supplementary visual aids -they are built right into the book. THE OX-CART MAN This story, written by Donald Hall and illustrated by Barbara Cooney, is easily adapted to adult classes. The following vocabulary was new and interesting and could be introduced in a cause/effect context. For example: shear/wool; spin- book are later shown visually. The illus trations and the narrative work together THE LITTLE ISLAND tions—as when the journey of the ox-cart Every page contains pictures which As for the story-line, the book deals with a way of life in which hard work is seen as satisfying and rewarding to a family that works together. The New England setting allows a look at four distinct seasons, and since much of the world experiences only a rainy and a dry season, the pictures can stimulate curiosity and conjecture about what ramifications the changing seasons have upon clothing and customs. The description of Portsmouth market leads into discussions of buying and selling, life in port cities, and the relationships between persons and their possessions. These discussions branch out to include rural and urban culture, population density, and contemporary social, economic, and political considerations. The philosophical question, "Are we islands or parts of the whole?" arises every time Golden MacDonald (Margaret Wise Brown's) The Little Island is used with adults. The book is bursting with color words and illustrations: white and blue flowers, violets with golden eyes, white-pink blossoms, red strawberries, silver water, green pears, and black crows. The verbs are clever the kitten prowls, seals bark, fish leap, seaweed squeaks, and wind howls and moans. Besides illustrating the text, the accompanying pictures are effective for individual students or small groups to develop original stories. A related technique is for groups to develop chain stories in which each member adds to the plot as the pages are turned and pictures are shown. The question of believing without seeing is addressed when a visiting kitten challenges the connectedness of the island to the rest of the world. There is an opportunity for dramatic reading when the cat tells a fish that it will eat the fish up if it doesn't tell how the island is a part of the land, and when the kitten decides to believe what he cannot see. This juxtaposing of faith and questions of connectedness lends itself to philosophic discussions once adults hear the story and are asked to explore its meaning. If the discussion stays on the superficial level of recounting events and giving descriptions, invite the students to look more deeply-to remember, and to organize one's own memories following the sequence of the book. The Little Island lends itself to multiple interpretation: seasonal changes on the island may be likened to the seasons of our lives, and the visitors to the island are comparable to the thoughts that visit our minds. THE MADELINE SERIES Ludwig Bemelmans has written and illustrated a series of stories about Madeline, one of twelve little girls who live in Paris. The first Madeline book and Madeline's Rescue are Caldecott Award books. Others in the series include Madeline and the Bad Hat, Madeline in London, Madeline and the Gypsies. These books, written in simple couplets, follow the adventures of the main character, an appealing, mischievous little girl; supporting characters include an attentive care-giver, Miss Clavel, and eleven other little girls in a French boarding school. The rhymed story-lines are briefsometimes only one or two words per page, and detailed illustrations predominate. For example, in Madeline's Rescue, when the little girls are searching for their lost dog, a park scene shows at least eighteen different kinds of dogs, some running, others scratching, standing guard, sniffing, etc. The vocabulary is as carefully chosen as the details in the pictures. The books are fun to read because of their rhythm and rhyme: and on second reading, students generally chime in because they can remember which rhyming word will be used in the context. Madeline's adventures lend themselves to many forms of expansion-discussion of childhood escapades and other stories about children in books, movies, magazines, and television programs. A challenge to creativity is to invite students to place Madeline and her companions-or characters they invent themselves into a story that uses their own country as a setting. Salvadoran characters ended up riding crowded microbuses, attending soccer games, visiting local museums, and celebrating the New Year. FABLES BY LOBEL Illustrated children's books can be the Lobel's Fables is an excellent choice focal points for when only one book can be purchased. Illustrated Books: Low-tech, Illustrated children's books like the Caldecott award winners present good English literature to learners at a low reading level. Teachers on the lookout for fresh approaches, both for their own professional growth and for the invigoration ongoing enrichment. 15 Patience Lea McGuire has over 25 years of teaching English and Spanish in elementary and secondary schools. She has also taught ESL/EFL to children and adults in Texas, Mexico and Central America. