility: “I left [Hannah] alone in that room. The only person whomight’ve been able to reach out and save her from herself. To pull her back from wherevershe was heading” (221).

This notion of responsibility as separate from, though not always opposed to,accountability is one that permeates Thirteen Reasons Why. Intruding on Clay’s narrative area number of other characters, who “take responsibility” for him as he listens to Hannah’snarrative. At first, and because he is not in possession of a cassette player, Clay is forced tolisten to the tapes on his father’s old stereo in the family garage. This, however, soon provesimpracticable as his mother intrudes on the scene. Not wanting to be interrupted – and notwanting her to overhear – he then betakes himself to his friend Tony’s, where he steals Tony’s

Walkman so that he may not only listen in peace, but visit the locations on Hannah’s map ashe does so. Yet, this attempt at “privacy in public” is not entirely successful; other charactersinterrupt and, in effect, punctuate Clay’s narrative.

Clay is interrupted, for example, at Monet’s Garden Café, where Hannah first hung outwith the friends who betrayed her, when an unnamed girl behind the counter strikes up aconversation and pays him a compliment (71). This apparently random act of kindness is notunlike those that students were encouraged to give, routinely and anonymously, to each otheras a part of Mrs. Bradley’s Peer Communications class. Later, while riding the bus, hislistening to Hannah is interrupted again, this time by fellow classmate Skye Miller, an

apparent loner who nonetheless goes out of her way to ensure he gets off, if not at his station,then at least at a station, though her own journey is aimless as his (104-105). Later still, Clayis interrupted again; this time by his mother, who calls, concerned by his prolonged absence.Refusing her offer of a lift – as she is going out anyway – he nevertheless requests her to

bring the remaining tapes he left in the garage and meet him at the next destination onHannah’s map, Rosie’s Diner. Catching Clay in a lie, that the cassettes and his absence are

part of a school project, Clay’s mother nonetheless expresses her trust in her son (153). WhenRosie’s is about to close for the night, the proprietor tells him that he will not accept Clay’smoney: “I don’t know what’s going on, and I don’t know how I can help, but something’sclearly gone wrong in your life, so I want you to keep your money” (192-193). What the

proprietor has noticed (like the reader, if he or she has followed closely) is that Clay, listeningto Hannah’s tapes, is crying. Finally, there is Tony who, waiting outside of Rosie’s, offersClay a ride to the next stop on Hannah’s map. Tony, who not only realized Clay’s theft of theWalkman, and forgives him for it, reveals that he is in possession of the second set of tapes ofwhich Hannah had warned. He offers Clay not only reassurance but likewise tells him thatClay is not the first person he has followed in this fashion – Clay is the ninth – as many

people (reasons) as there are on Hannah’s cassettes (194-197).



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A Story Covers All: using children’s literature for acquiring cross-curricular competences in Early Childhood and Primary CLIL contexts

C. HarrisR. Fernández Cézar

C. Aguirre Pérez(Universidad de Castilla La Mancha )

Introduction

Current educational policies in Europe have undergone significant changes, with vari-ous educational reforms during recent decades at the whole range of levels, from Primary toTertiary. The most radical of these changes has to do with acknowledging that learners are notmerely sponges designed to soak up information and return it when squeezed at testing time.Today’s teaching methods and practices recognise that learning can and should be measurednot just by content knowledge but by competences, or learning outcomes, thus extending therange of skills and abilities which develop out of a learning environment and can be meas-ured.

In Spain, the curriculum for Primary Education covers eight competences, to which theeducation authority for the regional community of Castilla-La Mancha adds another: emo-tional competence; making a total of nine basic competences to be acquired through the sub-

jects that are included throughout this educational period1. In this decree of June 1st, 68/2007,the means to acquire these competences is detailed in objectives, contents and criteria for as-sessment for each of the curriculum areas. For example, in language and communication,

these can be summarized as the ability to read, understand and produce both written and oraltexts of different genres - narrative, journalistic, poetic, etc. - and apply to both Spanish and toa foreign language. The mathematical competence area aims to provide the learner with thenecessary knowledge and skills to understand, use, apply and communicate mathematicalconcepts and procedures and through exploration be able to abstract, classify, measure andestimate in order to obtain results which allow them to communicate with, interpret and repre-sent the world around them. In other words, the aim is to discover that mathematics is relatedto life and situations beyond the classroom. The third competence, knowledge and interactionwith the physical world, translates into being able to act in a coherent manner in the areas of

health, productive activity, consumerism, and interpreting the world; consequently the focusis on encouraging the responsible use of natural resources, care of the environment, rationalconsumption and protection of individual and collective health. It should be pointed out that

1 DECRETO 68/2007, de 29-05-2007, por el que se establece y ordena el currículo de la Educación Primaria enla comunidad de Castilla-La Mancha. The 9 competences are listed as: a Language & Communication; bMathematical competence; c Knowledge & interaction with the physical world; d Digital treatment of informa-tion; e Social Citizenship; f Cultural & artistic competence; g Learning to Learn Competence; h Personal Auton-omy & initiative; i Emotional Competence.DOCM, 68/2007 de 1 de junio; accessed 14 february 2012 at http://docm.jccm.es/portaldocm/

http://docm.jccm.es/portaldocm/




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the nine competences are not organised in a hierarchical sense, however these first three of thelist are areas which we consider to be especially relevant to our study.

Traditionally, mathematics and environmental science subjects have necessarily beenconsidered as instrumental for intellectual development and for acquiring strategies of reason-ing, leading to a capacity for rational thought and logic. Yet rarely have they interconnected inthe school curriculum, and it is common to hear comments recalling these subjects as simplymemorizing facts and doing worksheets through direct instruction by the teachers without anyreal understanding of why they were necessary or what relevance they had.

Skills and abilities do not develop independently from content areas. All subjects usesome degree of language and symbol systems, and the development of reason, together withthe experiences that lead to emotional and social maturity, must all be given consideration toenable growth in tandem and harmony. (1993: Braddon, Hall & Taylor). In order to meet theneeds of the twenty-first century, teaching should therefore be approached from a perspectiveof interdependence of all disciplines.

Background

Finding the intersection between maths and science, and its exploration through litera-ture, is not a new area of study. With regard to Mathematics, researchers have worked on thisvision of teaching maths through stories in Spanish, for example Marín Rodríguez (2007),with the Kovalevskaya Project . Gil et al (2005) have also offered insights into how literaturecan work through the affective aspects of pupils’ learning in order to break down the barriersof perception that what they are learning in mathematics has no relevance to their lives. The

Cockcroft Report (1982) findings show that the age at which pupils begin to reject this discipline tends to be at 11 years old, and points to the need for teachers to devote more time to theuse of mathematics in applications taken from real life. This, of course, is a belief we sharenot only for maths, but also of the other content areas of science and foreign languages.

The area of science is slightly more complex. In Primary Education the science subjectsare broken down only into their subdivisions of social science or natural science, with no fur-ther subdivisions of physics, chemistry, biology or geology. Studies can be found relating tothese separate sciences in Spanish Secondary Education (ESO /Bachillerato) in conjunctionwith literature, for example the links that are made by Palacios (2007) between physics andscience fiction, or by Mata (2006), concerning Chemistry and literature, but there are no

prominent studies relating to biology or geology, perhaps because as areas of study they areeasier to visualise and contextualize, and their concepts are less abstract and therefore moreaccessible for the learner. And in science education, concepts are not always easy either toconvey or to acquire an understanding of, which is why so often, even at primary school level,too often the information becomes reduced to memorising terminology to explain unfathom-able and invisible concepts.



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Both science literacy and foreign language competence are areas of great concern foreducators today. The PISA-OECD survey carried out in 2006 (see PISA-OECD 2006 a) foundthat out of 400,000 15 year-olds across 47 countries, only 1.3% could be considered to have alevel of competence in science, considered as where knowledge is transferable to life experi-ences. A related PISA OECD study, (PISA-OECD 2006 b) found that top performers in sci-ence also rated higher as performers in mathematics and reading, one conclusion being that aninterest in science was fomented by a general interest in making connections. While generalliteracy is fundamental to all schooling, foreign language competence is of increasing impor-tance, especially in Europe which aims to produce citizens capable of integrating within a

plurilingual society. Yet in spite of the huge amount of time and investment in foreign lan-guage education, truly competent users of a foreign language are small in numbers, even after12 years of foreign language learning at school (Hunt et.al. 2005).

The most effective measure to improve competence in English as a foreign language is,in our opinion, the implementation of CLIL - the integration of content with language learning

- and since the European Action Plan for Languages 2004-2006 1 there has been a constantgrowth of schools in Spain opting into bilingual programmes proposed by the educationalauthority of several regions (eg. Castilla-La Mancha: MEC- British Council agreement 1996;Secciones Europeas 2006; Andalucia: Plan de Fomento del Plurilinguismo, 2005; also in theBasque Country and in Madrid). It thus makes sense to explore the links that can be made

between the content curriculum subjects and English; using literature as a vehicle for stimulat-ing these links seems to us an obvious way to work in the infant and lower primary class-rooms. Early stimulation by learning maths and science in a contextualised manner has beenshown to aid long-term learning (De Guzmán Ozámiz, 2007) and literature provides an ex-

tremely useful medium for such contextualization. The use of literature may also contribute todispel the reluctance found towards these curriculum areas in the latter stages of primary andin secondary education.

Research methods and objectives

With the initial financial grant from the University of Castilla-La Mancha2, we havecompiled a list of usable stories in both Spanish and English that can serve as a vehicle forworking on content and concepts traditionally reserved for the maths or science classroom.This paper focuses only on those written in English, and aims to provide a means to displayhow they can be exploited in an inter-disciplinary way and develop both mathematical compe-tence and knowledge and interaction with the physical world, while of course furthering ac-quisition of the foreign language. Children’s literature usually presents situations with a richliterary language which is accessible and attractive and which offers opportunities for lan-guage production, both oral and written, for stimulating creativity and for focusing vocabulary

1 Commission of the European Communities: 2003, Promoting Language Learning and Linguistic Diversity. AnAction Plan 2004-2006. Brussels, 24-07-2003.COM 449 ff.2 Project Nº HU20112284. MCLEIN



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and structures in lexically related areas. Our study included the following objectives carriedout in four stages:

1 Research and compile a list of stories in Spanish and English.2 Analyse their appropriateness in terms of their content in relation to the school cur-

riculum in Castilla-La Mancha by establishing an objective scale of descriptors.3 Classify the works by levels, curriculum area contents and language, so they can be

used by teachers working in schools in Castilla-La Mancha, and especially schools involvedin the bilingual programme Secciones Europeas of the Junta de Comunidades de Castilla-La

Mancha.4 Prepare guides and interdisciplinary teaching suggestions for selected works.

For objective 1, 35 titles were obtained with funding from the UCLM projectHU20112284 previously referred to, and these now form part of the permanent collection of

the Centre for the Promotion of Children’s Literature (CEPLI) of our university. In order tocarry out stage 2 and develop an objective scale of descriptors we have considered the docu-ments which govern Infant and Primary Education in Castilla-La Mancha, decrees 67/2007and 68/2007 respectively. A summarised chart of the competences to be acquired in the areasof language, mathematics and the natural and social world is offered below in Table 1. In ad-dition to these, for our selection of stories in English we have also taken into account the levelof language used and the illustrations, to ensure accessible understanding. While for a nativereader the book may be aimed at a lower age range, we have considered the titles not only fortheir potential for maths or science related content but also for their language content and the

rich visual illustrations which aid learner’s understanding (view Table 1).For the stage 3 objectives, we have catalogued the works in the form of a chart whichincludes information regarding the publisher, author, age range for which the work is appro-

priate and curriculum area of content. Finally, for stage 4, we have created teaching guides forfour books, two in Spanish, one aimed at Infant education (De cómo el tigre aprendió a con-tar) and one at Primary level (Los números son sorprendentes), and two for the correspondinglevels in English (Handa’s Surprise, by Eileen Browne and The Bad Tempered Ladybird, byEric Carle).

Examples of cross-curricular planning with children’s stories

The works in English have been selected as examples due to their easy accessibility andthe richness of their illustrations, which greatly enhance their attractiveness to young learnersand provide a strong motivational aid. In addition, there is an extensive variety of resourcesavailable online in relation to these stories, widely used in the United Kingdom, which teach-ers can access and develop new ideas from.

Planning the content for these two stories has been based on using a cross-curriculartemplate which takes into account not only the science, maths and language areas but also



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other essential parts of the curriculum, in order to exploit the full potential of all that the sto-ries offer in a fully integrated manner 1. Thus there are six main areas: Communication, Lan-guage and Literacy; Mathematical Development (PSRN – Problem solving, reasoning andnumeracy); Knowledge and Understanding of the World; Physical Development; CreativeDevelopment, and Personal, Social and Emotional Development. Each area offers suggestionsof activities and elements to introduce in the lesson planning, and together the story serves asan overall topic to span a period of two to three weeks or 8-9 lessons of one hour duration.Although we have suggested their age-range suitability, the suggested activities can be modi-fied and adapted to other levels. (See Annex 1 & Annex 2). This approach to planning has

proven to offer advantages for the Infant and Primary classroom, as it is easy to ensure that allthe learning objectives or competences are covered in a way that de-compartmentalises theday’s timetable and allows a natural transition between activities, focusing on language workwhich develops into creative artwork or into PSRN, for example. Children’s attention span atthese early stages of learning is considerably shorter, and although the allotted time for ‘Eng-

lish’, or ‘Maths’ on the school timetable has to be respected to a large degree, a class teacherwholly responsible for all the curriculum areas of one group of pupils is able to take advan-tage of the flexibility that is offered by an integrated curriculum such as we propose.

By way of example, taking the first story web for Handa’s Surprise (Annex 1), count-down songs serve not only for language development but simultaneously for mathematicaldevelopment; pupils learn to count backwards in a stress-free and entertaining context. Art-work, such as creating a wall frieze of Handa’s journey and the animals she passes on herway, develops not only the motor skills but provides opportunities for using language in its

production, (eg. talking about shape, size and colour), and pupils feel ownership with their

classroom environment when it is their own work that surrounds them and not glossy pub-lished material. Once completed, it also becomes an invaluable teaching tool as it provides aconstant visual resource for reinforcing the lexical items that are the focus of language andcommunication and can be exploited in addition to cover elements of the knowledge and un-derstanding of the world that are also suggested in the template. The story can be broughtalive by bringing real fruits into the classroom and their size, shape, colour, smell and tastecan be explored and experienced, thus ensuring that all learning styles, including kinaesthetic,are included.

Conclusions

We have suggested the importance of teaching the early years through an integrated cur-riculum and consider that the most effective results can be brought about by using children’sliterature as a primary resource for covering all areas of the curriculum and all the necessarycompetences. The example templates offered can be easily adapted to be used for many other

1 Thanks are due to Kelly Mitchell, British Council teacher at EIP El Carmen, Cuenca, for providing the template base.



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stories. All that is needed is a little imagination on the part of the teacher and a willingness toenter into the world of fantasy in order to bring the real world to the classroom.

Works cited

BRADDON, KATHRYN L., HALL, NANCY J., TAYLOR, DALE (1993) Math throughchildren’s literature: making the NCTM standards come alive. p.2 . Teacher Ideas Press.(Accessed on Internet: 22/3/2012)

DE GUZMÁN OZÁMIZ, M. (2007), Enseñanza de las ciencias y la matemática, RevistaIberoamericana de educación, 43, pp. 19-58.

DOCM, 68/2007 de 1 de junio; accessed 14 february 2012 at http://docm.jccm.es/portaldocm/GIL, N., BLANCO, L. J., GUERRERO, E. (2005). El dominio afectivo en el aprendizaje de

las matemáticas. Una revisión de sus descriptores básicos, Unión- RevistaIberoaméricana de Educación Matemática, 2, pp. 15-32.

HUNT, MARILYN; BARNES, ANN; POWELL, BOB; LINDSAY, GEOFF; MIUJS,DANIEL 2005. Primary Modern Foreign Languages: An Overview of Recent Research,Key Issues, and Challenges for Educational Policy and Practice. Research Papers in

Education. 20/4, 371-390.MARÍN RODRÍGUEZ, M. (2007). El valor matemático de un cuento, Sigma, 31, pp 11-26.MATA, R. (2006). Química y literatura, Boletín del Instituto de Investigaciones

Bibliográficas de México, XI (1- 2), pp. 227-236. Accessed 12 march 2012 athttp://www.revistas.unam.mx/index.php/biib/article/view/18964.

PALACIOS, S.L. (2007). El cine y la literatura de ciencia ficción como herramientas

didácticas en la enseñanza de la física: una experiencia de aula, Revista Eureka sobre Enseñanza y Divulgación de las Ciencias, 4 (1), pp. 106-122. Accessed 12 march 2012at http://redalyc.uaemex.mx/src/inicio/ArtPdfRed.jsp?iCve=92040107.

PISA-OECD a Science Competencies for Tomorrow’s World. 2006http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/15/13/39725224.pdf

PISA-OECD b Top of the Class. High Performance in Science in Pisa 2006.http://www.pisa.oecd.org/dataoecd/44/17/42645389.pdfThe Cockcroft Report (1982) Mathematics counts. Report of the Committee of Inquiry into

the Teaching of Mathematics in Schools under the Chairmanship of Dr WH Cockcroft.London: Her Majesty's Stationery Office 1982


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Linguistic means of fairy tale and the EFL development of a child.

Agnieszka Horyza(Adam Mickiewicz University)

1. Introduction

The evolution of mankind has bestowed us with the gift of speech. It has also be-queathed us with tools to activate this gift. Fairy tales are inextricably interwoven into one’schildhood and, later, are intricately imprinted into the human lifespan. This paper aims at

providing a sample of results that may be obtained when the congenital gift of language istriggered off by an amalgamation of fairy tales. Teaching through fairy tales generates posi-tive emotional associations and creates a very natural environment associated with soothingand undisturbed bedtime story reading habits. The structure of the narratives, with their char-

acters, plot and artistic frame, has its own power which has developed throughout centuries ofevolution to engage children and to create such deep involvement that the words “they livedhappily ever after” become a symbolic share for all listeners (Cameron 2003: 166). Fairy talesrepresent the holistic approach towards language learning with all its conventional ascendancyand abundant source of language data in a foreign language. The deeply engendered engage-ment of the students in an authentic language that provides an opulence of stimuli allows for

pleasant acquisition. Fairy tales, as a source of language data, are deeply ingrained in thechildhood tradition and national heritage of practically all countries and nations. Their prima-ry existence outside classroom conditions and independence from educational systems bothcreate a setting that is long known and amicably imprinted in a child’s psyche (Cameron2003: 159).

2. The confluence of macro- and micro-scale effects

Fairy tales exploited and adjusted to be used for language teaching still maintain theirholistic effect power. There are two categories within which they mark the child’s develop-ment: the macro- and micro-scale. This magnitude of correlations confers advantages for theemerging language speakers. The macro-scale is commensurate with emotional factors andthe moral message that is conveyed by the tales. The micro-scale pertains to the enhancement

of linguistic skills through its general structure and through the employment of linguisticmeans.

2.1. The macro-scale effect

The most important aspect that relates to emotions is a series of events that leads to con-flict and then facing both the challenges and solution to the problem. These are the very prop-erties that constitute the immortal attractiveness of fairy tales, which induce a catharsis on



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their own, thus influencing an understanding and perception of the world and providing nu-merous language stimuli.

2.1.1. Emotional significance

The most conspicuous effect of fairy tales takes place in the emotional sphere because itforms the basis and becomes catalytic for all the remaining alterations. Metaphor constitutesthe core of fairy tales – the very fusion of the real world and fiction both create a new qualitythat “bounces over the familiar reality dimensions” and “creates the marvel that guides itself

by unique artistic rules of logic and tradition” (Tyszkowa 1973: 136). The world of fairy talescorresponds with child-like reality perception and their way of thinking, which is additionallyreinforced by prevalent anthropomorphism and animism. The implementation of fairy tales, incompliance with children’s emotional needs, is correlated with the imagination, fantasy andstrong emotions. Children, while listening to fairy tales, experience affections essential for

their engagement in the course of action, such as: tension, expectations, joy ordisappointment, relief and silencing their emotions at the end of the tale (Stasiak 2000: 422).The anticipated course of events allows children to relive the emotions and unexpected twistsof action experienced by the characters, which are then co-experienced by the children(Obuchowska 2000). The fact that fairy tales are so emotionally marked and yet inextricablyconnected with a safe scheme of presenting reality constitutes the attractiveness of the literarygenre and becomes the propeller of a pre-potent impact on a child’s psyche: “The pattern ofsequence of familiar and predictable events, interrupted by surprise, echoes the one of‘security and novelty’… and it is probably a pattern that suits human psychology: a degree of

comfortable familiarity combined with just the right amount of surprise and change”(Cameron 2003: 162).

2.2. Moral admonition

The child also derives much from the verbal message and the vision of a world present-ed by the content of the fairy tales. As Simonides (173: 125) writes: “So coexists in a fairytale, as in life, glory and shade, right and wrong, beauty and ugliness, but no one expects thechild to believe the existence of this particular world, but instead, he/she understands intui-tively the very truth that is encoded in a poetic vision of the fairy tales world”. Fairy tales pre-sent a clearly moral differentiation – right is always jubilating and wrong is punished. In theworld of fairy tales the whole universe – both the animal world, forces of nature and the fan-tastic – favor good intentions and a model demeanor (Obuchowska 2000)The positive endingof the fairy tale’s characters, by forming a logical sequence and constituting a happy end, isvery important to a child – it lets him/her keep the faith in the prevalence of right over wrongas well as an emotional balance (Tyszkowa 1973).



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3. The micro-scale effect

As Iluk maintains (2002), narrative texts possess the power to initialize induction pro-cesses, thus they create an optimal acquisition setting thanks to their linguistic means. Theimplementation of fairy tales maximizes input. Moreover, by providing multiple perception oflinguistic data, fairy tales enable the effective revision of material and ensure that proper lin-guistic representations are generated. They also create the optimal conditions for the en-hancement of receptive skills. According to Cameron (2003), diverse perception of languagematerial in stories and narratives is indispensable for children, and fairy tales meet this criteri-on because they contain iterative words, phrases and expressions. In addition, fairy tales havean impact on the development of listening and global understanding skills as well as on into-nation, rhythm, pronunciation and awareness of grammar structures.

3.1. The fairy tale structure

Fairy tales and stories usually have a similar structure independent of the conveyed con-tent (Propp 1958), and stories retold on various social occasions by humans are also character-ized by features similar to literary works (Labov 1972). The prototypical characteristics oforal and written stories include:

- an opening, such as “Once upon a time…”- plot development – introduction and resolution of a conflict;- a closing, such as “they lived happily ever after…”The end of the story crowns the sequence of events entangled in the fantasy world each

time by inducing a simultaneous re-entry into the real world (“and they lived happily everafter”). The story itself also includes an introduction, depiction of the main characters and asetting description or a background.

3.2. Linguistic means of fairy tales

Fairy tales engage deep induction processes to make the content understandable, thusthey influence memorization more deeply and in a more active way. The acquisition of bothvocabulary and structures is an unconscious process that takes place through multiple percep-tion of the lexical material. Presenting the same word in numerous contexts enables not onlydeeper coding, but also generating correct mental representations (Iluk 2002: 107-108). Fairytales, as sources of a literary genre, possess diverse literary assets that operate as the modusoperandi in vocabulary attainment (Cameron 2003: 163-166):

- parallelism – a pattern used in fairy tale content which is based on repetition of a pat-tern of predictability and change, or repetition and an action turning point

- rich vocabulary – the stories are “designed to entertain” (Cameron 2003: 163) and thevocabulary, phrases and structure are very diversified to keep the audience interested



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To what extent do fairy tales influence language acquisition in general, i.e. what struc-tures, vocabulary and grammar awareness are children able to acquire when being exposed toadaptations of fairy tales?

Do children employ the linguistic means of fairy tales while retelling the story?

4.3. Subjects

Subjects of the research are seven children from a preschool in Poznań. Currently theyare six and seven-years- old and the group consists of three girls and four boys. Children have

been exposed to English through the fairy tale method for three to four years with the approx-imate time daily ranging from one hour to an hour and a half.

4.4. Research results

As can be seen on example cited below children are able to retell the story without be-ing particularly encouraged by the teacher. The teacher also does not need to resort to hintingany questions. The messages conveyed by the children are in simple, yet completely under-standable words. The children weave the story with engagement and self-confidence despitetheir lack of grammar awareness. Both the chronology of plot and sequence of events aremaintained. Particularly interesting is the use of a repetitive story frame in all cases and the

parallelism that is used in individual descriptions. The children do not imitate the originalcontent in most cases, but rather retell it in their own words;

(1) Aleksander: … and goes to the chair and sit to the chair tata bear and say: no,this chair is hard and go to the mama bear chair and say: not this chair is soft and go to the baby chair and say: yes, this chair is just right…(2) Lena: … daddy bear’s soup is very, very hot and mummy soup is very, verycold and baby soup is just right, daddy bear is not good, mummy bear is not good and baby

bear is just right…

Children use rich vocabulary and employ nouns, adjectives and verbs . The children aredefinitely aware of prepositions and conjunctions and use them in some cases correctly. Therange of vocabulary enables them to construct multiple sentences; yet, at the same time it iseasy to observe that the development of most grammar structures still undergoes an inneranalysis and synthesis of language data. Children still need further exposition that would ena-

ble mental generation of a proper hypothesis of inflections and tenses. There is a visible needfor further exposition and for providing the children with more language stimuli for the initialawareness of different structures to become proper inner, mental rules. The children’s met-alinguistic awareness is highly developed – they do not resort to code-switching and maintainEnglish as the mode of communication.



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Teacher – Julka, tell me what happens in the story…Julia – Three bears live in the house and tata bear’s is big and soft and good. Mama

bear’s is big, middle, soft and good. Baby bear’s is small, soft and good and very funny. The baby bear hops and run. The one girl name is … name is… Golden hair

Teacher – GoldilocksJulia (says the name together with the teacher) – Goldilocks go to the woods and see a

house. Goldilocks go to the house and see a porridge and eat the big porridge and is a hot, eata middle porridge and is a cold, and small porridge is a just right and Goldilocks eat the por-ridge. Goldilocks sit in the big chair and is this hard. Goldilocks sit to the middle chair andthis is soft and Goldilocks sit to the small chair and this is just right. And the chair bum and(says in Polish – I wanted to say it broke down)

Teacher – the chair is brokenJulia - walks to the bedroom and the big bed is hard, middle bed is soft and the small

bed is just right. Mama bear and tata bear and baby bear walks to the house and see a girl. Girl

is very afraid and runs away.

5. Final conclusions

However difficult it is to truly express the magnitude of correlations between fairy talesand the development of productive skills, the strong influence of stories on many aspects of achild’s life is verifiable and this holistic influence contributes to the overall results of chil-dren’s EFL development in the case presented in this article. Children need both the linguisticside and the emotional and moral coating of stories. It is the cohesion of all these aspects that

contributes to pleasant and natural acquisition. While retelling the story they are deeply en-gaged in the content and they seem to be absorbed by the fate of the characters.

Works cited

Cameron, Lynne. 2003. Teaching Languages to Young Learners. Cambridge: CambridgeUniversity Press

Iluk, Jan. 2002. Jak uczyć małe dzieci języków obcych [How to teach small children foreignlanguages]. Katowice: Wydawnictwo Gnome

Krzyżanowski, Jan .1973. „Bajki wam niosę, posłuchajcie, dzieci…” W Skrobiszewska,Halina. 1978. Baśni i dziecko.

Obuchowska, Irena. 2000. Kochać i rozumieć [To love and to understand]. Poznań :Wydawnictwo Media Rodzina

Skrobiszewska, Halina. 1978. Baśń i dziecko. Warszawa: Ludowa Spółdzielnia Wydawnicza.Materiały oparte na sesji naukowo – literackiej pod hasłem „Funkcja baśni wwychowaniu i kształtowaniu osobowości dziecka” zorganizowanej przez ZwiązekLiteratów Polskich, Warszawa 1973



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Simonides, Dorota. 1973. „Fantastyka baśni i innych tekstów folklorystycznych w życiudziecka” W Skrobiszewska, Halina. 1978. Baśni i dziecko.

Stasiak, Halina. 2000. „Wpływ czynników emocjonalnych na dziecięcą akwizycję językaobcego” [The influence of emotional factors on child language acquisition], Problemykomunikacji międzykulturowej. Lingwistyka, translatoryka, glottodydaktyka. Warszawa:Graf – Punkt , 402 - 427

Tyszkowa, Maria. 1973. “Baśn i jej recepcja przez dzieci”. W Skrobiszewska, Halina. 1978. Baśni i dziecko.



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Using the Multiple Intelligences theory and learning strategiesto teach literature in the Primary Classroom

Elisa Jiménez Lazcano

It may be better for them to read some things, especially fairy-stories, that are beyond theirmeasure rather than short of it. Their books like their clothes should allow for growth, and

their books at any rate should encourage it.”J.R.R.Tolkien 1892-1973: Tree and Leaf (1964) ‘On Fairy-Stories

Children’s literature can contribute positively and effectively to provide the best educa-tion possible to primary school children who are learning English in the classroom. Fairy Ta-les and Fables are extremely useful aids in developing educational readiness in primary schoolchildren of all ages. Firstly, Fairy Tales and Fables introduce children to literature and help

them to learn and improve their reading skills and their vocabulary range when learning Eng-lish. Secondly, children learn to recognize the difference between the real and imaginaryworld. Thirdly, children learn vocabulary words in English which are also studied and learntin the other school subjects (interdisciplinary learning) for instance, vocabulary of animals(wild and domestic animals) and of birds, flowers, trees, clothes, colours, household items,food, family, daily life, city life in contrast to town life or life in the country, to name just afew. Fourthly, children can learn values and morals from the literary texts they read which can

be very educational and helpful for their future lives. All in all, the combination of these ele-ments stimulate the children’s interest in learning the language and also improves their learn-ing abilities and readiness in reading, listening, writing and speaking skills in English.

Based on Howard Gardner’s theory of Multiple Intelligences (MIT, 19883,1999), learn-ing strategies and second language acquisition methodologies will be dealt with in order tohelp primary school teachers to teach literature and literary texts to children in the primaryclassroom and to give teachers useful and practical ideas for the classroom so that they can

prepare fun and enjoyable activities for the children and most appropriate for their style oflearning.

Using Multiple Intelligences teaching strategies in the primary classroom has becomean important approach to teaching nowadays. When primary teachers prepare the tasks towork literature in the classroom (in order to teach Fairy tales, Fables and Children’s stories),

they should take into account the different types of intelligence and learning styles of the stu-dents and then should prepare different and varied activities so that the students can work theliterary texts in ways which are most suitable for their learning styles.

Primary teachers should take into account the following types of intelligence and learn-ing styles when teaching literature and when preparing the different tasks to work reading,listening, writing and speaking skills in the classroom:



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LinguisticWord GamesReading GamesWriting GamesStoryTellingShow and tellRole-playUsing puppetsTongue TwistersCrosswords/Anagrams

MusicalSongsAction RhymesChants

Logical-MathematicalWord PuzzlesReading Puzzles

Writing PuzzlesLogical problem solvingComputer games/Computer Projects(Glogster)

Number puzzlesClassifyingRankingSequencing/Ordering

InterpersonalPair WorkGroup Work

BrainstormingPeer TeachingDialoguesInterviewsSurveys

SpatialShape puzzlesMind MapsDrawingVisualizationsDiagramsConstructing modelsMaps and coordinatesDrawingLearning from DVDs & CD-ROMs

IntrapersonalLearning DiariesReflectionCreative WritingProject WorkPersonal goal-setting

Bodily-KinestheticTPRCraftworkDancingPhysical ActivitiesAction rhymes, songs and games

Naturalist

PatternsClassifyingSorting

Nature Projects



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Teachers should try to prepare the activities for the children based on these eight typesof intelligences to enhance the student’s learning potential and to make sure that most, if notall, of the learning styles are catered for or provided for. As there are normally many studentsin the class, Primary teachers can prepare different activities to work the literary texts in theclassroom, combining the different learning styles so that the activities are aimed at more thanone type of intelligence or learning style. It is not essential that teachers determine each stu-dent’s kind of intelligence, but to provide a wide variety of activities so that learning andreading literature in the class can be a fun experience and a motivating one as well.

Which literary texts in English should be read in the Primary classroom? Fairy Talesand Fables by the Grimm brothers, Hans Christian Andersen, Beatrix Potter, Oscar Wilde,Aesop and de la Fontaine are a first-class collection of literary texts that make reading andlearning English an enjoyable experience both for the teachers and the students as well .

Teachers have to adapt the Children’s stories, Fairy Tales and Fables to the level that is mostappropriate for the students to understand in the classroom.. Depending on the English level

being taught in the primary classroom, teachers will need adapted or abriged versions of theseliterary texts. If the primary students have a higher understanding of English, teachers will beable to use the original children’s stories, Fairy tales and Fables. Besides, the visual picturesand images found in the real story books are of much better quality and frequently more beau-tiful than the ones found in graded or abriged versions.

Why is it important to read Children’s stories, Fairy Tales and Fables in the Primaryclassroom? The main reason is that they can be very entertaining for the children to read orlisten to and it is a way of passing on traditional culture to the children, so that they becomefamiliar with the traditional knowledge and beliefs of their own culture and those of other

different cultures as well.Secondly, Children’s stories, Fairy Tales and Fables are a good source of new vocabu-lary words which the children can easily learn and become familiar with as they read or listento the stories. The input of vocabulary is vast and the students will be able to relate the newvocabulary learnt with the words learnt in the other school subjects ( interdisciplinary learn-ing).

Another reason for reading literature in the Primary classroom is that Tales and Fablesteach children important values that can be very important for their future education so thatthey can gradually learn to live by them and make them part of their everyday lives. FairyTales and Fables are very educational as well because they also teach children how to dealwith the big issues in life, such as Who are we and ,Where do we come from?, How do wedeal with life’s troubles and difficulties?, How should we behave?, What is the truth?, What isour place in this world?

The themes in these stories often deal with universal concepts and truths and these arefrequently included in the main characters ( as flaws or virtues) as well as in the plots. Forinstance, the contrast between good and evil ( Little Red Cap, Little Snow White, Briar Rose

by The Brothers Grimm), master and servant( Cinderella by The Brothers Grimm), rich and poor ( The Little Match Girl by Hans Christian Andersen), wise and foolish ( The Hare and



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The Tortoise, Aesop’s Fables), beautiful and ugly ( Beauty and The Beast ), sacrifice and truelove ( The Nightingale and The Rose by Oscar Wilde), mischief and disobedience ( The Taleof Peter Rabbit by Beatrix Potter), friendship and loyalty ( The Lion and The Mouse, Aesop’sFables). The themes in these stories also try to make the children aware of different feelingsand emotions that people can go through at certain moments in their lives, for example, feel-ings of loneliness and of being different to others like in the The Ugly Duckling (by HansChristian Andersen).

Teachers should decide and keep in mind which values and virtues they would like toteach the children and which Fairy Tale or Fable is more appropriate for their age and theirmaturity and their ability to understand the moral in the story.

Which fun and motivating activities based on the Multiple Intelligences learning stylescan be exploited in the Primary classroom to help children learn from the literary texts andimprove their reading, listening, writing and speaking skills?

Reading and Writing Skills: Reading and Writing activities have to be appropriate for

the age and level of the children. The following activities can be done to work reading andwriting skills aimed at children with Logical-Mathematical Intelligence, Linguistic or Inter-

personal Intelligence.After reading The Lion and the Mouse ( Aesop’s Fable) in the class, students can do the

following tasks: Age Range: 5-7Matching words and sentences from the story- Students are given a worksheet with the

adjectives from the story and match their opposite meanings( long, short, little, large, huge,tiny, small, big, strong, weak).

Students write the verbs under each category. Language Focus: Past Simple ( regular

and irregular verbs-ran, had, trapped, was, went, were, looked, saw, squeaked, swallow, lift-ed,…). Story vocabulary ( head, tail, paw, shoulder, teeth, mouth, trees, bushes, leaves, branches, camp, tree trunk, moss, grass).Skills Focus: Recognizing the different parts of the body of animals. Cross-Curricular Learning: Difference between wild and domestic animals, between small and big animals. Understanding the moral and identifying values in the story(Patience, Bravery, Politeness, Friendship and Loyalty, Cruelty to animals).

Older Students (10-11) can make Glogsters of wild animals and domestic animals. Theteacher can organize a Glogster competition where the students have to link the Fable with theinformation about wild and domestic animals. This is very creative work and students willenjoy it and feel very motivated. The program can be downloaded easily and for free and theinstructions are not difficult to follow. See: www.glogster.com

The same Fable can be exploited in other ways to work Speaking and Writing for stu-dents who have Linguistic, Spatial and Natural Intelligences:

Students can write the words of the parts of the body of the animals in a picture of a lionand a mouse ( head, tail, ears, paw, nails, shoulder, teeth, mouth,…).

The teacher can give them small pictures of the characters of the story and the childrencan use the pictures to make pencil puppets and act out the story.

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The teacher can make crosswords with all the vocabulary learnt and studied in class asrevision. Teachers can use the program www.Worksheetfactory.com or another websitewww.wordsearchfactory.com to make excellent and fun word puzzles and crosswords for anylevel and any vocabulary category.

