Visual Literacy through Picture Books
Discuss about the Intercultural language teaching and learn.
Key concepts: This learning activity plan demonstrates ways and tools that can be implemented in the teaching and learning exercises of visual literacy to pre-school children of the age group between 3 to 5 years. The activity plan suggests the use of picture books to familiarize children with visual literacy.
Picture books are a great way to implement visual literacy among pre-school children. Kindergarten children are often excited and interested in colorful and picture books. Therefore, it can be beneficial to introduce picture books within the school curriculum for children within the age group of 3 to 5 years (Flood, Heath & Lapp, 2015). The children could be made to read the picture books and then asked to describe what they see and understand. Graphic novels or comics offer chances for having interactions and conversations with children enabling them to describe the story that they perceive (Serafini, 2013). Looking at the characters and their facial expressions or body languages as depicted by the picture book can rise active involvement of the children within the storyline of the book. Non-fiction picture books can also be used to inculcate visual literacy among children of the considered age group. They can be taught about the various symbols and signs that we generally come across in everyday life. Picture books including maps and picture descriptions of countries can be used as well to promote visual literacy among children (Painter, Martin & Unsworth, 2013). Picture books not only contribute to the development of visual literacy among children but also is a fun way to promote and develop their thinking abilities.
Story-reading and story-telling class can be added as a fun activity in the curriculum.
Each child can be given a different picture book to read. Each of them can then be asked to tell the story that they have perceived by looking at the pictures depicted in the book.
The children can be encouraged to take a different picture book of their choice to home and go through them.
Resources needed: Picture books, posters and color pencils to make the activity interesting.
The EYLF of Australia mentions that children should be engaged in learning through play (Leggett & Ford, 2013). Therefore, introducing fun activities like story-telling and reading picture books in the curriculum will improve the thinking and responding abilities of the children and enhance their verbal skills while promoting visual literacy among them.
Learning Activity Plan 2: Information and Communications Technology (ICT) in Classroom
Age Group: 5 years to 8 years
Key Concepts: The purpose of this learning activity is to demonstrate how Information and Communications Technology (ICT) can be used in classrooms to teach language and visual literacy to students of the junior years belonging to the age group of 5 to 8 years. The activity plan suggests showing films and documentaries to the children to increase their language and literacy learning scopes. The plan demonstrates the ways in which showing films to children can help them in language and literacy learning.
How to introduce picture books in the curriculum?
Using instructional videos can help teachers to retain and propagate more information among students (Barr, 2016). Children learn better when both their audio and visual senses are engaged. In order to effectively teach children about language and to promote visual literacy among them, it is important that teachers involve both the audio and visual senses of the student. To achieve this purpose, students can be made to watch films and documentaries (Roessingh, 2014). Since the age group chosen is 5 to 8 years, it is necessary that the children are made to watch movies suitable and interesting for the considered age group. Engaging children into watching films will familiarize them with the media power and enable and improve their language and literacy learning skills. The teachers can make the children watch films with stories the children are familiar with or even new ones that might be interesting for them. The children can be asked to write down a description of the film they were made to watch. Furthermore, they can also be asked to enact a part of the film they liked the most. Such activities would enhance the oral language skills of the children and improve their visual literacy.
The teacher can introduce the concept and background of the film to the students and then make them watch.
The children could be asked to enact a part of the film watched or write down a description of the film.
The teacher can add his/her own views on the film before concluding the activity.
Resources needed: DVD of the films, video player, projector, speakers, pen, paper.
How the activity aligns with the Australian curriculum and EYLF?
The EYLF states that children use ICT to investigate and discover new ideas and implement them in their learning process. The Australian curriculum aims at involving processes to enable the students to create their own texts representing their own ideas for language and literacy learning purpose (Peers & Fleer, 2014). This can be achieved by including media sessions such as films in the curriculum.
Learning Activity Plan 3: Introducing English as an Additional Language in the Curriculum
Age Group: 5 years to 8 years
Key Concepts: This learning activity focuses on how can language and literacy learning be promoted in the context of English as an Additional Language (EAL) in Australian classrooms for the age group of 5 to 8 years. The activity plan demonstrates the promotion of EAL among children while showing proper respect to their home language. The plan mentions that EAL can be promoted among students through reading, hearing, writing and speaking sessions.
English as an Additional Language (EAL) can be introduced and promoted among Australian students by carrying out reading, writing, audio and visual exercises in English language (Arnot, 2015). The students can be given to watch or hear some material either in English or in their home language and then asked to write or speak about it in English. If the material provided to hear or watch is in English, the students must be asked to write a description of the subject or speak on it in English or in their home language. If the children are given materials in their home language, then they must be asked to write or speak about it in English (Leung, Davison & Mohan, 2014). However, it must be taken care of that the teacher address the fact learning EAL is a sensitive issue and therefore must consider the extent to which the children are accustomed with EAL and train accordingly (Liddicoat & Scarino, 2013). This activity can ensure effective training of the students in language and literacy learning in the context of EAL and also requires the assistance of ICT in its execution.
The teacher can provide a brief description about the importance and the purpose of the activity to the students before starting the activity.
The students can be asked to describe verbally and non-verbally the materials provided to them for audio and visual purposes.
The teacher can offer his/her stance on the importance of EAL in the curriculum before concluding the activity.
Resources needed: DVDs, cassettes, CDs, audio player, projector, video player, pen, paper, speakers.
EYLF states that children are good interactors and that they have a strong sense of identity. Australian curriculum gives much importance to promoting intercultural learning and language learning (Peers & Fleer, 2014). Their courses offer diverse involvement in learning EAL while maintaining one’s own sense of identity. In this context, this activity is appropriately related to the EYLF and Australian curriculum.
References
Arnot, M. (2015). School approaches to the education of EAL students: Language development, social integration and achievement. Bell Education Trust Limited.
Barr, D. (2016). Students and ICT: An analysis of student reaction to the use of computer technology in language learning. IALLT Journal of Language Learning Technologies, 36(2).
Flood, J., Heath, S. B., & Lapp, D. (2015). Handbook of research on teaching literacy through the communicative and visual arts, volume II: A project of the International Reading Association. Routledge.
Leggett, N., & Ford, M. (2013). A fine balance: Understanding the roles educators and children play as intentional teachers and intentional learners within the’Early Years Learning Framework’. Australasian Journal of Early Childhood, 38(4), 42.
Leung, C., Davison, C., & Mohan, B. (2014). English as a second language in the mainstream: Teaching, learning and identity. Routledge.
Liddicoat, A. J., & Scarino, A. (2013). Intercultural language teaching and learning. John Wiley & Sons.
Painter, C., Martin, J., & Unsworth, L. (2013). Reading visual narratives: Image analysis of children’s picture books.
Peers, C., & Fleer, M. (2014). The theory of ‘belonging’: Defining concepts used within belonging, being and becoming—The Australian early years learning framework. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 46(8), 914-928.
Roessingh, H. (2014). Teachers’ roles in designing meaningful tasks for mediating language learning through the use of ICT: A reflection on authentic learning for young ELLs/Le rôle des enseignants dans la conception de tâches pertinentes en apprentissage des langues. Canadian Journal of Learning and Technology/La revue canadienne de l’apprentissage et de la technologie, 40(1).
Serafini, F. (2013). Reading the visual: An introduction to teaching multimodal literacy. Teachers College Press.
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