Some people think of science as learning facts about the world around us. Others think of science and other ways of knowing as “the having of wonderful ideas” (Duckworth, 1987). This latter view of science and ways of knowing match the characteristics of young children as learners. Young children are naturally curious and passionate about learning (Raffini, 1993). In their pursuit of knowledge, they’re prone to poking, pulling, tasting, pounding, shaking, and experimenting. “From birth, children want to learn and they naturally seek out problems to solve” (Lind, 1999, p. 79).
Such attitudes and actions on the part of young children indicate that they engage in scientific thinking and actions long before they enter a classroom (Zeece, 1999). Unfortunately, when science education is introduced in a formal setting, it often reflects the understanding of science as the learning of facts. This approach has led some educators to suggest that “most science learning that takes place in formal settings is not true science” (Zeece, 1999, p. 161).This article will discuss the benefits of active, hands-on learning, goals for early childhood science programs, and suggestions for fostering scientific learning in the early childhood classroom.
Science as Active Exploration
While it is appropriate to introduce older students to science history and expect them to learn facts discovered by others, young children should learn science (and all other areas of study) through active involvement – that is, through first-hand, investigative experiences. Young children should be involved in “sciencing” versus the learning of scientific facts presented by others (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995; Mayesky, 1998; Zeece, 1999). Sciencing is a verb and suggests active involvement. Such involvement should be both hands-on and minds-on in nature. Thus, children should be engaged both physically and mentally in investigating and manipulating elements in their environment (Chaille & Britain, 2003; Kilmer & Hofman, 1995). To be developmentally appropriate and to be in compliance with national guidelines for the teaching of science, science education at the preschool and primary level must be “an active enterprise” (Lind, 1999, p. 73). Both the National Science Education Standards (National Research Council, 1996) and Benchmarks for Science Literacy (American Association for the Advancement of Science, 1993) call for an action-oriented and inquiry-based approach to science with young children. As articulated by Lind (1999), “the best way to learn science is to do science” (p. 74).
Therefore, science for young children should involve asking questions, probing for answers, conducting investigations, and collecting data. Science, rather than being viewed as the memorization of facts, becomes a way of thinking and trying to understand the world. This approach allows children to become engaged in the investigative nature of science (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995; Lind, 1999) and to experience the joy of having wonderful ideas (Duckworth, 1987).
Teachers can’t give children “wonderful ideas”; children need to discover or construct their own ideas. Developing new concepts or ideas is an active process and usually begins with child-centered inquiry, which focuses on the asking of questions relevant to the child. While inquiry involves a number of science-related activities and skills, “the focus is on the active search for knowledge or understanding to satisfy students’ curiosity” (Lind, 1999, p. 79). Knowing the right answer, then, is not one of the primary objectives of science in the early childhood curriculum. Duckworth (1987) refers to “knowing the right answer” as a passive virtue and discusses some of its limitations. “Knowing the right answer,” she says, “requires no decisions, carries no risks, and makes no demands. It is automatic. It is thoughtless” (p. 64). A far more important objective is to help children realize that answers about the world can be discovered through their own investigations. Sciencing, for example, involves coming up with ideas of one’s own. Developing these ideas and submitting them to someone else’s scrutiny is, according to Duckworth (1987), “a virtue in itself—unrelated to the rightness of the idea” (p. 68).
Developing ideas of one’s own add breadth and depth to learning. This is so, even if the child’s initial ideas are inaccurate views of the world. Duckworth (1987) explains: “Any wrong idea that is corrected provides far more depth than if one never had a wrong idea to begin with. You master the idea much more thoroughly if you have considered alternatives, tried to work it out in areas where it didn’t work, and figured out why it was that it didn’t work, all of which takes time” (pp. 71-72).
Desired goals of science in the early childhood curriculum include what we hope children will attain or achieve in three different areas: content, processes, and attitudes or dispositions. Content refers to the body of knowledge representing what we know about the world. Children’s body of knowledge develops and increases over time, and their desire to communicate and represent their knowledge should be acknowledged and supported.
The processes, or process skills, represent the active component of science and include such activities as predicting, observing, classifying, hypothesizing, experimenting, and communicating. Adults should support children in practicing and applying these skills in a variety of activities throughout the day. This can be done by showing a sincere interest in children’s observations and predictions and by providing a variety of materials and settings that invite experimentation.
Certain attitudes or dispositions are also central to scientific inquiry and discovery. These include curiosity, a drive to experiment, and a desire to challenge theories and to share new ideas (Conezio & French, 2002). Teachers should value these attitudes or dispositions, be aware of how they are manifested in young children, and find ways to acknowledge and nurture their presence.
Productive Questions to Foster Scientific Thinking*
Type of Question
Calls attention to significant details
What is it doing?
How does it feel?
Measuring & counting
Generates more precise information
Fosters analysis and classification
How are they alike?
Encourages exploration of properties and events; also encourages predictions
Supports planning & trying solutions to problems
How could we…?
Encourages reflection on experiences & construction of new ideas
Why do you think?
Can you explain that?
*Adapted from Martens, 1999, p. 26
Science in the Early Childhood Classroom
Science is often sadly neglected in the early childhood classroom (Johnson, 1999). Perhaps this is because science is “perceived and presented as too formal, too abstract, and too theoretical – in short, too hard for very young children and their teachers” (Johnson, 1999, p. 19). Perhaps this neglect is also due to the mistaken idea that the “constructivist” approach to education is incompatible with science education (Johnson, 1999).
A constructivist approach to education is based on the understanding that knowledge is constructed by children versus being given or transmitted to them.
In this approach, children are viewed as “intellectual explorers” (Lind, 1999) and “theory builders” (Chaille & Britain, 2003).This approach assumes that as they interact with the world around them, young children develop their own complex and varying theories about this world.
Teachers working from a constructivist approach provide a supportive environment where young children are encouraged to go about testing and revising their original theories. Key ingredients for a supportive environment include: a) a variety of interesting materials for children to explore and manipulate, b) unstructured time for children to develop and test their own ideas, and c) a social climate that tells the children that questions and experimentation are as valuable as knowing the right answers. Productive questions posed by the teacher at just the right time are also critically important to helping children construct their own understandings. Productive questions are, in fact, one of the most effective tools for supporting constructivist learning (Martens, 1999).
Most children have difficulty constructing understanding simply by engaging in an activity – that is, they “fail to make connections necessary to arrive at a desired understanding” (Martens, 1999, p. 25). Productive questions provide a bridge between what the children already know and what they experience through an activity. Productive questions thus “take a student forward in his or her thinking; they enable a teacher to provide scaffolding for students beginning to build their own understandings” (Martens, 1999, p. 25).
As outlined by Martens (1999) and presented on page 32, there are six different types of productive questions that work well with the constructivist approach to teaching and learning. These questions also support the science curriculum goals in an early childhood classroom. Used strategically, these questions allow teachers to meet students where they are in their thinking and provide the type of scaffolding needed at any given moment (Martens, 1999).The teacher’s choice as to what type of question to use is based on what the teacher hears and sees as the children engage in an activity.
The constructivist approach places the child at the center of the educational process. The teacher’s role in this approach is to serve as observer and facilitator rather than instructor (Chaille & Britain, 2003; Martens, 1999). Science education, however, has long been teacher-centered, with the teacher as the authority figure and the one with all the right answers. Without doubt, such a traditional science program – involving authority-based, teacher-directed instruction – is inappropriate for young children (Johnson, 1999). While best practices in science education at all levels call for a more hands-on, inquiry-based approach, the image of teacher-as-authority persists (Johnson, 1999). This image needs to change, so that young children can reap the benefits of a stimulating science curriculum that nurtures their curiosity and their on-going intellectual development. Through such a curriculum, children will experience the joy of having wonderful ideas – that is, the joy of finding out.
Science and Young Children: Comparing Approaches
· Science viewed as already-discovered knowledge
· Teacher viewed as authority
· Areas of study set by teacher
· Large group instruction and investigations
· Evaluation based on right answers
· Content not connected to children’s experiences
· Predetermined parameters around areas of study
· Prescribed ways to collect and record data
· Science viewed as separate area of the curriculum
· Science viewed as active exploration
· Teacher viewed as facilitator
· Areas of study set by child interest
· Individual and small group investigations
· Evaluation based on multiple criteria
· Content connected to children’s experiences
· Content of study open-ended
· Multiple ways to collect and record data
· Science integrated with other curricular areas
Fostering Scientific Thinking
One of the primary goals of the early childhood science curriculum is the development of scientific thinking in young children. Scientific thinking differs from the learning of scientific facts in that scientific thinking involves children in the process of finding out. Instead of learning what other people have discovered, scientific thinking leads children to make their own discoveries. Scientific thinking is manifest as young children ask questions, conduct investigations, collect data, and search for answers. Scientific thinking is evident, for example, when Jake puts one snowball in an empty bucket while he puts another snowball of about the same size in the water table. “I want to see which one lasts the longest,” he says.
Chaille and Britain (2003), inThe Young Children as Scientist, present a constructivist curriculum model for science and emphasize the importance of scientific thinking. They clearly debunk the notion that the constructivist approach is incompatible with science education. They describe young children as “actively inquiring natural scientists” (p. 20) and learning as “the process of theory building” (p. 5). This view of young children and how they learn is supported elsewhere in the literature where young children are described as being naturally curious and “biologically prepared to learn about the world around them” (Conezio & French, 2002, p. 12). In the above example, Jake knew that snow melts when exposed to warm temperatures. He wasn’t sure, however, if water at room temperature would make any difference in how quickly snow melted. His self-selected experiment was designed to help him find out.