Older students (9-11) can make a poster with the moral of the story: Small Friends MayBe Great Friends and then put it on the wall of the classroom where all the children in theclass can see it. The teacher might want to talk about the universal truths and values of friend-ship and loyalty so that the children can understand these concepts better. Students can speakabout other examples of situations where there is friendship and loyalty or the lack of it. Theteacher may want to discuss the concept of cruelty to animals and mention more examples:the hunting of wild animals and animals in danger of extinction.

Students can write out projects or do research on their favourite wild or domestic ani-mal. Then, students can do 5-minute oral reports using posters or picture images to talk aboutthe animals, their habitat, the food, main characteristics, why it is their favourite animal, is it a

protected species or not?…This is interdisciplinary learning and it is linked to the Scienceclass so it is a way of revising the vocabulary learnt in both classes.

Another story that can be exploited in class is Goldilocks and the Three Bears to workListening and Writing skills for students who have Spatial, Linguistic and Bodily-KinestheticIntelligences: Age Range: 5-7

Picture Dictation: The teacher dictates to the students the objects they have to draw on a piece of paper, using the prepositions of place ( near, next to, behind, between, under, above,in ,on. at) to explain where they should be drawn. Language Focus: Vocabulary of kitchenitems and objects and furniture of the house and rooms in the house ( kitchen, bed, chair, liv-

ing room, bed room, rug, armchair, clock, bowl, spoon, cup, bed, pillow, teddy bear,…).Miming the main character’s daily routine- miming action verbs: wake up, get up, washface and hands, brush the teeth and hair, get dressed, make the bed, have breakfast, play withdolls and the teddy bear, drink milk and eat biscuits,…The teacher uses flashcards with actionverbs that are used in the story to explain the meaning of action verbs related to daily routinesand then mimes the action verbs and students have to guess and shout the action verbs theteacher is miming or one students can write the verbs on the blackboard/whiteboard as thestudents shout them.

Lastly, in order to work Writing skills for older students (9-11) who have Intrapersonaland Linguistic Intelligences, the teacher can use any Fairy Tale where there is a King, aQueen, a Prince or Princess, a Witch or Wizard as the main characters. Stories such as:SnowWhite, Sleeping Beauty, Beauty and The Beast , Hansel and Grethel , The Little Mermaid ,The Frog Prince,…Students have to keep a diary and write what the characters do everyday,think and feel and their plans for the near future and what they did before. Each students hasto be one of these main characters and they have to write in first person ‘I’. Students can makethe diary as beautiful and as creative and as colourful as they want. It is creative and enjoya-

ble. Students learn to write full sentences and to use verb tenses appropriately and to use the

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vocabulary they have read in the storybooks. Time adverbs, time expressions and connectorsare also very important vocabulary tools to use.

In conclusion, Primary school children can learn literature in various ways at the sametime that they practice reading, listening, writing and speaking skills in the English classroom.Thus, Primary teachers have to provide students with creative and fun activities based on theMultiple Intelligences so that the students are motivated and encouraged to read and learnfrom children’s literature and the literary texts.

Works cited

Bassnet,S.and Grundy, P. (1993) Language Through Literature. London: Longman.Brewster, Jean and Ellis, G. (2003) The Primary English Teacher’s Guide. New Edi-

tion.London: Longman.Brumfit, C.J. and Carter, R.A. (eds.) (1986) Literature and Language Teaching .Oxford: Ox-

ford University Press.Collie, J. and Slater, S. (1987) Literature in the Language Classroom: A Resource Book of

Ideas and Activities. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Gardner, H. (1983). Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences . New York: Basic

Books.McAllister, Margaret. (2011) The Lion Classic-Aesop’s Fables. Oxford: Lion Children’s.McKie, Anne. (1994) A Treasury of Fairy Tales and Nursery Rhymes. London: Grandreams.Madrid, Daniel and McLaren, N. (2004) TEFL in Primary Education. Granada : Universidad

de Granada.

Mills, Alice. ( 1997) The Random House Children’s Treasury. New York: Random House.Read, Carol. ( 2001) Instant Lessons-Fairy Tales-Level 1-4. London: Penguin Young Read-ers.

Potter, Beatrix. (1989) Peter Rabbit Tales. London: Frederick Warne&Co.Wilde, Oscar. (1987) The Happy Prince and Other Tales. London:Michael O’Mara Books

Ltd.



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Light and Silence: Teaching approaches to Vermeer’s Womenthrough Painting and Poetry

Tzina Kalogirou(University of Athens)

Introduction

Ekphrasis is one of the most fascinating terms in literary theory and criticism and it hasappeared as the title or as the main topic of academic books, major conferences and special-ized studies. The encounter of literature and art and their inter-artistic relation has major the-oretical, aesthetical and philosophical implications. Throughout the centuries the pictorial andverbal arts have been seen as sister arts. The interplay between verbal and visual representa-tions and the scholarly discussion about it can be traced back to the ancient poet Simonides

of Ceos, who was quoted by Plutarch ( De Gloria Atheniensium III 346f–347c) as saying“painting is mute poetry and mute poetry is a speaking picture”1.This dictum through its rephrasing in Latin by Horatius( Ars poetica,361–365) as ut pictura poesis(as is painting so is poetry) became crucial in a debate that became fashionable from the Renaissance to the eight-eenth century and until today is one of the most widely used expressions of many scholarswho treat the issue. The ut pictura poesis tradition is closely related to the discursive strategyknown as ekphrasis2. The concept itself refers to the manner in which literary works evokeexisting or imagined works of art. The term, rich in its theoretical implications, hails back tothe Greek schools of rhetoric in the third to fifth centuries. In this context ekphrasis consistedof describing an object or an existed work of art as vividly as possible in order to bring it ‘be-

fore the eye’ of the listener. According to J.A. W. Heffernan’s definition, ekphrasis is ‘a verbal representation of a visual representation’3.Ekphrastic poems are verbal equivalents of paintings; they do not only speak about works of art, but also to and for them4,lending avoice to the silent image, transforming the pictorial stasis of the image into a moving narra-tive of successive actions . Existed in the realm (or in the prison-house) of language itself,

poems on paintings revive the ancient antagonism between verbal and visual art. The earliestknown example of ekphrasis in western literature is the lengthy description of Achilles’ shield

1 «Ο Σιμωνίδης την μεν ζωγραφίαν ποίησιν σιωπώσαν προσαγορεύει, την δε ποίησιν ζωγραφίανλαλούσαν»(in the original Greek language).2 The bibliography on the subject of ekphrasis is vast. Some of the most important studies of the subject are:J.A.W. Heffernan, Museum of Words: The Poetics of Ekphrasis from Homer to Ashbery , Chicago: University ofChicago Press,1993; J. Hollander ,The Gazer’s Spirit: Poems Speaking to Silent Works of Art ,Chicago: Univer-sity of Chicago Press,1995;St.Cheeke,Writing for Art:The Aesthetics of Ekphrasis ,Manchester and New York:Manchester University Press,2008;W.Steiner,The Colors of Rhetoric: Problems in the Relation between Modern

Literature and Painting ,Chicago: University of Chicago Press,1982;Murray Krieger, Ekphrasis: The Illusion ofthe Natural Sign, Baltimore and London: The Johns Hopkins University Press,1992;Jean Hagstrum, The Sister

Arts: The Tradition of Literary Pictorialism and English Poetry from Dryden to Gray,Chicago: University ofChicago Press,1958.3J.A.W. Heffernan, Museum of Words, op. cit., 3.4J.A.W. Heffernan, Museum of Words, op. cit. , 7.



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in the eighteenth book of Homer’s Iliad (18.478-608), succeeded by two other classic examples of ekphrasis, namely the description of the shield of Aeneas in the Aeneid (Book 8) andDante’s description of the beautiful sculptures on the first terrace in the Purgatory(Canto10)where proud souls purge their sin. Recent famous examples of ekphrasis in poetry areJohn Keats’ Ode on a Grecian Urn, W. H. Auden’s poem Musée des Beaux Arts about The

Fall of Icarus of Pieter Bruegel the Elder, W. Carlos Williams’ poems Pictures from Bruegel , John Ashbery’s length poem “ Self- Portrait in a Convex Mirror” inspired by Parmigiani-no’s famous self- portrait,1 etc.

Ekphrasis is not only a major concept in Aesthetics with ongoing influence in the fieldof inter-artistic studies; it is also a rhetorical game between two different to each other artforms worth to be explored by pupils and students of all ages in the classroom. Pupils byall levels can be introduced to this “as-in-painting-so-in-poetry game” by trying to createtheir own ekphrastic poems2 . Michael Benton is one of the most important figures in thefield of literature teaching who has been dedicated to the scholarly study of artistic represen-

tation and viewer’s response to paintings, as well as to the study of ekphrasis, its pedagogicalimplications and its actual and vivid implementation in the literature classroom3. In a series ofclassroom books he wrote along with his brother Peter Benton4, offers a vigorous explana-tion of how pupils can effectively talk and write about poems and paintings, developing of-ten surprisingly sophisticated insights into how these two art forms create their effects.

Light and Silence: Vermeer’s women

Johannes Vermeer’s paintings5 fascinate us for their subtle and enigmatic charm, for

their poetic tranquility and their sense of transcending the boundaries of their historicalcontext. They succeed in arousing intense emotional responses to the viewers transmittingmoods and meanings that are aesthetically viable for people of different eras, generations and

1The poem of Ashbery has been described as “the most complex and challenging ekphrasis in contemporaryliterature” according to Cheeke,Writing for Art:The Aesthetics of Ekphrasis, op. cit., 130.See also ,the illuminat-ing analysis of this particular poem of Ashbery by H. Vendler, in her book Invisible Listeners .Lyric Intimacy in

Herbert, Whitman, and Ashbery, Princeton and Oxford: Princeton University Press,2005, 57-78.2 See the lesson plan “Ekphrasis: Using Art to Inspire Poetry” ,at the readwritethink, IRA/NCTE. Available at:http://www.readwritethink.org/classroom-resources/lesson-plans/ekphrasis-using-inspire-poetry-1093.html(accessed 23April,2012) .See also, H. Moorman, "Backing into Ekphrasis: Reading and Writing Poetry aboutVisual Art", English Journal, 96 .1 (September 2006), 46-53.In this article an extended poetry lesson that con-nects art and poetry is explained. Students perform published poems written in response or reaction to paintingsas preparation for their visit to an art museum.3See, his pioneering books Secondary Worlds. Literature Teaching and the Visual Arts,Buckingham-Philadelphia: Open University Press, 1992, and Studies in the Spectator Role. Literature, Painting and Peda-

gogy. London and New York:RoutledgeFalmer,2000.4Michael and Peter Benton, Double Vision. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1990. (in association with the TateGallery, London); Painting with Words. London: Hodder and Stoughton, 1995; Picture Poems.Hodder andStoughton,1997.5 The bibliography on the great Dutch painter of the 17th century are vast. See, for example, A. K. Wheelock,

jr., Vermeer , New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2004(first edn.1981); I. Gaskell, Vermeer’s Wager. Speculations on Art History, Theory and Art Museums, London :Reaction Books,2000;E.Snow, A Study of Vermeer(revisedand enlarged edition),Berkley-Los Angeles-London: University of California Press,1994.

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cultures. They create a secluded, almost weightless, and self-contained world, full of light,serenity and silence. Due to their poetic sensibility, or due to their exquisite painterly tech-nique, the paintings of Vermeer resist to the traditional moralizing, emblematic interpreta-tions very common in the interpretive analysis of seventeenth-century Dutch painting.Their overall meaning seems not totally explicit and not restricted to a hidden moral allego-ry.

Most of Vermeer’s masterpieces celebrate the intimacy of the Dutch household and the presence of women at the heart of it. The Delft master of the Golden Age of Dutch paintingcreated with an extraordinary sensitivity a silent and mysterious domestic realm inhabitedmostly by women who are engaged in mundane domestic tasks or in pleasurable pastimessuch as reading or music playing1.They are pensive, inwardly absorbed figures,completelyoblivious to the viewer’s intrusive gaze. A woman pouring milk in a room bathed in sunlight;a girl standing near the window or adorning herself with pearls; the women of Vermeer’sworld are eternal figures transfixed in moments of equilibrium.

The Milkmaid (ca.1657-58, Oil on Canvas, 18 x16 1/8in., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam) isone of the most popular paintings of Vermeer. The woman who is pouring milk from aredware pitcher is modeled in a sculptural manner. 2Her bulky figure creates an impressionof steadfastness and firmness. She is a woman of labor; with her simple and coarse clothes,her rolled sleeves and her hair pulled back in her cap, is less refined than the other women ofVermeer, although she still evokes dignity. One can only but admires the remarkable treat-ment of light, shadow and atmosphere in the painting as well as the effect of worn white wall.The natural light sparkles on the still life in the foreground and on the broken glass of thehumble window.

The poem Marilyn Chandler Mc Entyre dedicates to this painting celebrates the virtueof the depicted kitchen maid.

The Milkmaid There is no flattery here: this thick-muscled, broad-bottom girl has milkedcows at down and carried sloshing pailsHung from a yoke on shoulders

broadened to the task. She has kneaded fatMounds of dough, sinking heavy fists deepInto voluptuous bread, innocentand sensuous as a child in a spring mud.

1 See the volume: M.E. Wieseman, Vermeer’s Women. Secrets and Silence, The Fitzwilliam Museum, Cam- bridge/New Haven and London: Y ale University Press,2011(published to accompany the excellent recent exhibition at the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, from 5 October 2011 to 15 January 2012.2 The book by W. Liedke, The Milkmaid by Johannes Vermeer, New York: The Metropolitan Museum ofArt,2009 ,offers a thorough analysis of Vermeer’s masterpiece(this publication is issued in conjunction with theexhibition “Vermeer’s masterpiece The Milkmaid ”, held at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, fromSeptember 9 to November 29 2009.



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Evenings she mends and patchesthe coarse wool of her bodice, smellingher own sweat, sweet like grass and dungin the barn or like warm milkfresh from the udder.

Her world is grained and gritty, deep-textured, rough-hewn, earth-toned, solid,simple and crude. Reed and brass and clay,wheat and flax and plaster turned to human usewhere they were mined and gathered. The thingsshe handles are round and square ,tough-fibered and strong, familiar as flesh to the touch.

The jug rests in her hand like a baby’s bottom. She bends to her task like a mothertending her child, hand and eye trainedto this work, heart left to its pondering.

How like tenderness, this lookof complete attention, how like a prayerthat blesses these loaves, this milk(round like this belly, full like this breast),

Given daily into her keeping, this handmaidon whom the light falls,haloed in white, haloed by the gazethat sees her thus, heavy, thick-lipped,weathered and earthbound, blessedand full of grace1.

Obviously, the poetess recognizes that this particular piece of Vermeer is a magnifi-cent painting of an ordinary kitchen maid, who, due to the painter’s majestic technique be-comes a figure of radiance and virtue. The poem invites the reader to see a further similarity

between the woman and the organic cosmos of Nature. It begins with a pastoral mode andmoves through a series of images of natural plenitude which have the affect of emphasizingthrough their richness the dignity and the benevolence of the depicted woman. The poemseems also to confirm or reassure Vermeer’s own vision as far as it sanctifies the everyday tosuch a degree that it becomes a vision of sublime. The painting leads the poet-viewer into aspiritual frame of mind that would enable a vision of innocence and virtue in their pure forms.

1 M. Chandler Mc Entyre, In Quite Light. Poems on Vermeer’s Women, Grand Rapids, Michigan/Cambridge,UK: W. E. Eerdmans Publishing Company,2000,21-23.



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The ekphrasis here utilizes diction and a discourse in which connotative and symbolic mean-ings prevail over denotation and in which, therefore, the qualities of the woman are appro-

priately suggested. The figures of the poem, such as homophone words (sweat-sweet), adjec-tives in abundance, similes, etc, endows the woman as well as her quotidian task with certainassociations and connotations. The woman is endowed with the positive associations we haveof nature. With her amplified silhouette (full breast, round belly, broadened shoulders) is al-most like an ancient goddess of fecundity, a personification of earth, a fertility deity. She isalso-according to the poem- an icon of Maternity, a spring of life, a symbol of birth, or, inmundane terms, a wet-nurse. Haloed in white (actually Vermeer reinforced the contour ofthe woman’s back with a thin white line1),the milkmaid is a blessed figure while the bread andthe milk are celebratory symbols clearly associated with the sacred ritual of “Give us thisday our daily bread”.

Teaching Ideas (in brief)

Although in this paper my dominant frame of reference is reading and teachingekphrastic poems on Vermeer’s painting in the University, I strongly suggest that the follow-ing teaching ideas can easily be adapted for other educational levels such as Middle or Sec-ondary school. Before the students actually start to study the painting in its relation to the po-em inspired by it, it is necessary to be introduced to the art of Vermeer and 17th centuryDutch painting in general. Passing the detailed analysis, I shall offer here an extremely briefdescription, indicating some questions and activities for the classroom.

1. A Wordle cloud for the paintingStudents will analyze a Wordle of words associated with the painting .Wordle.net is awebsite that allows users to cut and paste text and create a word cloud (a visual of words) .Wecan give them a Wordle (Handout1) prepared by us with words(approx.150w.) frequentlyused in the analysis of the painting such as: pitcher, hanging basket, nail, light, shadow, cop-

per pail, primary colors, white-wash wall, foot warmer, tiles, yellow, blue, curving lines,temperance, dazzling daylight, etc., and a second handout (Handout 2) thathas five catego-ries: Objects, The woman, Modes of composition, Mood and Atmosphere. Students placewords from Handout 1 into appropriate categories on Handout 2.They can put some words into more than one category.

2. Activities and Discussion about the painting.For example: Look at the painting and jot down what you see. Try to list as many things

as you can. Look at the woman and discuss about her dress , her appearance, her expressionand manner. Then focus not only on what you are seeing, but also on what you are feeling.In the painting a woman is carrying out a simple everyday task of making bread pudding.Given this subject, colour, mood and the overall effect of the painting are important. What is

1A. K. Wheelockjr., Vermeer , op. cit., 66.



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the atmosphere of the painting? What techniques does the artist use to convey this? Consid-er the colour and the light.

3. Activities and Discussion about the poem.For example: Read the poem and notice how it includes details from the painting. What

is the significance of the milkmaid according to the poem? What does the figurative lan-guage tell us about the depicted woman?

4. Students create their own ekphrastic poems on The Milkmaid

5. Students expand their responses to the painting by comparing it with other, radically dif-ferent from Vermeer’s, Dutch paintings of the 17th c., such as ‘The Idle servant’’ by NicolaesMaes.

6. Students expand their responses to the painting by comparing it with different paintingsdepicting lonely women in a domestic setting, such as paintings of Vilhelm Hammershoi,Gwen John, etc., or paintings of women who are working laboriously, such as :Edgar Degas,

La Repasseuse and Women Ironing , etc. What might be a modern meaning of the painting ofVermeer?

In dealing with ekphrastic poems students are reminded of the affinities between paint-ing and poetry, gaining from this process aesthetic pleasure and profound enjoyment.



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TheMilkmaid (ca.1657-58, Oil on Canvas, 18 x16 1/8in., Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam)



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Welcome aboard! Nuevas experiencias de lectura en inglés para las primeras edades

Rebeca Martín García(Centro Internacional del Libro Infantil y Juvenil)

Objetivos- utilizar el inglés como vía de comunicación, no como objeto de aprendizaje- promover la lectura de materiales de calidad en versión original- diseñar enseñanzas productivas y aprendizajes significativos- destacar los aspectos socioculturales de ESL ( English as a Second Language)- explotar las nuevas tecnologías como nuevos espacios de lectura y escritura- formar lectores multimedia

Situación de partida

Solo el 7% de la población española tiene un nivel de conversación fluido en inglés 1 enuna sociedad en la que este idioma es cada día más necesario: dominarlo permite tenerinformación de primera mano, estar al tanto de las novedades en el ámbito tecnológico,científico, etc. sin depender de intermediarios, viajar con más libertad, comunicarse sinfronteras. Esta realidad ha convertido el aprendizaje de inglés en una demanda social de

primer nivel, y es por eso que cada vez se ha adelantado más la edad para realizar el primercontacto con la lengua inglesa.

Comenzar este proceso en las primeras edades ayuda a consolidar las habilidades ydestrezas que van a estar en la base de toda la formación del niño, especialmente si se concibela lengua como una vía de comunicación y no como un mero objeto de aprendizaje. Esto haceimprescindible que padres, docentes, bibliotecarios y otros mediadores tengan lasherramientas necesarias para favorecer un acercamiento a la lengua inglesa positivo y asícontribuir a que el niño/a descubra el aprendizaje y la práctica del idioma como algodivertido, significativo y productivo.

Estas herramientas, cada vez más, aparecen en forma de tecnologías de la información yla comunicación (TIC) y tecnologías de la comunicación y el conocimiento (TAC). Por tanto,es necesario que se mantengan vigentes las competencias profesionales necesarias para

seleccionar y explotar adecuadamente los recursos para la gestión del aprendizaje, y que sesepan manejar adecuadamente los nuevos entornos digitales.

Este nuevo rol del mediador que debe integrar las TIC como medio para favorecer losaprendizajes, como herramienta de trabajo y entorno de comunicación, implica también uncambio metodológico: el trabajo con tecnologías debe apuntar más que al dominio

1 Conclusiones extraídas del Estudio sobre el Conocimiento del Inglés en España, realizado por la EditorialOcéano en Abril 2011.



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instrumental de las TIC a su utilización de forma creativa y crítica en entornos de reflexión,debate y aprendizaje significativo.

La lectura puede ser un buen aliado en este sentido. ¿Por qué? La literatura infantil enversión original ofrece un contexto natural y significativo para el aprendizaje de segundaslenguas; a través del texto literario se ejemplifica y desarrolla gramática, léxico y expresiones;ofrece ejemplos de la lengua predecibles; la lectura en voz alta mejora la pronunciación yentonación; y las interacciones entusiastas y elocuentes que pueden generar los textosliterarios favorecen momentos para la negociación de sentido y la posibilidad de poner demanifiesto opiniones personales.

Por tanto, con la lectura como punto de partida es posible ofrecer una selección deestrategias que, basadas en el uso de recursos digitales, favorezcan la práctica del idiomainglés en el aula con el fin de despertar en el niño el deseo de profundizar en el conocimientode la lengua y sentirse partícipe de ese proceso de aprendizaje al explorar, compartir y crearsus propios contenidos.

Welcome Aboard! Experiencia de lectura en inglés desde el CILIJ

En el año 2004 el Centro Internacional del Libro Infantil y Juvenil de la FGSR puso enmarcha una iniciativa dirigida a niños desde 6 años con el objetivo de fomentar el gusto por lalectura en inglés a través de propuestas lúdicas, así como de ofrecer un espacio de encuentroen torno a la lengua inglesa en el que sus miembros pudieran practicarla de forma natural yespontánea y en el que se familiarizasen con la cultura de países en los que el inglés es lenguaoficial y con materiales de lectura en versión original.

Desde entonces, el número de usuarios interesados en la propuesta no ha dejado decrecer, tanto en volumen como en franjas de edad, al igual que han aumentado los recursos para su ejecución: la variedad de soportes de lectura, los formatos de los fondos y lasactividades, que se realizan en el Centro con una periodicidad semanal.

Practicar inglés a partir de lecturas, juegos digitales y otras propuestas artísticas protagonizadas por The Cat in the Hat y sus amigos; celebrar la festividad de Halloween através de propuestas “monstruosas” relacionadas con la lectura, el inglés y la tecnología; crearlibros digitales con primeros conceptos en la PDI; explorar páginas web de personajesliterarios para presentarlas a los participantes; interactuar en inglés con nativos que nos visitany con personajes virtuales; disfrutar de talleres en familia con I de Inglés, Ipad e Ilustración.



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Todo esto es posible gracias a una línea de trabajo basada en una cuidada selección demateriales de lectura de calidad en versión original inglés, en la integración de soportesdigitales concebida para formar lectores multimedia y en el diseño de propuestas innovadorasdiseñadas a potenciar la imaginación, la lectura y la escritura.

Estrategias y actividades

Nuestra intención es acercar los soportes digitales a las primeras edades como otraforma de lectura, aprendizaje y juego en inglés a través de la literatura infantil en versiónoriginal. Para ello, utilizamos distintas estrategias que parten de la lectura en inglés e implicanla utilización de aplicaciones, recursos o soportes digitales como herramientas, para que los

participantes en el programa puedan entender, aprender y practicar la lengua inglesa comomedio de expresión, producción y gestión del conocimiento.

Presentación de repositorios de lecturas ilustradas digitales en inglés, de acceso gratuito ydisponibles online

Especialmente en las primeras edades, los niños necesitan mucho apoyo visual parainvolucrarse en las historias, y cualquier complemento utilizado con este fin resulta adecuado.Internet facilita la localización de cuentos ilustrados de calidad que, en muchos casos, vienen



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acompañados del texto e incluso se convierten en pequeñas animaciones muy atractivas paralos más pequeños.

Ejemplo: www.signedstories.com

Creación de una colección de podcasts con versiones de canciones tradicionales del folcloreanglosajón

En las canciones infantiles abundan la repetición y la rima, por lo que son un magníficorecurso para practicar la pronunciación y la entonación. Aprender y repetir nursery rimes para

practicar las destrezas lingüísticas es un recurso muy útil en las primeras edades. Para que losniños se sientan protagonistas de su propio aprendizaje se pueden grabar sus versiones,recopilarlas a modo de podcasts y hacerlos accesibles en la Red para utilizarlos con laintención de contribuir a la fluidez del lenguaje.

Ejemplo: http://youtu.be/M16jUWFmauc

Diseño en formato audiovisual de versiones propias de obras literarias

A partir de cuentos que resulten sugerentes, entretenidos y adecuados para los lectoresmás pequeños es posible facilitar el desarrollo de propuestas didácticas dirigidas afamiliarizarse con el abecedario, aprender vocabulario y consolidar estructuras gramaticales

básicas. Todo ello se puede realizar fomentando la creación de trabajos artísticos tras lalectura, utilizando el dibujo o la fotografía para emular algunas de las escenas destacadas de lahistoria, que después se compilan en libros propios creados con distintas herramientas

digitales, desde un simple Power Point hasta intuitivas aplicaciones web que permiten crearlibros a partir de dibujos infantiles.Ejemplo: http://youtu.be/Mn5E0De3KsA

Utilización de juegos digitales para trabajar unidades didácticas a partir de propuestas lúdicasque tienen su origen en los libros

El trabajo por unidades didácticas implica la necesidad de disponer de materialesadecuados. El libro es un buen punto de partida para justificar la unidad. A partir de unalectura de calidad sobre un tema determinado, los niños pueden sentirse motivados acompletar lo leído con distintas propuestas o juegos digitales en los que se practique elvocabulario presentado. Animales, colores, formas, comidas… cualquier excusa es buena para

buscarle una justificación literaria adecuada y motivadora.Ejemplo: http://www.bemboszoo.com/

http://www.signedstories.com/


http://youtu.be/M16jUWFmauc

http://youtu.be/Mn5E0De3KsA

http://www.bemboszoo.com/

http://www.bemboszoo.com/

http://youtu.be/Mn5E0De3KsA

http://youtu.be/M16jUWFmauc




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Identificación de sitios web oficiales de personajes literarios conocidos por los pequeñoslectores gracias a su representación en pantalla

Ver dibujos animados en versión original es una manera divertida de practicar yaprender inglés desde pequeños. Muchas familias eligen la televisión como una opción paraque sus hijos se familiaricen con el idioma. Lo que desconocen la mayoría de padres y madreses que algunos de los protagonistas de series tienen su propia versión literaria. Muchos,incluso, tienen origen en el papel. Ir del libro a la pantalla y viceversa es una estrategia muyenriquecedora para localizar y presentar recursos en inglés que resultan muy familiares paralos niños y además amplían su grado de interés hasta convertirlos en creadores de sus propioscontenidos, a través de juegos, coloring pages, flashcards, crosswords…

Ejemplo: http://www.seussville.com/

Uso de propuestas novedosas que integran al niño como parte activa de la historia

Cada vez se realizan más avances en las tecnologías informáticas con la intención deofrecer recursos más interactivos y atractivos para el usuario. Uno de ellos es la RealidadAumentada que convierte al niño que está leyendo una obra con realidad en el protagonista dela misma, pudiendo interactuar con sus movimientos, gestos y sonidos con la historia que valeyendo.

Ejemplo: http://youtu.be/N1VcQuTpEuQ

Desarrollo de habilidades de expresión oral, escrita y artística a través de dispositivos móviles

como la PDI, tabletas o iPads

Los soportes digitales incluyen aplicaciones de diseño muy intuitivas y adecuadasincluso para prelectores. Posibilitan que dibujar palabras o identificar siluetas con sudefinición se convierta en una actividad divertida más relacionada con el juego que con elaprendizaje. Existen cada vez más aplicaciones basadas en libros que buscan que el lectorinteractúe para que la historia pueda continuar. A partir de la repetición de vocabulario, de larepresentación gráfica de algunas de las palabras incluidas en los cuentos o simplemente desonidos, el niño interioriza aprendizajes significativos.

Ejemplo: http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=PCvvkcC

Presentación de herramientas web con materiales de referencia para el aprendizaje de inglésonline

Los soportes digitales favorecen la posibilidad de compartir conocimiento de una formasencilla e inmediata. Es por eso que muchos profesionales del sector educativo se dedican acompartir recursos a través de la web con la intención de ayudar a otros interesados en

prácticas educativas 2.0. En la actualidad, es tan importante generar materiales de interés

http://www.seussville.com/

http://youtu.be/N1VcQuTpEuQ


http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=PCvvkcC

http://www.showme.com/sh/?h=PCvvkcC


http://www.seussville.com/



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como localizar y compartir otros generados con la misma intención: educar a través de propuestas novedosas y lúdicas que enganchen a los más pequeños para, por ejemplo, practicar matemáticas, conocer el nombre de distintos animales o aprender inglés. Con estafinalidad es posible encontrar modelos de interés en Delicious, Wiki o Youtube.

Ejemplos: http://www.anobii.com/leemoseningles/books

Conclusión

Estas estrategias presentadas son solo un ejemplo de las líneas llevadas a cabo en tornoal inglés, la lectura y las TIC desde el CILIJ, y nos conducen a un debate de interés yactualidad: ¿TECNOLOGÍA O METODOLOGÍA?. La respuesta, como en todos los debates,la construimos entre todos a partir de la experimentación y del diseño de nuevos escenariosen los que nuestros usuarios vean reflejados sus intereses y pueden intervenir de formasignificativa utilizando las herramientas tecnológicas a su alcance.

Bibliografía

Barroso, José María. España, a la cola de Europa en inglés. En ABC Edición Digital. Marzo2011. Disponible en http://www.abc.es

Carretero Ramos, Aurora: Las TICS en el aula de Inglés: un proyecto de trabajo. En Qua-dernsDigital,net. Agosto 2005. Disponible en: http://quadernsdigitals.net

Durán Fernández, Antonio; González Puelles, Pedro Manuel; De la Herrán Gascón, Agustín.Valoración del profesorado de inglés en Educación Infantil y primer ciclo de Primaria

sobre el uso de las TIC en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de esta lengua. En Tendencias pe-dagógicas Nº 12, 2007, pp. 265-280. Disponible en: http://dialnet.unirioja.esFons, Monserrat. La presión del inglés en la formación lingüística infantil . En Aula de

Infantil, número 61. Mayo 2011. Disponible en: http://www.grao.comKrashen, S. Is First Language Use in the Foreign Language Classroom Good or Bad? It De-

pends. En The International Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, Diciembre 2006. Nielsen Company (The) El nivel de conocimiento del inglés en España. En Editorial Océano.

Mayo 2011. Disponible en: http://www.oceanoidiomas.es/Soler Costa, Rebeca. Nuevo enfoque metodológico a través de las TIC en el proceso de

enseñanza- aprendizaje del inglés. Estrategias de aprendizaje en el entorno virtual. EnRevista Interuniversitaria de Formación del profesorado, número 21, pp. 183- 196.2007. Disponible en: www.aufop.com/aufop/uploaded_files/articulos/1211954654.pdf.

http://www.anobii.com/leemoseningles/books


http://www.abc.es/

http://quadernsdigitals.net/

http://dialnet.unirioja.es/

http://www.grao.com/

http://www.oceanoidiomas.es/descargas/Estudio_2011.pdf

http://www.aufop.com/aufop/uploaded_files/articulos/1211954654.pdf

http://www.aufop.com/aufop/uploaded_files/articulos/1211954654.pdf

http://www.oceanoidiomas.es/descargas/Estudio_2011.pdf

http://www.grao.com/

http://dialnet.unirioja.es/

http://quadernsdigitals.net/

http://www.abc.es/




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“Tell me and I'll forget...involve me and I'll understand”:Teaching English Literature and ICTs

Laura Monrós Gaspar(Universitat de València)

One of the most significant current discussions in tertiary education is the implementa-tion of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) in the classroom. With regard toteaching literature, an issue at stake is the influence of ICTs, of the new forms of social net-working and of digital entertainment on the critical reading and writing practices of the stu-dents as digital natives. Another important question is the role that technology plays in thecurricula of faculties of humanities.

Following in the line of such debates, this paper focuses on the use of Learning Man-agement Systems (LMS) for teaching English literature in a b-learning environment. The pa-

per is based on the findings of a research conducted throughout a pilot experience during theacademic years 2008-9/2009-10 at the Universidad de Alicante in the module “PostcolonialLiterature” of Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa. The topics considered are focused on theeffective use of LMS for content-based learning in tertiary education and for the acquisitionof the general and specific competencies detailed in the Libro Blanco del Título de Grado en

Estudios en el ámbito de la lengua, literatura, cultura y civilización. To this purpose, I shallfirst describe how the course was developed and then discuss its merits and drawbacks. Fi-nally, I will focus on the importance of online learning as a tool for students to overcome theircultural barriers. As I shall demonstrate, using LMS facilitated the students’ acquisition of the

learning outcomes and encouraged their critical thinking. Furthermore, working with LMSfavoured the use of digital materials (eg.: digital newspapers, interviews, platforms, videos,screened performances, poetry readings, etc.) which not only put the students in contact withliving authors and with the literary maps of different countries, but also developed their cross-cultural awareness.

According to Marshall & Slocombe (99), one of the great barriers in the incorporationof technology in traditional teaching and learning contexts is the way in which e-learning is

perceived. For teachers and students in campus-based programmes, who are used to a face-to-face interaction, e-learning seems to add a distance which can be alleged to impair the qualityof teaching. Furthermore, distance teachers used to periodic face-to-face contact question theefficacy of the system in campus-based modules. As a consequence, ‘technology-enhancedlearning’ is received with little enthusiasm.

Yet such preconceptions can be argued inasmuch as technology may promote new waysof learning in which the student becomes partially responsible for his/her own learning. Theaim of this paper is to show how technology-enhanced learning can be satisfactorily imple-mented in the literary classroom. The discussion is based on a pilot experience conducted dur-ing the academic years 2008-9/2009-10 at the Universidad de Alicante in the module “Post-colonial Literature” of Licenciatura en Filología Inglesa. To this purpose, I shall first describe



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how the course was developed and then examine its merits and drawbacks. Finally, I will fo-cus on the importance of online learning as a tool for students to overcome their cultural bar-riers. As I shall demonstrate, using LMS facilitated the students’ acquisition of the learningoutcomes and encouraged their critical thinking. Furthermore, working with LMS favouredthe use of digital materials which not only put the students in contact with living authors andwith the literary maps of different countries, but also developed their cross-cultural aware-ness.

Blended-learning is “the thoughtful integration of classroom face-to-face learning experiences with online learning experiences” (Garrison and Kanuka 2004: 96). In contrast withe-learning, b-learning is related with the principle of ‘the right tool for the job’ and it incorpo-rates copious resources to enable the teacher to give learners assignments, project work andhomework, for example. The most frequent areas which include technologies in Departmentsof English Studies in Spanish universities are linguistics, English for specific purposes andtranslation.1 Nonetheless, there are remarkable examples —such as the work done by the re-

search group Literaturas Españolas y Europeas del Texto al Hipertexto — which manifest theefficacy of the implementations of these tools in the field of literary studies (López-Varela2007;Colbert, Miles, Wilson y Weeks 2007).

Neither e-learning nor b-learning are inherently superior to any other type of learning.The best practice, as always, is the one that dictates that technology should only be used whenit can contribute either to improve learning —in Bransford’s student-centered model (1999,117-42)— or to facilitate any of its key activities: support, delivery and assessment. The ques-tion to be answered is whether literary studies can contribute to the development of the rightskills in students to participate in digital economies, while they become the producers of the

critical discourses on such economies. At stake here is the use of technology to assist commu-nication-based learning assessing the results produced within a community of learners to-gether with personal achievement.

Learning communities favour a student-centered learning and offer the means by whichstudents may become co-creators of knowledge rather than receivers of information. Withinsuch communities students may work on their weaknesses and strengths the way it best suitstheir own way of learning. The question at stake here is: why is technology so useful in thiskind of learning? As I will argue, technology allows the creation of the community as re-search networks do. Furthermore, it shows students the learning tools with a purpose: interac-tion among members, storing, presenting and analysing information, etc.

The module under discussion in this paper is “Postcolonial Literature” in the academicyears 2008-9/2009-10 at the Universidad de Alicante. “Postcolonial literature” is a six-creditoptional module which was scheduled in the Department of English studies for students ofmodern languages (see fig. 1 for a general description of the module).2

1 For an in-depth analysis of the use of ICTS in Spanish universities see for example Duart y Lupiáñez (2005).2 In the academic year 2009-10, the number of students was fifteen and the assessment included a final exam



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Fig.1 Academic year 2008-9The general aims of the course were:

1. To understand what postcolonial literature, the aftermath of colonization and the independ-ence of colonial nations is.

