(Management) - Resources for Learning

On this entry, I will reflect on 4 different Learning Resources that I have discovered or worked with at some point in my life and that I think could be useful for teaching a certain language.

1. KAMISHIBAI

When we were working in class with the resource of illustrated albums, the idea that the main axis of the narrative is mainly supported by the collection of drawings that they offer, reminded me of the paper theater format or also known as Kamishibai.
 
It is a small support that acts as a theater and on which are displayed a collection of papers with drawings that on the back have the text that makes up the narrative of the story to be transmitted. In this way, it combines the possibility of reading a live story directly to the students, with the concept, performance and spontaneity characteristic of theatre.
 
I believe that this resource greatly enriches the possibilities of attracting students to reading. It is also true that it is usually a resource intended for a child audience, but there are many strategies that expand the use of this resource to older students, such as:

--> Individually, in pairs or in groups, students should adopt the role of narrator and transmit the story to the rest of their classmates (either in their native language or in the second language).

--> Once they have become familiar with this resource, invite them to elaborate their own stories, following the paper theater format, and then share the stories with their classmates.

Kamishibai Example

2. THE TRAVEL BOOK

This is a dynamic that has been put into practice in many schools, which I learned about during my internship in a Primary Educational School last year.

 

Following an order, each weekend one of the students will take this book home, where he/she will have to write and decorate a page of the book, continuing a story which originally only has the introduction. The narrative follows the fictitious idea that the whole class has decided to take a trip all around the world, so each page will be a destination that the student who takes the book home will decide.

 

Once back in the classroom, and before passing the book to the next classmate, the student will share his/her part of the narrative with his/her classmates, thus making everyone aware of the evolution and creative process of the story.

 

I think the main attraction of this dynamic is the feeling of group work that lies behind the story, after all, each student will contribute their part with the aim of composing a most relevant story.

3. LECTURE BETWEEN EQUALS

This dynamic is designed to be carried out in an educational center where there are students with wide age differences

The idea is based on pairing two school years that are several years apart (for example, 1st and 6th grade of Primary Education), and then pairing up members of both classes to meet weekly in what can be called a Reading Club.

 

The objective of the activity will be based on the fact that the younger students will be supported by the older students to develop their reading and writing skills through different activities that take place in these workshops, in the same way that a sense of responsibility is developed in the older students.

 

In conclusion, I believe it is important to highlight the idea that this type of activities, in addition to achieving the previously mentioned objectives, can be useful in projects aimed at achieving a good atmosphere of coexistence throughout the school, establishing emotional bonds between students from different grades.

4. (MUSIC) - CONCEPT ALBUMS

Throughout this course, we have seen how the resources of literature and film can be widely used in the classroom with the aim of inviting students to work with different stories and all that they convey.

 

In this way, I believe that if there is another resource that moves people, attracts their attention and makes us empathize with its creator, it is music. More specifically, I want to emphasize the interest of some compositions made by a multitude of musicians today, the concept albums. This type of albums are based on the idea of, following the appropiate order, transmitting a story, where the songs act as chapters or passages.

 

As with films and books, I believe that this resource can be used both in the first and second language classroom to work and take advantage of a multitude of techniques and strategies in the transmission of knowledge, values...

 

In this way, and to end this entry, I attach two possibilities of concept albums that I think can be used in the classroom.

 

The first one, is the album entitled El Mal Querer (2018) by Rosalía, written in Spanish, it is an adaptation of the story "Flamenca" from the 13th century, whose main modification relies on the ending of the story, conveying a final message of female empowerment.

 

In addition to the songs, the album is full of visual resources that accompany the central narrative, finding on the one hand, the videoclips of some of the chapters, as is the following example, the song Pienso en tu Mira' which corresponds to Chapter III, also called Celos.

 

On the other hand, each song is linked to a specific image designed by Filip Custic. I believe that these images can be useful to perform a dynamic similar to the one seen in the case of the illustrated album Los Misterios del Señor Burdik, where each student chooses a specific image and from it, they create their own story.

Finally, we find another example of concept album, this time in English, entitled Cry Baby (2015) by Melanie Martinez, on this album, a direct criticism is made to some of the negative aspects of today's society, from the point of view of the fictional character CryBaby, a girl who is discovering and evolving through different experiences that keep her in contact with the previously mentioned weaknesses of society.
 
It is important to keep in mind that, due to the explicit content of some of the topics it deals with (alcohol, drugs...), this album is intended for a adult and mature audience and, therefore, any pedagogical action that is based on taking advantage of this resource should be aimed to the same audience. In addition, as we will see later, the album and the video clips are characterized by their sometimes gloomy aspect, which again justifies the target audience.
 
Next on, I 've attached one of the songs entitled Mrs. Potato Head, which criticizes the social interest in reaching the established canons of beauty and that, sometimes, may be unrealistic or unattainable.

To conclude with, I want to highlight the recent publication of a second part of the story, called K-12 (2019), where the same dynamic is followed but this time, the main character goes into high school, and the criticism relies on the moments where this experience can be more difficult.