To foster scientific thinking, teachers should view young children as active learners (versus recipients of knowledge) and give them varied opportunities to explore and experiment. Such opportunities will allow children to construct meaning and develop understandings that are not only valid but also valuable to their on-going intellectual development. The teacher, in response to Jake’s experiment, could extend – or scaffold – his learning by posing several productive questions (as presented on page 32) at opportune times. A measuring question would be a good place to start. How many minutes will it take before the snowball in the bucket melts? How many minutes for the snowball in the water table? Action questions and reasoning questions could follow: What would happen if we broke the snowball into smaller pieces? Why do you think the snowball in the water table melted first? Can you invent a rule about how things melt?
An environment that fosters scientific thinking is one that gives young children the time, space, and materials to exercise their curiosity. It also gives them the freedom to engage in child-centered explorations, experimentations, and explanations. Note that in the questions posed in relation to Jake’s experiment, the teacher avoided giving facts or stating rules. The questions posed invited more reflective thinking and further experimentation on Jake’s part. The experiment and the related findings were his, not the teacher’s or someone else’s.
To become engaged in scientific thinking, children need access to materials that they can take apart and the tools to assist them in doing so. They need places where they can dig in the dirt and dip water from a pond. They also need magnifying glasses, measuring tools, buckets, and frequent access to the natural world.
Teachers should take advantage of the different ways science can be naturally integrated into a play-centered curriculum. Science should not be viewed as an “add on” or a separate part of the early childhood program. Sciencing occurs, in many cases, in what children already do and how they think about what they do. As a child experiments with a mixture of oil and water, for example, she is making observations and predictions. The child is also building theories and testing those theories. These physical and mental manipulations represent the essence of what science is all about.
Children’s construction of knowledge can be enhanced through social interactions—that is, by sharing their observations and ideas with each other. Children should be encouraged to work together “in building theories, testing those theories, and then evaluating what worked, what didn’t, and why” (Conezio & French, 2002, p. 13). Shared inquiry where children work together can be especially beneficial in fostering curiosity and stimulating new ideas (Chaille & Britain, 2003). One way to involve children in shared inquiry is through solving problems that focus on a specific situation: How can we move this heavy box? or How do we find out what our turtle likes to eat? Shared inquiry generates a number of diverse ideas about the problem and challenges children to communicate the reasoning behind their ideas. There’s no doubt that “problem solving and reflective thinking play an important role in children’s science learning” (Lind, 1999, p. 80).
Science should be integrated into all the other curricular areas. Math, literacy, social studies, and art can all be linked to science. For literacy, it’s easy to introduce and/or reinforce scientific thinking through poetry, storytelling, and non-fiction children’s literature. The benefits of such integration, as outlined by Zeece (1999), include:
- providing accurate information in understandable and interesting language;
- offering topical information from varied viewpoints;
- helping children develop inquiring minds and a scientific approach to solving problems in increasingly sophisticated ways;
- presenting models of scientific methods of observation, hypothesis formulation, data gathering, experimentation, and evaluation; and
- fostering an appreciation, understanding, and respect for living things.
Science-based literature should be chosen carefully with attention to both literacy and science concerns in mind. As expressed by Zeece (1999), “Criteria for selection of natural science-based children’s literature ideally parallel those used for other high-quality literary resources” (p. 161). Additional considerations, however, relate to how elements of the natural world are represented and presented. With these considerations in mind, Zeece (1999) recommends choosing books with the following criteria in mind:
- current, factual content;
- clear and simple explanations;
- depth and complexity of subject matter closely matched to the developmental and interest level of children in the group;
- beautifully presented illustrations and narrative;
- content consistent with overarching philosophy of the program; and
- completeness and ease of use allowing children to answer questions and/or explore ideas effectively.
Science Concepts Typically Taught During the Preschool Years*
Systems (groups or collections having some influence on one another)
e.g.: parts of the human body; ecosystems (where animals and plants live interdependently)
Models (representations of real objects or phenomenon)
e.g.: word descriptions or drawings; physical models
Constancy and Change (how things change over time)
e.g.: seed to plant; different seasons; growth and decay
Scale (focusing on characteristics and comparisons)
e.g.: size; distance; quantity; weight
Patterns and Relationships (structure and organization of matter)
e.g.: properties of materials; alike and different comparisons; patterns in nature
Cause and Effect (explanations for phenomena)
e.g.: shadows; freezing/melting; gravity
Structure and Function (relationship between characteristic and action)
e.g.: makeup of plants and animals; tools; eating utensils
Variations (discontinuous and continuous properties)
e.g.: sounds; colors
Diversity (variety of types)
e.g.: seeds; leaves; living organisms
*Adapted from Kilmer & Hofman (1995)
From this discussion, it should be clear that the science curriculum in an early childhood program should include both teacher planned activities and “spontaneous sciencing.” Teachers should certainly plan a variety of interesting and challenging situations which invite young children to observe, explore, and experiment (Chaille & Britain, 2003). Examples of such situations include teacher-led explorations of the properties of water, characteristics of animals and their habitats, life cycles of plants, and patterns found in nature (seasons, light and shadows, day and night).Many rich opportunities for sciencing, however, occur on a daily basis during unplanned events in the classroom and on the playground. These opportunities invite spontaneous sciencing and can lead to the “having of wonderful ideas.”
“Spontaneous sciencing occurs whenever a child (or a teacher) sees something of interest and wonders about it” (Kilmer & Hofman, 1995, p. 55). A constructivist teacher recognizes such moments and pauses to observe, reflect, and explore with the children. The occasion may be icicles hanging from the roof, a bird building a nest, or ants at the base of a tree. By stopping to observe and reflect, teachers give children the opportunity to grow in appreciation and understanding of the world around them.
Children are naturally curious about the world and want to find out as much as they can. They want to know what makes the wind blow, how trees grow, why fish have fins, and where turtles go in the winter. But they don’t want adults to give them the answers. They want to be the discoverers, the experimenters, and the theory builders. They don’t want science to be something that is imparted to them; they want it to be something that they do. They want to be scientists; not just consumers of science. They want to ask their own questions, collect their own data, and arrive at new and wonderful ideas. These “wants” should shape the foundation of an early childhood science curriculum.
Ruth Wilson, Ph.D., is a Professor Emeritus of Special Education at Bowling Green State University in Ohio. Dr. Wilson has focused much of her research and program development efforts on early childhood environmental education.
American Association for the Advancement of Science. (1993).Benchmarks for science literacy. New York: Oxford University Press.
Chaille, C. & Britain, L. (2003).The young child as scientist (3rd ed.).Boston: Allyn & Bacon.
Conezio, K, & French, L. (2002, September). Science in the preschool classroom: capitalizing on children’s fascination with the everyday world to foster language and literacy development. Young Children, pp. 12-18.
Duckworth, E. (1987).‘The Having of Wonderful Ideas’ and Other Essays on Teaching and Learning. New York: Teachers College Press.
Johnson, J.R. (1999). The forum on early childhood science, mathematics, and technology education. In American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Dialogue on Early Childhood Science, Mathematics, and Technology Education. Washington, DC: AAAS, pp. 14-25.
Kilmer, S.J., & Hofman, H. (1995). Transforming science curriculum. In S. Bredekamp & Rosegrant, T. (Eds.).Reaching potentials: Transforming early childhood curriculum and assessment, Vol. 2. Washington, DC: NAEYC, pp. 43-63.
Lind, K.K. (1999).Science in early childhood: developing and acquiring fundamental concepts and skills. In American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).Dialogue on early childhood science, mathematics, and technology education. Washington, DC: AAAS, pp. 73-83.
Martens, M.L. (1999, May).Productive questions: tools for supporting constructivist learning.Science and Children, pp. 24-27, 53.
Mayesky, M. (1998).Creative activities for young children (6th ed.).Albany, NY: Delmar.
National Research Council (1996).National science education standards. Washington, DC: National Academy Press.
Raffini, J.P. (1993).Winners without losers: Structures and strategies for increasing student motivation to learn. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Zeece, P.D. (1999). Things of nature and the nature of things: Natural science-based literature for young children. Early Childhood Education Journal, 26(3), 161-166.


English Language Learning
- Understand the concept of learner empowerment;
- Identify resources that can help develop learner autonomy and multiliteracies.
The purpose of this chapter is to introduce the notion of learner empowerment and provide available resources for empowering English language learners through integrating technology into your instruction. Under this broad concept of empowerment, in this chapter, we focus on two key aspects - developing learner autonomy and employing a multiliteracies perspective in the classroom. We further narrow the scope of each aspect by discussing what learning opportunities each of them affords. We follow this discussion with a list of technology tools that will assist with your incorporation of our suggestion, and provide a scenario-based example using some of the listed tools.