2. To analyze and understand the main criticism surrounding English-language literature fromthe major regions and countries from the postcolonial world such as South Africa, the Carib-

bean, Canada, Australia…3. To explore the themes and concepts vital to an understanding of postcolonial literature and the

development of criticism of the genre.4. To discuss and examine works by key postcolonial writers.5. To motivate lucid and stimulating criticism by the students.6. To make students more sensitive to the use of English in literature by practicing stylistic

analysis and commentary.

Tantamount for the purpose of this paper are objectives five and six, which motivatedthe structure of the course as follows. Each of the ten topics discussed throughout the coursewas divided into three sessions. First, the lecturer introduced the main theoretical concepts ofthe topic in a face-to-face seminar. Then, the lecturer provided students with directions for aworkshop in which they had to practice and reflect upon the topics discussed in the classroom(distant-learning). Third, the lecturer selected texts related to the theoretical concepts analysedto be commented in the classroom (face-to-face session). The following is an example of the

structure of one topic:

TOPIC: Language/ Orality 02.

Session 1: Theories on the deployment of language and Orality in postcolonial litera-ture.

Session 2: Workshop 11Objective: To detect and analyse oral testimonies of key authors of postcolonialliterature.

•6Credits:

•17Number of students:

•Filología inglesa, árabe, catalana, hispánica, francesa

Degrees in which it was

offered:

•Two one-hour sessions per week plus one two-hour sessionTimetable:

•EnglishLanguage:

•Workshop + final paperAssessment:



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Activity: Download, listen and analyse Marlene Nourbese Philip’s poem “Discourse onthe Logic of Language” from http://www.nourbese.com/.What is Marlene Nourbese Philip’s conception of language here? How do you senseorality in this poem? What do you think about the tandem father-tongue/mother-tongue?

Session 3: Discussion work (See Appendix I).

Workshops were uploaded in the university network with a detailed description of the aims,the activities, the submission guidelines and the online resources for each session (see figs. 2and 3).

Fig.2.



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Fig.3

Workshops were intended to guide the student’s familiarization with the concepts stud-ied throughout the module. The topics under discussion were related to present-time socialstruggles, to history and arts in order to enhance the student’s critical awareness of the rela-tion between life and literature. The general aims of the workshops were to familiarize thestudents with the online resources available for each topic; to put them in contact with theliving authors under discussion; to understand the various was of creating, producing and dis-

tributing postcolonial literature; and, above all, to raise their critical awareness. As an example of the proposed activities, students were asked to browse through newspapers, to use theBBC online resources, to analyse online reviews on the set readings of the course, to listen tointerviews to the authors, to listen to dramatic readings of poems, and to look for pictures and

paintings representing postcolonial bodies.Students were given a submission date when to upload their results on the website. Re-

sponses had to be submitted via ‘Campus Virtual’ on a two-week basis and delays were penal-ized in the final mark. Furthermore, one-hour chat session per week was scheduled for stu-dents to solve any technical or content-based problem with the lecturer. Students were ex-

pected to work on their responses for no less than one hour per workshop. Working independ-ently meant that students had to go through the theoretical concepts previously introduced bythe lecturer and gain an insight into them before providing their own conclusions in the work-shops. The understanding of the topics was reinforced in a final session where the process wasrepeated in a team-work discussion guided by the lecturer and commenting other texts related.

Questionnaires on the experience which were answered by the students show a generalsatisfaction with the activity (90% of those polled). Students in the academic year 2008-9agreed that the drawback of the proposal was the amount of time required for the workshops,which was higher than expected (specially, as it only represented a 30% of the final mark of



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the module). In the year 2009-10 the activities of the workshop were adapted and a final examwas introduced in the assessment. Students concurred in the idea that sessions 2 and 3 (work-shops and discussions) enhanced their critical thinking and opened their awareness of thevarious approaches to analysing literature. A very emotive and enthusiastic answer of one ofthe students was a long and unexpected essay entitled “Tell me and I'll forget...involve me andI'll understand” which at the same time inspired the topic for this paper.

The overall assessment of the initiative shows that working with LMS favoured the useof digital materials which put the student in contact with living authors and with the literarymaps of different countries. In a highly topical subject as ‘Postcolonial literature’ is, the use ofLMS proved to be extremely helpful in enhancing the cross-cultural awareness of the studentsand their tools to approach literary criticism.

Works cited

Bransford, J. D., Brown, A. L. & Cocking, R. R. (eds) (1999), How People Learn: Brain, Mind, Experience, and School . Washington, DC: National Academy Press.

Colbert, B. Miles, R, Wilson, F & Weeks, H (2007) “Designing and Assesing Online Learn-ing in English Literary Studies”, Arts and Humanitis in Higher Education, 6:74-89.

Duart, J.M. & Lupiáñez, F. (2005), “ E-strategias en la introducción y uso de las TIC en launiversidad” Revista de Universidad y Sociedad del Conocimiento 2:1, 5-31.

Garrison, D. R. & Kanuka, H. (2004), ‘Blended learning: uncovering its transformative poten-tial in higher education’, Internet and Higher Education, 7: 2, 95–105.

López-Varela, A. (2007), “B-learning for Literary Studies in the European Space of Higher

Education: Research at the Universidad Complutense Madrid” Arts and Humanities in Higher Education 6: 209-218.Marshall, L & Slocombe, W. (2010) “From Passive to Active Voices: Technology, Commu-

nity and Literary Studies” en, Teaching Literature at a Distance: Open, Online and Blended Learning, Takis Nayalis y Anastasia Natsina (eds.), Continuum, London, pp.99-112.

APPENDIX I.

Discussion topic: language/orality: “From What Has Literature Got to Do with It?” byChinua Achebe

(see Thieme, John (ed.). The Arnold Anthology of Postcolonial Literatures in English. London, New York, Sydney, Auckland: Arnold, 1996, pp. 21-26)

Warming up questions:1. What is a creation myth? Can you think of a creation myth from your own cul-

ture?2. What do you think the function of a creation myth is?



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3. What is the function of a creation myth according to Achebe? (provide evidencefrom the text)

Text Commentary:1. What does Igbo (p.22) refer to?2. Considering the two stories in p.23, what is the role of ‘oral literature’ in the

text?3. In your opinion, what are the links between the title of Achebe’s work and this

fragment?4. Work in groups; discuss the confrontation English/native language in Thiong’o

and Achebe.Further Activity:Think about the discussion topics raised in the classroom related to language and orality

within Postcolonial Literature. What is your own opinion of this fragment?[…] you cannot cram African literature into a small, neat definition. I do not see African

literature as one unit but as a group of associated units—in fact, as the sum total of all thenational and ethnic literatures of Africa. A national literature is one that takes the whole na-tion for its province, and has a realized or potential audience throughout its territory; in otherwords, a literature that is written in the national language. An ethnic literature is one that isavailable only to one ethnic group within the nation. If you take Nigeria as an example, thenational literature, as I see it, is the literature written in English; and the ethnic literatures arein Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba, Effik, Edo, Ijaw, and so on […]. Any attempt to define African litera-ture in terms of the African scene is doomed to failure. […] What is it that has conspired to

place English in the position of national language in many parts of Africa? Quite simply, it is

the fact that these nations were created in the first place by the intervention of the Britishwhich (I hasten to add) is not saying that the peoples comprising these nations were invented by the British. […]And there are scores of languages I would want to learn if it were possible.Where am I to find the time to learn the half dozen or so Nigerian languages, each of whichcan sustain a literature? I am afraid it cannot be done. These languages will just have to de-velop as tributaries to feed the one central language enjoying nationwide currency. Today, forgood or ill, that language is English. Tomorrow it may be something else, although I verymuch doubt it. […] but I feel that the English language will be able to carry the weight of myAfrican experience. But it will have to be a new English, still in full communion with its an-cestral home, but altered to suit its new African surroundings.

(Achebe, Chinua. ‘English and the African Writer’. Transition, No. 75/75, The Anni-versary Issue: Selections from Transition, 1961-1976 (1997), pp. 342-249.)



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Gerald Durrel: ¿Una lectura en peligro de extinción?

Eva Morón olivaresConsuelo Martínez Aguilar(Universitat de València)

Los nuevos planes de Magisterio subrayan la necesidad de que los estudiantes adquieranuna sólida formación literaria que, además de incrementar su competencia lectora, les permitaresponder a los objetivos que en este ámbito establece el currículum de Primaria: la lecturacomo experiencia placentera, el conocimiento de las convenciones literarias básicas, elmanejo de los datos pertinentes para la interpretación del texto, etcétera. Pero ¿qué seentiende hoy por “formación literaria”? Quizá deberíamos empezar por acotar el significadode esta expresión que, poco a poco, y sobre todo en el ámbito de la enseñanza Primaria ySecundaria, está influyendo de manera notable en la enseñanza-aprendizaje de la Literatura.

No es fácil explicar en qué consiste enseñar y aprender literatura. Hace ya muchotiempo que sabemos que de la combinación del ordenamiento historicista de contenidosconceptuales, las concepciones repetitivas de comentario de textos y las actividades decreación/producción más o menos motivadas no ha surgido un enfoque que estructure un

planteamiento renovado de la materia, y el hecho incuestionable es que las posibilidadesformativas de la literatura siguen estando, en gran medida, desaprovechadas. Así pues, es pre-ciso superar estas limitaciones didácticas mediante planteamientos que integren el tratamientode las destrezas y estrategias necesarias para la recepción, la interpretación y la valoraciónestética. El giro actual de la didáctica de la literatura está propiciado por el enfoque pragmáti-co-comunicativo del discurso, cuyas principales aportaciones vienen de la semiótica, la

pragmática y la teoría de la recepción (Eco, 1981; Iser, 1987; Jauss, 1970 y 1975).Todo el fenómeno literario se explica como fenómeno pensado para el lector como ins-

tancia constitutiva del texto artístico: por un lado, no puede darse formación literaria sin despertar el placer y el disfrute de la lectura; por otro, el interés se ha desplazado al proceso delectura y a la búsqueda de estrategias didácticas para desarrollar la competencia literaria. Enotras palabras, no basta con considerar el autor o el texto: el lector se convierte en un elemen-to imprescindible del proceso de producción de significados. Por eso el concepto de “ense-ñanza de la literatura” ha dado paso al de “educación literaria”, centrada en un proceso activode aprendizaje por parte de los alumnos. En este sentido, el profesor de literatura debe cen-

trarse en el desarrollo de las operaciones cognitivas, discursivas y afectivas que se ponen enmarcha cuando se ejerce la competencia lecto-literaria (Sánchez Corral, 2003: 308-313), yentre las que destacamos: entrar en el juego de la ficción y aceptar sus reglas; percibir la

búsqueda consciente de la forma expresiva que implica la escritura literaria; reconocer que elsignificado de un texto no solo reside en sí mismo sino también en las conexiones queestablece con otros, sean literarios o no; y estar abierto a las transformaciones que sobre laconducta del lector puede ejercer el texto literario. Si bien todas ellas resultanimprescindibles, es la última la que ha centrado mayoritariamente el debate en los últimostiempos, y aunque no tenemos nada que objetar a que leer literatura pueda servir para afianzar



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círculo, porque van a ser los encargados de sentar las bases de la educación literaria de lasfuturas generaciones.

Desde hace varios años venimos proponiendo a nuestros alumnos de la Facultad deMagisterio diversos trabajos, seminarios, disertaciones orales, cuyo objetivo consiste enseleccionar lecturas que, en principio, no se han escrito para niños; incluimos aquí desdeclásicos de la literatura universal hasta obras de reciente publicación. Nuestro propósito esejercitar a los futuros maestros desde el principio de su formación en la que probablementesea la tarea crucial del mediador en la educación literaria: la selección de textos. Porque si

bien la literatura infantil y juvenil es un corpus indispensable para la iniciación lectora,entendemos que puede verse enriquecido por otras obras que, aunque no se concibieron paraun público infantil, sí cuentan con características que las hacen especialmente atractivas, porno mencionar la oportunidad que ofrecen a nuestros alumnos para ampliar su propiacompetencia literaria.

Así, les invitamos a que lean los textos, pero también a que los valoren atendiendo al

contexto sociocultural, a los vínculos con la tradición, a todos aquellos rasgos que losconvierten en “textos literarios”, así como a las resonancias que pueden despertar en un niñode Primaria. Queremos que vean hasta qué punto es condición previa e indispensable queellos comprendan, interpreten y disfruten las obras si quieren que también sus futurosalumnos lo hagan.

Somos conscientes de las dificultades que implica: muchos textos no solo les resultanajenos, sino que además sus contactos con ellos a lo largo de la educación obligatoria (cuandolos han tenido) les han dejado en general una huella profundamente negativa, a menudo

porque no estaban preparados para responder a las exigencias que plantean; y es que se nos

prepara para inclinarnos ante los grandes de la Literatura, pero no para dialogar con ellos. Eneste sentido, estábamos preparadas para que nos dijeran que eran textos “muy buenos”, pero“desfasados”, “muy difíciles”, “aburridos”, incluso “polvorientos”. Sin embargo, no loestábamos para que el grueso de su argumentación se centrara en juicios morales, una actitud,

por cierto, que se incrementa de año en año.Quizá uno de los casos más sorprendentes haya sido Mi familia y otros animales, de

Gerald Durrell. La elegimos por varias razones:- el carácter excéntrico de los personajes, que conecta con el estereotipo tan ex-

tendido del inglés estrafalario y rentista.- el hábil manejo de la ironía, el espíritu burlón, los efectos cómicos (recordemos,

por poner un solo ejemplo, la inolvidable entrada de la familia en la isla: como señala el propio Durrell, “vivir en Corfú era como vivir en medio de la más desaforada y disparatada óperacómica”). Nada ni nadie queda fuera de esa mirada festiva.

- la plasticidad: es un texto de una intensísima sensorialidad: “los gruesos y sedo-sos pétalos de cada capullo de rosa”, “en las calas, el agua tenía un color azul de mariposa”,“un racimo de uvas color ámbar todavía calientes del sol”, “el soniquete quebrado y melancó-lico de las esquilas”… Sus referentes son concretos, reconocibles, no hay alusiones abstractasni metafísicas que puedan resultar desconcertantes para lectores infantiles.



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- es una atractiva mezcla de cuaderno naturalista y de libro de aventuras, ambasde amplia tradición en la literatura inglesa. Por un lado, las excursiones de Gerry y las anéc-dotas con animales estimulan la curiosidad, el espíritu científico y la inquietud por conocer elmundo, y nos recuerdan los escritos de Richard Francis Burton, Charles Darwin, David Li-vingstone, Mary Kingsley u Osa Johnson; por otro, el proceso hacia la madurez del personajese hace posible a través de la exploración del mundo y del propio interior, con referentes de latalla de Robinson Crusoe, Los viajes de Gulliver o La isla del tesoro.

- Durrell observa el mundo con la mirada de un etólogo: elige un trazo minuciosoy preciso al referirse a los animales, a los que eleva mediante semblanzas casi humanas ynombres míticos (la tortuga Aquiles, que “resultó ser una bestiecilla de lo más inteligente ysimpática, dotada de un peculiar sentido del humor”; o el palomo Quasimodo, que “conservóen la cabeza un moñete de plumón amarillo, que le daba el aspecto de un juez algo pomposocon la peluca chica”…). En cuanto a su familia, deja que se retraten a sí mismos a través desus parlamentos, sin miedo a mostrar el lado menos agradable y sin someterlos a juicio.

- la enorme riqueza metafórica del lenguaje empleado, que tiene su principal vetaimaginativa en el mundo animal (Larry se enroscaba “con untuosidad gatuna”, la familia semudaba “como una bandada de golondrinas migratorias”).

- la reivindicación de valores como la libertad responsable, la aceptación del otro,el sentido del humor o el amor por la naturaleza.

Pero lo que nuestros alumnos destacaron y provocó un rechazo casi frontal fue losiguiente1:

- El personaje de la madre, que consideraron excesivamente permisivo y condes-

cendiente. No podían entender que no aplicara ningún tipo de disciplina ni castigo, y se pre-guntaban cómo era posible que la casa “estuviera llena de armas de fuego y de animales peli-grosos”, y cómo “consentía que un niño tan pequeño se pasara el día solo correteando por elcampo”. Era tal el rechazo de lo que ellos consideraban “incorrecto” en el comportamiento dela madre y los hijos, que no fueron capaces de trascender esta postura censora ni ver que, alfin y al cabo, en la medida en que son “literarios”, todos son personajes de ficción y, comotales, no deberían ser juzgados con criterios exclusivamente morales.

- Condenaron por “anárquica” la formación que recibe Gerry y se mostraron casiescandalizados por la libertad que se le concedía. No aprovecharon la oportunidad de observaruna educación muy diferente a la establecida; quizá desordenada y un tanto caótica, pero sinduda estimulante y efectiva, pues se adapta en todo momento a las características del “alum-no”.

- en lugar de apreciar la exuberante sensorialidad de la prosa de Durrell, se limita-ron a deplorar “la excesiva abundancia de descripciones”.

1 Estos comentarios provienen de trabajos realizados por cuatro grupos de las asignaturas Formación Literaria para maestros y Formación Literaria en el aula de Infantil del 2º curso de los grados de maestro de la facultadde Magisterio de la Universidad de Valencia durante los cursos 2010-2011 y 2011-2012.



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- ninguno se detuvo a considerar el atractivo del relato de aventuras con lo que es-te implica de valor, de apertura al otro y al mundo, de temple del espíritu y de generosidad.

- en cuanto a los rasgos cómicos, quedaron ahogados por la preocupación quedespertó en ellos “el desorden que reinaba en esa familia”.

En definitiva, si los futuros maestros no son capaces de valorar un texto en toda sucomplejidad y riqueza, ¿cómo podrán hacerlas visibles para sus alumnos? ¿Cómo, si ellosmismos no disfrutan, van a hacer disfrutar a los nuevos lectores? ¿Cómo ampliarán la miradade otros si la suya es tan reducida?

En enero de 2011 estalló una polémica en EEUU porque Alan Gribben, profesor deliteratura de la Universidad Auburn Montgomery de Alabama y autor de numerosos ensayossobre la vida y la obra de Mark Twain, decidió editar las dos obras más conocidas de esteautor, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer y Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, con algunasimportantes modificaciones. Las más destacadas, las relativas a la n-word , o sea, nigger

(“There is no equivalent slur in the English language”, leemos en la introducción), y al Injun Joe (manera peyorativa de nombrar a los indios americanos).

Entendemos que, si seguimos poniendo el acento en la lectura “moral”, si nos limitamosen el aula a escoger textos que hablen de la situación de la mujer, o a seleccionar las palabrasmás pacíficas de una lengua para escribir un texto, corremos el riesgo de hacer realidad elcuadro que en un artículo publicado en marzo de 2011 dibujaba, en su cáustico estilo, ArturoPérez Reverte:

¿Qué son bagatelas como prohibir el tabaco o convertir en delito el uso correcto de lalengua española, comparadas con reescribir, obligando por decreto, tres mil años de literatura,

historia y filosofía éticamente dudosas? […] ¿Qué pasa con esas traducciones fascistas de Moby Dick donde se matan ballenas pese a los convenios internacionales de ahora? […] ¿Yqué pasa con la historia y la literatura españolas?... ¿Hasta cuándo seguirá en las librerías lavida repugnante de un asesino de hombres y animales llamado Pascual Duarte? [...] Y ahoraque todos somos iguales ante la ley y el orden, ¿por qué no puede Sancho Panza ser hidalgocomo don Quijote; o, mejor todavía, éste plebeyo como Sancho? [...] ¿Cómo un machistahomófobo y antisemita como Quevedo, que se choteaba de los jorobados y escribió unagrosería llamada Gracias y desgracias del ojo del culo, no ha sido apeado todavía de loslibros escolares?...

Quizá pueda parecer exagerado, pero ¿no nos aterraría que, ante Las tres Gracias deRubens, las futuras generaciones solo pudieran ver su desnudez y además la encontraranofensiva?

Bibliografía

a. LibrosDurrell, G. (2006 [1956]). Mi familia y otros animales. Madrid: Alianza.Eco, u. (1981 [1979]). Lector in fabula. Barcelona: Lumen.



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Iser, W. (1987 [1976]). El acto de leer . Madrid: Taurus.Jauss, H. R. (2000 [1970]). La historia de la literatura como provocación. Barcelona: Penín-

sula. ——. (2008 [1975]). El lector como instancia de una nueva historia de la literatura. En Mª L.

Burguera (ed.). Textos clásicos de teoría de la literatura ( 400-407). Madrid: Cátedra.Piñón, F. (2004) Prefacio. En: G. Hoyos y N. Martínez (coords.) ¿Qué significa educar en

valores hoy? (7-9). Barcelona: Octaedro.Sánchez Corral, L. (2003). Didáctica de la literatura: relaciones entre el discurso y el sujeto.

En A. Mendoza Fillola (coord.). Didáctica de la lengua y la literatura (291-319). Ma-drid: Pearson Educación.

b. Fuentes electrónicasGribben, A (2011). Introduction to Mark Twain's Adventures of Tom Sawyer and Huckleber-

ry Finn: The NewSouth Edition. Recuperado el 4 de junio de 2012 de:

http://www.newsouthbooks.com/twain/introduction-alan-gribben-mark-twain-tom-sawyer-huckleberry-finn-newsouth-books.html

Pérez Reverte, A. (2011). Echando pan a los patos. XL Semanal . 28-03. Recuperado el 4 de junio de 2012 de: http://www.perezreverte.com/articulo/patentes-corso/589/echando- pan-a-los-patos/



http://www.perezreverte.com/articulo/patentes-corso/589/echando-pan-a-los-patos/








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Picturebooks, literary understanding and language development

Sandie Mourão(Freelance)

Theoretical background

The premise for this paper is that picturebooks are multimodal objects (Kress & vanLeeuwen, 2000) combining picture and word and when used in the classroom can providemultiple affordances, through these two modes, for socially mediated meaning making andthus language development (Vygotsky, 1978).

In classrooms where English is learned as a second or foreign language, picturebooksare considered appropriate, authentic resources for language learning (Dunn, 2012). Theycontain rich forms of the target language and, in particular when the verbal text is repetitive

and cumulative in structure, promote imitation and repetition (Linse, 2007) as well as supporta child’s first steps in becoming literate in both the mother tongue (L1) and the targetlanguage (L2) (Enever, 2006). The visual text is said to stimulate imagination and developvisual literacy and art appreciation skills (Dunn, 2012). However, there is little overtrecognition of the use of the illustrations in picturebooks to support the development of the L2other than developing a functional literacy (Ellis & Brewster, 2002). Mourão (2011; 2012)have critically discussed the role of illustrations in picturebooks and recommends using

picturebooks with complex picture-word dynamics to challenge learners to use both the pictures and the words in a transactional sense (Rosenblatt, 1995), valuing the learner’sindividual experiences in the creation of significances, claiming that illustrations afford rich

opportunities for language use, and thus development. This paper attempts describe howchildren’s spontaneous responses to picturebooks, in particular those prompted by theillustrations, can contribute to their L2 language development.

The study

Data for this study was collected from January to June 2009. Three Portuguese pre-schools were selected as convenience samples and a total of 64 children, between 56 and 79months, were observed interacting with picturebooks of different word-picture dynamics and

with or without repetitive verbal texts. Observations occurred in two stages. First duringteacher-led read alouds in seven consecutive English lessons, where spontaneous responseswere encouraged and there was an avoidance of initiation, response, and feedback exchanges(Sinclair & Coulthard, 1975). Second, during out of class, small group retells, after theseventh read aloud, where children were encouraged to retell the picturebook to their classEnglish puppet. Each instance was audio recorded and filmed. The corpus for the repeatedreadalouds was analysed using a grounded theory of literary understand (Sipe, 2000) is madeup of transcriptions from three different picturebooks. The focus for this paper, however, is on

Rosie's Walk (Hutchins, 1968).



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The picturebook Rosie’s Walk

Rosie's walk (Hutchins, 1968) is a classic in British picturebook history. Nodelman(1988), amongst others, has exhaustively described its semiotic features. Never the less thereare few descriptions of children's response to this title. Meek, in an L1 context, describes how

Rosie's Walk afforded a struggling reader with lessons in "understanding authorship,audience, illustration and icon interpretation" (1988: 10). Lo, in an L2 context, gives an astuteaccount of how a teacher in an English language class in Hong Kong, uses the verbal text in

Rosie's Walk to imply "a single neutral version of the story" (2008: 77), ignoring thechildren’s multiple interpretations and obvious understanding of irony, resulting from theinterplay of picture and word.

Rosie's Walk represents a picturebook of complex word-picture dynamics(Kummerling-Meibauer, 1999; Lewis, 2001; Nikolajeva & Scott, 2000), with a non-repetitive

verbal text. Nikolajeva & Scott categorize Rosie's Walk as an example of "perspectivalcounterpoint" (2000: 233): of words and pictures telling two different perspectives of thesame story and Kummerling-Meibauer (1999) elaborates on how Rosie's Walk demonstratesirony. In addition, there are three structural aspects (Mourão, 2012) within Rosie's Walk,which are considered responsible for the way children participating in the above studyresponded to this picturebook. These structural features are:

1. The interplay of picture and word resulting in the fox being the focus of attention and protagonist (Nodelman, 1988);

2. The predictive pattern of the visual relationship between pairs of spreads (Meek,

1988), each showing a combined sequence of actions, likened to a series of jokes (Nodelman,1988), so that each pair is made up of a set up spread and the punch line spread . There areseven pairs of joke spreads in all. Figure 1 demonstrates the joke structure within Rosie'sWalk ;

3. The fragments of stories contained within the illustrations where other creatures areshown reacting to the fox's antics.



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Figure 1: The joke structure within Rosie's Walk

Discussion around the children’s responses

The repeated read alouds (RRAs) prompted physical and verbal responses, the latterauthentic, lively talk. Children responded according to Sipe's literary impulses and theirrespective enactments (Sipe, 2000), see Figure 2.

Figure 2: Literary impulses and their enactments (adapted from Sipe, 2000, p. 270)

The majority of responses were of the analytical type and demonstrated that the childrenmade meaning using the illustrations, the words, and the book as a culturally produced objectduring the RRAs. However, due to the non-repetitiveness of the verbal text, as well as the

contrast in style between the "boring text and the humorous pictures" (Kummerling-Meibauer,1999: 170), the children were observed using the illustrations to support their responsesalmost entirely. Those responses that culminated in more use of the L2 will be the focus ofthis paper, these include making predictions; labeling, identifying and describing action;giving away the punch line and creating accumulative narratives.



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Making predictions

Predictions were categorized as occurring in RRA session 1 only, based on an inferencetaken from the illustrations. The pairs of joke spreads described above were instrumental in

prompting predictions and the children often justified themselves by explaining what in theillustrations induced their forecasts. To be expected these predictions were generally all in thechildren's L1, with the exception of occasional uses of a word the children were prompted touse or reminded that they already knew. However by commenting in the L1, children werelaying the ground for possible later L2 use, constructing a skeleton of possible meanings thatcould be fleshed out during later RRAs (Schaefer, 2011). The illustrations provided an entryinto the story, where the L1 comments were taken up, responded to and rephrased in the L2equivalent (Mourão, 2003; 2012). Figure 3 is an example of a child making and confirming a

prediction:

101 EngT Is she?102 MªC Vai cair para cima dela (trans: it’s going to fall on her) 103 EngT Is it going to fall on the hen?104 MªC [Nods head](…) [page turn to spread 09]108 MªC Eu disse (trans: I said so) 109 EngT Look . the flour on the fox110 MªC Eu disse (trans: I said so Figure 3: School 01, Rosie’s Walk, RRA 1, spread 08

Labeling, identifying and describing action

Typical of young children who are not yet reading, everything in the illustrations isexpected to mean something (Yaden, 1988). Children labeled, identified and described actionsthroughout the RRAs, with a gradual increase in these comments after the first read aloudsession. This response continued into the retells. The illustrations alone provided the childrenwith a clear reason to show responsive humour (Groche, 1971). The word-picture dynamics of

Rosie's Walk meant that children took more notice of the visually exciting illustrations andtogether with the fox always appearing on the verso, the side of the protagonist (Nodelman,1988), meant their comments centered on the fox, and the farm objects and places he wasinteracting with.

The fragments of stories mentioned earlier also led the children to label and describeaction, especially if directly involved in the fox's antics, in part this is also associated with the

paired joke spreads. Over the seven RRAs, initial identification in the L1 was graduallyreplaced by the L2, resulting from the mediating rephrasing of the children’s verbal responses,and their gradual imitation of L2 in responses, in a kind of snow ball effect, see Figure 4.



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Figure 4: The snowball effect, resulting in L1 labels being given in the L2

Most of the words picked up by the children were content words, which is typical of L1(Tomasello, 2003) and L2 early language development (Lightbown & Spada, 1999; Tabors,1997), and often related to the fox's mishaps. In addition, a plurilinguistic approach tolanguage use (Francheschini, 1998) was accepted and children used both the L1 and the L2together in a sentence, code-switching to actively incorporate the both known languages intheir linguistic repertoires to create a communicative act, resulting in phrases that referenced

“a single unified notion” (Dulay et al., 1982, p. 115): Eg. he bangs his ‘nose’ ; he falls in the‘ pond’ where the ‘ green frogs’ jump in fright. “ A flour vai cair em cima da fox” (trans: The flour is going to fall on the fox ), “As bees vão picar a fox” (trans: The bees are going to

sting the fox ), “E os green frogs jump” (trans: And the green frogs jump).

Giving away the punch line

Giving away the punch line is “the foretelling of information after the first reading”(Mourão, 2012, p. 255). It is a description of what will happen on the punch line spread,whilst looking at the set up spread. It also occurred when looking at the cover, often givingaway the very last of the punch lines, “O bee vai picar e acaba” (trans: (The bee is going to

sting him and then it ends) (School 01, RRA 2).

Giving away the punch line resulted in children using predictive language in the L1, orsingle content words and formulaic language in the L2. Many of the latter becameholophrases (Tomasello, 2005), representative of a much longer description, eg. "nose"represented "He's going to bang his nose!" (see line 054 below). Tabors (1997), states that theuse of telegraphic and formulaic speech of this kind is typical in early L2 learning contextsand Figure 5 shows some examples from the RRAs:

052 Dan Bateu o nariz (trans: he hit his nose)053 Mat Iiiii [touches nose and mocks pain]054 Fran O nose o nose055 Eng TThat's right he's going to bang his nose isn't he Fran? [turns page to spread 03]

Figure 5: School 02, Rosie’s Walk, RRA 7, spread 02

Why did children enjoy giving away the punch line? Lewis (1982) highlights howchildren savour "re-experiencing the 'surprisingness' of a story" (p. 16). This was evident from



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their faces and body postures, but I'd also like to suggest they were led by an interior need toconfirm they knew what would happen next, as such increasing in confident (Parkes, 2000).

Giving away the punch line was also evident during the retells. There were a total of 33retells recorded and transcribed for this study, and only three did not contain this singularity.Most retells became a sequence of giving away the punch line and confirming what actuallyhappened, using descriptions, labels and dramatic sounds.

Creating accumulated narratives

"Accumulated narratives" were recurring references over a series of RRAs to certainvisual elements within the picturebook (Mourão, 2012, p. 301), and appeared regularly duringRRAs when there was more information shown in the visual text than told in the verbal(Mourão, 2006; 2009). These repeated comments became part of the group's personalnarrative of the picturebook. Spreads 04 and 05,

the pond scenes, were particularly fruitful for creating accumulative narratives, with twofrogs, a bird and a butterfly reacting to the fox's leap on the punch line spread. Over the sevenRRAs the labeling and describing of action during these spreads moved from L1 to L2. Figure6 shows how School 01 created an accumulative narrative around these two spreads. Noticethe gradual build up between sessions 1 and 4, where the most significant changes occur incode choice (Levine, 2011).

Figure 6: School 01, accumulated narrative around spreads 04 and 05 of Rosie’s Walk

By returning to illustrations, children were moving "more deeply into [their] meaning"(Nikolajeva & Scott, 2006: 2), a meaning which was first constructed by individuals, butfollowing a sociocultural stance, afforded the group with opportunities for it to berepresentative of the group narrative. To note is that each group created differentaccumulative narratives, dependent upon the collective knowledge and understanding of

individual and group linguistic repertoires (Gumperz, 1964).Accumulative narratives also became part of the retells. Elster (1995) refers to the

inclusion of non-verbal text material during retells as "importations", and highlights sourcesthat include references to material from illustrations and prior read aloud sessions.

Conclusion

This paper looked solely at how the illustrations in a picturebook supported children's



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language development. It described how the children talked obsessively about the fox, usedthe predictive pattern of the joke-like paired spreads and the story fragments in theillustrations as visual prompts for their responses. This is an artificial separation within thereality of RRAs, where the repetition of the verbal text will also affect understanding andsubsequently language development. However, as the verbal text in Rosie's Walk was notrepetitive in nature, children did not find it easy to memorize and use (Linse, 2007), and itscontribution to their L2 development was not as obvious, only eight of the 33 retells includedreference to, and repetition of, the verbal text of the picturebook.

It could be argued that these children were missing out on the irony created betweenwords and pictures. I would disagree. Despite not repeating the verbal text, they were awarethat it existed and that it focused on the hen's stroll; it just wasn't interesting and memorableenough to be repeated. However, the cartoon-like, slapstick humour was evident from thestart, a child recognized this during a first read aloud and called out, “Como o Tom and Jerry”(Trans: It's like Tom and Jerry) (School 01, RRA1). Rosie's Walk is a story about a fox

(Nodelman, 1988), but for the children in this study, it was their story. Each page in the picturebook was "an icon to be contemplated, narrated, explicated by the viewer. It [held] thestory until there [was] a telling" (Meek, 1988: 12). By responding within a socioculturalframework, the children co-constructed their narratives around the picturebook, influenced bythe word-picture dynamics and structure therein. They used the illustrations, the teacher andeach other, though not necessarily in that order: participation was situated, that is "integratedwith context and social negotiation" (Swain et al, 2010: 27). The resulting narratives wereexclusive to each group, dependent upon the linguistic repertoires they possessed. This mayseem evident but in English language teaching contexts the relevance of illustrations for

language development is ignored, with a strong focus on the one story the words tell and itsacquisition.The context for this study is unique, and there is no claim that children in other contexts

would react like this (see Nodelman, 2010), however, such a study can contribute to a betterunderstanding of the effect illustrations can have on L2 development through negotiabletransactions, affording opportunities to "'borrow' the knowledge and consciousness of thetutor [and peers] to enter a language” (Bruner, 1986: 77), and thus develop that language(Vygotsky, 1978). Through the picturebook illustrations, the L1 and the L2, these childrenunderstood and later manipulated and used L2 forms (Levine, 2011) as a result of discovering

personal significances.The research described here was supported by a grant, reference FCT

SFRH/BD/38816/2007.

References

Primary SourcesHutchins, P. (1968). Rosie's walk. London: Walker Books.



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Secondary Sources

Bruner, J. (1986) Actual minds, possible worlds. (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press)Doonan, J. (1993) Looking at pictures in picture books (Stroud, Thimble Press).Dunn, O. (2012) Introducing English to young children: spoken language.(Glasgow, North Star English Language Teaching).Ellis, G. & Brewster, J. (2002) Tell it again! The new storytelling handbook for primary

teachers (Harlow, Pearson Education Limited). Elster, C. A. (1995) Importations in preschoolers' emergent readings, Journal of Reading

Behaviour , 27(1), pp. 65-84.Enever, J. (2006) The use of picture books in the development of criticalvisual and written literacy in English as a foreign language. In J. Enever & G.Schmid-Shonbein (Eds.) Picture books and young learners of English.(Munich; Langenscheidt ELT GmbH.).

Franceshini, R. (1998) Code switching and the notion of code in linguistics: proposals for adual focus model. In Auer, P. (Ed.) Code-switching in Conversation: languageinteraction and identity. (London, Routledge).

Groch, A.S. (1974) Joking and appreciation of humour in nursery school children. in Child Development , Vol 45, Nº 4 (Dec. 1974) pp. 1098-1102

Gumperz, J.J. (1964) Linguistic and social interaction in two communities in American Anthropologist, New Series Vol 66, Nº 6, Part 2: The ethnography of Communication(Dec. 1964) pp. 137-153

Kress, G. & van Leeuwen, T. (1996). Reading images: the grammar of visual design.

(London, Routledge).Kummerling-Meibauer, B. (1999) “Metalinguistic awareness and the child's developingconcept of irony: the relationship between pictures and text in ironic picture books”, inThe Lion and the Unicorn 23.2 (1999) 157-183

Levine, G.S. (2011) Code choice in the language classroom (Bristol, Multilingual Matters).Lewis, C.S. (1982) On stories. In Hooper, W. (Ed.) On Stories and Other

Essays in Literature, (New York, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich).Lightbown, P. & Spada, N. (1999) How languages are learned (Oxford, Oxford University

Press).Linse, C.T. (2007) Predictable books in the children's EFL classroom in ELT Journal Volume

61/1 January 2007, pp 46 - 54Lo, M.M. (2008) Multilteracies in Teaching Young Learners of English in: W. Arnold, K.

Powell & H. Mol (Eds) Literacy in the language classroom: the role of the YL professional in developing reading and writing skills in young learners. (Canterbury,IATEFL).