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Texas in Austin. of their classes, will find these books eminently flexible with their marvelous pictures and captivating narratives. Just one good book can upgrade a language program or a teacher's professional library. Once these books are in place, there are two ways to go: one is to leave them in the resource center for teachers to use at their discretion. Another is to use them as the nuclei for team planning and staff development. In-service training can be carried out by teams that decide to plan a unit around a given book. Consider a group of teachers reading a book together, brainstorming activities, trying them out with their classes and returning for a second session with questions and suggestions generated from those classes! The books can be the focal points for ongoing enrichment as the team develops theme-based units. This article has emphasized the Caldecott award-winning books because their illustrations lend themselves to enhancing language learning. The Caldecott award winners, with their pictures, wit, depth, and authenticity are treasures, unsurpassed in potential for enhancing the teaching and learning of English. Books Used in the Pilot Project Bemelmans, Ludwig. 1989. Madeline. New York, New York: Viking. Madeline and the Bad Hat. 1956. Madeline in London. 1961. Madeline's Rescue. 1953. For information regarding permission, write to Permissions Dept., Viking Press 375 Hudson St., New York, N.Y. 10014 Hall, Donald. Ox-Cart Man. (Barbara Cooney, Illustrator) 1979. New York: Viking. For information regarding permission, write to Permissions Dept., Viking Penguin, Inc., 40 West 23rd St., New York, N.Y. 10010. Lobel, Arnold. 1980. Fables. New York: Harper and Row. For information regarding permission, write to Harper and Row Publishers, Inc., 10 East 53rd St., New York, N.Y. 10022. MacDonald, Golden. 1988. The Little Island. (Leonard Weisgard, illustrator) New York: Scholastic. For information regarding information permission, write to Permissions Dept., Doubleday and Co., Inc., 245 Park Ave., New York, N.Y. 10017. SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Brown, H. Douglas. 1973. Effective Variables Curran, Charles Arthur. 1977. Counseling- ment: A Continuing Process, English Garvie, Edie. 1990. Story as Vehicle: Teaching English to Young Children. Clevedon and Philadelphia: Multilingual Matters. Harris, Ben. 1985. Supervisory Behavior in Education. Englewood Cliffs, N.J.: PrenticeHall. Hymes, Dell. 1974. Language in Culture and Society. New York: Harper and Row. Kameenui, Edward J. 1993. Innovations in Literacy for a Diverse Society. The Reading Teacher. La Forge, Paul G. 1971. Community Language Learning: A Pilot Study. Language Learning, 21, pp. 45-61. McGuire, Patience. (Helen Hardebeck). 1976. Development of a Model for Designing Programs of Tutorial Interaction Among Language Learners. Unpublished dissertation, The University of Texas at Austin. Milne. J. 1981. Teaching Adult Beginners. In Communication in the Classroom, eds. K. Johnson and K. Morrow. Harlow, England: Longman. Savignon, Sandra J. and Margie S Berns. 1987. Initiatives in Communicative Language Teaching. New York: Addison-Wesley. Saville-Troike, Muriel. 1984. What Really Matters in Second Language Learning for Academic Achievement. TESOL Quarterly, 18, 2, pp. 199-219 Spolsky, Bernard. 1989. Conditions For Second Language Learning. New York: Oxford University Press. W HAT IS A CALDECOTT AWARD? IT IS, SIMPLY, THE HIGHEST HONOR THAT CAN BE GIVEN TO A U.S. ILLUSTRATOR OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS. IT IS THE PULITZER PRIZE, THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE, THE ACADEMY AWARD OF MOVIES, THE OLYMPIC GOLD IN SPORTS-THE HIGHEST ACCOLADE BESTOWED FOR THE BEST WORK IN ONE'S CHOSEN FIELD. In the world of books, especially children's books, there is a special joy and drama added to enhance the printed word: it is the picture that tells the tale, that aids the child's imagination; an inspiration that breathes life into the words and engenders more images in the child's mind as the author's words unfold. The Caldecott awards-named for British artist and illustrator Randolph Caldecott-consist of a series of gold, silver, or bronze medals, awarded annually in the United States since 1938 by the Children's Services Division of the American Library Association. The award was established by Frederic G. Melcher, chairman of the board of the R. R. Bowker Publishing Company, in order to recognize exceptional art work for children, and to encourage more of such fine illustrations for future children's books. But why name the award for a British artist and illustrator? In the opinion of Melcher and others, it was this artist who had given the most imaginative illustrations to children. Caldecott was born in Chester, Cheshire, England in 1846, and died in St. Augustine, Florida in 1886. In his 40 short-lived years, this British illustrator became famous for his satirical, whimsically-drawn and colored children's books, as well as paintings, metal reliefs, and terra-cottas. He began his career as a young bank clerk, and dabbled in drawings for local magazines. But his playing at art became serious when in 1871, he contributed to a London-based periodical, "London Society." The following year, he moved to London, determined to become a professional illustrator. He was highly successful, finally drawing for the much-esteemed, fashionable periodical, "Punch and Graphic." In 1875 Caldecott illustrated Washington Irving's "Sketch Book," and in 1876, the same author's "Bracebridge Hall." These illustrations were judged by critics to be "more sophisticated" than his earlier works, and were said to possess an original, ingenious caricature all Caldecott's own. It was said to be these two books which assured