- English Language Learners (ELL)
- students who often come from families where languages other than English are spoken and whose English proficiency may be defined as limited at least at some point of formal schooling; often required to fulfill certain language requirements, such as language assessments or specialized language courses
- Learner Autonomy
- the ability to take charge of and responsibility for one's own learning in order to pursue topics that are relevant and interesting to the learner
- Learner Empowerment
- raising learners' awareness of the control they can have over their own learning process, which often goes hand in hand with the concept of learner autonomy (e.g., when language learners are empowered, they are given the power and ownership of their own learning and are allowed to negotiate identities in the learning process)
- emphasizes that language use is context-specific and multimodal. It values the differences between different communication modes
- like learner autonomy, this concept hands more learning responsibility to students; moreover, it emphasizes on the importance of making connections between learners and the language they are learning at different levels as a way to strengthen the bond; promoting ownership is considered as a strategy to enhance learner autonomy
What do we mean by learner empowerment?
English language learners (ELLs), who often come from families where languages other than English are spoken, is a rapidly growing, but oftentimes underprivileged population of students in U.S. schools. These students sometimes have negative labels or stigmas attached to them because of language proficiency or cultural stereotypes. As a result of the negative labels and stigmas they are exposed to, ELL students may also hold negative beliefs about their own identities and competence.
In the classroom, too often these learners’ voices go unheard and their diverse identities are underappreciated. A simple definition for empowering learners is to give them power and ownership of their own learning and allow students to negotiate their identities in the language learning process. Teachers have used various strategies to allow ELLs to voice their learning needs in the classroom. These includes incorporating students’ home culture, home language, or prior experiences into the instruction, emphasizing diversity or multiliteracies, involving students in making learning-related decisions, or creating opportunities for students to express themselves in a multimodal manner.
To empower ELLs through technology integration into our instruction, in this chapter, we focus on two aspects under the broad concept: learner autonomy and multiliteracies. To promote learner autonomy in your classroom, you can start by creating collaboration and reflective opportunities for your students, and to raise the awareness of multiliteracies in your classroom by providing spaces for students to express their multiple identities in various forms. All of these have become much more accessible for both teachers and learners with the availability of new technologies.
Handing over responsibility to the students by encouraging their control of the learning process or allowing them the options to choose topics pertaining to their interest can promote their learner autonomy. The concept of learner autonomy has been closely associated with self-directed learning, and is seen as an important element that results in learner empowerment. Fortunately, with the emergence of new technologies, learners do not necessarily have to rely on teachers for accessing input and learning resources. They are now given more choices to make learning decisions for themselves as to how, what, and when they want to learn.
We know that there are different ways to define learner autonomy, but in general, it can be defined as“the ability to take charge of one’s own learning” (Little, 2007, p. 15), and it concerns whether or not “learners are able to pursue topics and questions that are interesting and relevant to them” (Cennamo, Ross, & Ertmer, 2013, p. 58). In other words, through shifting responsibility from teachers to learners, we give learners the power to take charge of their own learning process.
Empowering ELLs through developing them into autonomous learners can happen within and outside the classroom. For example, in the classroom, as a teacher, we can include collaborative projects, review our assessment methods to ensure learner autonomy is considered, allow our students chance and time for reflection, or give them opportunities to monitor and assess their learning as well as opportunities to provide us feedback. On the other hand, outside the classroom, there are other methods we can encourage our students to take in promoting learner autonomy. For example, students can make use of digital learning technologies to pace their own learning, find support from distance learning, or seek other learning opportunities, such as language exchanges or study abroad experience. These approaches shift learning responsibility from teachers to learners and engage our students in a learning process where they possess more ownership.
While the backgrounds and needs of English language learners may vary profoundly, one thing they share in common is that most of them come from homes where languages other than English are spoken. This leads to their multiliteracies and a sense of multiple identities and cultures, and potentially to their lack of English language competence and cultural understanding of the U.S. education system. As a teacher, recognizing their differences is an important first step, and to further empower them through embracing their differences and encouraging them to show their differences, new technologies can bring a wide range of possibilities for the acceptance and enactment of multiliteracies in your classroom.
To empower ELLs, one aspect is to challenge the dominance of English language and the cultural values owned and imposed by the mainstream groups. In other words, as English as a second language or content area teachers, we should celebrate and incorporate ELLs' home cultures and languages into our instruction. During the process, we help ELLs develop their bilingual and bicultural identities (or even multilingual and multicultural) instead of forcing them into the English-only mentality and being considered as "inferior" or "disabled" individuals.
The other method of empowering ELLs is to bestow them the opportunities for developing their competency as fluent and critical English speakers, readers, and writers. The notion of multiliteracies or new literacies further comes in as it recognizes that communications go beyond written or oral language. People communicate with one another through modes beyond language (e.g., gestures, interpersonal distance, sound, images). Therefore, aside from the traditional language competences (reading, writing, speaking, listening, grammar), a pedagogy of multiliteracies also emphasize cultivating multiliterate individuals who are "flexible and strategic and can understand and use literacy and literate practices with a range of texts and technologies; in socially responsible ways; in a socially, culturally, and linguistically diverse world; and to fully participate in life as an active and informed citizen" (Anstey & Bull, 2006, p. 55). Oftentimes, participating in such activities, ELLs are also given the space to reflect on their multiple identities more critically.
Enhancing learner autonomy and endorsing multiliteracies in the classroom are both important and neither should be overlooked. Therefore, to be a teacher who is committed to empowering ELLs means one will not only deliberately create opportunities for learners to take in charge of their learning, but also honor their home cultures and languages and strive to cultivate both the traditional and new literacy competences.
How can technology support learner empowerment?
Integrating technology into our ESL teaching can provide a good variety of ways to develop ELLs’ autonomy and multiliteracies. With proper instructional design, technology can help teachers enrich the learning environments, differentiate the learning tasks, and give students the ownership of their learning. It also gives learners ways to express themselves through different channels and modes of communications. For example, by using communication tools such as instant messaging, students who are less confident of speaking are offered an alternative way to express their thoughts in conversational contexts. Or, by using photo or video cameras, students are able to express themselves with both language and visual representations.
Furthermore, one of the biggest challenges in teaching a multilingual/multicultural classroom is that the teacher may not share the same home language as the students and their families. To that end, technology resources such as Internet search engines, online dictionaries or translation services all play a crucial role in understanding and incorporating students’ home cultures and languages into our instruction. Thus, technology not only can potentially enhance the effectiveness of our ESL instruction, it is also the key to realizing a transformative educational experience for ELLs.
What technology tools are available?
Technology for autonomy
- Collaborative learning tools: Students develop autonomy when they take responsibility of their own learning individually, or collaboratively with their peers. The use of collaborative learning tools strengthens learner autonomy because it creates authentic language activities that are engaging, involves learners in decision-making processes where they direct their own learning with their peers, and extends the learning experience outside of the classroom. These activities improve students’ language and autonomous learning skills at the same time. For example, many online collaborative writing tools allow students to compose a story together. Students can use collaborative learning tools to write with their classmates for a course project, or to do creative storytelling online with other writers they have never met. Many of the websites also offer a space for writers to publish their work online, which gives students a real audience to write to. Or, if students are producing a digital project collaboratively, they can share and put together ideas and multimedia resources in a shared digital space, which not only stores the information but also helps them sort out the ideas by engaging in decision-making processes.
- Google Drive [http://drive.google.com/]: Google Drive may be seen as a cloud storage, but it is more than that and is very easy to use for collaboration and resource sharing. Plus, if you or your students are already using Microsoft Office, tools on Google Drive work very similar to Microsoft Office tools, making file exporting and importing between the two straightforward. For more information on how to use Google Drive in e-learning, this article provides some directions for you to go: 6 Effective Ways To Use Google Drive in eLearning [https://edtechbooks.org/-Er].
- Padlet [https://padlet.com/]: Padlet enables students to organize and arrange ideas freely on a blank board. It makes sharing multimedia resources such as audio, video, images, and documents easy and fast. There is a lot of flexibility in terms of how to use this tool. You can create a shared board for your class, or your students can create one for their own group. The tool allows anonymous editing or sharing, so be mindful that if for your purposes you prefer to have identifiable contributions of the students, you will want to require student login. Otherwise, there will be no way to trace back who makes what changes.
- FoldingStory [http://foldingstory.com/]: This is a great tool to motivate students to write creatively together and to turn writing into a game. Your students can do collaborative storytelling with others. What makes this more exciting is each writer only gets to contribute 120 words or less within 3 minutes to a open story. When a line gets more likes from the readers, the writer will get on the leaderboard. If your students don’t feel motivated to write, FoldingStory may bring some change. The site also keeps all stories that are finished for future readers.
- Piazza [https://piazza.com/]: This tool helps you build an online learning community for your course and has features that can encourage extended discussion outside of class. It differs from many other learning management systems in that anonymous postings are allowed, which may be especially beneficial to encouraging different forms of participation from ELLs. The website also provides subject-specific features so that you and your students can expand the discussion with the availability of specific textual and multimedia editing tools. According to their user testimonials, students tended to feel more comfortable discussing and asking questions on this platform.
- Audio recording and editing tools: No matter where your students share their work or collaborate, if they want to create an audio recording and embed it into their project, these free tools are great to use:
- Audacity (https://edtechbooks.org/-Tj): To watch tutorials for how to record with Audacity, you can check out Lynda.com, or read this blog article from Jake Ludington’s Digital Lifestyle [https://edtechbooks.org/-xTF].