Meek, M. (1988) How texts teach what readers learn (Stroud, Thimble Press).Mourão, S. (2003) Realbooks in the Primary Classroom (Southam, Mary Glasgow

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Mourão, S. (2006) Understanding authentic picture books: how do children do it?, in: R.Mitchell- Schuitevoerder & S. Mourão (Eds) Teachers and young learners: research inour classrooms (Canterbury, IATEFL YL SIG).

Mourão, S. (2009) Using stories in the primary classroom. In L. Denham, & N. Figueras,(Eds.). BritLit: Using Literature in EFL Classrooms. (Barcelona, APAC).

Mourão, S. (2011) Current research : Using picturebooks with language learners of all ages.The Teacher Trainer Autumn / November 2011 Vol 5, nº 3, p 20-23

Mourão, S. (2012) English picturebook illustrations and language development in early yearseducation. Unpublished PhD thesis, University of Aveiro, Aveiro, Portugal.

Nikolajeva, M. & Scott, C. (2000) The dynamics of picture book communication, Children's Literature in Education, 31(4), pp. 225 - 239.

Nikolajeva, M. & Scott, C. (2006) How Picturebooks Work (Abingdon, Routledge). Nodelman, P. (2010) On the Border between Implication and Actuality: Children Inside and

Outside of Picture Books. Journal of Children's Literature Studies 2 (July 2010): 1-21

Nodelman, P. (1988) Words about Pictures. The Narrative Art of Children's Picture Books(Athens, Georgia, University of Georgia Press).

Parkes, B. (2000) Read it again! Revisiting shared reading (Portland, Maine, StenhousePublishers)

Rosenblatt, L.M. (1995) Literature as Exploration. (New York, ModernLanguage Association of America).Schaeffer, A. (2011) From reading pictures to understanding a story in the L2. Paper

presented at the Picturbooks in ELT Symposium, IATEFL Annual Conference,Brighton, UK

Sinclair, J. , & Coulthard, M. (1975). Towards an analysis of discourse: The English used byteachers and pupils. (Oxford, Oxford University Press)Sipe, L. (2000) The construction of literary understanding by first and second graders in oral

response to picture storybook read-alouds, Reading Research Quarterly, 35(2), pp. 252- 275.

Swain, M., Kinnear, P, & Steinman, L. (2010) Sociocultural theory in second languageeducation: an introduction through narratives. (Bristol, Multilingual Matters).

Tabors, P. (1997) One child, two languages. (Maryland, Bal., Paul H. Brookes PublishingCo).

Tomasello, M. (2005) Constructing a language: a usage-based theory of language acquisition(Cambridge, M.A., Harvard University Press).

Vygotsky, L.A. (1978) Mind in Society: the development of higher psychological processes(Cambridge, M.A., Harvard University Press).

Yaden, D. (1988) Understanding stories through repeated read alouds: how many does it take?In The Reading Teacher , Vol 41, Nº 6 (Feb. 1988) pp 556-560.



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MATHEMATICSLANGUAGE &FOREIGNLANGUAGE

KNOWLEDGE OF THEWORLD

INFANT

EDUCATION

Understand the

concept andrepresentation ofnumber throughmanipulation andcounting.

Acquire thenotions of additionand subtraction.

Use logicalthought construction

in resolving prob-lems of adding andtaking away.

Manage order andsequence accordingto one or two crite-ria; situation of time& space quantifiers.

Use the 4 language

skills (listening, speak-ing, reading and writ-ing) to constructthought, express andinterpret ideas, feelingsor facts in different so-cial and cultural con-texts, especially listen-ing and speaking.

Access written lan-

guage through the useof children’s literature:stories and tales etc.

Relate language withother codes of commu-nication, ie movementand body language,image and representa-tion.

Understand a spokenor read story and inter-

pret visual information, pictures, signs etc.

Memorize and recitesongs and poems.

Explore the immediate

world in terms of time &space through games.Recognise the names and

characteristics of parts ofthe body.

Acquire increasinglycomplex schemes of rela-tionships.

Interact with the sur-roundings: construct habits

of survival and health,avoid risks, understand theeffects of actions and actwith respect.

Know how to orientateand position oneself in eve-ryday surroundings, tim-ings and relevant events.

PRIMARYEDUCATION

Understand, rep-resent and carry outBasic operations

with numbers: (ad-dition, subtraction,multiplication, divi-sion).

Carry out esti-mates and calcula-tions of measure-ment.

Interpret and rep-

Be able to expressorally ideas, feelings &experiences in an or-

dered, clear & coherentmanner.Follow orders and

understand oral andwritten texts related to

pictures, objects andfamiliar situations.

Use social languageformulae.

Knowledge of & defenceof human and other beings:the diversity of living be-

ings; health and personaldevelopment.Knowledge, construction

and conservation of theenvironment & of socialand cultural surroundings.

Carry out simple projectswith materials and be ableto explain them orally.



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resent geometricforms within space.

Compile informa-tion and resolve

everyday problems,explain solutionsorally.

Read short texts,adapted to age and in-terests

Value and respect the

use of other languagesand cultures.

Awareness of rights andobligations, and equality.

Recognition of familymembers, and of close so-

cial and cultural profes-sions.Produce simple written

texts.

Table 1: Competences by area and stage included in the JCCM decree 67/2007 for in-fant education



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Every afternoon, when school was over... Treballar a classe d’anglés amb textos d’Oscar Wilde

Miquel Àngel Oltra AlbiachRosa Maria Pardo Coy

(Universitat de València)

Introducció. Justificació de l’activitat.

Tal com indica el currículum de Llengua Estrangera de Primària1, el coneixement dellengües obri enormes possibilitats de progrés i llibertat, a més de contribuir a l’enteniment iel respecte entre les diverses cultures. En aquesta etapa educativa, l’eix de l’àrea el constitui-ran els procediments dirigits a la consecució d’una competència comunicativa efectiva oral iescrita que abaste tots els usos i registres possibles. Per tant, hem d’incorporar contextos dife-rents de l’acadèmic, especialment els de les relacions socials, els mitjans de comunicació itambé el literari. En l’àrea de Llengua Estrangera, l’aproximació a textos literaris en la llen-gua original ens permet, d’una banda presentar i aprofundir en els continguts lingüístics i, almateix temps, treballar des de la literatura comparada valors com ara la interculturalitat i latolerància.

Presentem una proposta didàctica per al primer cicle d’Educació Primària a partir del’aproximació als contes d’Oscar Wilde (The Happy Prince and Other Tales2) i concretamentThe Selfish Giant, seqüenciada en 12 sessions de treball, i orientada al muntatge per part delgrup-classe d’un espectacle final amb teatre d’ombres. L’alumnat tindrà l’ocasió dedesenvolupar la competència en llengua anglesa a partir dels sis centres d’atenció que proposa

el currículum: llenguatge oral, llenguatge escrit, elements constitutius del sistema lingüístic, lallengua com a instrument d’aprenentatge, la dimensió social i cultural de la llengua i les TIC.

Com a conclusió, hem de remarcar la importància de l’aspecte cooperatiu del treball. Eldesenvolupament en grup de les diverses activitats de la unitat didàctica afavoreixl’aprenentatge individual, alhora que facilita la socialització i la pràctica d’habilitats diverses,com ara les de negociació i les convencions que regeixen els debats i els intercanvislingüístics en anglés. Igualment, desenvolupem el sentit de la responsabilitat individual igrupal, ja que el col·lectiu no difumina el necessari treball individual ni la coordinació entreels membres.

Aspectes del Currículum que treballem.

L’activitat contribueix al desenvolupament de diverses competències bàsiques en rela-ció als objectius d’etapa i d’àrea. Els aspectes curriculars sobre els quals treballarem se cen-tren sobretot en el desenvolupament de la llengua oral, tot i que no defugim el treball de les

1 DECRET 111/2007, de 20 de juliol , del Consell, pel qual s’establix el currículum de l’Educació Primària a laComunitat Valenciana [DOCV 24.07.2007].2 The Happy Prince and Other Tales. Nova York: Dover Publications Inc., 2003.



164

habilitats de la llengua escrita. Aquests aspectes estan relacionats –tant en els objectius gene-rals de l’etapa com en els de l’àrea- amb la comunicació, amb el desenvolupament personal iamb la valoració positiva de la diversitat. Pel que fa als continguts, treballem diversos aspec-tes que es troben presents en tots els blocs de continguts de la matèria: escoltar, parlar, con-versar, llegir, escriure, coneixement de la llengua, usos, reflexió lingüística, reflexió sobrel’aprenentatge, aspectes socioculturals i aspectes en relació a les tecnologies de la informaciói la comunicació.

Metodologia de treball. Estructura de les sessions.

Tal com déiem abans, per tal de dur a terme les activitats proposem seqüenciar-les en 12sessions. Amb tot i amb això, recordem que les necessitats de cada grup-classe són ben dife-rents, per la qual cosa el temps i la seqüenciació estarà en funció d’allò que el mestre o lamestra considere adequat.

La metodologia ha de ser participativa, motivadora, globalitzadora, significativa,socialitzadora, cooperativa, activa i sensibilitzadora. Aquesta metodologia es fonamenta en elrespecte a les característiques de l’alumnat, tant pel que fa a les fases del desenvolupamentcom quant a les peculiaritats concretes de la classe i de les necessitats educatives especials.Començarem les sessions amb una introducció general a les activitats que realitzarem:

presentació del text, creació de grups i distribució de tasques. Les successives sessions estarandedicades al treball de lectura dramatitzada del text, i a la contextualització amb altres obresde temàtica similar, a la recollida d’informacions diverses sobre el tema, al disseny iconstrucció dels elements escènics, a l’elaboració de materials diversos i als assajos per a la

representació final.

Criteris d’Avaluació.

En relació a l’educació primària partim dels criteris d’avaluació que estableix el currículum pel que fa a l’àrea de Llengua Estrangera. Quant al primer cicle, els criteris d’avaluació enquè ens centrarem són els següents:

- Captar la idea global i identificar alguns elements específics en textos orals,amb l’ajuda d’elements lingüístics i no lingüístics relacionats amb activitats de l’aula i del’entorn de l’alumna i l’alumne.

- Participar en activitats d’aula i en interaccions orals molt dirigides sobre temesconeguts, en situacions de comunicació que es poden predir fàcilment o relacionades ambnecessitats de comunicació immediates, com ara saludar, parlar de gustos, expressar senti-ments i necessitats bàsiques.

- Reconéixer i reproduir alguns aspectes sonors de ritme, accentuació i entonaciód’expressions que apareixen en contextos comunicatius o en activitats de lectura en veu alta,sempre a partir de models.

- Mostrar interès i curiositat per aprendre la llengua estrangera i reconèixer la di-



165

versitat lingüística com a element enriquidor.

Recursos.

Per tal de poder realitzar un espectacle d’ombres, hem de tenir en compte una sèrie de condi-cions que ha de reunir l’aula o la sala, com ara la possibilitat d’enfosquir-la i la necessitat dedotar-la d’una pantalla de tela. El material que necessitarem serà el següent:

- Cartolines (per a realitzar les siluetes...)- Retoladors, ceres, llapis de colors...- Focus i peu metàl·lic per subjectar-lo, o bé algun altre tipus de llum- Tela blanca, de 6 x 4 metres aproximadament- Corda per subjectar la tela i poder moure-la (es poden fer servir riels de cortina)- Cortines opaques o cartolines per enfosquir les finestres de l’aula o de la sala- Potenciòmetre (si es desitja tenir l’opció de jugar amb la intensitat de la llum)

- Filtres de colors- Equip de música- Cartrons, paper i cartolines- Tisores- Pals (per al peu de les siluetes)- Ordinador connectat a Internet i impressoraL’estructura final de la sala d’assajos i de representació, amb la disposició de la

pantalla, el projector de llum i la resta d’elements, els llocs del públic, la ubicació dels participants en l’espectacle, els espais d’entrada i d’eixida, les àrees d’espera quan no s’està

actuant, etc., quedarà de la manera que reflecteix l’esquema següent:

Fontichiaro (2007)

Començarem les sessions amb una presa de contacte de l’alumnat amb el teatred’ombres, amb una part teòrica i una altra de pràctica lliure i joc amb les ombres, perquè els



166

aprenents es familiaritzen amb aquesta tècnica escènica. Les tècniques bàsiques que calassolir per part de l’alumnat són les següents:

Control de la grandària de la silueta en funció de la proximitat o llunyania del cos(o de l’objecte) respecte del focus de llum (i possibilitat d’aquest control per a la realització

de figures grans o menudes, nítides o difuses...).Aparició i desaparició pels laterals i pel centre de l’escenari.

Apreciar semblances i diferències entre el que es veu darrere del teló i el que veuel públic.

Elegir les posicions adequades a les intencions expressives.

Les successives sessions estaran dedicades, de manera alternada, als exercicis d’ombresindividuals, en parelles i en grups, a la creació del text dramàtic, a la construcció de lessiluetes i als assajos de la representació final. Igualment, destinarem algunes sessions altreball de la veu (tant en representacions directes, on el manipulador és qui fa la veu dels

personatges, com en representacions doblades, en les quals és una persona qui manipula i unaaltra qui parla, en temps real o diferit). En les sessions pràctiques haurem de tenir en comptel’estructura animació-desenvolupament-calma.

Sessions de treball.

A banda de les sessions orientatives que proposem, seria convenient l’assistència aalgun espectacle de titelles durant el període de l’activitat, o bé el visionat d’algun espectacled’ombres, o de titelles de guant o de tija. En aquest tipus d’activitat és molt important la moti-

vació de l’alumnat. Tal com indica la introducció a l’àrea de Llengua Estrangera del Currícu-lum d’Educació Primària:

Les alumnes i els alumnes d’aquesta edat són vitals i aprenen mentre juguen, es mouen irealitzen activitats que els agraden, ja que la motivació per a aprendre la llengua estrangera

prové de l’interés de la tasca i no de la utilitat futura d’aquests ensenyaments. Generalment,són més oberts i deshinibits que els aprenents majors i s’animen fàcilment en l’activitat encaraque la capacitat per mantenir l’atenció centrada en una mateixa tasca és considerablementlimitada. Les alumnes i els alumnes d’aquesta edat necessiten un clima relaxat i agradable enl’aula que desenvolupe la seua autoestima (...) necessiten que l’activitat estiga molt

estructurada amb la finalitat de sentir-se segurs per treballar i comunicar-se.Per tant, és important crear un ambient adequat el primer dia, i plantejar la unitatdidàctica com una sèrie d’activitats en les quals gaudirem i descobrirem mons fantàstics através de la literatura.

Sessió 1.

La primera reunió serà una presa de contacte amb el tema, i una primera miradamotivadora al text. Podem augmentar o rebaixar la dificultat segons les característiques de



167

cada classe. En qualsevol cas, lliurarem una versió del text a l’alumnat per tal que esfamiliaritze amb ell. Una manera de presentar-lo, es repartir cada acte a un grup i demanarque el lligen i el presenten al grup-classe. Parlarem dels gegants com a protagonistes de laliteratura tradicional i d’autor, i demanarem a l’alumnat que, per a la següent sessió, hagen fetuna petita recerca a casa (amb pares, avis i altres familiars) sobre històries o contestradicionals amb gegants, que hauran d’escriure i dur a la classe.

Igualment, en aquesta primera sessió introduirem el teatre d’ombres amb una sèried’exercicis senzills que es poden realitzar només amb un llum (encara no hem instal·lat la

pantalla). El mestre o la mestra mostrarà a l’alumnat algunes tècniques bàsiques que cal teniren compte a l’hora de treballar amb les ombres. Tot l’alumnat passarà per davant del llum (engrups de quatre o cinc) per tal d’experimentar el que el docent els ha explicat. Hi haurà untemps d’experimentació lliure per grups, i, finalment, cada grup realitzarà una història curta ila resta haurà de dir de què es tracta (o bé endevinar el títol d’una pel·lícula, d’una sèrie dedibuixos animats, d’un personatge...). Finalment, per tal de concloure la sessió, farem un

intercanvi d’impressions d’allò que s’ha aprés.

Sessió 2.

En la segona sessió començarem un treball de literatura comparada, a partir del textd’Oscar Wilde , del material que l’alumnat haurà recollit a casa, i d’alguns textos que el docenthi aportarà. Aquesta part de l’activitat la durem a terme en la llengua vehicular de la classe.Una proposta en aquest sentit podria ser el treball comparat, a partir d’una sèrie de qüestionsque el docent plantejarà, entre el text que ja tenim sobre gegants i un parell més:

- El Gegant del Romaní, d’Enric Valor 1

- Tombatossals, de Josep Pascual Tirado2 El docent presentarà els textos i els repartirà per grups. És interessant que cada grup

presente a la resta les conclusions sobre el tema, ja que és una manera de posar-se davant d’unauditori per tal de trencar pors i reticències i poder després treballar el teatre amb mésdesinhibició.

Sessió 3.

En aquesta sessió col·locarem la pantalla i farem una presa de contacte amb l’espaiescènic que farem servir d’ara endavant. Investigaran les possibilitats de les ombres corporalsi les possibilitats de creació de formes amb el cos, a partir de les indicacions del docent.Igualment es pot introduir música i treballar ritmes mentre es juga amb les possibilitatsd’engrandiment i disminució de les ombres, i de les aparicions i desaparicions d’escena.

1 Rondalles Valencianes III: El Gegant del Romaní; L’envejós d’Alcalà; El xiquet que va nàixer de peus; El ferrer de Bèlgida. Edicions del Bullent, 2000 (4a).2 Tombatossals. València: Tres i Quatre, 1998.



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Sessió 8.

Continuem amb les diverses tasques de la sessió anterior. En aquesta sessió podemreprendre els assajos (que ja vam iniciar amb la lectura dramatitzada del text) amb ladeclamació per grups d’algun dels fragments de l’obra. Atenent al fet que és un text enllengua estrangera, cal parar esment sobretot a la dicció, al ritme i a les pauses quecorresponguen. Un possible fragment per a l’exercici podria ser el següent:

Every afternoon, as they were coming from school, the children used to go and play in the Giant’s garden.

It was a large lovely garden, with soft green grass. Here and there over the grass stood beautiful flowers like stars, and there were twelve peach trees that in the springtime broke out into delicate blossoms of pink and pearl, and in the autumn bore rich fruit.

Sessió 9.

Les tres últimes sessions estaran constituïdes pels assajos de l’obra, primer amb elselements separats (manipuladors, text, canvis d’escena, etc.), i, sobretot en l’última sessiód’assajos, amb tots els elements junts. És el moment d’afegir alguns elements auxiliars, comara la música.

Sessió 10.

Assajos. És també el moment de començar a publicitar l’obra pel centre amb els cartellsi fullets de mà que hem confeccionat prèviament.

Sessió 11.

Assaig general i últims ajustaments. És molt important que queden clars tots elsaspectes referits a la representació, que cada acció i cada efecte estiguen assignats a una

persona responsable, i que tots els dubtes queden resolts. També es pot dedicar aquesta sessióa realitzar exercicis de relaxació i de control de la respiració.

Sessió 12.

Representació. Atenent a les característiques del grup i del centre, el mestre o la mestradecidirà si es pot dur a terme una representació per a les classes del cicle, per a tot primària, ofins i tot oferir-la a les classes d’educació infantil.



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Conclusions.

A tall de conclusió, volem ressaltar l’especial interés de les activitats motivadores per al’alumnat, tal com fa notar el currículum d’EP. A més a més, en l’àrea de Llengua Estrangeraés especialment apta qualsevol activitat que implique l’ús lingüístic en situacions reals de co-municació: en aquest sentit, la preparació i el muntatge d’una obra teatral suposen l’intercanvid’idees, d’opinions i de propostes, i també el contacte amb el llenguatge literari i a totes les

possibilitats que aquest ofereix quant al joc amb la llengua i pel que fa a la construcció de lacompetència lingüística i literària.

Referències bibliogràfiques.

Angoloti, C. (1990). Cómics, títeres y teatro de sombras. Madrid: Ediciones de la Torre.

Badiou, M. (2009). Sombras y marionetas. Tradiciones, mitos y creencias: del pensamientoarcaico al Robot Sapiens. Zaragoza: Prensas Universitarias de Zaragoza.

Callejas, J. M. (1988). El teatro educa. Madrid: Narcea.Cervera, J. (1996) La dramatización en la escuela. Madrid: Bruño.Coad, L. (2007). Marionette sourcebook: theory & technique. North Vancouver:

Charlemagne Press.Currell, D. (1976). The complete book of puppetry. Londres: Pitman Publishing.Fontichiaro, K. (2007). Active learning through drama, podcasting and puppetry. Westport:

Libraries Unlimited.

Martín, S.; Cabañas, M. L.; Gómez-Escalonilla, J. J. (2005). El teatro de sombras en laescuela. Sevilla: Wanceulen.Ricart, M.; Rial, R. (1985). Els titelles a l’escola. Barcelona: Eumo.Tappolet, U. (1982). Las marionetas en la educación. Barcelona: Editorial Científico-Médica.



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Introducing Literature in English in Spanish Secondary Schools

Elena Ortells(Universitat de València)

Introduction

Although it is generally accepted that literature plays a critical role in our lives byhelping us reflect on ourselves and the world, it is still one the most underrated subjects ofstudy in schools, especially when it comes to its use as a tool for the teaching of Englishlanguage in the EFL context. In spite of the references to literature in the curriculum of thedifferent courses of the Spanish ESO (Compulsory Secondary Education) and Bachillerato(Baccalaureate) included in the BOE (Official State Gazette), reality in the classroom showsthat literature is relegated to a nearly non-presence. Students’ scarce command of the English

language and time constraints in the curriculum are among the main objections cited byeducators. So, preparing teachers to discern their students’ reading processes and literaryexperiences becomes key to facilitating effective literacy opportunities. It is my contentionthat literature has a valuable and significant role to play in the teaching of English in Spanishsecondary schools. The main goal of this article is therefore to reflect upon the currentsituation as well as to reinvent the relevance of literature as a tool to teach EFL in Spanishsecondary schools.

The reasons which appeared in most of the first publications dealing with theimportance of literature in the EFL classroom -valuable authentic material, cultural and

language enrichment and personal involvement and motivation (i. e. Collie & Slater 1987)-are still present in recent publications (Carter 2007; Paran 2008). In fact, there are teacherswho consider that, with a good selection of texts and with appropriate follow-up activities,literature could even be used to structure an entire course for young learners. However, this isnot generally the case in Spanish secondary schools where teachers generally follow atextbook and the presence of literary texts is relegated to graded reader assignments.

In the following paragraphs, I present an empirical study which investigated the in-service teachers’ and the students’ attitudes towards literature and its use in the EFLclassroom. I drew up questionnaires in which I attempted to explore their views on anapproach to English language teaching in secondary schools that integrated literature. Isurveyed 20 English language teachers in five public secondary schools to ensure arepresentative sample. The survey included qualitative components. Teachers responded toquestions related to their reading habits and their attitudes regarding the use of literature -in its

broadest sense- in the EFL classroom. I also surveyed 221 students belonging to differentlevels of the ESO and Bachillerato. The research findings were as follows.

Of the whole 20-in-service teacher group, only two teachers categorically rejected theinclusion of literature -both classic and young adult literature (YAL)- as a vehicle to teachEnglish language. They put forward the following arguments:



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1 The students don’t know enough English2 It is time consuming3 There is a syllabus to be covered

The rest of the group surveyed used literature occasionally and viewed it as acomplementary resource. In fact, most of them declared to use graded readers and even someof them reported to have used effectively fragments from Roald Dahl’s, Langston Hughes’and E. A. Poe’s works. In spite of not using literature regularly, they held a positive attitudetowards it since they considered that literature as “real language” could contribute to theacquisition of grammar, vocabulary and general language skills as well as to the enrichmentof the students’ literary and cultural background. An aspect that materialized in the dataanalysis was the notion that those teachers who were reluctant to implement literature in theclassroom felt a great lack of confidence in their abilities to use and teach literature, an

impression which was nonexistent in the rest of the respondents. Finally, although not all ofthem used technologies in the classroom, the vast majority considered that they could beextremely valuable for the implementation of literature among ESO and Bachillerato students.

One notable outcome of this study was that although only 48 per cent of studentsreported reading regularly, up to 57 per cent avowed to have read in Spanish titles such asTwilight or the Harry Potter’s series. Even a meager 2 per cent affirmed to have read some ofthem also in English. All in all, the results are promising since, in spite of their limited readinghabits, nearly 85 per cent of the sample was willing to have a choice in the classroom textsand they cited an enormous amount of Young Adult Literature titles as examples of books

they would like to read as part of their curriculum. Diary of a Wimpy Kid , Charlie and theChocolate Factory, The Chronicles of Narnia, Bridget Jones’s Diary as well as classics suchas Frankenstein, Dracula, The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, The Picture of Dorian Grayand The Catcher in the Rye were among the pieces mentioned.

Many studies show that reading extends the students’ vocabulary and widely build background knowledge since, while reading, students apply their developing word-solvingskills. But what is obvious is that “students have to read things they can read for this to beeffective” (Fisher 2009: 68-9). Most of the in-service teachers responding to our surveyreferred to the difficulties their students would encounter in being presented with “real” piecesof literature. Ernest Hemingway’s six-word short story is an excellent counter example forthis misconception:

For sale: baby shoes, never worn.

The words are very easy to understand. Most of our students would not have any problem in understanding the meaning of the terms which conform the phrasing. Thus, whatdo we need to interpret the story? Certainly, not a complex knowledge of words, ofvocabulary, of complex structures but a capacity to make inferences. Exactly the same as



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happens in your own language. This is a perfect example of how when confronted withliterature students need not only to pay attention to lexical and grammatical patterns but alsoto make sense of “second-level thematic meanings in the discourse between the text and thereader” (Lin 2006: 101). Thus, literature allows students to respond critically to languageconstructions and build their own meanings. Researchers of literary discourse remind us ofthe power of literature to stimulate thinking and point out that “literature does not provideanswers; rather, it poses questions and provokes the thought process” (Gordon 2006: 61).Consequently, literature in the context of the EFL classroom is not only a tool to teachcommunicative skills but also a cross-curricular element in learners’ education.

Nevertheless, even in the case in which students need to deal with new words,educators, in order to diminish their level of stress, should help them to develop a series ofstrategies to deal with those new words. Fisher, Frey & Lapp suggest a series of aspects whichneed to be considered. They refer to the relevance of the word for the comprehension of thetext, to its frequency in everyday use and to the possibility of using the context or the

structure of the word to unveil the meaning of the word (2009: 66-7). Consequently, anadequate consideration of the learner’s knowledge is needed in order to make the appropriatechoice of the literary texts since as they state, “reading should not be a laborious process inwhich the reader struggles through a text, word by word, trying to figure out what ishappening” (Fisher, Frey & Lapp ibid.: 26).

However, “simply leveling books by text experience” is not the answer since “bothinterest and motivation have a profound effect on the difficulty the reader experiences”(Fisher, Frey & Lapp ibid.: 26). Some scholars emphasize the importance of choice in studentreading (Lapp and Fischer 2009; Bull 2011). In fact, Galda and Liang (2003) noted that

readers become engrossed in a work of fiction when they are reading voluntarily and from a primarily aesthetic stance. Young adult literature works can be used as an instrument toimplement reading habits and skills and as a prelude and bridge to canonical literature sincewe may well rely on the assumption that “in a foreign language, learners might react well toliterature that had been written specifically for their own age group” (Paran 2008: 488). Thismeans literature that is relevant to their life experiences, emotions and dreams. It is for thisreason that we should endorse the implementation of Young Adult Literature (YAL) in thesecondary school classroom.

The success of George R. R. Martin’s A Game of Thrones (1996), J. K. Rowling’s Harry Potter series (1998-2007), Stephanie Meyer’s (2005) Twilight , Suzanne Collins’s The HungerGames trilogy (2008-2010) attests to the adolescents’ interest for books. Far from being aminor type of literature, YAL is really important since it is mostly responsible for makingadolescents keen on reading. Thus, if we allow our students to choose the books they read,their engagement with the texts will increase.

However, some of the main drawbacks for implementing literature in the languageclassroom have to do with the lack of training of in-service English instructors in this fieldand with their attitudes towards the issue. In order to subvert these fallacies, I designed a



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session which was intended to show the advantages of introducing literature in the classroomusing the students’ interests and exploiting their motivations.

Description of the session: some practical ideas

The lesson began showing students slides containing adolescents exhibiting negativeattitudes towards reading. The students were asked if they felt identified with the characterson the slides and they responded in the negative. Then I led a short discussion about theirattitudes towards words such as “poetry”, “drama”, or “narrative fiction”. Most of themadmitted certain reluctance to reading poems because they identified the genre with gravityand tediousness. Students were then presented with Roger McGough’s poem “40 Love” andwere asked to reflect upon the significance of the title. Once the connection between the titleand the tennis scores had been made, they were requested to read the poem aloud.

middlecoupletenwhengameandgothewill

between

aged playingnistheendstheyhomenetstill

bethem



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The main aim of this activity was to try and instill in them the idea that poetry can befunny and intriguing and that they may need to make use of “detective” strategies toreconstruct literary meanings.

The following activities were designed to build their confidence and self-steem. First, Iwanted students to realize that they could read “real” literature in English if they wanted to,and, second, I wanted them to feel that they were more familiar with literature in English thanthey thought.

I asked them to work on an exercise in which they were expected to match fivequotations from YAL works with their original titles and authors. I used fragments fromSuzanne Collins, The Hunger Games, Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, SirArthur Conan Doyle’s “A Scandal in Bohemia” from the Sherlock Holmes series, StephenieMeyer’s Twilight, and Helen Fielding’s Bridget Jones’s Diary. By making use of their

background knowledge and of the same reading strategies they would use in their motherlanguage, all of them managed to make the right matches.

In order to wake up in them a positive attitude towards reading literature in English, thefollowing step was to make them reflect upon the presence of canonical literature in theireveryday life. I introduced a series of slides containing famous literary figures and worked onthe connections between their origins as classics and their presence in popular culture and inour daily lives: Arthurian literature and Harry Potter, Romeo and Juliet and Hamlet in thecinema and in videogames, iconic works in English and American literature and The Simpsons ( Frankenstein, Dracula, “The Raven”, The Adventures of Huckelberry Finn, The Bell Jar ), Beyonce’s “Countdown” and the Audrey Hepburn of Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s,George Orwell’s 1984 and Big Brother, Nathaniel Hawthorne’ The Scarlet Letter and a

campaign to launch t-shirts targeted at homosexuals…The results were revealing since nearlyeveryone was familiar with the vast majority of the references.To conclude, I designed an exercise intended to explore students’ literary tastes and

motivations. I presented them with a series of excerpts and asked them to read them and selectthose ones they would continue reading. The quotes dealt with issues such as adolescent sex,

beauty and ethnicity and some of them made use of atypical narrative techniques (see annex1). Not surprisingly, they were entranced by all of them and extremely curious about what wasgoing to ensue. What their reactions clearly evince is that with a good selection of fragments –

both in terms of adaptation to their interests and language level - literature can become auseful instrument to be used in the EFL classroom.

Conclusion

This article has focused on the introduction of literature in the EFL secondary school forits pedagogical value. The session described has discussed a wide range of educational possi-

bilities that justify the inclusion of literature as part of the curriculum of EFL in Spanish sec-ondary education. Although this article is part of an ongoing project and further investigationstill needs to be made, it noticeably shows the potential of bringing literature into the EFL



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classroom. What is really negative is the reluctance of some English teachers to modify theirmodus operandi. The future for literature in secondary school resides in facing up to the chal-lenges posed by new generations of students. A radical rethinking of the subject is reallyneeded.

Works cited

Bull, K. B. 2011. ‘Connecting with Texts: Teacher Candidates Reading Young AdultLiterature’. Theory into Practice 50: 223-230.

Carter, R. 2007. ‘Literature and Language Teaching 1986-2006: A Review’. International Journal of Applied Linguistics 17/1: 3-13.

Collie, J. & S. Slater. 1987. Literature in the Language Classroom. A Resource Book of Ideasand Activities. Cambridge: CUP.

Fisher, D., N. Frey & D. Lapp. 2009. In a Reading State of Mind. Brain Research, Teacher

Modeling, and Comprehension Instruction. Newark: The International ReadingAssociation.

Galda, L. & L. A. Liang. 2003. ‘Literature as Experience or Looking for Facts: Stance in theClassroom’. Reading Research Quarterly, 38/2: 268-275.

Gordon, T. et alii. 2006. ‘Stories Lean on Stories: Literature Experiences in ESL TeacherEducation’ in A. Paran (ed).

Holloway, S. 2009. ‘Using literature in learning contexts to address contentious issues ofdifference, culture, power, and privilege in the classroom’, Transformative Dialogues:Teaching and Learning Journal March: 1–24.

Lapp, D. & D. Fisher. 2009. ‘It’s All about the Book: Motivating Teens to Read’. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 52: 556-561.Lin, B. 2006. ‘Exploring the Literary Text Through Grammar and the (Re-) Integration of

Literature and Language Teaching’ in A. Paran (ed).Paran, A. (ed) 2006. Literature in Language Teaching and Learning.Virginia: TESOL.Paran, A. 2008. ‘The Role of Literature in Instructed Foreign Language Learning and Teach-

ing: an Evidence-Based Survey’. Language Teaching 41/4: 465-496.

ANNEX 1

1 “My mother is nineteen years old. The trash chute down which I was dropped is forty-fivefeet from the door of the apartment my mother was visiting. I was born and will die Monday,August 12, 1991.”

John Edgar Wideman’s “newborn thrown in trash and dies”

2 “Sex is something I really don't understand too hot. You never know where the hell you are.I keep making up these sex rules for myself, and then I break them right away. Last year Imade a rule that I was going to quit horsing around with girls that, deep down, gave me a pain



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Judging a Book by Its Cover: Reading Comics as Literature

Mercedes Peñalba García(Universidad de Salamanca)

In recent years, literacy educators have recognized the need to provide secondary studentswith strategies and skills for constructing meaning in their transactions with multimodal texts— that is, texts that “present information across a variety of modes including visual images, designelements, written language, and other semiotic resources” (Serafini, 2010, p. 87). Despite the per-vasiveness of multimodal books in youth literacy, the manner in which readers interact with textsthat combine word and image has received less pedagogical attention, a result, perhaps, of a ten-dency to privilege the single mode of written language over that of visual image (Jewitt, 2002,2005; Kist, 2005). Contemporary society is ocularcentric (Mirzeoff, 1998) and what we now con-sider as “text” is defined as “anything in the surrounding world of the literate person” (Carter,

2007, p. 12), “any communicative medium” (Moje, 2008). It is therefore important that educatorsshould examine the range of literacy practices that engage youth and broaden their understandingof literacy beyond printed texts.1

One example of an emerging multimodal text is the “graphic novel”—a marketing termused to refer to “a book-length work in the medium of comics” (Chute, 2008, p. 453). Graphicnovels interweave a range of semiotic resources—most notably word and image—as a vehicle forstorytelling. Once considered a marginal narrative form, today’s most enduring single-authoredgraphic narratives span an array of genres and challenge dominant modes of historical and per-sonal expression (Monnin, 2010). One might interpret this as a sign that the graphic novel hasfound a sense of legitimacy previously denied to the comic book in academic circles. 2 Yet where-

as educators have historically regarded comics as an unsophisticated form of reading materiallinked with illiteracy and juvenile entertainment (Hajdu, 2008; Wright, 2001), a growing numberof them have embraced the graphic novel as an ideal instructional tool without necessarily under-standing how young learners analyze the ways images make meanings, and how talking abouttheir perceptual qualities with other readers in the context of literature discussions might influencetheir conceptions of them: “in an increasingly visual culture, literacy educators can profit from theuse of graphic novels in the classroom, especially for young adults” (Schwarz, 2002, p. 262).3

1 Arizpe and Styles (2008) describe texts as made up of different combinations of the modes of print,

images, sound, gesture, and movement which include digital texts as well as film, music, television, drama,and print.2 Unlike comic books, which are on average thirty-two pages long, and which are published in serial form,

graphic novels generally—though not always—present an entire narrative in a single volume. According

to Chute (2008), the term “graphic novel” is something of a misnomer in that a substantial percentage of

the works marketed under that label belong to the genre of non-fiction. She consequently advocates re-

placing the term with “graphic narrative.” 3 According to Hatfield (2006), “the educational literature on comics fell to a murmur, until the 1970s

when teachers began guardedly endorsing comics as a means of reaching the ‘reluctant’ or disabled rea d-

er” (p. 363). Academic critics of comics throughout the forties and fifties tended to ignore the distinctiv e

graphic qualities of the comics page. The form’s visual/verbal nature, the radical fragmentation of the

page and the nonstandard use of language were often adduced as evidence of its preliterate quality. This



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Among the more commonly cited reasons for using graphic novels in academic circles istheir popularity with adolescents (Hughes-Hassell & Rodge, 2007), their ability to motivate “re-luctant” readers (Crawford, 2004; Snowball, 2005), and their value as a tool for supporting stu-dents who struggle with reading and writing (Bitz, 2004; Frey & Fisher, 2004). Others regardthem as a bridge to more traditional forms of literature (Weiner, 2004), while still others advocate

using graphic novels to teach visual literacy (Frey & Fisher, 2008; Gillenwater, 2009). A numberof scholars also regard works written in the medium of comics as a complex form of reading ma-terial (Jacobs, 2007) and as a valuable form of literature (Versaci, 2001, 2007). Though graphicnarratives may be effective aids to literacy, they are by no means “easy”. If we are to understandwhat happens when we read comics, we must consider its literary potential, its peculiar means ofsoliciting reader involvement and the distinctiveness of this art form. I submit that their complexi-ty is their great strength: they require a reader’s active engagement and collaboration in makingmeaning of the text. Hence Will Eisner’s (1985) invocation of “a contract with the reader,” who isexpected to “understand things like implied time, space, motion, sound and emotions” (p. 49).1

Social semiotics

Sociocultural theories of literacy and learning (Heath, 1983) have led a growing number ofeducators to challenge traditionally received definitions of literacy and embrace a more compre-hensive view of text (Gee, 2003; New London Group, 1996). Likewise, researchers have ex-

pressed an interest in understanding “multiliteracies” (New London Group, 1996, p. 63), or “newliteracies,” a term that acknowledges the diverse linguistic and cultural practices adolescents bringto the classroom and that draws attention to the preponderance of multimodal texts that studentsencounter outside school. As Felten (2008) observes, exposure to images does not necessarily

mean that students “naturally possess sophisticated visual literacy skills, just as continually listen-ing to an iPod does not teach a person to critically analyze or create music” (p. 60).As publishers market graphic novels to adolescent audiences, and as multimodal texts con-

tinue to proliferate, there is a need for educators to help students think critically about the mannerin which they function from the standpoint of the page layout or overall design. This is what the

New London Group (1996) refers to as a “metalanguage”—that is, a language that equips themwith the conceptual categories and vocabulary needed to analyze images and other semiotic re-sources in specific terms. In one of the few studies that asked how English teachers use graphicnovels in the classroom, Annett (2008) found that teachers considered “themselves weakest in thevocabulary of the graphic texts and the history of the genre” (p. 168).

