Teacher Discussion Forums

[amandadisciascio]

Hello
recently I saw that in Spain there are books for children
with mostly words and a few words are represented by images.
I'm persuaded this would be appealing to little ones,
I , as a teacher could read to them and they could actively participate by naming the things they know...

in Spanish they're called "pictogramas"
does anyone know how they're called in English?
or
even better any title?
Thanks a lot[/quote]

[Sally Olsen]

Everything you wanted to know about pictograms and lots of examples
http://www.pictogram.se/products/8805-practicalapp_pictogram.pdf

[shelleyvernon]

Hi,

Children can still participate in the story telling even if you do not have pictograms.

My preschool stories are for children learning English as a foreign language and I don't expect them to learn how to read at three or four, when they are still learning their own language (though it can be done). But I do expect them to understand what is going on in the story, and to show that they understand by participating in the story telling.

My stories come with a simple repetitive text that the young child will be able to understand by knowing some of the key vocabularly and by looking at the accompanying pictures.

Teachers and parents can ask the child to point to things in the illustration. I also encourage active participation by having the children act out parts, and eventually all of the story, using a puppet, or having some of the real objects that occur in the story wherever that is possible.

Kind regards
Shelley

Info on preschool stories:
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/3-5.htm
and
http://www.teachingenglishgames.com/3-5/preschoolstories.htm

[longshikong]

[Sally Olsen]

It is so easy these days to take pictures and children loves stories about themselves. You can use a projector or get them printed and put in the words yourself. You can pose them or just make up a story selecting from a number of pictures. They also love pictures of their stuffed animals which can be posed in various situations to make a story.

When teachers were having problems with discipline, I used to take pictures of the children doing what was expected in the classroom and post one a day - please knock on the door, please open the window, please sit in your desk, please put the garbage in the garbage can/trash and so on. You can even make a chart and have the children check off the things they did correctly each day until it becomes natural behaviour. It is amazing what we expect children to learn without directly teaching them and then get mad at them when they don't know.

[longshikong]

Sally, your advice brings to mind a practical advice book on the subject I read from my B.Ed course which along with prescriptive advice was interspersed with comic strip scenarios: How to Talk to Kids So Kids Will Listen

Part of an adult placement test I once used included a 10-12 panel comic strip without captions or speech balloons used to elicit the obvious narrative. I could envision something similar for children and even pre-school children once they've been exposed to a number of similar stories. In my search for the source of that strip recently, I located a website with similar strips but the alien adventure theme seemed inappropriate for my needs.

I mentioned rebus sentences in which pictures replace words in sentences. I'm hoping to have pocket charts made here so we use this method to implicitly teach grammar, literacy and phonics.

Given the increasingly popular Anime/Manga, I started threads on the Japanese, Korean and General Discussions threads hoping to learn how (teacher) fans of the genre took advantage of its appeal in their classes for kids but not many responded.

[Sally Olsen]

I don't imagine many use Manga in their classrooms. Have you ever read any? They may look like little kids in the comics but they often do adults things! I once picked up a book left in my booth in a restaurant and was soon blushing mightily. I don't do the things those kids did.