- GarageBand for Mac - https://edtechbooks.org/-jdT
- VoiceThread [https://voicethread.com/]
- Self-directed learning tools: As mentioned above, students develop autonomy when they are in charge of their own learning, and self-learning has been considered as a critical process in developing autonomy. When students are involved in self-directed learning, they are usually engaged in activities including diagnosing learning needs, setting learning goals, implementing learning strategies, evaluating their own learning, or searching for different approaches or resources to support and pace their learning more effectively. In addition, particularly for those ELLs who are struggling or unmotivated, creating learning experience they can relate to may help turn around the learning outcomes.
- Self-paced learning tools:
- Duolingo [https://www.duolingo.com/]: A favorite of many language learners. Learners can set daily goals for themselves and use different features to motivate them.
- CourseWorld [http://www.courseworld.org/]: A huge collection of online talks and classes can be found on this site, making the search of resources much easier.
- Khan Academy [https://www.khanacademy.org/]: The site is very well-designed and offers a lot of amazing courses for learning subject areas, and by far an English grammar section.
- NoRedInk [https://www.noredink.com/]: A great site designed for teaching and learning grammar and writing skills. It not only saves you a lot of time creating quizzes and assignments, but better than that, aligns with the Common Core Standards.
- Reflective learning tools:
- Formative assessment/feedback tools: As mentioned earlier, allowing student to reflect on what you teach and to give you feedback is a great way to empower them. These great tools will help you collect student response in an efficient way:
- Student self-reflection tools: Not just reflecting on what you teach, students surely need to reflect on their own learning process. With these following tools, students can record and capture a moment in their learning, add reflection to the image or video of that moment, and even share that with others:
- E-portfolios: The following are tools that are safe for your students to create e-portfolios to record, share, and reflect on their learning, while you (and their parents) monitor their progress and online activities.
- Audio publishing tools: When your students create a digital project or an e-portfolio using the sites above, they can upload a podcast or an audio show they make to those sites. To give them another option, these sites are made for publishing audio shows:
- Podbean [https://podbean.com/]: This site also has a section for publishing education podcasts (https://edtechbooks.org/-bfT), where you will find online lessons, student projects, etc.
- Podomatic [https://www.podomatic.com/]
- BuzzSprout [https://www.buzzsprout.com/]
- Blubrry [https://www.blubrry.com/]
- Spreaker [https://www.spreaker.com/]
- YouTube [https://www.youtube.com/]
- iTunes [https://www.apple.com/itunes/]
- Self-paced learning tools:
Technology for multiliteracies
- Multimedia ESL lessons: ELL teachers are blessed with a great variety of resources available online for enhancing and enriching our instructions. In particular, the following websites offer great multimedia materials for developing language lessons that would help students improve their traditional literacy skills (speaking, listening, reading, writing and grammar) in an integrative way. These multimedia lessons offer visuals, audios, and hand-on activities recommendations that could meet learners’ various learning styles. They incorporate authentic materials (e.g., TED talks, movies, online Youtube videos) that introduce a wide range of knowledge to empower the ELLs with the cultural capitals they need. Some of the websites also allow the teachers to adjust the language difficulty level to fit their ELL’s needs. In addition, teachers can also use these multimedia materials to introduce students to the multiliteracies (new literacies) skills, getting students to start paying attention to the meanings conveyed through modes other than written and oral language (visual representations, ambient sounds, music, accents etc.). These multimedia materials could also serve as examples for students to consider how they could communicate in a multimodal way.
- BBC Learning English (https://edtechbooks.org/-zA): BBC offers free language lessons and listening practices based on current news reports. Their archived site also has a lot of great multimedia materials (https://edtechbooks.org/-gq) .
- Breaking News English (https://edtechbooks.org/-cY): it’s free and it’s amazing. As simple as that.
- TEDxESL [http://tedxesl.com/]: It really is a pity that this site is no longer updated, but all the available TED-talks-based lessons on this site are well-designed and engaging.
- ESLnotes (https://edtechbooks.org/-SB): Who doesn’t like watching movies? ESL notes offer movie watching guide and discussion questions for some classic American movies.
- Viralelt (https://edtechbooks.org/-qN): The author of this blog, Ian, developed ESL lessons for intermediate to advanced adult ESL learners based on youtube videos that had gone viral on the internet.
- ESL Pod (https://edtechbooks.org/-Pi): ESL Pod does not only offer podcast lessons for ESL learners, they also have online blog posts, videos and also kinds of resources for ESL learners and teachers.
- BrainPOP ESL [https://esl.brainpop.com/]: BrainPOP ESL offer lessons specifically designed for ESL learning. With all the animations and games, this is a great resource for younger ELLs. In addition, with captions for all the videos, lessons hosted on BrainPOP junior [https://jr.brainpop.com/] are great resources for elementary ESL teachers, too.
- Starfall [http://more.starfall.com/]: Starfall has interactive games and lessons for emerging readers. Preschool and kindergarten teachers as well as elementary ESL teachers have been using this site to engage young kids.
- Storyline Online (https://edtechbooks.org/-YF): Elementary teachers, if you have never visited this website before, you have to visit it. This is one of the best websites for children’s literacy and storytelling. The storytelling videos are all captioned, so they are appropriate for ESL learning as well. In addition to the videos, the website also provides activity guides for teachers.
- Multimodal composing and digital storytelling: From the multiliteracies perspective, we need to give students opportunities to learn and practice using different modes and technologies. ESL teachers have been engaging ELLs’ in multimodal composing and digital storytelling to empower them with the symbolic competence. Through multimodal composing or digital storytelling, ELLs relies on different modes of communication to express themselves. ESL teachers would further encourage ELLs to tell their own stories, express their emotions or introduce their home cultures and languages through digital storytelling.
- The following sites offer tips for using digital storytelling in teaching and also examples of digital storytelling videos:
- Story Center - https://edtechbooks.org/-nC
- Story Circle - https://edtechbooks.org/-uk
- Story Corps [https://storycorps.org/]
- Video in the classroom - https://edtechbooks.org/-so
- Lang Witches- Digital storytelling (https://edtechbooks.org/-mx): what it is and what it is not
- Larry Ferlazzo’s blog post on digital storytelling - https://edtechbooks.org/-Ya
- U of Houston’s Educational Uses of Digital Storytelling - https://edtechbooks.org/-uf
- The following websites or apps are excellent tools for multimodal composing or digital storytelling:
- Storybird [https://storybird.com/]
- My Storybook [https://www.mystorybook.com/]
- Storify [https://storify.com/]
- Toondoo [http://www.toondoo.com/]
- Pixton [https://www.pixton.com/]
- Make Belief Comix - https://edtechbooks.org/-rNh
- Storyboard That [http://www.storyboardthat.com/]
- VoiceThread [https://voicethread.com/]
- Tika Tok [https://www.tikatok.com/]
- Zimmer Twins [http://www.zimmertwins.com/]
- Toontastic 3D - https://edtechbooks.org/-ri
- Green Screen [https://edtechbooks.org/-JCd]
- Stop Motion Studio [https://edtechbooks.org/-YP]
- Powtoon [https://www.powtoon.com/]
- WeVideo [https://www.wevideo.com/]
- Shadow Puppet [http://get-puppet.co/]
- Haiku Deck [https://www.haikudeck.com/]
- Trading Cards Creator1 - https://edtechbooks.org/-Bf
- Trading Cards Creator 2 [https://edtechbooks.org/-gV]
- The following sites offer tips for using digital storytelling in teaching and also examples of digital storytelling videos:
Example of using technology to empower ELLs
Miss Caroline is an ESL teacher at the Flower Elementary School. One third of the student population at this school are ELLs whose home language includes Spanish, Chinese, Korean, Arabic, Turkish and Swahili. Also, one third of the student population are enrolled in free or reduced price meal plans. Miss Caroline speaks English as first language and can speak a little Spanish. Each ESL class Miss Caroline teaches has around 18-20 students. She has a teaching assistant, and there are community volunteers coming into her classes to help her on a regular basis, too. The Flower Elementary School has 1:1 technology access where kindergarten to 3rd grade have access to iPads and 4th grade or higher has Chromebooks.
In this lesson unit, Miss Caroline engaged the 4-5th grade ESL students to learn about their home cultures and introduce their home cultures to one another through storytelling. The lesson started with Miss Caroline leading the students to discuss what culture means and why cultural understandings are important. Miss Caroline asked the students which culture(s) they felt they were affiliated with and what they know about those cultures.
Next, Miss Caroline mentioned how holidays have significant cultural and historical meanings behind. She used Thanksgiving in the US as example. By introducing Thanksgiving, Miss Caroline taught students vocabulary words related to Thanksgiving such as parade, pilgrim, gravy, mashed potato, turkey, harvest. She also used a BrainPOP lesson [https://edtechbooks.org/-Fy] to teach students past simple tense, which is an important grammatical knowledge for telling stories. She showed a cartoon that tells the story of Thanksgiving [https://youtu.be/Yh_0t4EcsjE], and asked students to retell the story of Thanksgiving.
She then introduced some Thanksgiving traditions in the US such as the Thanksgiving dinner or the Macy’s parade in New York. Miss Caroline also brought photos of her family celebrating Thanksgiving together and shared her thanksgiving stories.
Afterwards, Miss Caroline announced the digital storytelling project. She told students they were to pick an important holiday in their home cultures and create a digital story about how their family celebrated the holiday. Prior to making the digital story, Miss Caroline assigned three mini tasks to the students:
- Conduct online research on the holiday you are going to introduce (in either English or your home language); write a brief introduction of the holiday in English.