My study is based on the assumption that the way people learn to read and talk about graph-ic novels—that is, the way they develop what might be called comics literacy is a form of com-

damaging view was also reinforced by assumptions about comics as distinctly other than true art and

great literature.1 Although Will Eisner is often credited with having coined the term “graphic novel” to market his book AContract with God , Chute (2008) traces the origins of the phrase to Richard Kyle, whom she argues used it

in a newsletter that was distributed to members of the Amateur Press Association in 1964. Whereas the

comic book was considered the domain of children, the publishing industry has largely marketed graphic

novels toward an adult audience. Today, graphic novels address an array of subject matter and genres,

and they are written for a range of audiences.



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munal activity (Norton, 2003).1 In other words, individuals appropriate a repertoire of interpretivestrategies for reading and talking about graphic novels as a result of their participation in a com-munity of practice—or reading group—that values them as a form of reading material. Amongother things, that repertoire is understood to include strategies for interacting with grammars(Kress & Van Leeuwen, 2001) that are associated with various semiotic resources. Rather than

view ‘grammars’ as prescriptive rules that govern the use of semiotic resources, researchers in-stead regard them as patterns that are recognizable to other members of a community of practice.2

In this article, I examine some principles of visual perception, borrowed from Will Eisner’s,Scott McCloud’s and Thierry Groensteen’s seminal books on graphic storytelling, to outline basicconcepts of a “visual language” that I suggest teachers can draw on to evaluate students’ responseto long-form comics—in this case, images in graphic narratives.

The Language of Comics

Comics scholars generally agree that comics, which usually combine word and image toconvey information, constitutes a medium, as opposed to a genre (Chute, 2008; McCloud, 1993;Wolk, 2007). One of the earliest writers to theorize comics, the cartoonist Will Eisner (1985) con-strues it as a form of reading that entails “both visual and verbal interpretive skills,” and that de-mands a sense of familiarity with what he refers to as the “the ‘grammar’ of Sequential Art” (p.8)—that is, conventions that are specific to the medium of comics. To read a graphic novel, onemust possess a sense of familiarity with the “language” according to which it speaks (Eisner,1985; McCloud, 1993; Varnum & Gibbons, 2001).3 Comics is an elliptic medium, a medium offragments, which relies largely on the reader’s compulsive need to fill in what is missing on the

basis of clues provided by visual and verbal codes that coexist in the same text.

In Understanding Comics, McCloud (1993) defines comics as “juxtaposed pictorial andother images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to produce an aesthet-ic response in the viewer” (p. 9). The focus in each of these definitions is sequence: a string ofimages that are read one after another to produce meaning. Comics may or may not incorporatetext, and differ from cartoons by producing a more complicated narrative pattern through sequen-tial spatial arrangement.4 Following Chute (2008), I define the medium of comics in this article as

1 In this sense cognitive development is understood to take place as interpersonal activities—that is, ac-

tivities that are shared between people—are internalized and transformed into intrapersonal ones, a posi-

tion that is most famously articulated in Vygotsky’s (1978) general law of cultural development.2 In social semiotics, these patterns are referred to as “grammars” (Kress et al., 2005). Various scholars

have examined the grammars—or conventions—that characterize different semiotic resources. Kress andVan Leeuwen (1996/2006), for example, describe the grammar of images; Van Leeuwen (1999) the

grammar of sound; and Stockl (2005) the grammar of typography.3 Wolk (2007) conceptualizes graphic novels as falling into three categories: manga (the Japanese equiva-

lent of American comics); mainstream comics, which he suggests are initially published serially, and which

are written and drawn by different people; and art comics, which are written and drawn by a single car-

toonist, and which are conceived as a self-contained book. Although Wolk (2007) insists that the de-

scriptor “art graphic novel” is not intended to represent a value judgment, the implication is difficult to

avoid.4 As Harvey (1996) observes, however, McCloud’s definition fails to acknowledge the equally important

role that a verbal component plays in comics. Expanding on this point, Carrier (2000) argues that “the full

integration of words into pictures in the speech balloon creates a new art, which raises novel aesthetic



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a “hybrid word-and-image form in which two narrative tracks, one verbal and one visual, registertemporality spatially” (p. 452).

In The System of Comics, Thierry Groensteen (2007 [1999]) argues that comics are composed of interdependent images that share a space (before knowing any other kind of relation),usually the page or the double-spread. Plastic and semantic relations between these images are

displayed, and it is these relations that make comics into a text. Groensteen’s approach is similarto McCloud’s, since his basic criterion is what he calls “iconic solidarity”. However, French theo-ry considers the page as a physical, graphic and narrative unit, whereas McCloud examines panel-to-panel relations, without paying specific attention to the complete page.

The comics page is the first part of information about the actual narrative the reader gets,even before starting to read the successive panels. With comics, as with most things, how narra-tive information is presented is often as important as what that information is. By a first glance atthe graphic design of the page, the reader gains a preliminary understanding of the story, suggest-ed by the style of the drawings, the use of color, and the layout of the panels. Is the layout regular(with frames of an identical format) or irregular? This could include the number of panels, theregularity of their height, the number of strips, the location of speech balloons, the thickness ofthe inter-iconic space (gutter), etc. None of these criteria is neutral when we appreciate the layout(or the denseness) of the page. Even if the page is comprised of uniform rectangles in an obviousand regular order, that layout was still chosen by the artist to create an impression.

To understand comics, it is crucial for the reader to be aware of the text conventions muchlike readers are knowledgeable of specific genre conventions of certain literary forms. For the

purposes of this article, the vocabulary of comics will include all the elements that comprise theimages and the text, and the grammar will be the rules of the language, or how the images and thetext are used together to create meaning.

Panels. A panel is a still image in a sequence of juxtaposed images and can vary in size andshape. Panels hold within their borders all the icons that comprise the vocabulary of comics, butthey are icons, too, even though they have no fixed or absolute meaning. The panel layout or ar-rangement of panels on the page is quite complex and forms the narrative machinery that movesthe plot (McCloud, 1993).1 Usually, panels display single instants of action (often referred to as“frozen moments”), although it is rare for a panel to represent only an instant of the story. Panelstypically contain pieces of dialogue indicating that the duration of panels goes beyond single in-stants. At other times, the duration of panels is also represented by their width. The panels of acomic function at the same time as individual images and as fragments of a sequence, separatedand united by the gutter (i.e. an empty space) between them.

problems” (p. 4). Kunzle’s (1973) efforts to trace the lineage of the comic strip led him to identify four

defining characteristics of the form. Specifically, he argues that: (1) there must be a sequence of separate

images; (2) there must be a preponderance of image over text; (3) the medium must be a mass medium;

and (4) the sequence must tell a story that is topical and moral (pp. 2-3).1 There are several kinds of panels: (a) inset, a small panel contained within a larger panel, often a close-

up; (b) bleed, a panel without a border on one or more sides with artwork extending off the page to indi-

cate time and action continuing; (c) splash, a large or full-page panel often used to set a scene; (d) double-

page spread, a large splash panel covering two facing pages. There are also irregular shaped panels used

to convey a variety of meanings depending on the context (i.e. the idea that the panel portrays the memory

or the dream of a character).



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Balloons. Balloons are used to report speech or thought. The tail of the balloon indicates thecharacter who is speaking (or thinking). It is the pictorial equivalent of the “she said” or “hethought” device used in reported speech or thought. Normally the tail is a small pointed projectionor a simple line. An important variation is the tail of a thought balloon, which is formed of a seriesof small bubbles. Typically, balloons are of oval or cloud-like shape, but variations in their style

or even color give pictorial cues to the reader as to the mental states and attitudes of the charac-ters. As Bongco (2000) states, “the various forms and contours of the balloons enhance both textsand image in expressing emotions, movement, sound effects, abstract concepts, tone of dialogueand secret motivations or intentions” (pp. 70-71). Smooth outlines indicate normal speech in word

balloons while jagged edges may express alarm, anger, or distress. Thin, wavy lines suggestweakness. Star-shaped balloons indicate shouting. Thought balloons have cloud shapes. Some-times thought balloons contain images rather than words. Electronic sounds or sounds from thetelephone, radio, or television are enclosed in balloons with jagged edges.

Sound effects. They are often invented words superimposed over pictures that are used tocreate an illusion of sound in order to enhance the readers’ aural experience. Leshinski states thatdrawing sound is one of comics’ defining features. Words used to depict sound often sound likethe sound itself. Leshinski (2005) described the sound effects in one comic as a “symphony ofonomatopoeia.” Sometimes the word representing a sound resembles the noise that is produced.An example might be the word “crack” drawn with cracks in each letter.

Time. What happens within and between the panels of a comic “become part of the vocabu-lary used in the expression of time” (Eisner, 1985, p. 28). A single image in comics, even withoutwords, does not have to be a single moment. A comics panel can either represent a split second oreven contain several moments in time. Yet panels are static images, presenting only the illusion oftime passing. Consistently shaped panels might suggest time flowing at a regular rate and more

panels usually indicate compressed time. However, the contents of a panel provide a clearer indi-cation. Time is contained inside a bordered panel, but when a panel bleeds, losing one or more borders, it conveys timeless space (McCloud, 1993). The reader is also aware of how much timehas elapsed because, from experience, one is commonly aware of how long it takes a certain ac-tion to happen, such as the opening of a door. In comics, then, word and image should give infor-mation the other cannot, and complement each other, resulting in an interplay of codes that pro-

pels the narration forward. Images enhance the words and vice versa, leading the reader back andforth not only within a panel, but also along the panels in a sequence.

Motion. Like time, motion can also be depicted within and between panels. Speed lines be-hind a character or object indicate in what direction it is moving, and the number of speed lines

indicates how fast it is moving. Motion is also discerned from panel to panel. Violent actions suchas throwing something or attacking someone are intensified by motion lines. Natural phenomena(i.e. wind, rain, fire, smoke) also imply movement, which also involves time. Violent emotionsare also accompanied by mental motion lines signaling shock, anxiety or anger. A variety of sym-

bols are commonly used, which stand for specific mental states. When one panel shows a charac-ter in one position and the next panel shows him or her in another position, the reader must inferthat the character has moved. In graphic narratives, movement is suggested by physical positionsor gestures depicted in mid action, as if “frozen” in mid air. The viewer automatically understands



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that a hand has moved when it is depicted raised in one panel and lowered in the next(sequentiality of individual panels).

Gutters. The blank space between panels is the gutter. The actual width of the gutter is notrelevant; what matters is the division itself within the panels. Some authors of comics prefer todraw panels with no blank space between them (gutterless). However, the conceptual separation

remains there. The gutter can represent a gap in time or in space, or both. Alternating with panels,McCloud (1993) alleges the gutter is “the only element of comics that is not duplicated in anyother medium” (p. 13). Gutters play a crucial role in connecting panels into a sequential, coherentstory as much of the action, though unseen, happens in the gutters. This means that readers haveto connect the missing elements every time they move from one panel to the next in order to re-construct the flow of the story. The reader observes the parts of the story presented by the panels,

but actually perceives the whole, by “mentally completing that which is incomplete” (p.63). Thisis how movement and time is achieved in still images, and how the narrative progresses.

Conclusion

In this article, I have conceived of multimodal literacy as a process of graphic design. Spe-cifically, I assumed that the participants would interpret the semiotic resources they encounteredin a graphic novel by drawing on their knowledge of grammars or conventions, which constitutedone aspect of the repertoire. Additionally, my study is based on the assumption that the partici-

pants would negotiate their understanding of grammars as they interacted with one another in thecontext of reading group discussions, the result of which would lead them to expand their reper-toire of interpretive strategies for reading graphic novels.

In drawing a comic, all of the above conventions must be considered as they are important

to the way comics work. Noting that arguments for using graphic novels in the classroom oftenunderestimate the sophistication of multimodal literacy, Jacobs (2007) argues that comics invitereaders to “interact with up to six design elements, including linguistic, audio, visual, gestural,and spatial modes, as well as multimodal design” (p. 21). In graphic narratives, visual narrativity

plays a larger role than verbal narrativity, simply because not every image is accompanied by text.Rather than submit blindly to institutionally imposed definitions of literature, Versaci

(2007) encourages educators to create opportunities for students to interact with a variety of textsin school, including works written in the medium of comics. Specifically, he advocates encourag-ing students to develop their own criteria for assessing literary merit, and he argues that comicsaddress effectively not only formal but also thematic, moral, and social issues: one, the “powerful

marginality” of comics, which enables them to subvert readers’ expectations; two, the self-reflexivity inherent in the comics form, which he describes as a potentially thought-provokingcapacity; and three, the distinctive poetics of comics’ “graphic language” (12-14). These qualitiesmake comics as demanding as canonical literature.

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Bitz, M. (2004). The comic book project: Forging alternative pathways to literacy. Journal of

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Gee, J. P. (2003). What video games have to teach us about learning and literacy. New York:Palgrave MacMillan.Gillenwater, C. (2009). Lost literacy: How graphic novels can recover visual literacy in the litera-

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and meaning. Baltimore: University Park Press.Harvey, R. C. (1996). The art of the comic book: An aesthetic history. Jackson: University Press

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Exploring interculturally competent teaching with Aesop textsin the English classroom

María del Rosario Piqueras Fraile

Susana Montero MéndezIsabel Alonso BelmonteMaría Fernández Agüero

(Universidad Autónoma de Madrid)

The fable or animal tale

Literature has been a subject of study in many countries at a secondary or tertiary level, but until recently has not been given much emphasis in the EFL/ESL classroom. It has only been since the 1980’s that this area has attracted more interest among EFL teachers.

There have been different models suggested on the teaching of literature to ESL/EFLstudents (Carter and Long, 1991). How the teacher will use a literary text depends on themodel they choose.

Cartoon characters, pets, creatures from the wild, and even ourselves make animals animportant part of our existence. From an early age we are treated to the view of certain ani-mals demonstrating good and certain demonstrating evil.

Trickster tales are stories of animals that act like humans living in a world of wonderand magic having supernatural powers. Most of these stories convey a message or moral tothe reader, or explain something in a creative way and that is why they are very important and

significant of the school curriculum. This genre of literature grew from the oral tradition ofstory telling which have been there from thousand of years and are passed down and retoldfrom generation to generation. A clever character outsmarts a foolish character who must door believe something stupid or silly.

By demonstrating humanity faults and virtues as exhibited by animals, talking animalscan provide readers with a greater understanding of human psychology and behaviour. Ani-mals and animal characters are particularly appealing to children because of their charmingappearance and non-threatening natures. In this way, talking animals have had a long and dis-tinguished history in both children’s and adult storytelling.

The habit of storytelling dates back to our first civilizations as a means of tribal com-munication or as a cultural manifestation both in written or spoken language. There are didac-tic objectives behind those apparently simple stories. The metaphorical interpretation of the

popular tale gives us enough information about the world, the social organizations and theancient human traditions.

Throughout history, there have been many fable theorists who have reflected on thedefinition of fable and its different functions. Thomas Noel analyses some questions and theusage of this fantastic literary genre in the first two chapters of The Theories of the Fable inthe Eighteenth Century (1975). Following him, in Great Britain, for example, John Locke



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recommended fables to teach language at a time when social concern was growing, particu-larly in education.

In the same way, the fabulist La Fontaine also alluded to the instructive aspect or valueof fables. Fénelon stated that the fabulist, after telling a fable, should wait and allow thechild´s curiosity to grow to the point where he begs to hear another. Antoine Furetière, one ofLa Fontaine´s friends and followers, claimed that animals reprove and correct much moreeffectively than the teachings of members of our own species. La Motte pointed to the factthat a fable is an instruction disguised under the allegory of an action. Finally, Breitinger, aGerman fable critic, established that there is a close relationship between animals and human

beings.Furthermore, according to certain theories, fables have a conscious double meaning. On

the one hand, they are used as a means of entertainment but also as a means of denouncement;they are a concealed criticism against an adverse reality. The message the fable transmits issuch an appalling truth that the author hides it behind short allegorical animal stories. It is a

hard world in a constant fight to survive. The natural thing is for the weakest animal to bedestroyed by the strongest.

For centuries people have been telling folktales, sometimes the same ones with charac-ters changing their names but not their personalities from culture to culture. Reynard the Fox,trickster of the medieval French tales, becomes Anansi Spider in the Caribbean culture andRabbit in the Gullah1 tales or the jackal in India and the wolf in Western America. What ex-

plains the fascination of these stories for so many hundreds of years? Maybe we turn to themfor laughter and wisdom, the people’s wisdom. As these tales reflect human needs, it is notsurprising that food, and more specifically, the search for food, is the main topic in all these

traditional stories. The conflicts that are generated by the lack and acquisition of it are many.Aesop, the mythical narrator of fables, was a dumb slave-we cannot forget how the con-cepts of fable and slavery are related-. As the legend has it, the Goddess Isis and the Musesgave him the “gift of gab” and the virtue of telling stories. He used to tell stories in order toentertain and teach his consecutive masters’ children but they also served other purposes,mainly political, and that is the reason why all the vices of human beings are reflected inthem.

Likewise, other fabulists used their tales not only for entertainment but also for hiddenobjectives. Therefore, social and political writers used fables to express their grievances. InEngland, it is worth mentioning John Gay who, in his stories, attacked the corrupt politiciansof his time. In Spain the fable was an instrument for introducing neoclassical ideas, as DonTomás de Iriarte did. Although it is not exactly a fable, Animal farm (1945) by George Orwellmay be compared with that literary genre. The sentence “all the animals are equal but somemore than others” has become one of the most satirical ones in the world. The animals in thestory try to change the established order; they are below the level of human beings and organ-ize a revolution to get rid of them. Animal Farm is more than a satire. It describes the constant

1 “Gullah” is very probably a deviation from the country name Angola, shortened to Gola. Many negroes fromLower Guinea were brought to this country in the days of the slave trade. (John G.Williams, 1895:xi).



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fight to survive. On the other hand current Science Fiction is yesterday’s fable. The destruc-tion of the planet by human behaviour is a message. Finally, we can say the same thing aboutthe cartoons on television nowadays. The adventures of Tom and Jerry, for example, are a realfable about the fight for survival. After this brief introduction to the history of the fable we areready to point out the objectives and activities teachers can do with Aesop texts in our classes.

What can students learn from Aesop texts

These stories, apart from being every young child’s bedtime friend, can become everyyoung learner’s school time treasure. Ellis and Brewster (1991) give several reasons whyteachers should use storybooks. For instance, they say they are motivating and can help de-velop positive attitudes towards the foreign language. There is a lot of knowledge students canget through fables or animal tales. In this way, students should get to know:

1. Language style used (direct speech, adjectives, adverbs, present participles, in-version of subject and verb for dramatic purposes) and the vocabulary used.

2. Students should identify underlying moral lessons and relate the fables to real-life situations as well as reflecting upon issues of morality

3. Students should get historical knowledge.

Indeed, the understanding of the tale comes through the analysis of the historical periodit describes. Therefore, apart from being analysed from the linguistic point of view, studentslearn from the animal stories the purpose that is behind them and the historical period in

which they were written and also they can learn to write their own animal tale. Besides, due tothe universality of Aesop texts, the students can compare the same fable in different authorsand in different languages.

We can point here several examples:We can teach our students some of the American folklore focusing on the animal tales

that made Joel Chandler Harris so famous. Indeed, Joel Chandler Harris, a southern journalist, presented in 1880 animal stories or legends told by a former slave, Uncle Remus, who supposedly had “nothing but pleasant memories of the discipline of slavery and the period hedescribed”. In the fictional framework of the stories, a plantation owner’s little son listenedand questioned the old man about the animals, just as Harris, as a Middle Georgia youth, hadalso listened to the slaves telling stories. All the tales have linguistic, literary and historical importance from the moral and social points of view. Harris with The Uncle Remus Tales

brings us back to the time of Aesop and La Fontaine. Like these authors, Harris, through the power of words, used the metaphorical world of the fable to instruct and seduce the reader.Just as the popularity of Jean de la Fontaine’s fables, which aimed at criticizing the king’s

political regime, was not accidental, it was not a mere coincidence either that Harris wrote hisUncle Remus stories at the time of the Reconstruction Period, when there was somehow acertain nostalgic sentiment for ancient times. The Southerner of that period had suffered the



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destruction of the Plantation System and all the consequences which derived from it. An overtattack by Harris against the Old South and the Slavery system could have damaged the“Southern Pride” and people’s feelings. Because of this, Harris made use of allegorical talesfor his social and political protest.

In the same way, for students who are taking English and French lessons, the fable“the fox and the crow” can be analyzed in both languages and study, therefore, the great au-thor Jean de la Fontaine. The teacher can ask them, for example, to turn the tale from past to

present tense in the English version and study the delicate language used in the French one,asking them to pay attention to the beginning: Maître Corbeau and how this address fallsdown at the end: Mon bon Monsieur , making emphasis on the stupidity of the crow. The pur-

pose of the French fabulist with his stories is to criticize the politicians of his time, pointworth teaching the students as well.

There is a poem written by the fable writer and poet Tomás de Iriarte “The Ass and theFlute” that reads like this: Once upon a time an ass found a flute in the field, and came near to

it. Suddenly, a gust of wind blew from his nose, and made the flute produce some notes. Thedonkey was elated, and went away celebrating that he was able to play the flute. Many peopledo things and do not know how they did them. They simply did them once and think thatwithout reflection or study, they will be able to repeat the feat”.

The moral that Tomás de Iriarte wanted to point out is that not all those who writeshould be called writers if they do not follow certain rules needed when writing correctly.

As a conclusion we should say that a story-based framework of teaching and learningcan become a very powerful tool in the hands of a teacher. A well-organized story session canintrigue the students and make them want to explore many features of the language. As teach-

ers, we want to make our students autonomous, lifelong learners. We will have made a largestep towards this aim if we make them learn consciously and assume responsibility for theirlearning. Aesop’s fables, which were developed down the centuries in different cultural con-texts by different applications and uses, are good examples in teaching not only the Englishlanguage. The widespread practice of storytelling consists of versions of traditional storiescreated in ancient times which along history, including the Afro-American experience, hasreached our times in a form of sophisticated plots and heavily ironic morals with a definite

purpose, in a way typically associated with children’s bedtime stories.

References

Carter, R. M Long. (1991). Teaching Literature. Longman.Ellis, G. Brewster, J. (1991). The Storytelling Handbook for Primary Teachers. Penguin

books.Harris, Joel Chandler. Chase, Richard.comp.1983. (1955). The Complete Tales of Uncle Re-

mus . Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company. Noel, Thomas. (1975). Theories of the Fable in the 18th Century. New York: Columbia Uni-

versity Press.



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Orwell, George. Animal Farm (1945) Harmondsworth: PenguinWilliams, John G. (1895) De Ole Plantation. Charleston, S.C.



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Children’s Literature and Communicative Classrooms: Lesson Plans by In-Service Teachers

Malin Reljanovic Glimäng(Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha)

“Watch Swedish children when they sing ‘Happy Birthday’ or ‘We Wish You a MerryChristmas.’ They seem so enthusiastic! So embracing of these foreign songs! They know that

these are real texts, words that English speakers all over the world sing. Such text exists insongs, in chants, in jump rope rhymes and most obviously, in books”

(Karyn Sandström Kidworthy Works 2011: 9)

How can teachers use stories todevelopstudents’ language learning, communicativeskills, andunderstanding of texts in theEFL classroom? Thequestion is examined in the con-text of a course for primary teachers, and one of the course assignments is to design a se-

quence of lessons based on a storybook in English. This paper discusses teachers’ responsesto the assignment and highlightsways in which children’s literature can form the basis for acommunicative classroom. The first part of this textoutlines guidelines and theoretical under-

pinnings of the assignment. The discussion that follows looks at threecontent-areas whichreoccur among the variety of lesson plans generated in the course: 1) stories linked to chil-dren’s personal lives, 2) stories in different perspectives, and 3) stories and social issues.

The lesson plan assignment is part of a professional development course for practicingteachers in years 4-6. The task is to use children’s literature in activities which encourage col-laborative learning and respond to the goals in the national curriculum. A key premise is that

stories offer holistic approaches to language learning and open up “a whole imaginary world,created by language that children can enter and enjoy, learning language as they go” (Camer-on, 159).

Choosing a bookis the first step, but the gist of the assignment then deals with how thetext is used in the classroom. Stories are not merely instruments for language learning howev-er;authentic texts have the power to evoke emotional responses and make readers think, ques-tion, and appreciate subtleties such as irony and intertextuality (Meek 1988).The teachers’task is to find the right balance between content, contextand pure languagelearning activi-ties.The lessons should also incorporate a variety of text-types such as images, film, songs,games orwebsite materials. Teachers are also expected to put their planning into actionthrough teaching

The goals in the national curriculum providea theoretical framework for the assignment.In line with the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages: Learning,Teaching, Assessment (2001), the Swedish syllabus for English promotes a communicativeapproach:

Through teaching, pupils should be given the opportunity to develop all-roundcommunicative skills. These skills involve understanding spoken and written English, beingable to formulate one’s own thinking and interact with other in the spoken and written



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to respond. The class summarizes the content together as a mind-map on the whiteboard.They collect useful words, chunks and phrases in preparation for writing anemail to Lizzieabout themselves. The emails are sent to Jacqueline Wilson through her website. This type of“production and interaction” appears in the syllabus as “presentations, instructions, messages,narratives and descriptions in connected speech and writing” (Skolverket 2011).

In the Lizzie lessons the textprovides the model for the tasks. In other words, the book isuseddeliberately to support students’speaking and writing about their own lives in English. Inresponse to a chapter depicting Lizzie’s new room, the children draw pictures and write abouttheir own rooms. Another chapter reads like a private diary revealing Lizzie’s thoughts andfeelings. After reading and discussing thechapter,the children use a digital diary on Wilson’swebsite to write daily entries. The next stage then draws uponthe previous lessons whenthechildren producephoto-stories depicting “A Day in My Life.” The unit ends withexhibitions,presentations,and dramatizations ofthe photo-stories. Overall, the uniteffectively

positions the book in relation to children’s own lives.

Anotherangleis to use literature which belongs to a shared cultural experience.Even inthe culturally diverse Sweden of today, most children encounter Astrid Lindgren’s Pippi

Longstocking before they start school. The lesson plan “Do you know PippiLongstocking?”assumesthat students know enough about Pippi’s world to use it as familiargrounds for foreign language learning. The story is used as a springboard to work onvocabulary,chunks and phrases in English. “Chunking means recognizing what words in atext belong together. This helps children read in meaningful phrases, not word by word”(Slattery and Willis 2001: 80). The emphasis is on the following areas in the syllabus forEnglish (Skolverket 2011):

clearly spoken English and texts from various medialanguage phenomena such as pronunciation, intonation, grammatical structures,

spelling and also fixed language expressions in the language pupils encounter

how words and fixed language expressions, such as politeness phrases andforms of address, are used in texts and spoken language in different situations

An initial task centers on memory games. Words from the story are collected on the board and the children work in groups to create memory games on flashcards. In selectingtheir own words, the children become ‘experts’ on the words in their group. Subsequent

lessons incorporatea variety of Pippi related texts such as songs, films, and poems in English.A range of activities engage students in listening, watching, discussing and trying out phrasesin communication. The series demonstrates progression as it takes students from basic taskssuch as collaborative verb-searches in Pippi texts, through“listen and respond” gameswherechildren absorb “rather than immediately produce the language” (Pinter 2006: 50), to moreadvanced activities such as producing and performing Pippi rhymes and creating Pippicartoon-strips.



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Stories from Different PerspectivesTraditional fairytales arefrequently used on the course, and as Gibbon’s points out

“probably one of the best ways to introduce reading to ESL children is by using fairytales”(Gibbons 2002: 99). Most children are familiar with the content and narrative structure instories such as Cinderella and Little Red Riding Hood . Moreover, the texts oftencontainembedded scaffolding in rhyme, rhythm, and the repetition of events and language structures.The lesson plans from the course show a pattern of using fairytales for linguistic purposes butalso for the sake of moving beyond the literal to explore perspectives and juxtaposedifferentversions of a story.

Lesson plans on Cinderella provide examples ofhow a combination of texts canoffer a“powerful way to help children to understand that texts are never neutral and that they arealways created from particular perspectives to convey certain messages” (Vasquez 2010: 48).One approach to Cinderella is to focus on character descriptions, point of view, and gender

roles by beginning in the traditional version of the tale and incorporatingtexts such as BabetteCole’s “subversive”picture books Princess Smartypants and Prince Cinders. The aim is toencourage children to explore parody and intertextuality based on their familiarity with thetraditional version. The Cinderella theme readily lends itself to multimedia work in theclassroom. The great variety of texts, from folktales to the diversity of modern Cinderella filmversions,opens up for “different ways of searching for and choosing texts…from the internetand other media” (Skolverket 2011). Scenes from films such as Happily Never After (2006),

Another Cinderella Story (2008), and Maid in Manhattan (2002) offer fertile ground fordiscussions and collaborative activities in the classroom.

The powerful potential of using different versions of a story is that the texts enrich eachother in a way that destabilizes the notion that a certain version or ‘original,’ is the dominantone. Each text becomes a lens through which we candeepen our understanding of the otherversions. A well-known example of this is the traditional tale of Little Red Riding Hood teamed up with Roal Dahl’s (1982) classic poem Little Red Riding Hood and the Wolf . InDahl’s version, the story ends when the little girl shoots the wolf dead and makes herself awolf-skin coat. The poem is funny and surprisingly violent (although arguably not more sothat the original version), and children tend to find the twist of events liberating andempowering. In lesson plans, teachers use this particular combination of texts as a starting

point for drama activities where children use words and phrases from the two texts whilealtering the content to make the story their own.Stories and Social Issues

“…[I]t is not enough for children to learn language, to learn about language, and tolearn through language….children also need to learn to use language to critique” (Vasquez

2010: 15).

The final content-areapertains to critical literacy and the use of stories to explore socialissues.Vasquez defines texts about social issues as “those books that deal specifically with



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issues such as racism, classism, or gender equity” (2010: 54). An example of such a book inour lesson plans is Anne Fine’s (1989) Bill’s New Frock . The main character Bill wakes upone morning and discovers that he has transformed into a girl over-night. Sent to school in a

pink frock heencounters a range of invisible gender rules previouslyunknown to him.Teachersin our course use the book and the ‘gender transformation’ theme to engage children incontent-based learning. Beyond the story, the children get involved in broader questionsrelating to gender constructions and the organization of society. Are there unspoken rules for

boys and girls at our school? What does it mean to be a boy or a girl in our society? How aregender roles different across cultures?

Bill’s New Frock is also linked to media studies. The children collect ads depictingchildren and children’s consumer products. In collaborative workshops they trace gender-

patterns and sort images into different categories. Each category becomes a poster-collage fora class exhibition and further discussions. As Vasques explains, everyday texts such as adscan be “deconstructed and analyzed to uncover the view of the world they represent to make

visible the lifestyles and identities that are constructed through what is represented andthrough how it is presented (2010: 24). Working on social issues in the EFL classroomrequires a lot of scaffolding and a particular focus on language development. The lesson planstake this into account but space is too limited to allow for the inclusion of details here.

In another lesson plan the aim is to use Jamila Gavin’s story “The Paradise Carpet” as astarting point for cross-curricular work onChildren’s Rights. The focus responds to thesyllabus content:“Daily life, ways of living and social relations in different contexts and areaswhere English is used” (Skolverket 2011). “The Paradise Carpet” is teamed up with the truestory about Iqbal Masih, the boyfrom Pakistan who escaped child labor and became a

spokesperson in the Bonded Labor Liberation Front at the age of ten. Information related toIqbal’s story, child labor, and children’s rights is readily available on the Internet; however, to provide the students with a manageable framework the teachers prepared a range of relevantsites. For instance, the students visit the United Nations’ cyberschoolbus(http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/) and they read articles in the youth magazine TheGlobe(http://worldschildrensprize.org/magazine). The unit is intended to be inquiry-based inthat the children’squestionsdrive the learning process forward.

Topics such as children’s rights and global child labor might indeed be too complex forthe primary EFL classroom. The unit referred to above was implemented in a linguisticallyable class in year six. Afterwards the teachers remarked on the challenges of the topic but heldthat “The Paradise Carpet” and Iqbal Masih’s true story continuously served to anchorabstract global issues in the relatable context of personal lives.

This expositionbegan with the question: how can teachers use stories to developstudents’ language learning, communicative skills, and understanding of texts in the EFLclassroom? Hopefully the few examples given here highlight teachers’ creativity incombiningtexts, using stories for communicative purposes and adapting tasks to the goals of the nationalcurriculum.

http://www.un.org/Pubs/CyberSchoolBus/

http://worldschildrensprize.org/magazine

http://worldschildrensprize.org/magazine

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References

Cameron, Lynne (2001). Teaching Languages to Young Learners. New York: CambridgeUniversity Press.

Council of Europe (2001). The Common European Framework of Reference: Teaching, Learning, Assessment .

Gibbons, Pauline (2002). Scaffolding Language, Scaffolding Learning .Teaching secondlanguage learners in the mainstream school. Portsmouth: Heinle & Heinle.

Goodwin, Prue (2008). Understanding Children’s Books: A Guide for Education Professionals. London: Sage.

Meek, Margaret (1988). How Texts Teach What Readers Learn. Stroud: Thimble Press.Pinter, Anna Maria (2006). Teaching Young Language Learners. Oxford: Oxford University

Press.

Read, Carol (2007).500 Activities for the Primary Classroom. Macmillan Education.Sandström, Karyn (2011). Kidworthy Works. Lund: Studentlitteratur.Skolverket (2011).Curriculum for the compulsory school, preschool class and the leisure-time

centre 2011. Stockholm: Skolverket. ——. (2006). Läromedlens roll i undervisningen. Rapport 284. Stockholm: Skolverket.Slattery, Mary & Willis, Jane (2001). English for Primary Teachers: A handbook of activities

and classroom language. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Vasquez, Vivian (2010). Getting Beyond “I Like the Book:” Creating Space for Critical

Literacy in K-6 Classrooms. International Reading Association. www.reading.org

http://www.reading.org/

http://www.reading.org/



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Clásicos infantiles para adultos. Últimas adaptacionescinematográficas de cuentos tradicionales.

José Rovira Collado(Universidad de Alicante)

Pilar Pomares Puig(CEIP Mora Puchol-Alicante)

Toda lectura prolonga otra, empezada una tarde de hace mil años y sobre la cual no sabemosnada; toda lectura proyecta su sombra sobre la página siguiente, confiriéndole contenido y

contexto. Así el relato crece, capa sobre capa, como la piel de la sociedad cuya historia el actoconserva.

Alberto Manguel: En el bosque del espejo:

Ensayos sobre las palabras y el mundo.

Pervivencia de los clásicos

En los inicios del siglo XXI, inmersos en una revolución digital, donde las tecnologíasnos ofrecen cada vez elementos propios de la ciencia ficción, nos encontramos ante unarecuperación constante de los clásicos infantiles. Esta mirada atrás nos permite mantener esosreferentes y adaptarlos a la nueva sociedad. Nos encontramos entre la preservación de dichosmodelos de tradición popular y una revisión que busca hacerlos más atractivos al gran

público, aludiendo a sus recuerdos infantiles: “los cuentos populares y algunas narraciones

infantiles muy divulgadas forman parte del sustrato de ficción común de nuestra sociedad. Esun sustrato a la vez cognoscitivo y afectivo, ya que se trata de los primeros referentesliterarios que cualquier adulto puede recordar” (Colomer, 2005).

Entre las múltiples propuestas1, la renovación del género más destacada se ha realizadoa través de versiones cinematográficas enfocadas más a un público más juvenil que infantil,que recurren a los rostros del momento y a una estética más oscura con la intención de que losadolescentes acudan en masa a las salas de cine y se conviertan en éxitos de taquilla.

Esta nueva visión de los clásicos, es una muestra más de la cultura de la convergencia (H. Jenkins, 2006) donde elementos tradicionales son adaptados a los nuevos medios de

comunicación con la intención de actualizar el mito y mostrar una nueva versión-visióncinematográfica. Este nuevo paradigma es fundamental para comprender el cambio mediáticoy nos servirá para analizar los nuevos productos audiovisuales.