Caldecott's eventual recognition as an artist. The artist created exquisite imagery for some 16 children's books, including plates for Oliver Goldsmith's "Elegy on a Mad Dog" in 1879. His last work for children was done in 1885, when he illustrated Goldsmith's "The Great Panjandrum Himself." year, Clearly, Melcher's choice of Caldecott was inspired. This the Caldecott medal was awarded to "Grandfather's Journey," by Allen Say. The work traces an inspiring tale of a Japanese immigrant's voyage to a new land. The strangely cute, assuredly naughty little guy cavorting on the poster included with this issue of the English Teaching Forum is "The Stinky Cheese Man," from the 1993 Silver Caldecott Medal-winning children's book of the same name. Published in 1992 by Viking, a division of Penguin Press, the work was written by Jon Scieszka and illustrated by Lane Smith. The comical cynicism and irreverence of the title character is not lost on the youngest of children. At of the same time, any adult who reads the picture book to a child thoroughly enjoys himself. English Teaching Forum January 1995 Whose story is it? Conflict and Roleplay in Narrative Writing Wayne Amtzis The method presented here-one that I have used with Nepali college students provides the basis for a course in narrative writing for students of English as a foreign language. Examining setting, character, and action, students work in groups, generating a framework for understanding and writing short fictional narratives. Through roleplay, the students develop characters suitable to their own stories. A series of tasks introduces students to the underlying structure of short fiction and allows them to begin writing stories of their own. This method for teaching narrative writing, and American short stories, is taken from my reading of An Approach to Literature by Cleanth Brooks and Robert Penn Warren and Creating a Role by Constantin Stanislavski. In their role as literary critics, Warren and Brooks utilize setting, character, and action as a framework for ordering the discrete events of a short story. For them, "conflict is the dynamic of action," containing within its presentation and resolution the thematic basis for understanding a text. Stanislavski in his "method" for training actors also looks at the relation of character, action and setting. His suggestions for getting at the inner life of a story and his emphasis on the emotional life of a character complement the analytical framework presented by Warren and Brooks.' His movement between exterior and interior analysis, from "passive" to "active imagining" is one I try to imitate in the classroom and which I have set forth in the Procedure section below. I present a series of tasks that rely on group dynamics and interaction for their completion. Taking conflict as a point of departure, the students adopt the roles of different characters to develop stories. that examine the relationship between 1. "There is a direct bond," Stanislavski asserts, "between the internal and external circumstances of a play. Indeed the inner life of the characters is concealed in the outer circumstances." 2. "You can be the observer, but you can also take an active part-you can find yourself mentally in the center of circumstances and conditions which you have imagined. You no longer see yourself as outside onlooker. In time when this feeling is reinforced you can become the main, active personality in the surrounding circumstances.” conflict and character. The teacher guides the students through what Stanislavski calls "active imagining," allowing them to enter into the "inner circumstances" of the stories they are writing. Procedure What follows is a series of writing tasks, and a teacher-directed review of the students' work. The roles of both the teacher and the students will be considered. Assignment 1: Narrate a Conflict (for the group) Tell the students that they are going to be working in groups, writing about a specific place, the people there and an incident that has occurred. As a group they will decide what to write about, but they will write as individuals. Each one will ultimately write from the point of view of one of the people involved; i. e., each student will narrate a conflict from the perspective of a participant, in the first person singular. The situation they will be writing about is one that involves conflict. Their stories should emphasize interaction and the unfolding conflict, and relate the thoughts and feelings of the characters whose roles they have assumed. Preparation 1: Considering the Setting a. Have the students work in groups to consider places they are familiar with and can describe in a few sentences. They should limit themselves to public settings where a variety of people are likely to be found. Each group should decide on one setting. In their notebooks students should list a few words describing the place and a few of the people who might be seen there.3 b. Tell the students that each member of the group will write independently about the place and the people they see there. Begin the writing session by in this way: "Imagine yourself there, in the setting you have chosen, unnoticed, but observing both the place and the people. Now focus on one person. What is he/she doing? Is the person alone or waiting for someone? Or is the person engaged in an 3. Photos or pictures taken from local newspapers and magazines of people and places the students are familiar with can serve as stimuli for setting character portrayals. |