- Interview your parents or grandparents to learn about how they celebrated this holiday; take notes on the stories they shared and collect photos if possible.
- Choose three words relevant to the holiday in your home language, create trading cards [https://edtechbooks.org/-Bf] to introduce them to the class.
Then, Miss Caroline taught the elements of good stories and how to write personal narratives. She also introduced action words and adjectives that are useful for writing stories. She then engaged students in creative story writing by randoming picking 3 trading cards other students created to make a story.
Next, Miss Caroline asked students to write the script for the story about how their family celebrated a holiday in their home culture. She prompted the students to think about whose point of view they are going to write for, what events occurred, how they would sequence the events, what problems, dramas or emotions were involved. After the story has been structured, she also guided the students to pay attention to the grammars and word choices.
Miss Caroline then provided various activities to teach students how to create a good digital story. She told students a digital story utilizes things beyond language to convey meaning to the audience. This includes images, sounds, music and even a dramatic tone. She showed to students a few digital story examples she found on Story Center [https://youtu.be/GZ0ouK6xBBA] and the Storyline Online [https://edtechbooks.org/-frq].
She also adopted a storyboard template [https://edtechbooks.org/-rN]she found online to guide students to create different scenes for their digital story. Meanwhile, students went online to search for royalty free music and images they need for their digital stories, and included that information in the storyboard [https://edtechbooks.org/-rN].
Finally, Miss Caroline instructed students how to use WeVideo [https://www.wevideo.com/]to build and edit their digital story videos. Students worked on creating videos to tell the stories of their families. When they were done, they published the videos and shared the videos with their families.
Hung, J. H. R. & Ding, A. (2018). English Language Learning: Empowering ELLs through technology integration. In A. Ottenbreit-Leftwich & R. Kimmons, The K-12 Educational Technology Handbook. EdTech Books. Retrieved from https://edtechbooks.org/k12handbook/ell
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15 Principles for Reading to Deaf Children
The ultimate authorities in reading to deaf children are deaf adults. Comparative studies of deaf children with hearing parents and deaf children with deaf parents show that deaf children with deaf parents are superior in academic achievement, reading and writing, and social development (Ewoldt, Hoffmeister, & Israelite, 1992). Hearing parents and teachers can learn from the read aloud strategies used by deaf parents. The following 15 principles have been identified based on research that examined deaf parents and deaf teachers reading to deaf children:
Deaf readers translate stories using American Sign Language
When it comes to reading stories to deaf children, one of the most prominent dilemmas is whether to sign the stories in ASL or in a manual code developed to represent English. Parents and teachers worry that if they don't sign every word in English word order, the deaf children will not pick up on the English in the text. However, a look at research on how deaf mothers and fathers read to their children makes it clear: they use ASL to read the stories to their children (Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Schick & Gale, 1995; Whitesell, 1991). A study by Schick and Gale (1995) noted that children found stories told in ASL more interesting and engaging.
Deaf readers keep both languages visible (ASL and English)
Although deaf readers use American Sign Language, they also place great importance on the written English of the text. Deaf parents demonstrate this when they read to their deaf children by keeping the English print visible while they interpret the story in ASL (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Schleper, 1995b; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990). This allows the children to look freely from parent (ASL) to the book (English), making sense of both. In one reading session, a deaf child interrupted his mother to ask, "Where does it say that?" The mother traced her finger along the part of the story that she had just signed. The child looked from the page to his mom, back to the page again, then looked again to his mother and with a nod signaled that he was ready for her to proceed with the rest of the story. Researchers have observed deaf parents frequently calling attention to text in a story, then signing, then pointing again to the text to help the child connect to both languages. In related research, Mather (1989) observed a deaf and hearing teacher read stories to deaf students in a classroom. One primary difference observed by the two readers, both fluent signers, was that the hearing teacher did not keep the text visible while signing a story to her class, while the deaf teacher did.
Deaf readers are not constrained by the text
Erting (1991) observed a deaf teacher reading the story Noisy Nora by Rosemary Wells to a group of preschool children. This, translated from ASL, is what the teacher signed:
Daddy is busy. So, Nora goes over to see Mommy, taps Mommy, and says, Mommy. But Mommy has to pick the baby up and burp the baby. Maybe the baby has to burp. So she is patting him on the back. Nora tries to get Mommy's attention, but Mommy is busy with the baby.
This is what the text on the page said:
Jack needed burping.
Obviously, the deaf reader has elaborated extensively on the text. The other information comes from the illustrations, from what has happened in the story thus far, from the underlying theme of the book, and from the needs of the deaf children who are enjoying the story. The reader helps build the background knowledge necessary to understand the story. This tendency to elaborate on the text has also been observed in deaf mothers (Andrews & Taylor, 1987). This suggests that when reading to deaf children, parents and teachers need not be obsessively concerned about knowing each and every word within the text, but should place higher priority on conveying the story.
Deaf readers re-read stories on a "storytelling" to "story reading" continuum
Like their hearing counterparts, emerging deaf readers enjoy having the same story read over and over to them. Trelease (1995) explains that this is a natural and necessary part of language development.
"These rereadings coincide with the way children learn. Like their parents, they are most comfortable with the familiar, and when they are relaxed, they're better able to absorb. The repetition improves their vocabulary, sequencing, and memory skills. Research shows that preschoolers often ask as many questions (and sometimes the same questions) after a dozen readings of the same book, because they are learning language in increments not all at once. Each reading often brings an inch or two of meaning to the story."
According to Schleper (1995a), deaf readers elaborate on the text extensively the first time they read a story, but then each successive reading of the same text has less and less elaboration. The signing comes closer and closer to the actual text. What occurs is a continuum, moving from a great deal of signed elaboration toward a more direct translation of the English text into American Sign Language.
The same process is used by teachers in a process known as shared reading, where the same story is read and re-read in the classroom to help emerging readers learn about stories (Schleper, 1995b). One can logically conclude that deaf readers use less elaboration in subsequent readings of the same text because they have already built the background knowledge the child needs during the initial readings of the story.
Deaf readers follow the child's lead
Deaf readers let children take the lead during read aloud sessions (Ewoldt, 1994; Maxwell, 1984; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). This can be as simple as allowing the deaf child to select the book to be read, permitting the child to turn the pages, and waiting for the child to examine the pictures and text in a book and then look up prior to reading the story.
Following the child's lead also involves adjusting the reading style to fit the child's developmental level. With young children, or children who have had limited exposure to books, this may mean initially focusing on what is happening in the pictures. As children grow older and their attention spans increase, deaf adults tend to read more complete versions of the texts. This can be illustrated by observing a deaf father while reading to his deaf children, a daughter, 3, and a son, 6 (Schleper, 1995a).
The father initially read Little Red Riding Hood by William Wegman to his young daughter. This book has lots of text that accompanies photos of dogs dressed up as characters in the story. As the father read the story, his daughter turned the pages. She was clearly interested in the pictures. Following his daughter's lead, the father allowed her lots of time to examine each picture; when she looked back at him, he signed what was happening. During this reading, the father essentially ignored the printed text and instead retold the familiar tale.
In contrast, when he read to his 6-year-old son, the father followed the text, carefully translating into ASL. The son also held the book and turned the pages. The father traced his finger along the text before signing each page, and occasionally paused to allow his son to fill in the next part of text. Because the son was already beginning to read on his own, the father was again following his child's lead.
Although deaf parents consistently follow their children's lead, classroom teachers seem to struggle with this concept. Ewoldt (1994) observed parents and teachers in booksharing sessions over a four-year period and noted that parents were more likely to follow the children's lead, while teachers were more inclined to establish their own agenda and struggle to get children to fit into this agenda.
Deaf readers make what is implied explicit
When deaf readers sign a story, they tend to add information to emphasize ideas in a story that are not directly stated in the text, but are clearly implied. For example, when a deaf father read Little Red Riding Hood to his daughter, he explained how the wolf donned Red Riding Hood's grandmother's clothing. Then the father added, "He is trying to fool the girl." The text never stated directly the reason behind the action, but the deaf reader wanted to make the reason obvious for his daughter. The addition of information to make the meaning of the story explicit, or to clearly state the main idea or moral of a story, appears to be a common technique used by deaf readers.
This principle can be further illustrated by examining how deaf readers interpret the story, The Dancing Fly, by Joy Cowley. This is a predictable story about a pesky fly that buzzes around a store and annoys a storekeeper, who tries unsuccessfully to swat the fly with a fly swatter. The first couple of lines of the text are: "There was a little fly, and it flew into the store. It danced on the window, and it danced on the door." Schleper observed 10 different deaf readers sign the story. Inevitably, each reader began the story in a similar manner. First he or she introduced the fly, then added a sign for "arrogant" or "big-headed." Although the text never mentions the fly's personality, this characteristic is implied throughout the story through the struggle between the storekeeper and the fly.
Like most of the principles observed with deaf parents and deaf teachers, this technique appears to be intuitive and unconscious on the part of the deaf readers. However, one can surmise that such a practice directly impacts the deaf children's reading achievement. By modeling the comprehension process and reading between the lines, deaf readers are showing how a story has meaning that goes beyond the printed text.