Estas nuevas adaptaciones, enfocadas a un público adolescente, chocarán totalmente conel referente principal que ha generalizado Disney y que se aleja de las recopilacionesoriginales de Perrault o los hermanos Grimm.

1 La propia LIJ actual nos ofrece adaptaciones de los clásicos para ofrecer nuevas propuestas de lectura y recuperar las primeras versiones: “Podríamos definir a los clásicos infantiles como aquellos textos de los que todo elmundo tiene noticias, pero que casi nadie ha leído” (Carranza, 2012)



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En este proceso de empobrecimiento ha jugado un papel fundamental Walt Disney. (...) Sinolvidar que, muchas de las reescrituras actuales comparten la característica de renunciar tantoa la tradición oral propia como a la tradición literaria. (G. Lluch 2007, 49)

También la profesora Lluch (1998) nos recuerda que los productos Disney compartencaracterísticas similares como la fluidez narrativa, selección de imágenes edulcoradas que sehan convertido en iconos y eliminación de los elementos no apropiados para niños (sexo,violencia) que sí aparecen en las fuentes, junto con una intención moralizante.

Las nuevas propuestas, no sabemos si con la intención de recuperar a las versionestradicionales, nos ofrecen una perspectiva distinta, que se aleja mucho de los referentescinematográficos de Disney. Para su análisis es fundamental el famoso trabajo de BrunoBettelheim Psicoanálisis de los cuentos de hadas (1976) ya que que muchos aspectos de las

películas parecen sacados de dichas reflexiones.

Cine y literatura. Posibilidades didácticas

Obviamente nos encontramos dentro de la relación entre el sexto y séptimo arte. Másallá de las críticas que nos recuerdan que el cine puede sustituir al estudio de una obra literariao robar tiempo a la lectura en general, consideramos que son totalmente inseparables, sobretodo desde la perspectiva de un congreso titulado Teaching Literature in English for Young

Learners. Encontramos multitud de propuestas y análisis (Pujals y Romea 2001), (Ambrósy Breu, 2007) para explotar el cine en la enseñanza de la literatura. En la misma Universidadde Valencia encontramos varias experiencias como La Cinemateca de Magisteri-espaiCinema

(Ibarra et alii, 2012). Y en la red tenemos infinidad de propuestas como la red de aprendizajecolaborativo http://ceroenconducta.ning.com/ que engloba a distintos blogs y perfiles dedocentes interesados por el uso del cine en la educación.

Las películas analizadas son en lengua inglesa y creemos que son bastante accesibles al público adolescente a la que están enfocadas siempre que tengan un nivel de acorde con suedad. Como todas revisan personajes y tramas clásicas, que seguro reconocerá el espectador,tienen una mayor facilidad de comprensión para el alumnado español. El uso de algunasfrases arquetípicas ( Mirror, mirror, Once upon a time) también reforzará el aprendizaje.

Todo el fenómeno mediático propiciado por el éxito de las películas y su propiacampaña comercial, también nos ofrecen múltiples materiales para trabajar en el aula. Vídeosde youtube, reseñas en Internet, entrevistas a los protagonistas o incluso las versiones en textode las películas1. Son cuentos clásicos que el alumnado ha oído desde la infancia y puederecrearlos en inglés, adquiriendo los contenidos lingüísticos antes de ver las películas.

1 Blake, Lily et alii (2012) Snow White and the Hunstman http://books.google.es/books?id=Vv16pA2tzYIC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es#v=onepage&q&f=false editadoen español por Alfaguara Juvenil http://www.librosalfaguarajuvenil.com/es/libro/blancanieves-y-la-leyenda-del-cazador/.

http://ceroenconducta.ning.com/

http://books.google.es/books?id=Vv16pA2tzYIC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es#v=onepage&q&f=false

http://www.librosalfaguarajuvenil.com/es/libro/blancanieves-y-la-leyenda-del-cazador/




http://books.google.es/books?id=Vv16pA2tzYIC&printsec=frontcover&hl=es#v=onepage&q&f=false

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Auge de la fantasía o de la tradición popular

En la presentación de Danza de Dragones, el quinto volumen de la saga Canción dehielo y fuego, su autor G.R.R. Martín1 sentenció lapidario: “La ciencia ficción ha perdido

preponderancia respecto a la fantasía porque ya nadie cree en el futuro”. Quizás sea así, yaque como veremos a lo largo del artículo hay múltiples propuestas donde se mezclan los

personajes de la tradición popular con elementos propios de la literatura fantástica. Estasrevisiones de cuentos clásicos en torno al 2012 pueden deberse a la crisis, que también afectaa los guionistas y les lleva a coger tramas conocidas sin derechos de autor, a la necesidadactual de finales felices en los cuentos de hadas o quizá porque este año se celebra el 200aniversario de la primera edición de Cuentos para la infancia y el hogar2 de los hermanosGrimm.

Pero antes de este evento debemos señalar otros precedentes en el mundo del cine.Muchos señalan el estreno de la versión de Alicia en el país de las maravillas de Tim Burton

( Alice in Wonderland, 2010) como impulsora de este proceso de revisión de clásicos. Conelementos propios de las últimas producciones, como la tecnología 3D, la obra no es otra cosaque un sueño, que el director transforma en ocasiones en pesadilla a través de la estéticaoscura que es una de sus señas de identidad. También se vale de elementos propios de suestilo, como los diálogos irónicos con comentarios ácidos y autores fetiche como JohnnyDeep (Sombrerero loco) y Helena Bonham Carter (Reina roja de corazones). Producida por la

propia Disney, cuya versión animada es la imagen para muchos, podía haber sido una obra dereferencia, aunque se quedó en una revisión más con muchos efectos especiales y coloresestridentes, con bastantes críticas en general y un éxito relativo en taquilla.

Sin embargo debemos remontarnos años atrás para encontrar un precedente directocomo es El secreto de los hermanos Grimm de Terry Gilliam (The Brothers Grimm 2005)3.Siendo un director que también tiene una estética muy peculiar, se valió de la presencia deactores reconocidos para publicitar su obra, siendo una obra enfocada a un público general yque glosa la vida de Wilhelm (Matt Damon) y Jacob Grimm (Heath Ledger). Ambos recorrenla Alemania del siglo XIX como embaucadores hasta llegar a un pueblo donde tendrán queenfrentarse a una bruja de verdad (Monica Bellucci). Pensada como un homenaje a losclásicos, fundamentales en el imaginario del director, es una obra que aunque no tuvo tantoéxito, fue mejor tratada por la crítica.

Pero tampoco debemos olvidarnos del famoso ogro verde Shreck 4, personaje de la Dreamworks que se ha convertido en franquicia con cuatro películas (entre 2001 y 2010) y unreciente spin-off El gato con botas (2011). Basada en los mismos cuentos clásicos, supuso unanueva visión de los mismos, con continuas referencias a las historias tradicionales intercaladas

1 Citado por Javier Meléndez Martín “¿Decadencia de la ciencia ficción y auge de la fantasía?”, Agosto 2012, enhttp://www.yorokobu.es/ciencia-ficcion/. 2 En la web LIJ Alemana encontramos varios proyectos para conmemorar la publicaciónhttp://www.lijalemana.com.ar/index.php/proyectos-2012.html3 No confundir con The Wonderful World of the Brothers Grimm de Henry Levin y George Pal (1962).4 Basado en en el libro infantil ilustrado ¡Shrek!, de William Steig (1990).

http://www.yorokobu.es/ciencia-ficcion/

http://www.lijalemana.com.ar/index.php/proyectos-2012.html

http://www.lijalemana.com.ar/index.php/proyectos-2012.html

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en una nueva trama, siendo películas de animación enfocadas tanto a los niños como aadolescentes y adultos, que disfrutarán de las continuas citas y bromas con los personajes desu infancia.

Sin duda, la aparición de la película Shrek en el panorama de la filmografía para niños y jóvenes ha marcado un hito que supone la ruptura de muchas normas escritas y no escritas deeste género. (...) Esta riqueza, a nuestro parecer, radica sobre todo en el planteamiento radicalde su argumento y en los numerosos guiños intertextuales que presenta y que, más quecompletar su atractivo, se configura como un elemento imprescindible para el mismotranscurrir del film. (Mínguez et alii 2004, 586)

Nuevas adaptaciones para un nuevo público

Desde que Bruno Bettelheim pusiera a Blancanieves, Caperucita y demás personajes decuento en su diván, nada volvió a ser lo mismo. Su Psicoanálisis de los cuentos de hadas

(1976), vino a descubrir un mundo subterráneo de erotismo, violencia y pasiones escondidas -aunque no demasiado-, bajo la superficie aparentemente infantil de los cuentos de toda lavida. Su finalidad era mostrar su incalculable valor formativo para el niño y, ¿por qué no?, eladulto. (Palacios, 2012)

Público adulto o adolescente será el objetivo principal de estas tres versiones, que buscan más un beneficio económico, que una visión personal desde la dirección, por lo que seaprovechan de los rostros más reconocidos por la juventud en este momento. Las películasson: Caperucita Roja (¿A quién tienes miedo?)-Red Riding Hood (Catherine Hardwicke,2011) Blancanieves (Mirror, Mirror)-Mirror, Mirror (The Brothers Grimm: Snow White)

(Tarsem Singh, 2012) y Blancanieves y la leyenda del cazador-Snow White and the Huntsman (Rupert Sanders 2012).Según Bettelheim “Caperucita Roja, de forma simbólica, proyecta a la niña hacia los

peligros de sus conflictos edípicos durante la pubertad y, luego, la libera de ellos, de maneraque puede madurar libre de problemas”(1988, pag. 242-243). Las figuras masculinas sonmucho más importantes que las femeninas y están disociadas en dos formas completamenteopuestas: el seductor peligroso que, si se cede a sus deseos, se convierte en el destructor de laniña, y el personaje del padre, cazador, fuerte y responsable. En la adaptación de 2011asistimos a una nueva versión del cuento protagonizada por hombres lobo y con la directorade Crepúsculo como ganchos más destacados. Esta nueva versión nos relata como durantedécadas los habitantes de un pequeño pueblo han mantenido un complicado pacto con unlicántropo sacrificando animales cada luna llena. Cuando deben sacrificar a personas, Valerie(Amanda Seyfried) interviene para salvar a su hermana. La participación del padre Solomon(Gary Oldman), un cazador de hombres lobo, complicará toda la trama, junto con un manidotrío amoroso entre los jóvenes protagonistas. La sorpresa nos la llevamos cuando descubrimosque el lobo, la personificación de la mal y de los instintos primarios es el padre de Caperucita,¿qué opinaría Bettelheim de este giro hacia el incesto?. Creemos que la directora se ha dejadollevar por su afán de “crepusculizar” el clásico, para ganarse a los fans de la saga y que los



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guionistas no han investigado ni profundizado lo suficiente solamente dejando la caperuzaroja de la protagonista.

En 2012 se han estrenado dos versiones de un mismo clásico, Blancanieves. Unametáfora del mito de Edipo y los conflictos entre la inocencia y el deseo sexual son algunosde los elementos destacados por Bettelheim en este clásico que también podremos ver en estasadaptaciones. La primera Mirror, mirror, se estrenó en marzo de 2012. Blancanieves (LilyCollins), una princesa que imita al clásico animado de Disney trata de derrotar a la reinamalvada (Julia Roberts) junto con el príncipe (Armie Hammer). La protagonista se hamodernizado hasta convertirse en una luchadora, ayudada por siete ladrones enanos parareclamar su trono, que le pertenece por nacimiento, y también a conseguir a su príncipe, cuyoamor le disputa la propia madrastra. Los roles de los protagonistas del cuento se han adecuadoa nuestro tiempo y la protagonista ya no es la ingenua jovencita en apuros que necesitaresucitar ayudada por un príncipe, ni la trabajadora y hacendosa ama de casa al servicio desiete seres diminutos. También cede parte de su femineidad al príncipe, que se convierte en el

objeto de deseo tanto de la bruja malvada como de ella pero con pocas luces, persistiendo elconflicto edípico en este nuevo trío amoroso. Esta Blancanieves cuestiona el rol de las

princesas en los cuentos de hadas tradicionales, propone nuevos modelos de mujer másadaptados a la sociedad y gustos actuales.

Muy diferente es la película Blancanieves y la leyenda del cazador (junio de 2012). Estaépica revisión del cuento centra gran parte de su atención en el personaje del cazador delclásico original (Chris Hemsworth, el Thor de los Vengadores), que se convierte en el

protector y enamorado de una Blancanieves mucho más bélica Kristen Stewart (la Bella deCrepúsculo), ayudándola a vengarse de la malvada reina (Charlize Theron) decidida a

destruirla a toda costa porque la supera en belleza. Pero la pérfida soberana ignora que elcazador, cuya misión era matarla, ha enseñado a la joven a defenderse y a escapar. De muchamenor relevancia es el hijo del duque, amigo desde la infancia, que toma el papel del príncipeazul. Blancanieves deja de ser una víctima femenina para convertirse en una violenta guerreradespeinada, ataviada con armadura, espada y escudo y los enanos ocupan un lugar accesorio,casi reservado para llamar la atención de los aficionados a otras sagas.

Como vemos, las tres películas basan su estrategia en los grandes nombres delmomento, aparándose en otros éxitos y los contenidos tradicionales solamente sirven comoreclamo dentro de una moda y no son generalmente respetados.

Otras posibilidades de adaptación. Cómics, series y más películas

En esta fiebre de reinterpretación de cuentos clásicos, también encontramos otrasmuchas propuestas más o menos acertadas. El primer elemento, que podemos situar comoorigen de toda esta corriente, paralelo al estreno de Shreck es la colección de cómics Fábulas (Vértigo 2002) de Bill Willingham. En ella los personajes clásicos (hadas, brujas, príncipes y

princesas, lobos y animales) viven en la actualidad entre nosotros adaptándose a los nuevostiempos. A raíz de su éxito, aparecen otras muchas propuestas que aprovechan los clásicos



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PALACIOS, J. “Más fantasía, más acción: Hollywood le echa cuento” en El cultural , Agosto2012, http://www.elcultural.es/articulo_imp.aspx?id=31146

PUJALS G. y ROMEA, C. (2001) Cine y literatura. Relación y posibilidades didáctica,Barcelona, Horsori

TORRALBA, J., (2007) “ Fábulas, la otra vida de los cuentos” enhttp://www.zonanegativa.com/?p=4819/

Nota: Todos los enlaces electrónicos están disponibles en septiembre 2012.

http://www.elcultural.es/articulo_imp.aspx?id=31146

http://www.zonanegativa.com/?p=4819/

http://www.zonanegativa.com/?p=4819/

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Relevancia de la Web 2.0 en la recepción de Los Juegos del Hambre en España. Posibilidades Didácticas

José Rovira ColladoJaime Albero Gabriel

(Universidad de Alicante)

Pilar Pomares Puig(Psicopedagoga- CEIP Mora Puchol-Alicante)

#LJDH. Fenómeno de comunicación en la red y éxito editorial.

La triología de ciencia ficción distópica Los Juegos del Hambre, escrita por SuzanneCollins desde septiembre de 2008, ha sido publicada en España por la editorial El Molino

desde abril de 2009 y le siguen En llamas y Sinsajo. Con el estreno de la adaptacióncinematográfica en abril de 2012 este éxito editorial se multiplica, convirtiéndose enfenómeno de masas con una amplia repercusión en los medios y una constante atención por

parte del público. Durante la trama, la autora nos lleva a Panem, una Norteamérica postapocalíptica, donde cada año se organizan unos “Juegos del Hambre”, una lucha a muertetelevisada en directo en un recinto especial, para millones de personas que se nutre de lostributos, veinticuatro jóvenes, un chico y una chica por cada uno de los doce distritos dePanem, se enfrentan ante las cámaras que les graban día y noche hasta que solo quede unovivo, mezclando el clásico Circo Romano con el actual Gran Hermano en un escenario con

sorprendentes efectos especiales diferentes cada año. Los temas principales son el hambre, laopresión, la impotencia ante los tiranos, la lucha por la supervivencia, la rebelión ante lasreglas establecidas, el amor y la guerra. Plantea dilemas morales e invita a la reflexión a losmillones de lectores adolescentes. Encontramos múltiples fuentes o referencias que haninspirado la obra: el mito de Teseo y el minotauro, un poco de Golding, algo del espíritu deOrwell y aportaciones de películas con la muerte como espectáculo tipo Perseguido (P. MGlasser, 1987) o la japonesa Battle Royale (K. Fukasaku, 2000), también basadas en relatosliterarios.

Aunque como en cualquier superventas existen detractores que critican su excesivaviolencia o los parecidos con las fuentes antes citadas, consideramos que la triología es unaexcelente herramienta para la motivación lectora, siendo atractiva para la mayoría de losadolescentes, incluso los declarados como no lectores.

Si el encuentro de los adolescentes con los best sellers sirve para descubrir este poder dearrastre de la lectura, construirse una autoimagen como lectores y hacerlos sentir comunidadlectora entre ellos y con la sociedad que los rodea, habrá que reconocer su aportación a laformación lectora. (Margallo, 2009, 237).

Es una obra muy adictiva tanto para jóvenes como para adultos, así que el profesoradodebería pensar en las distintas posibilidades que ofrece para trabajar con algo que nuestro



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alumnado lee, sigue a través de Internet y comenta por las redes sociales. Es por lo tanto unaliteratura juvenil que también leen los adultos. Estos superventas juveniles han llegado al

público adulto encontrando la nueva categoría de “jóvenes adultos”. Las editoriales se estánvolcando para conseguir que después de la etapa infantil se siga leyendo y que permita elcrecimiento de la lectura más allá de la adolescencia. Fuera de los estereotipos de la literaturaformativa juvenil se han recuperado unos valores y temas tanto para jóvenes como paraadultos (Álamo, 2009). Según Laura Gallego (2009) “No hay lectores jóvenes o adolescentes.Es una categoría que se inventan los adultos. La literatura para jóvenes es la que ellos leen yeligen como propia”. Generalmente estas obras no se limitan a un único volumen y sedesarrollan a lo largo de varios títulos, generándose lo que se conoce como literatura de sagas,que además permite una constante participación e interacción por parte del lector (MartosGarcía, 2009).

LIJ 2.0 Lectura juvenil social en los nuevos espacios de Internet

Esta participación del lector, se plasma principalmente a través de Internet, pudiendoconsiderarse la saga un claro ejemplo de LIJ 2.0 (Ibarra y Rovira 2011), ya que la red ha sidofundamental para su éxito, siendo la herramienta principal para publicitar la lectura ycompartir las opiniones tanto del libro como de la película. El concepto LIJ 2.0 no solamenterecoge la obras publicadas a través de los nuevos espacios de la red (blogs, wikis, servicios deredes sociales) si no también toda la actividad en torno al proceso de lectura que se vuelca a lared a través de la participación de miles de lectores.

Según el informe “Los libros Infantiles y Juveniles” del Ministerio de Educación demarzo 2012, la presencia en la red de sitios sobre literatura infantil y juvenil es cada día másgrande, y este hecho beneficia a profesores, bibliotecarios y usuarios. Ya en la primera décadadel siglo XXI, el uso de foros literarios en Internet había cambiado los hábitos lectores demuchos jóvenes que utilizaban la red para conversar con otros adolescentes con gustossimilares:

Si valoramos estos foros enormemente, es porque sacan al adolescente lector delostracismo al que una valoración contraria a la cultura le había condenado y lo lanza a lamodernidad. Desde nuestro punto de vista, los foristas transforman la lectura en unaexperiencia compartida, a través de ella interpelan a desconocidos a los que reconocen comoiguales y con los que construyen su identidad de lectores, de jóvenes en calidad de lectores.

Una identidad colectiva que se celebra en comunicación virtual con “los otros”. (Lluch, 2009)Desgraciadamente mucha de la información sobre el tema se encuentra distribuida en

multitud de páginas de editoriales, portales, guías, bibliotecas, revistas electrónicas, blogs…lo que dificulta en cierta medida su recuperación documental. Los hábitos sobre lectura estáncambiando e Internet está cumpliendo algunas funciones que en otro tiempo desempeñaba laliteratura. La red se está perfilando como una oportunidad sin precedentes para elconocimiento desde edades muy tempranas y está ejerciendo un importante papel comosoporte para la lectura, la promoción educativa y cultural. Muestra de ello el auge creciente de



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la blogosfera, los foros y las redes sociales enfocadas a la literatura, porque además de leerqueremos hablar y recomendar lo que leemos. La literatura juvenil, la web y el cine se hanrevelado como nuevos aliados en la promoción de la lectura. Después del boom de sagasmillonarias como Harry Potter o Crepúsculo, las redes sociales y los blogs se han convertidoen las principales transmisoras de los éxitos literarios juveniles. Ya hay novelas cuya trama sedesarrolla en Internet, como Skeleton Creek , que se lee, se ve en la red y se puede interactuarcon otros lectores. Los espacios son infinitos y están en constante transformación. Sidesaparecen algunas propuestas o quedan obsoletas, enseguida aparecen nuevos proyectos que

profundizan en la LIJ 2.0. Pero ya en 2012, sobre todo después de la adaptacióncinematográfica del primer libro, que ha ampliado la magnitud del fenómeno, consideramosque LJDH es un texto juvenil que se aprovecha totalmente de los espacios de la LIJ 2.0.

En una investigación más profunda sobre el fenómeno que estamos realizando hemosestudiado la importancia de Twitter en esta interacción. Siguiendo el modelo desarrollado porJaime Albero (2012) para el análisis de la relevancia del microblogging en la generación de

noticias, estamos analizado las distintas formas de participación a través de la red que serealizaron durante el estreno de la película en España. Según Topsy, el treinta de abril de2012, poco después del estreno cinematográfico, el total de tuits que mencionan “hungergames” es de 2.428.085 y 113.469 “Juegos del hambre”. Respecto al uso de “hashtags”(megaetiquetas que relacionan todos los tuits sobre un mismo tema): el término en inglés#hungergames tenía 204.012 menciones, #losjuegosdelhambre 10.197 y #juegosdelhambre1.477 menciones. Hemos recogido en un documento abierto lo tuits que utilizaron el hashtag #LJDH durante el estreno en España http://www.tweetdoc.org/View/41929/Los-Juegos-del-Hambres. Entre el día 20 y 21 hay más de setenta y cinco personas que usaros dicha etiqueta

con más de trescientos tuits.

Posibilidades didácticas de #LJDH y la LIJ 2.0

“Sigue el buzz en internet y los perfiles de Twitter y Facebook ” Con esta nota, se cierrala contraportada de una de las múltiples reediciones que han aparecido en nuestro país.Además de la propia campaña publicitaria, la labor de difusión de los propios lectores,usuarios (nativos) de la web 2.0, se ha convertido en un claro ejemplo de la importancia de losservicios de redes sociales para intercambiar la opinión sobre las lecturas preferidas por losadolescentes. El “de boca a boca” se ha convertido un “de tuit a tuit”, para mostrar el éxito enventas, convirtiéndose en un tema del momento (trending topic). Dicha labor de publicidaddesinteresada por parte de los aficionados ya es recogida por los medios de comunicación yservirá de modelo a las editoriales para lanzar sus novedades en años futuros. Encontramosdistintos espacios de la web 2.0 que nos ofrecen distintas dinámicas de interacción, siemprecentradas en este fenómeno editorial y cinematográfico.

Internet está haciendo una cosa importante: crear comunidades de lectores, conectar conotras personas que han leído un libro y que les ha gustado. Antes leer era un placer solitario.Tú leías en tu casa y si tenías suerte a lo mejor podías comentar el libro que te había gustado

http://www.tweetdoc.org/View/41929/Los-Juegos-del-Hambres






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con tus amigos, aunque en toda mi clase sólo había una persona a la que le gustaba laliteratura fantástica. La Red ha favorecido mucho a la literatura. (Gallego, 2009)

Grupos de seguidores en Facebook y otras redes sociales, quedadas y retransmisión delos actos por Twitter , relatos creados por los seguidores, infinidad de reseñas en blogs y clubesde lectura a través de foros de discusión son solamente algunos de los espacios que podemosencontrar en la red. Las magníficas posibilidades de la LIJ 2.0 en cuanto a promoción yanimación a la lectura, divulgación e información, posibilidad de interacción y de llevarnos aotras lecturas, nos llevan a superar el recurrente conflicto entre tecnología e Internet:

Hay que saber combinar la tecnología con la lectura, por ejemplo, proponerles crear una página en Facebook sobre el libro que están leyendo, donde pudieran añadir fotos, cancioneso videos que la lectura les vaya sugiriendo. O que a medida que vayan leyendo, twitteen suexperiencia compartiéndola con los demás. O también pueden crear una wiki donde puedan irdejando todo lo relacionado con las lecturas del curso y recomendar lo que les gusta a losdemás alumnos del colegio o de otro colegio o biblioteca. Otra idea es proponer la

elaboración de relatos digitales como continuación de la lectura. (Lluch 2011, 29)Las reseñas en blogs, muchas veces más cuidadas y profundas que las noticias recogidas

en los diarios digitales son innumerables para recogerlas en este espacio. La voz directa dellector adolescente es uno de los principales factores de éxito y de interés para los especialistasen LIJ que podemos escuchar directamente la opinión del público objetivo. El Facebook oficial de Los juegos del hambre en Españahttps://www.facebook.com/losjuegosdelhambre?ref=ts ha superado a día de hoy los cien milseguidores y más del doble en el dedicado a la películahttps://www.facebook.com/LosJuegosdelHambre.Oficial?ref=ts. En cualquier momento del

día observamos más de diez mil personas hablando sobre este tema. Los fans pueden escribircomentarios y posts, seguir las noticias de actualidad sobre la saga, escuchar entrevistas…El material audiovisual generado en torno a la película también es increíble. Aunque

puede traicionar las expectativas y “dar una cara” pretederminada a los personajes,consideramos que en este caso, la película no va a sustituir a la lectura y va a suponer unreclamo para la lectura de la trilogía, como ya sucedió con otras sagas anteriores como Harry

Potter o Crepúsculo donde los espectadores salían corriendo de las salas en busca de loslibros.

Los profesores podemos utilizar la web y las redes sociales para traducir comentariossobre la novela en otros idiomas, colgar trailers creados por los alumnos en youtube o la

página oficial sobre sus pasajes preferidos, valorar críticamente la novela y la película, crearotros finales, inventar distritos, describir personajes, situaciones y lugares, realizarsugerencias y recomendaciones a otros jóvenes, participar en foros y debates online, realizarquedadas virtuales y reales, pertenecer a un grupo, compartir ideas, opiniones, sentimientos,colgar podcasts con sus diálogos favoritos, redactar entrevistas para los personajes o la autora,

proponer actividades de iniciación a la escritura creativa digital o en papel a través de un temaque suele apasionar a los jóvenes, transcribir diálogos de la novela o su adaptación

https://www.facebook.com/losjuegosdelhambre?ref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/LosJuegosdelHambre.Oficial?ref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/LosJuegosdelHambre.Oficial?ref=ts

https://www.facebook.com/losjuegosdelhambre?ref=ts



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cinematográfica, hacer teatro leído o dramatización de alguna escena, crear cómics, juegos derol…

Todas estas posibilidades no son simples enunciados , ya son realidad, encontrandomiles de espacios que tratan la saga. Por ejemplo en el blog oficial español,http://www.blogjuegosdelhambre.com/seccion/fanworks administrado por Alba Úriz,redactora de la revista El Tiramilla http://eltiramilla.com/ , se recogen Fanworks, propuestasde los aficionados que publican sus relatos, ilustraciones e incluso sus propias películas.

También la eterna discusión entre libro y película se traslada a la red y encontramosmuchos debates que prefieren uno u otra. Sin embargo está demostrado que el estreno ha sidoel respaldo para la distribución de las novelas que ya encontramos fácilmente en cualquierlibrería. También encontramos espacios más concretos como las redes sociales verticales tiponing , donde los aficionados se reúnen para intercambiar material. En inglés por ejemploencontramos http://nerdfighters.ning.com/group/hungergamesfans.

Nuevas experiencias transmedia a través de lecturas y películas

Posiblemente esta interacción podría suceder con cualquier otro éxito juvenil de esteaño, como por ejemplo los títulos de Federico Moccia, pero al ser una obra de ciencia ficcióny la estructura de la obra nos encontramos ante un claro ejemplo de LIJ 2.0. A través de sulectura podemos llegar a múltiples experiencias transmedia y el concepto de digital

storytelling es cada día más una realidad con múltiples enfoques didácticos, como hemosvisto por ejemplo en el reciente congreso de la Universitat de Valenciahttp://www.uv.es/digitalstory/ o el MOOC (Massive Online Open Course) de Jim Groom

http://ds106.us/. Aparece una mayor experimentación, con proyectos editoriales innovadores como es elcaso de El silencio se mueve (SM, 2010), la obra de Fernando Maríashttp://www.elsilenciosemueve.com/ que fue presentada como primera novela transmedia enespañol. Dentro del terreno digital, otro campo que ya es una realidad son las aplicacionesenfocadas al desarrollo de la lectura con tabletas y smartphones.

Internet ha transformado el desarrollo de los nuevos productos culturales y la opinión delos aficionados es fundamental para el éxito o fracaso de nuevos proyectos. Tanto las novelascomo la primera adaptación al cine en 2012 de LJDH es un claro ejemplo de esta importancia.

Bibliografía

ÁLAMO, A., (2009) “La nueva literatura para jóvenes adultos: libros rebeldes paraadolescentes” en Lecturalia, http://www.lecturalia.com/blog/2009/05/13/la-nueva-literatura-para-jovenes-adultos-libros-rebeldes-para-adolescentes/

ALBERO GABRIEL, J., (2012), Twitter, #primaveravalenciana y generación de noticias.TFM. Universidad de Alicante (en prensa)

http://www.blogjuegosdelhambre.com/seccion/fanworks/

http://eltiramilla.com/

http://nerdfighters.ning.com/group/hungergamesfans

http://www.uv.es/digitalstory/

http://ds106.us/

http://www.elsilenciosemueve.com/

http://www.lecturalia.com/blog/2009/05/13/la-nueva-literatura-para-jovenes-adultos-libros-rebeldes-para-adolescentes/




http://www.elsilenciosemueve.com/

http://ds106.us/

http://www.uv.es/digitalstory/

http://nerdfighters.ning.com/group/hungergamesfans

http://eltiramilla.com/

http://www.blogjuegosdelhambre.com/seccion/fanworks/



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GALLEGO, L., (2009), “Entrevista: Internet ha favorecido mucho a la literatura” en variosmedios digitales. http://www.lavozdigital.es/cadiz/20090522/sociedad/internet-favorecido-mucho-literatura-20090522.html

IBARRA, N. y ROVIRA J. (2011): “Coordenadas para navegantes de LIJ: una breveselección de sitios imprescindibles”, en Primeras Noticias. Especial LIJ 2.0, 260,Barcelona, Centro Comunicación y Pedagogía, pp.49-52

LLUCH, G., (2007) “Literatura infantil y juvenil y otras narrativas periféricas” enCERRILLO TORREMOCHA P.; CAÑAMARES TORRIJOS C.; SÁNCHEZ ORTIZC. (coords.), Literatura infantil, nuevas lecturas y nuevos lectores: actas del VSeminario Internacional de “Lectura y Patrimonio”,http://bib.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=31731

——. (2011) “Entrevista: Hay que saber combinar la tecnología con la lectura” en Había unavez, n.6, otoño 2011, Santiago de Chilehttp://www.revistahabiaunavez.com/numero6.html

MARGALLO, A. M., (2009), “Entre la lectura juvenil y la adulta: el papel de los best-sellers”en COLOMER, Teresa. (coord.), (2009), Lecturas Adolescentes, Barcelona, Graó, pp.221-238.

MARTOS, GARCÍA, A. E. (2009) Introducción al mundo de las sagas, Badajoz, Universidadde Extremadura.

Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte “Los Libros Infantiles y Juveniles”. Observatoriode la Lectura y el Libro, Marzo 2012.http://www.mcu.es/libro/docs/MC/Observatorio/pdf/2010_LIJ.pdf

ROVIRA COLLADO, J., (2011) “Literatura Infantil y Juvenil en Internet. De la Cervantes

Virtual a la LIJ 2.0. Herramientas para su estudio y difusión” en Revista OCNOS nº7,Cuenca, UCLM, p. 137-151.ÚRIZ, A., “Crítica de la película” en El Tiramilla, 20 abril 2012. http://eltiramilla.com/la-

pelicula-de-los-juegos-del-hambre/ Nota: Todos los enlaces electrónicos están disponibles en septiembre 2012.

http://www.lavozdigital.es/cadiz/20090522/sociedad/internet-favorecido-mucho-literatura-20090522.html


http://bib.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=31731

http://www.revistahabiaunavez.com/numero6.html

http://www.mcu.es/libro/docs/MC/Observatorio/pdf/2010_LIJ.pdf

http://eltiramilla.com/la-pelicula-de-los-juegos-del-hambre/




http://www.mcu.es/libro/docs/MC/Observatorio/pdf/2010_LIJ.pdf

http://www.revistahabiaunavez.com/numero6.html

http://bib.cervantesvirtual.com/FichaObra.html?Ref=31731





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Reading at School: What do Children think they Learnby Reading Children’s Literature?

Purificación Sánchez HernándezUniversidad de Murcia

Introduction

Reading comprehension is one of the main objectives children should reach in their firstyears of primary education. The importance of getting this competence is beyond all doubt.However, decoding a text, inferring the intention of the author, learning new vocabulary andunderstanding increasingly complex texts, is something that the teacher should still work ononce the children have learnt to read syllables together.

Children’s literature is universally agreed to be the perfect vehicle to improve reading

comprehension since it is motivating in itself and offer a great variety of texts and authors to be explored. The advantages of using children’s literature to improve reading comprehensionand skills, to explore new vocabulary, to internalise grammar and linguistic structures, areuniversally recognised, in addition to widening children horizons, helping children understandthe world that surrounds them, getting to know other cultures, other people, respectingtraditions, promoting ethical values, developing a life-long pleasure in reading, having funand accepting other ways of being and behaviour.

The Comenius Project “The teaching and learning of Children’s literature in Europe”aimed at finding out about the way in which children’s literature is being used and taught in

England, Turkey, Iceland and Spain. The main objective of the project was to undertake atwo-year investigation into the learning and teaching of children’s literature in Europe. Theaim was to gather, analyse and disseminate information about the current role of children’sliterature in schools and in children’s lives in Europe, focusing particularly on the 8-11 agegroup. This involved a comparison of reading habits, learning and teaching methods, and thecultural place of reading in the four countries.

Lower reading proficiency among boys has become a major concern in many educationsystems. According to the PISA Report 2009, girls outperform boys in reading in every PISAcountry. In OECD countries, the average gender gap is 39 score points, or over half a

proficiency level. This fact was already observed in the PISA Report 2000 and despite theefforts made, the gender gap in reading performance did not narrow in any country between2000 and 2009. Gender differences are most stark when comparing the proportion of boysand girls who perform at the lowest reading proficiency levels. This is particularly interestingfor us since the research I am presenting here focuses on exploring the reading habits ofchildren of 8-11 group. I plan to explore here the reading habits of children in school in thefour countries and analyse the results in terms of gender differences for Spanish children.



213

Informants and methodology

Questionnaires

To get to know about children’s reading habits we decided to create two questionnaires:one of them to be passed to children and another one for teachers.

Children questionnaires were made of 37 questions distributed in the following fivemain blocks.

1. Identification2. When, where and how do you read?3. Reading at school4. Books Jackets5. What do you enjoy reading?

The rationale behind that was that children should start answering the easiest questionsand then proceed to those, which made them think a bit more.

Throughout the questions made in the first block we aimed to obtain information aboutthe age and gender of the children, the social status of their families and also whether thechildren had books at home or not.

With the second group of questions we intended to find out about the amount of timechildren devoted to reading out of school, the place where they read, whether they buy theirown books, or someone buy books for them and if children are used to going to the public or

school library to borrow a book.The third block would give us information about how reading is carried out in theclassroom: whether the teacher reads aloud for them or not, their opinions on the reasons whythe teacher reads aloud for them, if they write about what they read, and what they think theylearn by the means of reading children literature.

In the fourth set of questions children were given 6 books jackets for them to choose theone they liked best. The covers were presented to children in different arrangements: gender(male/female), genre (classical tales, detective, adventures, animals, mystery, etc.), differentcountries and cultures (European people, Asian people, black people…) and variety ofillustrations (photographic, cartoony).

The last group of questions intended to let us know about the type of books childrenread out of school, if they read them more than once, or if they read series of books, the typeof books they enjoy reading, who they want to be the protagonist of the stories they like,whether they have read books for adults and finally they should give the title and author oftheir favourite book.

We decided to make a maximum of 40 questions and that the survey should becompleted in a mean time of 10 minutes (a maximum of 15 minutes was desirable).



214

In this paper we are going to focus in three questions related to Block 4. “Reading atschool” and the answers the children were given to select:

Question Possible answers

Q.33. What do you learn from reading book or stories in school? Something about myselfSomething about other peopleSomething about the world

New words New ideas

Q.34. Here are some things thatchildren learn about through readingat school

What the story is aboutTo answer questions on the bookTo give my opinion of the bookTo read different types of booksTo choose what to read

To read with a specific purpose (to find outinformation)To ask something about the booksThat reading helps me to write betterThat reading is useful

Q. 35. Here is a list of activities thatteachers use to help children tounderstand books

When the teacher makes questions on the bookWhen we perform parts of the storyWhen I have to highlight part of a story to help meunderstand it

When the teacher reads aloud to usWhen the teacher helps us to imagine the storyWhen we take notes on what we have readWhen we tell the story we have read to other

peopleWhen an author visits us at school

Table 1. Questions of the questionnaire related to “Reading at school”

Informants

Almost 3000 children and more than 120 teachers completed the questionnaire in thefour countries, as shown in Table 1.