Deaf readers adjust sign placement to fit the story
A common strategy used by deaf adults reading to deaf children is to adjust the placement of signs to maintain interest and variety (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). Occasionally, the reader will place a sign directly on a child, such as making the sign for "cat" directly on the child's face. Other times, the reader will make the sign on the book or an illustration. For example, a deaf parent might use the classifier for a vehicle, place the sign on an illustration of a car, and then move the sign along the picture of the road in a book, as if the car is driving along the street.
In one situation, a father who was reading to his daughter came to the last picture in a book about Little Red Riding Hood. In the picture, Red Riding Hood and her grandmother were eating cake with the woodsman. The father asked, "Are you hungry?" When his daughter nodded, the father mimed taking a piece of cake from the picture and offered it to his daughter. His use of sign placement helped his daughter interact with the story.
At other times, deaf parents make the signs in the usual place. It appears that variation in placement of the signs, from on the child, to on the text, to the regular place, helps deaf children connect to the stories being read.
Deaf readers adjust signing style to fit the story
Critical aspects of speech are tone, intensity, and pitch of voice. Skilled readers to hearing children vary their intonation and volume to give life to the characters in the story. They vary their pitch to illustrate the high pitched voice of the baby bear or the booming voice of the papa bear in Goldilocks and the Three Bears.
In a similar way, deaf readers adjust their signing style to bring characters to life. A skilled deaf reader will adopt a more rigid, stilted signing style to portray an uptight person, sign using miniature signs and small signing space to depict someone who is timid, or use big exaggerated signs to show a "loud" character.
Research on deaf parents shows that they use extensive variation in how they make their signs to make the stories interesting for their deaf children (Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Mather, 1989; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990).
Deaf readers connect concepts in the story to the real world
Skillful deaf readers constantly relate experiences of their own to the characters and events in the stories they are reading (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Stewart, Bonkowski, & Bennett, 1990; Whitesell, 1991). Deaf readers help children build this skill by regularly making connections between the story and the lives of the children they are reading to. As one deaf mother read a story about a cat which lapped up some milk, she added, "You know, the same as Sparky (their dog) drinks his water." The child laughed and nodded, clearly making the connection of their shared experience.
A father who read Whales, the Gentle Giants to his children paused periodically to help them connect the story to their own experiences. The children had chosen the book because it reminded them of the movie Free Willy. After the father read a section of the text about a blue whale, he turned to his 3-year-old daughter and asked, "Are whales big or small?" "Big," the girl replied. "Really big!" the father agreed. Then his 6-year-old son walked over to the far wall of the family room to show his sister how big a blue whale really is. "That big," he said.
His father told him that a blue whale is much bigger, but they remained skeptical. Then the father tried to help the children relate the whale's size to objects in their own lives. He said, "It's huge. It's the same as when you see a football field. It's big, right? This whale is bigger!"
Deaf readers use attention maintenance strategies
It is perfectly natural for deaf children to look away or down at the book sometimes while an adult is reading a story. Although this can be frustrating, experienced deaf readers find appropriate ways to respond (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Lartz & Lestina, 1995; Van der Lem & Timmerman, 1990). Usually, deaf readers wait patiently until the child looks up again, then continue to read. Deaf readers also use a variety of strategies to keep their deaf children's attention.
Most commonly, a parent will lightly tap the child on the shoulder or leg to get attention. If the parent is sitting alongside the child, the parent will often gently nudge the child, or shift the book to first draw the child's attention back to the text, and then to the waiting parent. The deaf parent also uses facial expression to maintain attention, and eye contact appears to be central in holding the child's interest. One behavior noticed with hearing parents and teachers, but absent with deaf parents, is grabbing the child by the chin and forcibly pulling the child's face to attention.
While young children sometimes do this with their parents, it is not an acceptable practice to model for the children. Deaf readers also recognize the power of peripheral vision. They note that deaf children pick up a lot even when they are not looking directly at the reader's signs. And, since the deaf reader will often read the same story over and over again, the child will have plenty of opportunities to get any information missed during any one reading.
Deaf readers use eye gaze to elicit participation
Eye contact is clearly an important consideration when reading to deaf children. Mather (1989) researched the importance of eye gaze when reading to deaf children. She found readers used two types of eye gaze during reading sessions: individual and group gaze. One deaf teacher used group gaze effectively to involve all of the students in the reading and individual gaze to direct questions or comments to particular children.
Mather noticed that hearing teachers sometimes used inappropriate eye gaze with deaf students, leading to miscommunication during reading sessions. One teacher, for example, commented to her class, "Some of you don't know this story." Instead of including the whole group, her gaze was focused on just one student. The child being singled out replied defensively, "I know! I know!" It is clear that eye gaze plays a key role in maintaining attention and eliciting responses during read aloud sessions.
Deaf readers engage in role play to extend concepts
Several researchers point out that deaf readers often act out parts of a story to help clarify meaning (Ewoldt, 1984; Mather, 1989; Rogers, 1989). A deaf teacher who was reading The Three Little Kittens to a group of preschool deaf children noticed that the children were not following the story. Quickly, the teacher mimed the kittens tracking mud into the house. Then she brought the children into the role play by becoming the mother cat and scolding the kittens. The children's grins demonstrated their renewed understanding and involvement.
A mother and her 4-year-old deaf son also used role play during a session with the book Roll Over! A Counting Song by Merle Peek. This story is about a boy who shares his bed with nine animals. Each time they roll over, one animal falls out of bed. During the booksharing session, the deaf mother and her son were sitting on the bed as the mother read, "Ten in the bed and the little one said, 'Roll over! Roll over!' They all rolled over and one fell out."
When she finished the section, her son stood up and fell dramatically off his bed, landing exactly in the same spot as the monkey in the book. He climbed back into bed, and as his mother went on reading, he continued to role play the animals, each time falling happily out of bed.
Deaf readers use ASL variations to sign repetitive English phrases
Many predictable books for young children have phrases that are repeated over and over again. For example, "He huffed and he puffed and he blew the house in," from The Three Little Pigs, or "Fee! Fie! Fo! Fum! I smell the blood of an Englishman!" from Jack and the Beanstalk. When deaf readers read these repetitive phrases, they don't always sign them the exact same way. In fact, evidence suggests that deaf readers vary the way they sign repetitive English phrases. In these situations, the children see the English text remain constant in the book, while also being exposed to various ways to sign the concepts.
Sometimes these sign variations are used to maintain interest in the story. For example, in the story Roll Over! A Counting Song by Merle Peek, the chant, "Roll over! Roll over!" is repeated 10 times as each character in turn rolls off the bed. When a deaf mother read this book to her son, she pointed to the English text (which was the same each time), but then signed the text in various ways. Sometimes she used a classifier to show the animals rolling together. Other times, she used a different sign for "roll." Sometimes she used other variations.
The variety of ways she used to express the concept seemed to hold her son's interest in the story. Other times the use of sign variations helped to convey increased intensity or "volume," such as when each successive troll crosses over the bridge in The Three Billy Goats Gruff. While the English words remained the same, the deaf adult used different ASL translations each time the English phrase was repeated. Perhaps the readers were subconsciously demonstrating that there is no direct word-to-sign correspondence between English and ASL, and that, in fact, there are multiple ways to convey the English meaning in American Sign Language. In the process, the deaf readers are also developing the children's signed vocabulary, and, one can assume, promoting the children's ability to make meaning from the English text.
Deaf readers provide a positive and reinforcing environment
Reading is supposed to be fun. It is also supposed to involve the construction of meaning through reciprocal interaction between readers and text. Unfortunately, in many classrooms with deaf children, the teacher controls both the interactions and the interpretation of the text. Ewoldt (1994) observed extensive control on the part of teachers during booksharing. The teachers she observed used a variety of correction responses to children's comments. Those responses ranged from simply telling a child, "You're wrong," to ignoring the child's answer, providing a different answer, changing the meaning of a child's message to fit the teacher's version of the story, or restating the teacher's own interpretation.
In contrast, research with deaf parents shows they provided a positive, interactive environment (Akamatsu & Andrews, 1993; Andrews & Taylor, 1987; Ewoldt, 1994; Rogers, 1989). They did not seek "correct" answers from the children during reading. Rather, they set up a mutually rewarding atmosphere that encouraged the creative interpretation of text. In one reading session (Schleper, 1995a), a deaf father was reading Little Red Riding Hood to his daughter. His daughter tapped his knee, then turned back to the previous page and pointed. "Look at the teeth!" she said. "Yeah, the teeth are sharp! Like fangs," the father said, reinforcing the child's observation. "They have blood on them," the daughter pointed out. The father questioned this, pointing to the illustration. "Where?" he asked. They examined the picture together. "Maybe you re right. They do have blood!" the father said.
Instead of ignoring his daughter, or telling her she was wrong, the father let her make her point. His positive, reinforcing response helped make booksharing enjoyable. And when the read aloud sessions are enjoyable, it is more likely that the child will retain fond, positive associations with books and reading.
Deaf readers expect the child to become literate
A final principle that seems to underlie the read aloud sessions between deaf adults and deaf children is the positive belief in the children's abilities. Whitesell (1991) observed a deaf teacher with a reputation for producing good, enthusiastic readers, hoping to determine which of her teaching strategies and practices seemed most critical. After observing for an extended period of time, Whitesell discovered the key: "The teacher expected them to become literate."
Most deaf parents do not read to their children in order to teach them English or to instruct them in the reading process. They want to share their own love of books. While they may expect some academic benefit for the children, that is clearly secondary. When Schleper (1995a) asked deaf parents if they thought their children would become literate in English, they all replied, "Of course!" There was never any doubt.