In Spain 771 children and 31 teachers were surveyed from 8 schools located in areaswith different socio economic and cultural profiles, so that to get a complete picture of thereading habits of the children.



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Table 2. Figures of children and teachers who completed the survey, in the fourcountries.

Results and Discussion

The results for Q.33 What do you learn from reading books or stories in school? for thefour countries are detailed in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Results for the question: What do you learn from reading books or stories in school?

When asked what the children thought they learned from reading books and stories inschools, respondents most often said: new ideas, new words and something about the world ascan be seen in Fig. 1. The Turkish children seem to get higher percentages that the rest of thechildren in their appreciation of the value of literary text to learn new ideas. The students ofthe four countries were least likely to say that reading taught them something aboutthemselves and something about other people.

The analysis of the data corresponding to the Spanish children reveals slight differences between the answers given by boys and girls as can be seen on Table 3.

16%

37%

47%

48%

55%

10%

28%

47%

49%

48%

19%

33%

52%

56%

61%

17%

41%

55%

56%

41%

Something

about me

Something

about other

people

Something

about the world

New words

New ideasSpain

Turkey

Iceland

England

Children Survey Teachers SurveyEngland 765 26Iceland 820 27Spain 771 31

Turkey 609 41



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Answer Boys Girls

Something about myself 17.2% 20.1%

Something about other people 47.1% 44.8%Something about the world 60.1% 61.35

%

New words 59.5% 64.6%

New ideas 43.2% 48.2%

Table 3. Results for the question: What do you learn from reading books or stories in school? for Spanish boys and girls

As the percentages shown in the table reveal Spanish girls seem to be more conscious ofthe possibility of learning new words and ideas from books than boys. Girls seem to learnmore about themselves than boys, who, on the other hand, take profit of children literature tolearn something about other people.

Regarding Q. 34. Here are some things that children learn about through reading in school. What do you learn in your class? The results are shown on Fig.2.

Fig. 2. Results for the question: Here are some things that children learn about throughreading in school. What do you learn in your class?

65%

27%

44%

49%

41%

32%

35%

44%

50%

60%

44%

15%

24%

32%

39%

25%

23%

31%

38%

68%

63%

46%

59%

40%

43%

42%

46%

39%

59%

68%

56%

30%

52%

44%

36%

37%

32%

48%

52%

... what the story is about

... answer questions about the books

... make connections between differentbooks

... to give my own opinion of a book

... read different sorts of books

... to make choices about what to read

... for a particular purpose, for information

... ask quetions about books

... use reading to help me with my writing

... that reading is useful

Spain

Turkey

Iceland

England



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When asked about what children learn by reading in school the answers are distributedfairly evenly among the given options. The difference in answers between countries issignificant except in two answers: to make choices about what to read and what the story isabout. Some similarities can be observed between the answers given by Spanish and Englishchildren in most of the questions.

With respect to the differences observed between Spanish boys and girls, the results areoffered on Table 4.

Answer Boys Girls

What the story is about 67.6% 66.1%To answer questions on the book 57.8% 62.3%To relate things from different books 29.7% 34.1%

To give my opinion of the book 51.8% 60.4%

To read different types of books 47.4% 48.5%To choose what to read 40.6% 37.9%To read with a specific purpose (to find

out information)37.95% 42.5%

To ask something about the books 31.8% 37.75%That reading helps me to write better 45.9% 56.4%That reading is useful 51.8% 59.9%

Table 4. Results for the question: Here are some things that children learn about

through reading in school. What do you learn in your class? for Spanish boys and girls.

As shown in the Table it seems that boys focus more on the story whereas girls are moreaware of the potential benefits of reading mainly to improve their writing and to use the textas a springboard for conversation.

With respect to Q. 35 List of activities that teachers use to help children to understandbooks, the data obtained are shown on Fig. 3.



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Fig. 3. Results for the question: List of activities that teachers use to help children tounderstand books

Children were asked what types of activities help them better understand the books theyread. Most often children agreed with the statements: when the teacher asks questions andwhen the teacher reads aloud to us. As in the previously commented questions, similaritiescan be found between the answers given by Spanish and English children. There is nodifference between the genders and only in one case is there a difference related to children’sage, where older children are more likely to agree with the statement: when we make notes onwhat we read. (Note that the option: when we talk about what we read, was invalid in theSpanish questionnaire).

Regarding the results obtained for Spanish boys and girls the information is provided onTable 5.

Answer Boys GirlsWhen the teacher makes questions on the book 72.5% 71.2%When we perform parts of the story 35.3% 34%

When I have to highlight part of a story to helpme understand it

42.9% 48.2%

When the teacher reads aloud to us 42.8% 43.6%When the teacher helps us to imagine the story 45% 49%When we take notes on what we have read 31.4% 28.2%When we tell the story we have read to other

people32.3% 34.5

When an author visits us at school 31.1% 32.9%

59%

47%

37%

48%

41%

32%

42%

32%

32%

53%

29%

17%

47%

26%

22%

25%

18%

16%

70%

48%

37%

49%

37%

30%

35%

35%

22%

65%

31%

42%

40%

43%

27%

31%

29%

When the teacher asks questions

When we use drama and act out parts of the story

When I underline, highlight or circle parts of a story to help

me to understand it

When the teacher reads aloud to us

When the teacher helps us to picture the story

When we make notes on what we have read

When we talk about what we have read

When we retell a story we have read to others

When we have a visit by an author to our school Spain

Turkey

Iceland

England



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Table 5. Results for the question: List of activities that teachers use to help children tounderstand books for Spanish boys and girls.

In this case the results obtained for Spanish boys and girls seem not to differsignificantly although we can observe that girls outperform boys in activities to help themimagine and understand the story.

Conclusions

European children think that when they read books or stories in school they mainlylearn new words, new ideas and something about the world. Regarding the type of thingsthey think they learn about through reading in school, there are coincidences in the fourcountries on what the story is about and to make choices about what to read. As far as Spanishchildren are concerned they also consider that reading in school is useful and provides them

with opportunities to give their opinion of the book and ask something about the books.Regarding the type of activities that help children better understand books there is agreementon the fact that when the teachers makes questions and reads aloud in the classroom are themost useful activities.

With respect to the gender differences in reading habits at school girls seem to be moreaware of the possibilities that reading books offer for learning new words and ideas and alsoof the potential benefits of reading to improve their writing and to elicit conversation in theclassroom. They also get higher scores than boys in their preferences for activities in theclassroom that help them imagine and understand the story.

Acknowledgment

This work has been carried out with the Project 503589-LLP-1-2009-1-UK-COMENIUS-CMP The Learning and Teaching of Children’s Literature in Europe funded by the UE.

References

Appleyard , J.A. (1990) Becoming a reader . Cambridge: CUPCremin, T., Beane, E. Goodwin, P. and Mottram, M. (2007) Teachers as readers, English 4-

11, nº 30Goodwin, P. (2008) Understanding children’s books. London: SageJennings, P. (2003) The Reading Bug . London: David FultonPISA REPORT. http://www.oecd-ilibrary.org/education/pisa-at-a-glance-

2010_9789264095298-en



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‘Dragons Be Here’: Teaching Children’s Literature through Maps

Björn Sundmark

(Malmö University)

This paper sets out to show how maps and map-making can be used in teaching litera-ture for young learners.

Maps in children’s books produce a fictional space for the reader, creating a vista of thesecondary world in which the story is set. Maps also provide a more or less basic plot sum-mary by indexing the main events of the storyline in different ways. Both of these map func-tions facilitate language comprehension and literature appreciation. Thus, for struggling read-ers, and not least for language learners, maps provide essential assistance. It should be added,however, that maps are not mere helpmates or language learning tool-kits; more importantly,

they enrich the narrative in various ways, making the reading experience more interesting andinspiring. In the first section of the paper examples of maps in children’s books are broughtup, indicating conceptual and artistic variation, but also highlighting diverse map functions. Inthis context it is worth noting that maps in children’s literature is a peculiarly under-researched area, despite the fact that maps – and the books they are part of – are richiconotexts in their combination of cartographic symbols, writing (names, places etc) and the

pictorial. The paper partly addresses this problem by developing a tentative topology of mapsin children’s books, with examples from, among others, Stevenson’s Treasure Island , Milne’sWinnie-the-Pooh, Tolkien’s The Hobbit and Jansson’s Moomin-books. The second section ofthe paper shows how map-making can be used as a tool for creative writing. Pupils are shown

a number of maps from children’s books. These maps are then discussed, and, in the next stepthe pupils are themselves engaged in the making of maps, either in groups or individually.Finally, these maps are used as a basis for story-making. Thus, the second part of the paperoutlines a basic methodology for the teaching, reading and writing of maps.

The term iconotext is primarily used in research on children’s picture books (Hallberg, Nikolajeva & Scott) and in studies on intermediality (Nerlich). Sometimes the term has beenused to refer to verbal texts that relate to the visual in intricate (verbal) ways, but without ac-tually containing any images (Lagerwall). Most critics would agree, however, that aniconotext is “a work of art made up of verbal and visual signs” (Wagner 16). Note, however,

that even a text without pictures will necessarily signify visually as well as verbally, since thecolour of the book cover, the choice of type and font size, and the layout will affect the iconicappeal of the text. No clear categorization can be made. But following Gerard Genette I would

prefer, however, to refer to these aspects as paratextual rather than as iconic, and reserve theterm iconotext for more obvious instances of interplay between the visual and verbal, as wefind in illustrated books.

Another thing to consider is that the iconotext could either be part of a larger work – aspread for instance – or a complete book. Thus, when discussing maps in children’s books,the maps are of course part of the larger iconotext that is the book, but they can also be ana-



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lysed separately. Rather than seeing this as a methodological problem, I acknowledge that thisis so. And my analysis will oscillate between these two poles, or vantage points.

Now, although a great deal of work has been done on visual and verbal signifiers in picturebooks, other types of iconotexts – covers, frontispieces, illustrated books and maps –have been neglected so far. Maps are as a rule either completely overlooked or even beratedfor closing up child readers’ space of imagination (Mendlesohn, Honeyman). At best maps arereferred to as “paratextual endpapers” (Meissner), a terminology that to me suggests a rathersubservient position for the map signifier. A more positive approach is expressed by AnthonyPavlik’s when he writes that maps have the ability to open up “unbounded ‘visualchronotopes’ that provide for a potential reading experience beyond the written word, an op-

portunity for movement, choice and creativity” (40). In my view too, I see maps asiconotextual portals or points of entry to narratives that engage the reader creatively. I wouldeven venture further and argue that maps have the potential of making readers into mapmak-ers and storytellers themselves.

The map-iconotext can be identified as a composite of writing, cartographic symbolsand conventions, and illustration. First and foremost the map is an illustration. But it is anillustration with ambitions. It does not only illustrate a certain passage in a book, like otherillustrations, but can encapsulate both place and plot of an entire work. Thus the iconic repre-sentation of place refers to the verbal description in the text. Accordingly, the panoramiclandscape seen from bird’s eye view, or the partly vertical perspective, but where, for in-stance, mountains and forests can be seen from the side, give the reader a glimpse of the placewhere the action will unfold. Indeed, important junctures in the plot may also be given roomin the map. Even characters can be included in the map-iconotext, as in the Moomin books –

the Groke, Tooticki, Moomin.A particular strategy to evoke a sense of place is to superimpose an illustration on amap, as is done in Michelle Paver’s Wolf Brother .

The visual content can also be analysed in relation to verbal signifiers contained withinthe map. Typically the writing refers to place-names or objects in the map, or instructions onhow to read and use the map. On the map itself the writing can be sparse (or even non-existent). Just in order to show the complexity of the issue, compare a frontispiece picturefrom Astrid Lindgren’s Bullerby-series with the map in Tove Jansson’s Moominpapa at Sea.The illustration by Ilon Wikland for the Bullerby book is technically speaking not a map, yetit fulfills many of the functions that I associate with maps in this paper: it produces a fictionalspace of Bullerby placed as it is immediately before the verbal text starts. As with theBullerby-image the map of the island overlaps with the verbalised fictional landscape. More-over, if it weren’t for the cartographic symbols and sea-monsters and some text, this toowould be recognized as an illustration rather than a map.

Indeed cartographic symbols are what most obviously mark this kind of iconotext as a“map.” They are in themselves halfway between verbal and the visual and include compasssymbols, scale, longitude and latitude indicators, political borders, plot itineraries, elevation,

battle grounds, symbolic monsters and the X for “hidden treasure.”



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In theoretical discussions of maps, a distinction is often made between maps of real places and maps of fantastic places (Pavlik, Hann). I don’t find this distinction very useful.Maps function in much the same way whether they represent real or imaginary places. In bothcases their role is to produce an imaginative space and to serve diverse narrative functions.So, instead I would propose that maps in children’s books should be categorized according totheir primary functions in the narrative. Maps can

1. be part of the story – drive the plot forward;2. serve as a reference guide to place and plot details (itineraries, for instance);3. set the story – provide a sense of place. In reality these three major functions are

of course inextricably joined.In Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island the map is the cause of the entire plot, first

in the struggle to possess it, and then as a guide to the treasure. The story is inconceivablewithout it. Likewise, in J. R. R. Tolkien’s Bilbo, there would have been no adventure withoutthe map. The hobbit would not have been enticed by the dwarves to go treasure-hunting if it

hadn’t been for his love of maps. And without it they would certainly not have found the hid-den tunnel leading into the mountain.

In Richard Adams’ Watership Down the realistically executed map, based on a real Brit-ish Ordnance Map, details and numbers the different places the rabbits pass during their exo-dus. The reader is clearly oriented about all the major locations and places in the area andlearns the general direction of the trek from start to finish. In Tove Jansson’s Moomin Mid-

summer Madness there is a dotted line which shows the itinerary of the floating theatre.Moreover, important plot junctures are indicated on the map; for instance, in words such as“the tree where they slept”. The book’s entire plot is actually provided in shorthand on the

map. Finally, the map-iconotext provides a sense of place and setting. In my view this world-making potential is the most important and inspiring aspect of the map-iconotext. Based onwhat kind of place we enter as readers, a typology can be established. Is it an entire world,like Tolkien’s Middle Earth and Ursula Le Guin’s Earthsea or is it the small domestic play-world of a child – Christopher Robin’s 100 Acre Wood or Barnhans’ Little Land?

Maps can be of towns, as in the Venice of Cornelia Funke’s Thief Lord. They can depict buildings above ground or subterranean labyrinths, as in Le Guin’s The Tombs of Atuan. Theycan be partly inspired by real places, like the parallel world-fantasy of Elizabeth Knox’

Dreamhunter , which is uncannily like certain parts of New Zealand, or even be maps of un-geographies, like the dreamscape in the same book by Knox. In this case the map is truly of a

place without bearing to real geography.One interesting aspect of the world-making aspect of maps is that they not only produce

a fixed space and time. Maps can overlap and gradually expand the original setting, as in thework of Tolkien or in C. S. Lewis’s Narnia books. These are maps that also convey a sense oftemporality. Actions are shown to take place and the passage of time is marked. In a sense,maps act as chronotopes, for they connect temporal and spatial relations in the text (Bakhtin).This becomes especially clear when we are dealing with a series of books (with maps) and



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where it is possible to chart the effects of time and action. The Moomin books provide onesuch example, where we can actually see seasonal differences, but also how the rock that washit by lightning in the first book, is shown broken in the second map. The Narnia books (Lew-is) provide similar experiences. When the Pevensie children return to Narnia in Prince Caspi-an, a thousand years have passed in that world, although for them only a short time has gone

by. A forest has grown up where there used to be no forest; the castle where they ruled is nowa ruin.

I have ventured to show the three basic functions of maps in children’s books: as part ofthe plot, as plot guide, and as a means of setting a story. I have also provided a sketchy typol-ogy of the kinds of settings that we find in maps: worlds, nations, islands, cities, valleys, for-ests, buildings, underground, playground etc.

Drawing on this, and recognizing the creative potential of the map, I have developed ateaching module for my teacher students where map-making is part of a creative writingmodule. It can be performed in groups or individually. It can also very easily be adapted for

young language learners.As a warm-up we discuss:

What is the use of maps in books?

Can you think of any maps in children’s books?

Are there any drawbacks with maps in books?

Have you made maps of imaginary places yourself?I then give a lecture with many of the examples I have just shown.Then the students make their own maps. Materials are provided, but can also be com-

plemented by asking them to bring materials they like to work with from home.

When creating the map, the students should consider the following:What is the main map function(s) in your story: to set the story, to plot the story or be

part of the story? In your map, what is the relationship between illustration, verbal text andcartographic symbols? What basic setting does the map have (forest, island, desert, under-ground, tropical, city); what does the geography look like (coastlines, mountains, forests, riv-ers, lakes, marshes, habitations); what can you say about the ecology (flora and fauna); arethere any traces of human society. Which cartographic map-features and symbols would youwant to include (compass, itineraries, scale)?

We then discuss the maps.

Then next step is to generate writing ideas. What characters belong in your mappedworld? What kind of story can be generated on the basis of your map? What kind of compli-cations?

The underlying pedagogical idea is that we need different strategies to inspire writingand storytelling. For some people language play is a fruitful point of entry (poetry and versecould be useful in this case). Others are plot-driven (the detective story and the fairy tale canact as inspiration in this case). yet others have an agenda or want to solve problems. But amain impetus for reading and writing is to visit other worlds, other places. In this case settingand world-making is the first priority and best source of inspiration. And the map is the



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shortcut to a new world. With the map in place the story tells itself, just as Stevenson insistedabout his own Treasure Island.

In conclusion I will quickly show some of the maps that have come out of this activityduring the last year.

Works Cited

Genette, Gérard. Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation. Transl. Jane E. Lewin. Cambridge:Cambridge Univ. Press, 1997.

Hallberg, Kristin. ”Litteraturvetenskapen och bilderboksforskningen.” Tidskrift förlitteraturvetenskap 1982: 3-4. 163-168

Hann, Deborah G. Maps in Children’s Literature: Their Uses, Forms, and Functions. Cali-fornia State University: 2008. MA thesis.

Honeyman, Susan E. ‘Childhood Bound: In Gardens, Maps, and Pictures.’ Mosaic: A Journal

for the Interdisciplinary Study of Literature 34.2 (2001): 117–32.Lagerwall, Sonia. “A Reading of Michel Butor’s La Modification.” Writing and Seeing: Es-

says on Word and Image. Eds. Rui Manuel G. de Carvalho Homem & Maria de FátimaLambert. Amsterdam: Rodopi, 2006. 119-130

Mendlesohn, Farah. Rhetorics of Fantasy. Middletown CT: Wesleyan University Press,2008.Meissner, Corey. “Reading Is Meant for Training”: Maps, Nation and Empire in

British Children’s Literature, 1800-1940. MA thesis. University of South Carolina,2011.

Nerlich, Michael. ”Qu’est-ce qu’un iconotext?” Iconotexts. Ed. Alain Montandon. Clérmont-

Ferrand: OPHRYS, 1990. 255-302. Nikolajeva, Maria & Carole Scott. How Picturebooks Work. New York: Garland, 2001.Paver, Michelle. Wolf Brother . London: Longman, 2004.Pavlik, Anthony. “‘A Special Kind of Reading Game’: Maps in Children’s Literature.” IRCL

3 (2010): 28-43.Wagner, Peter . Icons, Texts, Iconotexts: Essays on Ekphrasis and Intermediality . Berlin;

Mouton de Gruyter, 1996.



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Intercultural Learning through Traditional Folk Stories

Juan José Valera Tembra(Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia)

Introduction

Intercultural learning may be understood in the context of learning another language as becoming aware of new cultural meanings or identifying a list of ‘culturally-relevant mean-ings’. Important though these aims may be, I would like to argue that intercultural learningneeds to engage seriously with diversity and processes of meaning making and meaning nego-tiation. I propose to talk about Intercultural learning as a dynamic process of negotiating cul-tural meanings through focusing on stories. The potential of stories to promote interculturallearning is high because stories capture the dynamic systems that cultures are and offer multi-

ple ways to negotiate meaning. The construction of meaning by learners has to be directed ifwe want to move beyond the stereotype list or the superficial interpretation that learners sub-stitute for reality in the language classroom. Using as example a bilingual anthology of storiesdeveloped by Kay Livingston and Margarida Morgado (2005) on ‘creatures of the sea’ inScotland and Portugal, language and cultural awareness activities are discussed that promoteintercultural learning in the sense of engaging with a set of specific situations rather than gen-eralities and gaining greater awareness of own culture (its dominant meanings, preferred waysof doing, thinking and representing otherness) in the process of learning about a different cul-ture.

Intercultural Education

Intercultural education is about facilitating our understanding of why we see the worldin the way we do. It aims to assist educators in finding ways to engage young people activelyin the process of making sense of the world around them. Furthermore, it aims to develop theeducators’ own awareness of those they teach, that opinions held about unfamiliar cultures areoften based or distorted or stereotypical views of the world. These views may be deeply em-

bedded and unconsciously held. Examining other cultural identities provides opportunities torecognize points of similarity between cultures that may be hidden from view or not immedi-ately apparent. This process of coming to an understanding of others demands self-reflectionand the deconstruction of stereotypical views. It challenges us to understand how we constructour own views and to appreciate that our views about ourselves are constructed in relation tohow we see others. Therefore, the aim of intercultural education is not only to understand andvalue other, it is also about understanding and valuing oneself.

The anthology proposed provides teachers with a resource that can challenge a range ofviews and assumptions. It offers a way of dealing with the complex and often abstract ideas ofintercultural education through the use of children’s fiction. The ideas are based on the notion



226

that myth is a powerful catalyst to encourage children to think in abstract ways about concreteissues. This selection includes extracts from five Portuguese and five Scottish stories whichnot only enable issues relating to prejudice, tolerance, and stereotypical views to be explored,

but also provide an opportunity for intercultural reflection.Each extract is taking from a book of children’s fiction. The stories selected and the ac-

tivities that derived from them are intended for being used with children ranging from 10 – 14years in the contexts of intercultural education and English as a second language. The storiesare all related to the theme of the sea, which serves as common ground and as the starting

point for reflection on Scottish and Portuguese cultures.The theme of the sea not only connects the two European cultures but offers the possi-

bility of promoting intercultural education. Stories of the sea are frequently stories about an‘Other’ whose strangeness is difficult to accept, who keeps to his/her own tradition, habits andotherness. Sea stories are often about local discrimination, inclusion and exclusion or dispar-agement. In addition, they can be about boundary crossing and its implications for peoples

and places.

Intercultural education and children’s books

Young people are not passive onlookers. They engage in making meaning of their dailylives and it is suggested that reading can contribute to a supportive learning environment andchallenge social, cultural, racial, religious and political biases as well as disability and genderstereotypes. It is widely accepted that reading can impact significantly on the child’sworldview and that early confrontation with cultures that are different from his/her own can

provide an awareness of anti-discriminatory processes. Also, it is commonly taken for grantedthat environments today which appear to be socially and culturally value-free or neutral are inreality not so, and believe that schools, educators and children should work together to build a

positive, anti-discriminatory ethos.The narrative pages were selected with the aim of extending and supporting the social

and cultural development of children. They explicitly attempt to challenge discriminatoryviews and help children to recognize and understand diversity of beliefs, attitudes, social andcultural traditions, as well as encouraging the development of mutual respect and tolerancetowards ‘the other’. They also seek to engage children with fictional environments that direct-ly address the social and cultural contexts of contemporary Scotland and Portugal, introducingthem to the Portuguese, English and Scottish languages and ways of seeing and living.

Structure of the anthology of stories

The selection begins with a common structure, presenting a Section 1 which containsextracts from each of the ten stories selected. A summary of each story is given first both inEnglish and Portuguese, followed by a commentary linking the story to intercultural educationideas. Section 2 provides pedagogical suggestions for working with the extracts in five sepa-



227

rate units. The units cover intercultural education topics such as gender stereotyping, differentcultures, otherness, conflict and conflict resolution and intercultural interactions as the senseof community. At the end of the anthology suggestions for further reading are presented underthe name of most of the topics already mentioned. The final section provides details about thesources of this work and related bibliography.

Creatures from the sea in Scottish and Portuguese cultures

Some stories written for children are a recognizable representation of places, activitiesor institutions, while others seem to ignore historical context or realistic detail. While theformer reinforce familiarity and a sense of proximity, the latter may appear unfamiliar. Storiesare narratives constructed to connect people to a reality and they use social, linguistic andliterary codes shared by a learning community. It is from stories that children learn to definethemselves and the universe and that a web of myths is broadcast and passed from one gen-

eration to another. Sea stories are not different.In the context of Portuguese and Scottish children’s fiction, narratives, stories and leg-

ends about the sea are myths in the sense of a language shared by adults with children. Seastories provide an imaginary landscape that embodies values and ways of seeing and use alanguage that children of a certain culture recognize as their own and use to talk about them-selves, to compare themselves with others, and to imagine their future. Also, it is present in

both contexts the idea that the sea may be a metaphor for the unknown, simultaneously dan-gerous and attractive; and that both cultures share the dominant western myth of the seduc-tiveness of female creatures that originate in the sea, such as mermaids and selkie women,

though they represent the tensions of cultures that meet in different ways: migration from landto sea or the other way around may be presented as beneficial or threatening, an act of love oran act of coercion; the tensions of multicultural living may be solved in harmony, in despair,in separation or violent death; the sense of belonging simultaneously to two cultures may beheartbreaking and regarded as impossible, or taken up as a challenge and a voyage of discov-ery to a new world ; the difference of the ‘other’ may remain exactly that and therefore be con-sidered confusing and frightening, or it may be softened through progressive assimilation andrecognition of shared traits; the meeting of cultures may result in conflict or in a new organi-zation and identity.

Each of these stories, separately or in conjunction with others, offers insights into thedifficulties and benefits of coming into contact with a different culture. They may encourage a

particular sense of national identity and homogeneity, or embody those values and character-istics that a particular learning community considers of value. But the stories are not pretend-ed to be ideal models of intercultural relations as they are presented as narrative spaces for thedevelopment of a critical attitude to representation of otherness, misinterpretation, stereotyp-ing and simplification. With the invaluable help of mediators and educators they are intendedto be meaningful reading experiences which present alternative ways of reflecting on themeeting of cultures and in the perception of the readers.



228

Conclusion

We have tried to show how intercultural education can be highly approached throughtraditional stories and Folk tales which show a similar pattern, like those examined in the pro-

posed anthology, and which also provide a concrete but wide way to make sense to concreteeducational processes that are undergoing at present time.

Bibliography

BAILIN, Sharon (1998). Critical thinking and drama education. Research in Drama Education,3, (2), 145-155.

CHATTON, B. (1993). Using poetry across the curriculum. A whole language approach. Phoe-nix, AZ: Oryx Press.

CURTAIN, H., & DAHLBERG, C. A. (2004). Languages and children: Making the match. Bos-ton: Pearson Allyn, and Bacon.

EGAN, K. (1986). Teaching as story telling. An alternative approach to teaching and curricu-lum in the elementary school . Chicago: University of Chicago Press.

HUNT, Peter (1994). An introduction to children's literature Oxford; New York: Oxford Uni-versity Press

LÓPEZ-VALERO, Amando, COYLE, Y and E NCABO, E. (2005). Re-thinking Language and Lit-erature teaching: stories throughout the curriculum. Learning Languages, 10 (2)(Spring, 2005): 14-15.

MAY, Jill (1995). Children's literature and critical theory: reading and writing for understanding New York; Oxford: Oxford University Press NIETO, Sonia (2001). Language, Culture and Teaching. Critical Perspectives for a New Cen-

tury. London: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.R ICHARDS, Jack (1998). Beyond training. Perspectives on Language Teacher Education.

Cambridge: University Press.TATAR , M. (2002). The annotated Classic Fairy Tales. New York-London: W.W. Norton and

Company.WIDDOWSON, Henry (1978). Teaching language as communication. Oxford: Oxford Univer-

sity Press.



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Using graphic novels to promote critical literacy in the English secondary classroom:Teaching "Persepolis".

Karaiskou VasilikiPaparoussi Marita

(University of Thessaly)

Introduction

Within the framework of critical pedagogy and multiliteracies, today’s education aimsnot only at the development of traditional literacies but also at the development of students’critical and visual literacies. Towards this direction, a powerful educational resource for acritical-literacy oriented instruction in the EFL secondary classroom is graphic novels. Theaim of the present study is to show how the graphic novel Persepolis can be incorporated in

the EFL classroom in order to: a) develop students’ visual literacy b) develop students’ criti-cal awareness and thinking, c) urge students to question stereotypes and produce more liberat-ing discourses promoting social equality, justice and cultural understanding d) deepen stu-dents’ understanding and knowledge of the English language in various types of texts.

Critical Literacy

Over the past decades, in a rapidly changing, globalised, multicultural world, the con-cept of literacy has changed and it is now perceived as a set of social and cultural practices(Smagorinsky, 2001), described as critical literacy. Critical literacy is rooted in Freire’s criti-cal pedagogy and entails not only “reading the word” but also “reading the world” in order tounderstand a text (Freire & Macedo, 1987). Although there are various definitions of criticalliteracy, they all involve an active and challenging approach to reading texts. According toSchor (1999), critical literacy involves the analysis and critique of the relationships amongtexts, language, power, social groups and social practices. Luke and Freebody (1999) defineliteracy as a social practice and argue that learners act as code breakers, meaning makers, textusers, and text critics.

That’s why, reading a text from a critical stance involves the following basic principles:a) focusing on issues of power, b) problematizing – understanding and showing the complexi-

ty of the issues under discussion c) urging students to read from multiple perspectives, d)adapting critical literacy practices to various texts (McLaughlin & DeVoogd, 2004). Lukecautioned against a “formula for “doing” critical literacy in the classroom” (Luke, 2000: 453-454) although he recognized varied classroom strategies to foster critical literacy. Some ofthem are: reading supplementary texts, reading multiple texts, reading from a resistant per-spective, producing counter-texts, having students conduct research about topics of personalinterest and challenging students to take social action (Behrman, 2006). However, it should bestressed that critical literacy is more of an ideology than a distinctive instructional methodolo-



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gy. No matter what kind of strategies and practices are applied, critical literacy-oriented in-struction aims at making students open-minded, active readers and critical thinkers throughouttheir life.

Multiliteracies

In contemporary multimedia dominated communication environment the modes ofmeaning making have changed moving beyond the linguistic code to include other modes ofmeaning representation such as the aural, visual, spatial. That has also affected literacy andled to the so-called Pedagogy of Multiliteracies first developed by the New London Group(1996).

Multiliteracies is a term used to describe “the multiplicity of communication channelsand media” and “the increasing salience of cultural and linguistic diversity”. In that sense “itsupplements traditional literacy pedagogy by addressing these two related aspects of textual

modality” (Cope & Kalantzis, 2000: 5). The Pedagogy of Multiliteracies with its four – di-mensional instructional framework (situated practice, transformed practice, critical framing ofthe cultural and social context, overt instruction) aims at educating students to critically re-spond to multimodal sources of information and decode the messages embedded in them. Be-ing a multiliterate person means being an active and strategic thinker and citizen, able to un-derstand how multimodal texts are constructed to shape their messages. A multimodal textthat supports the development of students’ multiliteracies in the classroom is the graphic nov-els.

Graphic novels in the classroom

Although there are various definitions of graphic novels, they are often described aslonger, bound comic books (Yang, 2008). Scott McCloud defines comics as “Juxtaposed pic-torial and other images in deliberate sequence, intended to convey information and/or to pro-duce an aesthetic response in the viewer” (McCloud, 1994: 20). There are many benefits fromintroducing graphic novels in the classroom to promote students’ traditional, visual and criti-cal literacies.

Schwarz (2006) emphasized the inter-relationship between textual and visual informa-tion in the graphic novels as a means for enhancing students’ understanding of the writtentext. The images add depth that could be lost through text alone. Moreover, some graphicnovels raise various social, cultural, political and historical issues and can be valuable for af-ter-reading critical discussions in the classroom. It should also be mentioned that graphic nov-els are more appropriate for reluctant or struggling students who have difficulties with readingwhole texts. The text format, speech bubbles with shorter sentences, is easier for strugglingstudents, while the layout and the colours help students understand elements such as tone,mood and perspective of the characters.



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In the present study, the graphic novel Persepolis was used as a teaching resource. Per- sepolis is Marjane Satrapi’s memoir of growing up in Iran during and after the Islamic Revo-lution. Satrapi gives an insight in the daily life and society of Iran under the Islamic regime, afascinating history of her country and the consequences of the repressive Islamic regime. Thetext’s multimodalities and unique narrative style along with its thought provoking contentforegrounding issues of gender, otherness, cultural identity and stereotypes make it a valuableresource for promoting students’ visual and critical literacies in the classroom.

The method

A critical-literacy oriented instruction of the graphic novel Persepolis was conducted bythe researcher in the 1st grade of her rural senior high school EFL classroom. 12 students par-ticipated in the study which was comprised of 9 two-hour teaching sessions for 8 weeks fromMarch until April 2012. There were 2 introductory teaching sessions aiming at familiarizing

students with critical literacy questions and the visual grammar of graphic novels, introducingthe history of Iran and highlighting vocabulary related to Islam.

Before plunging into the book, students’ previous knowledge and perceptions of Iranianculture, people and Islam were investigated through a questionnaire. Students also wrote a

paragraph expressing their expectations about Marjane, the heroine of Persepolis. Afterwards,students watched the movie Pesrsepolis. The following 3 teaching sessions were devoted toanalyzing three excerpts form the graphic novel focusing on three different periods ofMarjane’s life in Iran after the Islamic Revolution –as a little girl in primary school, a teenag-er and a university student. Students emerged into the visual resources of this multimodal text

in order to read “between the lines” while, after reading activities and critical discussions,urged them to focus on the way social reality is portrayed in the text and on the way charac-ters are constructed.

During the following 3 teaching sessions supplementary material was used such as vid-eos, articles, surveys, film reviews exposing students to alternative perspectives of the Iranianculture and civilization. Students were urged to question stereotypes, examine whose voicesare heard and whose are silenced in these texts, and for what purposes. Special attention was

paid to videos juxtaposing contradictory perspectives on the issue of the Islamic veil urgingstudents to critically examine how the language is used in support of the arguments of eachside. Finally, in the last teaching session students resorted to their own social, cultural andreligious background and experiences in order to expand the issues raised in Persepolis anddiscuss the implications for modern multicultural societies.

Throughout this study, students were engaged into group and whole-class discussions,wrote reflections on their personal journal, filled in graphic organizers to visually representtheir ideas and responded to questions. Moreover, the researcher took field notes and kept a

personal journal with her observations about the class.



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Results – Discussion

Qualitative content analysis provided the framework for data analysis. Data was drawnfrom students’ reflective essays, journals and questionnaires, from the researcher’s field notesand personal journal. By carefully examining the data, a coding scheme was developed. Larg-er theme categories and subcategories were created on the basis of identifying themes or pat-terns such as: Iranian women (appearance, education, social status), Iranian culture (educa-tional level, civilization, daily life), Islam and religion. This procedure was followed for dataobtained before and after the critical literacy instruction. Data reviewing and classroom ob-servation led to the following conclusions:

The graphic novel’s compelling narrative and multimodality enhanced students’ readinginvolvement with the text. Students enthusiastically immersed in the visual grammar of thetext (color, layout, angle, figures’ characteristics) and through questions and discussion triedto decode its underlying meanings and uncover the author’s intentions, the characters’ per-

spective, the mood of the story. Students also used the visual modality of the text to engageinto critical discussions regarding gender issues, cultural stereotyping and cultural understand-ing. As one of the students said “I thought that graphic novels are naïve, simple, funny stories.But this is not the case. There is a lot more behind the surface”.

Students were also successfully urged to view issues of gender, cultural identity and re-ligion from a more critical stance. Before the instruction students referred to Muslim Iranianwomen as “ugly”, “old-fashioned”, “inferior”, “oppressed”, “wearing veils”, “uneducated”,“with no social or personal life”, “totally dependent on their husbands”, perceptions mainlyformed by the media. As one of my students characteristically said “I think that the life of

Muslim women in Iran is awful. They don’t have the life of an ordinary woman”. After exam-ining aspects of Marjane’s life in the graphic novel and critically discussing videos with Mus-lim women’s narratives about Iran and the veil, most of the students came to rethink abouttheir previous perceptions and ideas. They were surprised to find similarities with their lifeand started thinking about the injustices present in the way Muslim women are portrayed bywestern mainly mass media. In their narratives after the instruction women were described as“modern and fashionable”, “educated abroad”, “courageous, not afraid to act against the Is-lamic regime and fight for their rights”. As one of the students wrote: “We are not so differ-ent. Marjane is just like us. She likes the same music, she wears Nike shoes, she is modernand rebellious. I would like her to be my friend”. Reading from a critical lens urged studentsto challenge taken for granted views of the Iranian women, explore alternative perspectivesand produce at the end more liberating narratives regarding Iranian women’s life.