Activity 1: Pre-reading
Begin with individual reflection on the prompts below as preparation for thinking through some of the themes of The Arrival. In pairs or groups, have students work through the following prompts to feed into a broader discussion about alienation and journeys. Prompt 1 focuses on a sense of aloneness or alienation, Prompt 2 is concerned with the objects that we identify with for pragmatic or sentimental reasons, while Prompt 3 is about unfamiliarity and a lack of connection. Form pairs or groups to share responses.
- Prompt 1: Image titled Alone by Steve Evan (used under the creative commons license)
- Prompt 2: Imagine you are five and planning to run away from home . . . what would you have packed?
- Prompt 3: Think of a time when you were new to a place and couldn’t find your bearings, or didn’t know anyone else. Describe how you felt and if your sense of being in an unfamiliar place was resolved (if so, how?).
Activity 2: Visual collage
Choose key images from the text ensuring that these come from the beginning, middle and end of The Arrival. The number you choose should be equivalent to the number of students in your class.
Provide each student with an image and guide their exploration with the following questions:
- What is in the focus of this image? Is it because it seems illuminated, is in stronger lines, or is in the foreground?
- What is happening in the image – either in that moment or what might come before or after this image?
- Based on what you see, to which genre of storytelling might it belong: fairytale, horror, romance, mystery, drama, crime, soapie etc?
- What is the mood of the image? How do light, placement of objects, selection of what is large/small or near/far guide your interpretation?
Pair students, and direct them to discuss the following and try to come to an agreement:
- How might these two images connect in a single narrative? That is, what story might they collectively tell?
- How are the elements of light/dark, objects, size, movement and so on in each image similar or different?
Pairs to form groups of 4 and repeat Step 2 putting all four images in a narrative sequence and collectively defending their choices.
Groups can then justify their selection of narrative sequence to another group or the whole class.
An option for later
- This exercise can be useful in sharpening attention during the full first reading of the text as individuals and groups look for and evaluate their interpretations of their images, and the sequences they predicted.
- Collect and store these images. At the conclusion of the first reading, it can be a rowdy/fun activity to see how accurately the class can reorder their images to match Tan’s narrative. A follow-up discussion will enable students to articulate how narrative works to give The Arrival its structure, meaning and impact.
Personal response on reading the text
Every student must have access to the text.
Activity 3: 10 facts, 10 questions
During the reading, students are encouraged to return to their responses to Activities 1 and 2.
During the first reading, students attend closely to images and engage with the narrative. For this first reading, encourage students to look for:
- events involving the protagonist
- changing settings
- the development of the narrative
- recurring motifs and themes.
Direct discussion to arrive at 10 facts and 10 questions.
- 10 facts based on the reading of The Arrival about which the class can be certain (e.g. it is a fantasy landscape, it’s a man going on a trip).
- 10 questions that the class have not yet resolved (e.g. is he a refugee? Why are there so many birds? What’s the point of this book?).
Keep these questions on display or accessible as students undertake subsequent activities and readings. The purpose is to allow students to review their growing understanding and appreciation of the text.
(ACELT1639) (ACELT1640) (ACELT1641) (ACELY1749) (ACELY1754) (EN5-2A) (EN5-3B) (EN5-5C) (EN5-8D)
Outline of key elements of the text (notes for teachers)
A selection of key themes explored in this unit
- Journey as personal and universal experience
- Global politics involving peace, conflict, oppression and migration
Elements of the setting covered in this unit
- Surrealism, emphasising alienation and universality
- Extensive use of boats, water and harbours
- The passage of time revealed in images of seasons, weather, day/night, migration of birds, clock faces
- Familiar, yet unfamiliar settings: for example, harbours, shopping precincts, animals, cooking utensils, food, billboards
- The protagonist is a family man who migrates, with papers, to a foreign land. He has indeterminate racial facial features. However, there are suggestions along the way representing multiple racial possibilities. For example, in Chapter II there is a suggestion that he may be from an oppressed and publicly shamed racial group via tags on clothing reminiscent of the Star of David and the Holocaust.
- Chapter III: A young woman of Asian appearance helps the protagonist purchase a boat ticket and they share their story via their papers. She has fled persecution and arrived at the same destination.
- Chapter III: A middle-aged family man of Anglo-European appearance befriends the protagonist and takes him home to share a meal. It becomes clear that he and his family have escaped war and arrived at the same destination.
- Chapter IV: An elderly factory worker, possibly Eastern European, who communicates his story of leaving home, going to war as a soldier, suffering injury and finally arriving at the same destination.
- It is structured in six chapters marking the progress of the journey.
- Cohesion and narrative thread are also provided by the repeated use of motifs: origami, boats, teapots, hands, birds, and so on.
- The plot is constructed without any recognisable print text and solely through the use, placement, size and sequencing of images.
- A glint of promise in the suggestion of blue skies ahead in the final image.
The artist’s craft particularly relevant to study of The Arrival
- Use of parallels and contrasts (war/peace, harmony/tension).
- Symbols/motifs (birds, teapots, boats, water, serpents).
- Visual devices.
Activity 4: Close Study – the first three pages
This activity is teacher-directed, leading students to a later independent/small group activity. As well as modelling the process, teachers will provide the metalanguage for deconstruction and discussion of individual images and the text as a whole (see the metalanguage links provided in the ‘more digital resources’ section below).
Move beyond the title pages to the sequence of nine images that open The Arrival.
- What do you notice about the use of colour?
- What tools has the artist used to create the images?
- What repetition do you notice in the first three pages? What do you think that might mean?
- How is the narrative established?
- How is the mood established?
- When and where do you think the story is set, and what makes you think so?
Look at pages two and three (nine images on page two, followed by full page image of protagonist and wife):
- Why has Tan chosen a layout with nine individual drawings, and then moved to a full page image?
- What story does the full page image provide or hint at?
- What elements in that image seem to have special meaning and contribute to the development of the story?
- What motifs are already evident in these three pages?
Download this proforma table (PDF, 26KB) for students to use to work individually, in pairs or small groups to deconstruct one of the nine double-page images in The Arrival.
These short interviews show Shaun Tan talking about the creation of The Arrival. Each clip will support, validate or throw into question some of the student responses. Now select from the following interviews. Each interview with Tan is one to two minutes in length and relates to this activity.
- Interview 3 of 16: How long did it take to create The Arrival?
- Interview 4 of 16: How did your vision evolve?
- Interview 6 of 16: Why a sepia colour scheme?
- Interview 7 of 16: What are the challenges of creating a wordless book?
- Interview 8 of 16: What do the serpents above the city symbolise?
- Interview 9 of 16: Were the drawings inspired by Ellis Island (US) photographs?
- Interview 10 of 16: What is the meaning behind the violent image with giants?
Group feedback, reflection and conclusions. This should include reference back to the 10 Facts, 10 Questions (see Activity 3).
(ACELA1566) (ACELA1567) (ACELT1641) (ACELT1642) (ACELY1749) (ACELY1754) (EN5-2A) (EN5-3B) (EN5-6C) (EN5-8D)
Text and meaning
Activity 5: Themes and narrative
Using knowledge from the previous activity, students should work through the following steps with teacher guidance. Group and individual support should be negotiated at all times to ensure differentiation and engagement.
Students to select one double-page spread and discuss how that image suggests a theme or aspect of the narrative.
Using a theme or aspect of the narrative you have just discussed, locate a single page containing a collage of between four and twelve images that connects with that same theme. Referring back to the proforma table (downloadable PDF, 26KB) and using the elements and metalanguage detailed, examine that page and determine how the images contribute to that theme.
Revisit the entire text to map out the overall narrative structure. Set this out as a simple timeline, identifying the key development for each of the six chapters.
Based on everything you have explored to date, decide what you believe are the central themes of The Arrival.
Shaun Tan’s website will support, validate or throw into question some of the student responses.
Once students have arrived at their own conclusions, view Shaun Tan talking about his work.
Ways of reading the text
One theoretical approach is to adapt Green’s 3D Model of Literacy, originally designed to support the integration of ICTs in literacy education. However the model can be, and has been, adapted to support an integrated conceptual model for teaching and learning more broadly within English. In this case, Green’s 3D Model is used to support teachers to deconstruct the text according to three overlapping dimensions, in no particular order, to ensure thorough analysis and preparation for teaching. While students are not expected to engage with the theoretical model, its use may support teaching that facilitates students to engage with the text in its entirety and complexity.
The three dimensions are the Operational, Cultural and Critical dimensions.
- Operational: Ask yourself and the students, how is this text made? What has the creator used to make the text? How has s/he put it together? In the case of The Arrival, what has Tan used to draw the images? How has he created mood, setting and character? How has he sequenced and sized and contrasted images to create a narrative?
- Cultural: As you study this text, ask yourself and your students, what is familiar here? What is connected to your experience, your community, your nation, your world? What prior knowledge, or knowledge of other texts, do you bring to this book in order to make sense of it? In what ways do the inner front and back cover collages of individuals make this a more global and universal story?
- Critical: Ask yourself and your students what you think Tan feels for migrants and refugees. Does he have a particular view of the experience and how does he communicate those beliefs or values? Is there an alternative view of migration and the refugee experience? What might someone with values in opposition to Tan say or feel about this book? How might you transform one of Tan’s images to reveal an alternative view? Might we feel differently if Tan depicted the protagonist as: a) an anti-government rebel b) a leader in an oppressive regime c) a single man d) single woman e) clearly belonging to a current refugee group such as Afghanis, Sri Lankans or other, or f) disabled?