In relation to Iranian culture and civilization, before the instruction students referred toIran as a “nation of terrorists”, “in war”, “an undeveloped country with uneducated, poor peo-

ple”, “with strict laws and prohibitions”. Their immersion in Marjane’s narrative and theircritical engagement with supplementary material regarding Iranian culture and daily life high-lighted unknown to them aspects of the Iranian culture and exposed them to alternative per-ceptions of Iran. Students questioned stereotypes, wondered about the biased and distorted



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image of Iran as it is sometimes promoted by western media and discussed about the impacton today’s culturally diverse societies. As one of the students said: “I was impressed to dis-cover about the long tradition of the Iranian cinema and architecture. It is different form ours

but still very interesting. I realized that the image I had of Iran is different in many aspects ofwhat Iran actually is”.

Regarding Islam and its role in women’s life and society students were quite criticalmentioning that it is an “oppressive religion”, “with strict rules and restrictions on women”.When students engaged into discussions about religions, their practices and their role in socie-ty, they tended to be less critical of their own religion (Christianity). They were reluctant toraise doubts against their own religion and voice a more critical attitude towards Christianity.They insisted that Christianity is “far more liberal than Islam”. It is obvious that their reli-gious convictions are strongly embedded in their educational, family and cultural backgroundand students have formed strong preconceptions which are difficult to change. That makes itvery difficult for the majority of students to think less stereotypically and view these “sensi-

tive” issues from a broader, more critical perspective.

Limitations-Challenges

Undoubtly, there are a lot of benefits from incorporating critical literacy instruction inthe EFL classroom. However, there are certain issues to be taken into account. In the presentstudy, critical literacy was introduced for the first time in the classroom. Certainly, studentsneed more time and experience to get acquainted with critical literacy practices and processcomplex, controversial topics from a critical lens. Another issue is that critically literacy prac-

tices constantly need to be revised and adapted to the classroom. That makes it more difficultfor the teachers to apply critical literacy in the classroom and sometimes may be reluctant todo so. Finally, it should also be stressed that sometimes it is difficult to assess the results, theimpact and the benefits for the students exactly because of the nature of the instruction itself.

Conclusion

On the whole, multimodal texts are valuable resources in the EFL classroom for helpingstudents grow in their capacity to approach texts from a more critical perspective. Criticaldiscussions about the issues raised in these texts make students realize that texts are neverneutral and innocent and that usually there is an ideology hidden behind the literal level ofmeaning. That’s why, despite the limitations and challenges of critical literacy instruction, itis necessary to educate students to look for alternative discourses in the texts, question long-held stereotypical views and try to be active readers, thinkers and citizens throughout theirwhole life.



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References

Behrman, E. (2006). Teaching about language, power and text: A review of classroom prac-tices that support critical literacy. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy, 49(6), 490-98.

Cope, B., & Kalantzis, M. (Eds.). (2000). Multiliteracies: Literacy learning and the design of social futures. London: Routledge.

Freire, P., & Macedo, D. (1987). Literacy: Reading the world and the word. London:Routledge and Kegan Paul.

Luke, A. (2000). Critical literacy in Australia: A matter of context and standpoint. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 43(5), 448-461.

Luke, A., & Freebody, P. (1999, August). Further notes on the four resources model. ReadingOnline. Retrieved February 20, 2012, from

http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html. McCloud, S. (1993). Understanding comics: The invisible art . Kitchen Sink Press: Northamp-

ton, MA.McLaughlin, M., & DeVoogd, G. (2004). Critical Literacy as Comprehension: Expanding

Reader Response. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 48(1), 52–62. New London Group. (1996). A pedagogy of multiliteracies: Designing social futures. Har-

vard Educational Review, 66(1), 60–92.Schwarz, G. (2006). Expanding literacies through graphic novels. English Journal, 95(6), 58-

64.

Shor, I. (1999). What is critical literacy? In I. Shor & C. Pari (Eds.), Critical literacy in ac-tion: Writing words, changing worlds (pp 1-30). Porstmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook. Smagorinsky, P. (2001). If meaning is constructed, what is it made from? Toward acultural theory of reading. Review of Educational Research, 71(1), 133-169.Yang, G. (2008). Graphic novels in the classroom. Language Arts, 85(3), 185-192.

http://library.lib.uth.gr/cgi-bin-EL/egwcgi/287168/search.egw/5+0?menu1=%CE%95%CE%BA%CE%B4%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B9%CE%BA%CF%8C%CF%82-%CE%BF%CE%AF%CE%BA%CE%BF%CF%82&entry1=Routledge%20and%20Kegan%20Paul&logic1=And&menu2=%CE%9F%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B4%CE%AE%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B5&entry2=&logic2=And&menu3=%CE%9F%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%85%CE%B4%CE%AE%CF%80%CE%BF%CF%84%CE%B5&entry3=&submit=Search&hits=20

http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html

http://www.readingonline.org/research/lukefreebody.html

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The Use of Literary Translation in the Foreign Language Class:a Methodological Approach for Young Learners of English

Sonia Petisco

(Universidad de Granada)

This article focuses on the practice of poetic translation as a pedagogical tool in the for-eign language class and as a means to get students immersed in the literature of a specific cul-ture, in this case the Anglo-Saxon culture.4 It has a holistic approach covering the fields ofTranslation Studies, Contrastive Linguistics, Comparative Literature, Stylistics-DiscourseAnalysis, and Hermeneutics.

Our main tenet is that the use of literary translation can help students to learn literaryskills through the close analysis of texts. Moreover, it can also teach them to become writersthemselves, witnesses of that “hic et nunc” of the poetic experience, when the self disappearsand merges into the echo of the verses.5 In this regard, reading poems aloud and learning them

by heart before translating becomes the centre of our pedagogy and the first step towards afaithful translation which acknowledges the origin of language: Lingua ex musica.6

The methodology we are following starts off by presenting students with a series ofquestions which focus on the translating activity they are going to carry out, making themaware of the fact that what is most important is not the answers but the questions themselves.Some of these points of reflection are: 1) What is poetry? 2) What is translation? 3) Howmany linguistic levels should be considered when translating poetic texts? 4) Which transla-tion methods are we going to choose? 5) What are the main problems to be tackled?

For the first question, what is poetry, we can offer our students the possibility of search-ing for definitions of poetry or ask them to create their own, even though we know that defini-tions can be mortal as they put a limit to something that was “there” and lacked semantic

boundaries. Here are some attempts at a definition of poetry by famous writers we can givestudents to think about. They all underlie the sacred nature of poetry as a linguistic expressionof the mystery of life, that which is ineffable or unutterable:

1. “Poetry is when an emotion has found its thought and the thought has foundwords” (Robert Frost, 1874-1963)

2. “A poem should not mean but be” (Archibald MacLeish, 1892-1982)3. “Poets are masters of us ordinary men, in knowledge of the mind, because they

drink at streams which we have not yet made accessible to science” ; “Everywhere I go I findthat a poet has been there before me” (Sigmund Freud)

4. Poetry is an orphan of silence. The words never quite equal the experience be-hind them” (Walt Whitman, 1819-1892)

Taking into consideration its original etymological sense of “poesis” (construction-destruction) and its connection with “praxis” (action), we understand poetry as “speaking”rather than as mere literature or written language. As we have just pointed out, in our class-



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room reciting is given priority to the letter that “kills the Spirit”. In this way students are ableto become “one” with words in a process of soul´s dissolution or abandonment in the musical-ity of the poem, beyond any concept of authorship. Herewith, we propose an initial recitingtask which is based on the reading of haikus in their English version7:

Let us move to the second question we have posed to our students: What is translation?Again it is convenient to let them know that the word “translation” derives from the Latintranslation, which is formed by the prefix trans- and the lexeme fero, meaning “to carryacross” or “to bring across” from source language to target language.8 This process can bedone in different ways depending on our understanding of translation as:

WARM-UP ACTIVITY: R ECITING HAIKUS

1. Read the poems aloud.2. Give them a title.3. Try to memorize three of them and recite them to your partner.

Blue hills Pure dark skyday lilies nod after a conference on sinin the wind crescent moon and planets.

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton

Streaks of pale red Flycatchersa pattern of clothes lines, shaking their wingsclothes pins, shadowy saplings after the rain

Thomas Merton Thomas Merton

On a withered branch A flash of lightning:a silent crow has settled: into the gloomy nightan autumn nightfall. goes the heron´s cry

Matsuo Bashô Matsuo Bashô

3. Choose a suggestive word (i.e. rain) and brainstorm your partner´s associations.

4. Make a Haiku with your partner from brainstorming words without giving it a title.Stick it on the wall and then walk round reading your classmates´s contributions andtrying to guess the title in each case.



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1. A replacement of an utterance in one language by another, so that the two are in-terchangeable.

2. Translation as reading, as textual interpretation, as an individual creative act per-formed upon a text.9

At this point in the teaching process, students should become aware of the differenttranslation theories which have been developed, specially Nabokov´s theory on absolute fidel-ity to the text,10 Nida´s creative transposition,11 Gadamer´s belief that “every translator is aninterpreter”,12 Jaime Siles´s comparison that “translating is like reading sheet music”,13 orBonnefoy advice that “the translator should achieve the same “singing mood” as that of theauthor.14 They should be able to choose their own translation method, taking into account thatthe translation task is always worth the effort because “of all literary forms, translation is theone charged with the special mission of watching over the maturing process of the originaland the birth pangs of its own”.15 In fact, the translated text can also be considered as an

original, a creation, a unique text.We arrive to the third question we have posed in our initial “brainstorm”: What linguis-tic levels should we bear in mind when translating a poetic text? First, students should learnthat Language is divided into two contrasting realms, according to García Calvo´s studies onlanguage16:

1. The realm of culture, consciousness and will, where we find the lexical words ofany language.

2. The realm of technical subconsciousness or popular language, where we findmorpho-syntactic rules, personal and non-personal deictics, interrogative pronouns, defining

and non-defining quantifiers, phonemes and prosody, and above all, the main core of any lan-guage: the negation particle, which is common to all languages.

In the translation practice, we can often observe that too much attention is given to thesemantic level, that is to say, the most superficial layer of language and the closest to thespeaker´s consciousness, whereas other grammatical or prosodic aspects are frequently putaside or ignored. Moreover, the lyrical voice “I” is usually identified with the author, with a

particular person from the semantic field.Our main argument is that we should take into account both the conscious and subcon-

scious levels of language when translating any kind of texts.

The conscious level includes:

1. Semantic and rethorical aspects of language: Figurative language.2. Genre and register: formal/informal, idiolect, sociolect, jargon, idiomatic expres-

sions.3. Cultural connotations and interculturality: Process of acculturation.

The subconscious level includes:



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4. Structure: Syntactic Level.5. Phonology: Sound and its relation to meaning.17

What is important is to reach the same effect in the target language as it is in the sourcelanguage. As Walter Benjamin or Ortega y Gasset believed, the task of the translator is to

find the “intention” of the original text as an effect upon the language, and to echo that in-tended effect in the target language.18

Taking into consideration these two levels of language we have mentioned above, wecould dare say that translating is easier when the text we are working on is scientific or aca-demic, that is to say, when it is closer to the conscious level and is therefore dominated bysemantics and the particular jargons of a language. Whereas translation becomes more diffi-cult when the text is ruled by elements which are far away from the levels of consciousness.19 Consequently, students should know that it is going to be more difficult to translate Keats´s“Ode to a Nightingale” than to translate a manual of instructions, because a poem is always

closer to the “subconscious heart” of Language, and also because the metrical and prosodicalsystem or the syntax remains different in every language.20

Next, we are presenting students with a series of tasks which involve the translation oftexts from the literary tradition written in the English Language. They mostly belong to chil-dren´s literature and include twisters, humorous limericks, and children´s poems, although wehave also used poems from well-known authors such as William Blake´s Songs of Innocenceand Experience or William Shakespeare´s sonnets. As translating involves the confrontationof two completely different systems of signs, students should know that they are going to beconfronted with two main problems:

1. How translation overcomes the differences in the systems of signifieds (conno-tative meanings)

2. How translation recreates effects which operate at the level of signifiers in theoriginal text (alliteration, rhythm, rhyme, etc.)21

The first task is related to the fourth question we have posed in our initial brainstormand it gets students involved in thinking about which method they are going to use whentranslating a specific text.22 We are following Andre Lefevere ´s classification of methods inhis work Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint (1975) , and Peter Newmark´s

distinction between communicative translation and semantic translation in his book Ap- proaches to Translation (1981):

1. Phonemic translation: attempts to recreate the sounds in the source language inthe target language

2. Literal translation: which means word for word translation3. Metrical translation: which emphasizes the reproduction of the original meter4. Verse-to-prose translation5. Rhymed translation



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6. Interpretation: a version or an imitation. A version will semantically be exactlythe same than the original, but physically totally different. An imitation is a different poem,

but the title, topic and starting point are the same as the original´s.7. Communicative translation: it attempts to render the exact meaning of the origi-

nal in such a way that the readers may not find difficulties in understanding the message of

the translated text.

TASK 1. TRANSLATING METHODOLOGY

1.1. Teacher gives copies of poem cut up in strips.1.2. Students work in groups putting the lines in order following the clues provided by rhyme, rhythm andlogical sequence of actions

The Irish Pig (Traditional)

Twas an evening in November

As I very well rememberI was strolling down the street in drunken pride.

But my knees were all aflutterSo I landed in the gutterAnd a pig came up and lay down by my side.

Yes, I lay there in the gutterThinking thoughts I could not utter.When a lady passing by did softly say:

“By the company he chooses”“You can tell a man who boozes”

And the pig got up and slowly walked away!

1.3. SS learn the original poem by heart and recite it to the teacher. This can be made through “coral prac-tice”.1.4. SS decide which method/s of translation you are going to use in order to translate the poem. Teacherexplains each of these methods or asks students to consult bibliography.

Phonemic translation Literal translation

Metrical translation

Verse-to-prose translation Rhymed translation

Interpretation

Communicative translation Semantic translation.

1.5. SS try to translate the text into Spanish according to the method/s they have chosen.

1.6. SS learn the Spanish version by heart and recite it to the teacher.



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8. Semantic translation: it attempts to reproduce the precise contextual meaning ofthe original by taking more account of the aesthetic values and expressive component of theoriginal.

The second task encourages students to pay attention to the subconscious level of lan-guage, focusing their attention in phonetic and prosodic resources such as rhythm, rhyme,

alliteration, onomatopoeia, stress, etc. It also gets them involved in choral practice so that theycan enjoy the musicality of the English language.

TASK 2: CHORAL PRACTICE AND CREATIVE TRANSPOSITION

2.1. Teacher shows, presents and initiates choral practice of the tongue twister. In twoteams students must repeat the tongue twister indicated by the teacher as many times as possi-

ble, quickly and correctly, scoring points for the number achieved before tripping up.

2.2. Students working in pairs try to make up their own tongue twisters to test theirclassmates.

2.3. They try to find Spanish equivalents (in form and meaning) for the English twister,or parallel texts. Students look for prosodic, phonemic, rhythmic parallels and differences.

2.4. Teacher reads first limerick, check comprehension, then invites students to read itout, paying attention to rhythm and intonation. Students then read the second limerick and lookfor the structural similarities.

2.5. Students translate the limericks into Spanish trying to make a rhymed version. Theyare encouraged to use their creativity and imagination.

Tongue Twister

She sells sea-shells by the sea shore.Thirty thousand feathers on a thirsty thrush´s throatPeter Piper picked a peck of pickled peppers.Around the rugged rocks the ragged rascal ran.The Leith police dismisseth us.

Limericks

There was a young lady from Gloucester There was an old man in a boat

Who complained that her parents both boss her Who said “I’m afloat!” I’m afloat!”

So she ran off to Maine When they said, “No, you ain´t”

Did her parents complain? He was ready to faint

Not at all-they were glad to have lost her That unhappy old man in a boat.

(John Ciardi in Philip 1996) (Edward Lear in Philip

1996)



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Apart from sound resources students should get acquainted with the textual analysis ofsyntactic and semantic elements. Proper translation must take into consideration language-specific uses of figurative language. Figures of speech to watch out for in translation includemetaphor and simile, personification and apostrophe, metonymy and synecdoche, hyperboleand irony, idioms and proverbs, etc. To translate a metaphor literally without checking to seeif it is understood is to translate inadequately. According to M. Dagut (1976), metaphors aredifficult to translate due to their “uniqueness”: “what is unique can have no counterpart”.23 Therefore, the equivalent in this case cannot be found but has to be “created”. Two attitudescan be taken in this regard: on the one hand, there are those who think that the problem has nosolution and that the metaphor is untranslatable. This is the case of authors such as Nida(1964) or Vinay y Darbelnet (1973) who think that metaphors can be translated as no-metaphors; on the other hand, there are scholars like Kloepfer (1967) who supports the thesisthat the structures of imagination are shared by the whole humankind, or K. Reiss (1971) whodeny the existence of the problem because the metaphor can be translated word-for-word.

Gideon Toury (1982) gives the following alternatives to translate metaphors: 1) metaphor →same metaphor 24; 2) metaphor → different metaphor; 3) metaphor → no metaphor; 4) nometaphor → metaphor; 5) metaphor → 0; 6) 0 → metaphor.

The next task involves students in the textual analysis of Shakespeare´s sonnet CXXX,taking into account the phonetic, morpho-syntactic and semantic resources, including theanalysis of metaphor.25

TASK 3: TEXTUAL A NALYSIS AND TRANSLATION

3.1. Read a good introduction to Shakespeare´s sonnets in order to get a general idea about

the work in which the poem is embedded.3.2. Recite the poem aloud:

My mistress´s eyes are nothing like the sun;Coral is far more red than her lips´red:If snow be white, why then her breast are dun;If hairs be wires, black wires grow on her head.I have seen roses damask´d, red and white,But no such roses see I in her cheeks;And in some perfumes is there more delight

Than in the breath that from my mistress reeks.I love to hear her speak; yet well I knowThat music hath a far more pleasing sound:I grant I never saw a goddess go,My mistress, when she walks, treads on the ground:And yet, by heaven I think my love as rareAs any she belied with false compare.



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In the process of doing these activities the teacher should make students aware of themain translating obstacles, and warn them against common mistakes that can be committed in

this kind of practice. One of the risks might be that the translator, not really focusing on themeaning being expressed, perhaps not even understanding it, carries across the words, idioms,metaphors, grammatical constructions, etc., from one language to another. This would lead tothe already mentioned “literal translation” -- literally translating the form, but not the mean-ing. This type of translation is relatively easy and is what one would tend to do if not thor-oughly grounded in translation principles and experienced. The problem, of course, is that theresulting translation is not natural-sounding, and the meaning is not clear.

3.3. Make an analysis the sonnet taking into account the following linguistic resources. Ifyou are not well acquainted with any of these linguistic terms, google “silva rethoricae”.

1. Phonetic resources 2. Syntactical Resources

Alliteration

Assonance

Consonance

Onomatopoeia

Word order Asyndeton

Sentence length Polisyndeton

Voice, tenses, aspect Synonymia

Ellypsis Epitheton

Hyperbaton Antonomasia

3. Figurative Language

Metaphor Sylepsis Hyperbole Paranomasia

Simile Antithesis Litotes Synesthesia

Synecdoque Paradox Irony Personification

Metonymy Oximoron Antanaclasis



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Another danger, though, is that in an attempt to make a translation natural-sounding andclear in meaning, the translator might reduce the somewhat cryptic, figurative language, to itsliteral meaning, to the best of his ability. He might, for example, seek to make all informationthat was implicit explicit, turn all metaphors into similes or abandon them completely, ortranslate poetry as normal, everyday sentences. This is called over-translation. The resultmight be clear enough, and using only natural constructions, but at the same time be dull andlifeless.

Nevertheless, the majority of the problems the translator has to face concern the recog-nition of culture-bound concepts or dialectal differences among two or more languages.26 Thisis because each nation´s culture is connected with its history, its social structure, its traditionalcustoms, and everyday usage. The next task enables students to become acquainted with thiskind of problem through the reading and analysis of an ironic children´s poem which mocksthe situation of misunderstanding between two relatives, one of them belonging to the Englishculture and one to the Scottish culture.



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TASK 3: DIALECTAL DIFFERENCES AND CULTURE - BOUND CONCEPTS

3.1. Read the following children´s poem:

English Cousin comes to Scotland(Jackie Kay)

3.2. Underline vocabulary and grammar which is not standard English.3.3. Try to replace the Scottish words or structures with the Standard English

varieties27

:

See when my English cousin comes,it´s so embarrassing so it is, so it is.I have to explain everythingI mean Every Thing, so I do, so I do.I told her, “Know what happened to me?I got skelped, because I screamed when a skelfwent into my pinky finger: OUCH, loud.And ma ma dropped her best bit of china.It wis sore, so it wis, so it wis.

I was scunnert being skelpedwhen I wis already sore.So I ran and ran, holdingmy pinky, through the park,over the burn, up the hill.I was knackered and I fellinto the mud and went homemocket and got skelped again.So I locked myself in the cludgieand cried, so I did, so I did,

pulling the long role of paperonto the floor. Like that dug Andrex.”Whilst I´m saying this my English cousinhas her mouth open. Glaiket.Stupit. So she is, so she is.I say, “I´m going to have to learn you

skelped mocket wis

slekft cludgie glaiket



245

We would like to include in the last part of this article a task which involves studentsnot only in translation but in the evaluation of translations. This is another technique whichhas been recently developed and which we consider necessary for a good use of translation inthe foreign language classroom. In the traditional grammar-translation method, this type ofanalysis was never carried out, and nevertheless, this practice can be very useful for a deeperand more significant understanding of the second language.

Within a translation we often find frequent errors such as:

1. Linguistic Interference: the repetition of a grammatical structure whose frequency ofusage is not the appropriate one. Example: the translation of the grammatical pronoun “I”when you are translating from English into Spanish.

2. Calques: literal translation of one word from the Source Language (Language A) intothe Target Language (Language B). Example: High School: “Escuela Alta”.

3. Change of linguistic code: this refers to the alternative use of both languages withinthe same speech act. Example: the use of idioms or “pet words or phrases”, or the mixing oftwo grammatical systems at the same time.

4. False Friends: lexical elements with the same form in both languages but differentmeanings. Example: “library” → biblioteca.28

In our opinion, a good model of evaluation is the one designed by Hurtado Albir (1999).We do encourage teachers of primary and high schools to employ it as a guideline in theirlessons, as it covers the most relevant linguistic aspects to bear in mind when translating atext:

1. Loan translations or calques: in punctuation, lexical, morphological, in word or-der or sentence order, connectors, elements of reference, etc.

2. Errors:▪In comprehension: contradictions, false sense, nonsense, addition/omission of infor-

mation.▪In re-writing: Linguistic error (lexis, grammar), bad wording/phrasing (unclear writ-

ing, lack of expressivity, pleonasms, etc.)3. Accuracies

4.

Problems of translation:▪Linguistic: lexical, grammatical, linguistic variation▪Extranlinguistic: thematic, cultural▪Textual: related to coherence, cohesion, and textual typologies.▪Pragmatic: derived from the context, the addressee, etc.29

The evaluation can be done by comparing or contrasting the original text with one orwith several translations. Next, we have elaborated an evaluating task of one of WilliamBlake´s poems, “The Tiger”, which seems quite useful for this kind of contrastive analysis



246

between two languages.

TASK 4. EVALUATION OF TRANSLATIONS

Compare the original version of W. Blake´s “The Tiger” and two translations of the poem made by Victor Botas

and Juan Ramón Jiménez. Make an evaluation taking into account the following criteria:

¡Tigre, tigre, que ardes vivo por los arbolados de la noche, ¿qué mano, qué ojo inmortal pudoorganizar tu pavorosa simetría?

¿En qué abismos, en qué firmamentos distantes llameaba el fuego de tus ojos? ¿Con qué alas osóquién atreverse? El fuego áquel, ¿qué mano se resolvió a cogerlo? (sic)

¿Y qué hombro y que maña pudo retorcer los tendones de tu corazón? Y cuando tu corazón empezó alatir, ¿quién fue la terrible mano, quiénes los terribles pies?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright!In the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eyeCould frame thy fearful symmetry?

In what distant deeps or skiesBurnt the fire of thine eyes?On what wings dare he aspire?

What the hand dare sieze the fire?

And what shoulder, & what artCould twist the sinews of thy heart?And when thy heart began to beat,What dread hand? & what dread feet?

What the hammer? What the chain?In what furnace was thy brain?What the anvil? What dread graspDare its deadly terrors clasp?

When the stars threw down their spearsAnd water´d heaven with their tears,Did he smile his work to see?Did he who made the Lamb make thee?

Tyger! Tyger! burning bright!In the forests of the night,What immortal hand or eyeCould frame thy fearful symmetry?

Tigre, tigre, clara teaque en los bosques flamea,¿qué mano inmortal un díatrazó tu atroz simetría?

¿En qué cimas o simas distantestus ojos ardieron antes?¿Con qué alas su atrevido ascenso?

¿Qué mano osó apresar el fuego?

¿Y qué hombros, con qué arte pudieron nervio a nervio fabricarte?Y cuando empezaste a latir,¿qué espanto te trajo aquí?

¿Qué impiadosa herramientaforjó esta llama hambrienta?¿Cuál fue el yunque? ¿Quién pudo osartus letales temores aplacar?

Cuando los astros dardos arrojany al cielo con su llanto mojan¿sonrió el divino obreroque te hizo a ti y al cordero?

Tigre, tigre, clara teaque en los bosques flamea,¿qué mano inmortal un díatrazó tu atroz simetría?

Victor Botas (1980)



247

¿Cuál fue el martillo, cuál la cadena? ¿En qué fragua cayó tu cerebro? ¿Cuál fue el yunque? ¿Quégarra tremenda se arriesgó a apresar sus espantos mortales?

Cuando las estrellas arrojaron sus lanzas y regaron el cielo con sus lágrimas, ¿sonrió él mirando suobra? ¿El que hizo al Cordero, te hizo a ti?

¡Tigre, tigre, que ardes vivo por los arbolados de la noche, ¿qué mano, qué ojo inmortal se decidió acuajar tu pavorosa simetría?

Juan Ramón Jiménez, 1920

Conclusion

Robert Frost used to say that “Poetry is what gets lost in translation”. Through this theo-retical presentation and elaboration of tasks we have tried to make young learners of Englishfeel that translation --far from being a boring or mechanical activity—is “poetry rebegun” and

that they can enjoy and learn a lot about the language and the culture they are studying in anamusing way.

We do hope that this task-based methodology increases students´ s love towards literarytranslation even though we are aware that some of the activities can be considered quite de-manding, most particularly if we take into account the theoretical background and linguisticknowledge required to carry them out. Nevertheless, the teacher can always adapt these exer-cises to the specific level of their students according to their age range and their learning envi-ronment, acting as a mediator and encouraging learners´s autonomy and creativity. He shouldlet students know that a good translator is always active, not passive; he is a modulator and an

interpreter of the text, and not just some drudge who, dictionary in hand, roots for and writesdown linguistic equivalents.In our approach to foreign language teaching, we have not denied the relevance of the

semantic or conscious level of language. On the other hand, we think that meaning plays animportant role within the text. However, what is most essential in our translation methodologyis to revive the original moment of the poem´s creation and to grasp the Spirit or genius of thelanguage in which it was written. Teachers should make clear to students that a poem is not

just a relation of words on the blank page but the result of an experience of PRESENCE.There is a truth in the poem, a “shared truth” which cannot be comprehended by any subjec-

1.Calques2.Errors3.Accuracies4. Problems of translation:

Linguistic

ExtralinguisticTextualPragmatic



248

tive textual analysis, a “speaking” that both the poet and the translators need to listen and giveshape and sound within the poem.30

To conclude, we could dare say that learning English literature through translation has aredemptive function in this society, as it favours the community in the Word, the liberation ofthe universal, and, above all, the opening of reason beyond the limits of mere subjectivity.

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Beaugrande, R. (1978). Factors in a Theory of Poetic Translating. Assen: Van Gorcum.Bonnefoy, Y. (2002). La Traducción de la poesía. Valencia: Pre-Textos.Bousoño, C. (1970). “Posibilidad de las traducciones en la lírica”, Teoría de la expresión poé-

tica, 5º ed., Vol.II, Apénd. III, Madrid: Gredos.Blake, W. (1987). Canciones de Inocencia y de Experiencia. Madrid: Cátedra.

Dagut, M.B. (1976). “Can metaphor be translated?”, Babel, XXII, 1, pp. 22-24.Duff, A. (1989). Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press.Elena, P. (1990). Aspectos teóricos y prácticos de la traducción. Servicio de Publicaciones de

la Universidad de Salamanca.García Yebra, V. (1982). Teoría y práctica de la traducción. Madrid: Gredos.Hatim, B. & I. Mason (1995). Teoría de la traducción. Barcelona: Ariel.Hurtado Albir, A. (1999). Enseñar a Traducir. Madrid: Edelsa.----------. (2001). Traducción y Traductología. Madrid: Cátedra.Jakobson, R. (1975). “En torno a los aspectos lingüísticos de la traducción”, en Ensayos de

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Kloepfer, W. (1967). Die Theorie der literarischen Übersetzung. Munich: Fink. Köessler, M.(1975). Les faux amis des vocabulaires anglais et américains. Paris: Vuibert.

Lefevere, A. (1975). Translating Poetry: Seven Strategies and a Blueprint. Amsterdam:Van Gorcum.---------. (1981). “Translated Literature: towards an Integrated Theory”, Bulletin of the Mid-

west Modern Language Association, XIV, 1, pp. 68-77.--------. (1982). “Literary Theory and Translated Literature”, Dispositio, VII, 19-20-21, pp. 3-

22. Mounin, G. (1963). Les problèmes théoriques de la traduction. Paris : Gallimard.

Newmark, P. (1981). Approaches to Translation. Oxford: Pergamon Press. Nida E. A. (1964). Towards a Science of Translating. Leiden: Brill. Nida, E. A. & Taber, Ch. R. (1974). The Theory and Practice of Translation, Leiden: E. J.

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IV, 1,pp. 19-32. Nord, Ch. (1991). Textanalyse und Übersetzen. Heidelberg: Groos.Opie, I. & Opie, P. (1963). The Puffin Book of Nursery Rhymes. Harmondsworth: Puffin

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Philip, N. (ed.) (1996). The New Oxford Book of Children´s Verse. Oxford: Oxford UniversityPress.

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107-125.

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Radó, G. (1979). “Outline of a Systematic Translatology”, Babel, XXV, 4, pp. 187-196.Reiss, K. (1971). Möglichkeiten und Grenzen der Übersetzungskritik. Munich: Max Hueber.Santoyo, J.C. (ed.) (1989). La traducción entre el mundo hispánico y anglosajón: relaciones

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21, pp. 77-82.Van Den Broeck, R. (1981). “The Limits of Translatability Exemplified by Metaphor Transla-

tion”, Poetics Today, 2, 4, pp. 73-87.Vinay, J. P. & Darbelnet, J. (1973). Stylistique comparée du français et de l’anglais.

Nouvelle éd. revue et corrigée. Paris : Didier.Vidal, Mª Carmen (1995). Traducción, manipulación, deconstrucción. Salamanca: Ediciones

Colegio de España.

i For further details on marked and unmarked word order see Coles R. (2005) Word Order in a Contempo-rary Story for Children, Editrice Montefeltro, and Coles R., (2010) A Companion to Grammar and InformationStructures, Urbino, Quattroventi.

ii For further details on Information Structure see Ch.2 in Coles R. (2010) A Companion to Grammar and In- formation Structures,. Urbino, Quattroventi.

iii. The complete transposed texts for the primary school and kindergarten classes and details of relatedteaching activities are available for the author at [email protected]. Audio-video documentation of the

project is also available from the author.4 I devoted a previous research article to reflect on the relevance of translation in the foreign language class-

room as a tool to improve students´s receptive and productive skills as well as a means to facilitate the contras-tive analysis between L2 and L1 in its morpho-syntactic, pragmatic and semiotic levels (v. Sonia Petisco, “Latraducción pedagógica: propuesta didáctica para el aula de idiomas”, en La investigación y la enseñanza aplica-

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]



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das a las lenguas de especialidad y a la tecnología, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Politécnica deValencia, 2011). However, as A. Duff has pointed out, “today translation is largely ignored as a valid activity forlanguage practice and improvement. And even where it is still retained, it tends to be used not for languageteaching, but for testing” (v. A.Duff, Translation. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989).

5 See Yves Bonnefoy. La traducción de la poesía. Valencia: Pre-textos, 2002, p. 25.6

For a long time poetry has been separated from music and chanting, being confined in the jail of writing, the“enclosure of the book”. However, in the beginning, poetry was linked to reciting and throughout the centuries ithas had an oral, public and popular character in many cultures and traditions. In fact, poetry can be defined as“living language” characterized by a very precise rhythm and metrics.

7 Haikus come from Japan and consist traditionally of three lines, the first and third of five syllables and thesecond of seven. The first four haikus can be found in Thomas Merton´s journal Conjectures of a Guilty By-

stander, The Abbey of Gethsemani: Doubleda y and Company, p. 34; p. 256; p. 227; p. 125. The other three byBashô have been taken from Stuart J. McNicholls´s teaching project La enseñanza-aprendizaje del ingles comolengua extranjera a través de la literatura infantil y juvenil , University of Vigo, 1999, p. 237. We are grateful toMcNicholls´s literary corpus from which we have taken these texts and some others in order to create the transla-tion tasks included in this article.

8Several theories have been developed in connection to the possibility/impossibility of translation. This has been a recurrent theme for linguistic and literary thought throughout the centuries. From ancient/early medieval

theories to the essentialist romantic theories (those by Schleiermacher or Humboldt), there is a belief that everylanguage has its own spirit or genius, an ungraspable essence which was fully formed when the language wasfirst spoken. We can see how this is the basis of the belief, which became commonplace by the later 18th century,that, literally speaking, translation is impossible, particularly with regard to literary texts. Nevertheless, moderntheories by Hogan, Octavio Paz, Ortega y Gasset or Walter Benjamin support the universality of the Word andthe necessity of translation (v. R. Schulte & J. Biguenet (eds.), Theories of Translation. Chicago: Chicago Press,1992).

9 To get a general overview of the different types of translation, see Mª Carmen África Vidal Claramonte,Traducción, manipulación, deconstrucción, Salamanca: ediciones Colegio de España, 1995, pp. 47-55.

10 Nabokov believed in literality and in the fact that it is possible to find exact equivalents between the

systems of signifiers and signifieds of two different languages. Moreover, he saw the need to add footnotes

which might help the reader understand the “real meaning” of the text, as if the text had only got one true

meaning: “I want translations with copious footnotes, footnotes reaching up like skyscrapers […] I want

such footnotes and the absolutely literal sense, with no emasculation and no padding” (Nabokov as quotedin Schulte & Biguenet, Theories of Translation, op. cit., pp. 134; 143).

11 See E.A. Nida, “Theories of Translation”, Traduction, Terminologie, Rédactio (TTR), IV, 1, 1991, pp.19-32.

12 H.G. Gadamer, Philosophical Hermeneutics, Los Angeles: University of California Press, 1976, p. 14.13 Entrevista con Jaime Siles, Jordi Doce y Xavier Farré, “Traducir Poesía” (www. poesíadigital.es).14See Sonia Petisco, “A Theoretical and Practical Approach to Literary Translation: the Case of Poetry”, Re-

vista Babel Afial Nº14, Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad de Vigo, 2005.15 Schulte & Biguenet, Theories of Translation, op.cit, p. 75.16 Agustín García Calvo, Del Lenguaje I. Zamora: Editorial Lucina, 1979.17According to C. Bousoño, phonetic resources (rhythm, rhyme, alliteration, onomatopoeia, assonance, con-

sonance, etc.) are particularly difficult to translate, and they usually require “a completely new translating task”in order to be transformed into the expressive matter of a text written in another language (v. Carlos Bousoño,

“Posibilidad de las traducciones en la lírica”, Teoría de la expresión poética, 5º ed., Vol.II, Apénd. III, Madrid:Gredos, 1970.) Moreover, Savory also thinks that the search for rhyme can become “an infernal nuisance”(Theodore Savory, The Art of Translation, Londres: Jonathan Cape, 1968, p. 84). In Octavio Paz´s opinion, only

poets should dare translate poetry because poetic translation is analogous to poetic creation (v. Octavio Paz,Traducción: literatura y literalidad, Barcelona: Tusquets, 1971).

18 Walter Benjamin, “The Task of the Translator”, in R.Schulte & J. Biguenet, Theories of Translation,op.cit., p. 75.

19 v. Sonia Petisco, “Haciendo Revivir a Shakespeare: la importancia del ritmo y lo no consciente en latraducción de textos poéticos”, Actas del XXVI Aesla Conference, Universidad de Almería, 2008.

20 Agustín García Calvo, “Como hacer revivir a los muertos”, Conferencia 15 de Julio 1992 publicada por laAsociación EIZIE.



21 From Saussure´s point of view, translating is -- if not impossible -- at least a risky task as it involves theconfrontation of two completely different systems of signs. He wrote that not only the signifier but the signifiedas well is particular to a given language and that not only words but their meanings are language specific (Saus-sure 1922: 158-162). Jakobson and other semioticians in the second half of the second century have followedSaussure´s view (v. R. Jakobson, “En torno a los aspectos lingüísticos de la traducción”, en Ensayos de

lingüística general, trad. al esp.de J. M. Pujol y J. Cabanes, Barcelona, Seix Barral, pp. 67-77). Back in time, wefind romantic authors such as Schleiermacher or Humboldt, for whom poetic texts resist translation insofar as theauthorial style they embody is not determined by the language but exists in a personal relationship to the lan-guage, which would be the translator´s impossible goal to replicate (Schulte & Biguenet, Theories of Transla-

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