While conceptualised separately here, readers learn to address all three dimensions simultaneously, and any of the three dimensions might be the entry point. This downloadable graphic (PDF, 256KB) provides another representation of the model in relation to The Arrival.
Activity 6: Critical and cultural readings
Many of Shaun Tan’s works have appeared in various forms whether as film, on stage, or on the web as readings. The purpose of this following activity is to support cultural and critical readings of The Arrival. Students will examine how The Arrival represents one man’s interpretation of the migrant experience within the context of time, place and values, and how different readers arrive at individual interpretations.
View this stop animation and decide which aspects of the story are emphasised by this creator. What is missing that you think should have been included?
Watch this online review by a deaf person. How is their reading of The Arrival different from your own?
View Shaun Tan revisiting the meaning of his book and how others have interpreted it. How does this support a view that every text is created and appreciated within distinct times, places and values?
Activity 7: Go back to where you came from (SBS series 2011)
Watch this promotional video for the SBS series, Go back to where you came from and consider using a full episode. After viewing the promo, have students consider the following questions:
- What resonance is evident between The Arrival and this video?
- How would you cope being sent over the oceans on a leaky boat?
- From the promo, or your knowledge of the series, what views of refugees and migrants are presented?
- How is this similar to or different from The Arrival?
Activity 8: The Rabbits and intertextuality
The Rabbits by John Marsden, illustrated by Shaun Tan.
Before commencing reading of this text to the class, consider features of the illustrations that resonate with those in The Arrival (colour, symbols/motifs etc).
Following the reading, students should address the following questions according to the Operational, Cultural and Critical dimensions.
- What motifs are evident in both books and what do they suggest?
- What aspects of visual literacy, such as vectors, light and shade or framing, were most apparent to you?
- What indications are there in the text that this is a story of European arrival/invasion of Australia?
- What aspects of the migrant experience are highlighted in both The Rabbits and The Arrival?
- From this text what do you believe are Marsden’s and Tan’s views of European arrival/invasion of Australia?
- The last line of this book suggests that the Indigenous population are passive and looking for someone else to stop the rabbits. Consider two or three possible responses to this final question and the text as a whole.
- Given Tan’s work in both The Arrival and The Rabbits, consider how they might be construed as two sides of the same story of global movement of populations?
Activity 9: Visual intertextuality
It is significant that Tan has drawn from human experience of the Holocaust in Europe (1940s), arrival at Ellis Island off New York (1892–1924), news reports of the sinking of the Titanic (1912), and Tom Roberts’ early Australian painting, Coming South(1885–86). The following intertextual examples might be the basis of productive classroom discussion or writing leading to further insights, and add texture and understanding to their reading of the original text. Compare the images below from The Arrival to those on the webpages provided:
|Images from The Arrival||Comparable images|
Seventh page of chapter II
|Tom Roberts: Coming South|
Fourteenth page of Chapter II
|Photograph: Ellis Island: Gateway to America|
Fifteenth page of Chapter II
(also refer to the sixteenth page)
Twenty-fourth page of Chapter II
|Photograph: The Titanic News Boy|
These images have been reproduced with the permission of the publisher and all rights are reserved. The Arrival by Shaun Tan, Lothian Children’s Books, an imprint of Hachette Australia, 2006.
Rich Assessment task 1 (receptive)
Awarding The Arrival
In this assessment task, students will move beyond the text itself, and even its intertextual links, to examine it as an artefact of Australian culture and literature.
Explore The Arrival website and locate the list of awards won by Shaun Tan. One of the international awards he has won is The Astrid Lindgren Memorial Prize. When you follow this link you will find a list of past winners and their citations (or a brief description of why they have won the award). You will need to scroll down to 2011 to find Shaun Tan’s citation.
Students, individually or in groups according to need/interest/preference, will invent a new award for Shaun Tan that represents what they value about his text. The task has a number of necessary components:
- Creating an original title for the award.
- Creating the citation or reason for the award (in 50 words or less).
- Designing and constructing a logo for the award or making a three dimension trophy or medal.
- Writing a short speech that might be delivered in a presentation of the award to Shaun Tan. Make sure to include the reasons for the award and in particular his distinctive contribution to Australian Literature (250 words).
- Imagining that you are Shaun Tan receiving the award. Here you must draw on your understanding of The Arrival and of interviews of Shaun Tan that you have viewed (100 words).
Download the assesssment rubric (PDF, 204KB) created for this assignment, and the performance standards referenced within that rubric. This task should be accessible to all students with support. Those who merit greater challenge should be directed to explore the place of Shaun Tan’s work within the tradition of Australian literature, or to locate other Australian texts offering alternative perspectives.
Durrant, C., Green, B. “Literacy and the new technologies in school education: Meeting the l(IT)eracy challenge?” Australian Journal of Language and Literacy 23.2 (2000): 89-108.
Green, B., Beavis, C. Literacy in 3D: An integrated perspective in theory and practice. ACER, 2012.
Synthesising core ideas
Activity 10: 5 New Facts, 5 New Questions
Return to the original 10 Facts, 10 Questions (Activity 3 and Activities 4 and 5) and focus on students’ cumulative understanding and confidence with the text. To illustrate this, have students redevelop the list with the most significant five facts they have learnt along the way. Also, add five new questions that cannot be answered directly by the text (this is often the case when readers first encounter good literature).
Rich assessment task 2 (productive)
In this task, students will reflect on change within their own lives. Each student will identify a starting point and then represent the transformation that has taken place up until the present. They must use simple images and no written language as per The Arrival.
Replicate The Arrival’s opening and closing pages
The images Tan has created for the first page of the book are nine symbols of what is significant to the protagonist at the beginning of his journey. However, on the first page of the final chapter, the reader finds eight of these symbols remain significant, even though they are now transformed in some way. Note that one symbol has been removed (suitcase) and replaced by another signifying change. Understanding the significance of the symbols in the opening page and the first page of the sixth and final chapter is at the heart of the assignment. Students will select symbols that have relevance in their lives although transformed across time and place. For example:
- A student whose family has always loved music may choose a family piano as one image for his starting point, and this may then be transformed into an iPod with earplugs in the final collage (piano/iPod).
- A girl who is missing the absence of someone or a place in her life may begin with an image of the person or place. She may then conclude with a symbol of how that same person/place continues in another form within her current life (grandma’s portrait/loveheart; father/cricket ball; farm gate/city letter box).
- A student who has always cared for animals may choose an image of a rabbit he got for his fifth birthday, and this may then be transformed into the border collie he walks every night during Year 10 (rabbit/dog).
- Another student who loves spending time with her mum, may use an image from the playground for the first collage and this may then be transformed into a symbol of her current favourite shared activity (playground swing/abseiling ropes).
Students will identify and begin to develop ideas for a visual representation of six or nine motifs for the starting point. Eventually they will represent these using photography, sketches, painting, collages or other visual media. Before they begin that stage, they must consider Step 2 because this will influence their choices.
Now they will turn to Tan’s last page of nine images (the first page of Chapter VI). They should study how the original images they considered in Step 1 have now been transformed as a result of the protagonist’s experience and the passage of time. For example, students might consider the transformation of the origami creature, or the clock, or hand-drawn image. In addition, they should consider the absence of a suitcase at the end of the journey and its replacement. These are symbols that have been repeated throughout the text and will have been raised in discussion.
Students should draw a grid creating six or nine spaces to plan a six or nine image collage. Each image should be a significant symbol of their own lives and form the starting point (see examples above).
As per Step 2, yet this time the grid will be used to create the final six or nine image collage, representing change or passage of time (see examples above). Advice for students:
- Aim to create cohesion and narrative through the use of a similar and consistent style within this assignment. For example, you might use only one or two colours in each image, or if using photography, a consistent style in Instagram may be effective.
- Ensure the images are very simple and focus on a single item or collection of similar things. Simplicity is part of the power of these images.
- There is no need to be overly ambitious. If you are not confident with visual literacy keep it simple as it is the selection as well as the communication of ideas that is vital here. On the other hand if your strength is visual arts, don’t forget to focus on the selection of images and how you use your skills to communicate this.
Create a double page spread: on the left will be the six or nine images from the starting point and on the right, the six or nine images from the present.
Once completed students will form small groups. Without providing any oral or written commentary, the creator of collages is to allow other group members to discuss what they believe is the meaning and significance of their symbols from the first to the second collage. A useful process is for each of the group members to make one interpretative comment and raise one question. This proceeds without any comment from the creator until each member has spoken. It is then the creator’s opportunity to respond to interpretations, challenging where necessary and addressing questions raised. This continues until every creator has had their turn.
It is suggested that the group work concludes with peer and self-assessment. The assessment by the teacher is similar to our assessment of Tan’s work as a reader:
- How successful is this collection and sequence of images at conveying narrative?
- Which visual literacy techniques are apparent here?
- Has the student demonstrated understanding of colour, framing, vectors and so on?
Although English teachers are accustomed to assessing verbal or written language, in this case students are using the same mode of communication used within The Arrival,assessed on its merits as a narrative. Please download the collage rubric (PDF, 194KB) created for this assignment based on the Year 10 Achievement Standard.