tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/literacy-skills-23168/articlesliteracy skills – The Conversation2021-08-10T03:43:24Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1658212021-08-10T03:43:24Z2021-08-10T03:43:24Z‘I was astonished at how quickly they made gains’: online tutoring helps struggling students catch up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415341/original/file-20210810-15-18oiup3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C5750%2C3821&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hispanic-teen-girl-school-college-student-1738498550">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>One-on-one online tutoring for disadvantaged students has proved highly effective in helping them overcome their struggles with literacy and numeracy. The Smith Family, the national children’s education charity, recently completed a small pilot of the program, Catch-Up Learning, for students from financially disadvantaged backgrounds. Most made <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/-/media/files/research/catch-up-learning/catch-up-learning-research-report-final-low-res.pdf?la=en&hash=3C936AAFFA287C6774DB4E59464AABBE">above-expected progress</a> in assessments of their literacy and numeracy by the end of the program.</p>
<p>About 100 children who participated in the program had one-on-one tutoring, with a qualified teacher, up to three times a week for 20 weeks. Being online, the tutoring could be done in the child’s home at a time that suited the family. </p>
<p>The participants were students in years 4, 5, 7 or 8 who were struggling with literacy and numeracy skills. One in five were of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander backgrounds. Two in five had a health and disability issue.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/one-quarter-of-australian-11-12-year-olds-dont-have-the-literacy-and-numeracy-skills-they-need-148912">One quarter of Australian 11-12 year olds don't have the literacy and numeracy skills they need</a>
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<p>The program was informed by strong evidence from analysis by the UK’s <a href="https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/teaching-learning-toolkit/">Education Endowment Foundation</a> that one-on-one tutoring with a trained teacher is very effective in helping learners catch up. It’s particularly helpful for younger learners who are behind their peers in primary school, and for reading and maths skills. </p>
<h2>What did the program achieve?</h2>
<p>Program attendance was high, including over the summer holidays – an extraordinary achievement given how prized those holidays are! Students were highly engaged and many increased their love of learning over the course of the program. This contributed to the strong improvements in literacy and numeracy they achieved.</p>
<p>Students were <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/-/media/files/research/catch-up-learning/catch-up-learning-research-report-final-low-res.pdf?la=en&hash=3C936AAFFA287C6774DB4E59464AABBE">assessed</a> before and after the program. Skills growth was measured, taking into account the length of time the program ran. </p>
<p>The results were highly promising: 86% of students made above-expected progress in literacy or numeracy. Two in five achieved above-expected progress in both subjects. By the end of the program, six in ten students had achieved literacy levels equivalent to or stronger than their year-level peers. </p>
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<p>Insights from the tutors confirm a range of positive changes for students. One tutor of a year 5 student <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/-/media/files/research/catch-up-learning/catch-up-learning-research-report-final-low-res.pdf?la=en&hash=3C936AAFFA287C6774DB4E59464AABBE">said</a>:</p>
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<p>“[He] is excited to tell me how well he did in a particular lesson […] His attitude toward learning has improved so much as he learnt more during
the sessions and became confident in school as a result.”</p>
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<p>Another <a href="https://www.thesmithfamily.com.au/-/media/files/research/catch-up-learning/catch-up-learning-research-report-final-low-res.pdf?la=en&hash=3C936AAFFA287C6774DB4E59464AABBE">said</a> of their year 4 student:</p>
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<p>“I was astonished at how quickly they made gains in literacy […] their reading galloped from struggling with basic texts to being able to read nine out of 10 words.”</p>
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<p>Catch-Up Learning confirms what parents and teachers across Australia know – with the right support at the right time, all children can develop a love of learning and in turn develop key literacy and numeracy skills. The Smith Family will use the evaluation to refine the program and move to a second stage pilot with more students. </p>
<p>It is also hoped these findings resonate with education departments and schools during times when students are unable to attend school.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victoria-and-nsw-are-funding-extra-tutors-to-help-struggling-students-heres-what-parents-need-to-know-about-the-schemes-153450">Victoria and NSW are funding extra tutors to help struggling students. Here's what parents need to know about the schemes</a>
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<p>The program is not, however, a panacea for all the educational challenges faced by many students experiencing financial disadvantage. Participants were on average three years behind their peers in numeracy at the start of the program. Unsurprisingly, despite their significant progress over the 20 weeks, they didn’t make up this large gap. There is more to be done.</p>
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<img alt="Young boy prepares to write as he talks with someone on his laptop" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/415346/original/file-20210810-19-1foxb2n.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Giving students the skills they need to re-engage with learning is an essential step in catching up with their peers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-gen-z-school-kid-headphones-2002131674">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Why does this skills gap matter?</h2>
<p>In our technology-rich 21st century, strong literacy and numeracy skills are prerequisites for Australians to find a job, access services, participate in e-commerce and keep connected.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/yes-adult-literacy-should-be-improved-but-governments-can-make-their-messages-easier-to-read-right-now-164621">Yes, adult literacy should be improved. But governments can make their messages easier to read right now</a>
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<p>Unfortunately, <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/educational-opportunity-in-australia-2020.pdf">research</a> shows a clear and persistent relationship in Australia between socioeconomic background and students’ educational outcomes.
Foundations for success in literacy and numeracy are laid early on. </p>
<p>Childhood maths skills are predictive of later learning and achievement. Children who enjoy reading, read more. This, in turn, helps them to become strong readers. The converse is also true – poor readers lose motivation, tend to read less, and this leads them to falling further behind.</p>
<p>Data from international assessments show significant numbers of Australian children are not meeting important literacy and numeracy benchmarks. In the latest Trends in International Maths and Science Study (<a href="https://www.acer.org/au/timss">TIMSS</a>), less than half (48%) of Australia’s year 4 students from low socioeconomic backgrounds achieved or exceeded the national proficiency standard in numeracy, compared to 82% of those from high socioeconomic backgrounds.</p>
<p>Similarly, the Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (<a href="https://www.acer.org/au/pirls">PIRLS</a>) shows 57% of year 4 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students met the national proficiency standard, compared to 83% of non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/1-in-4-australian-year-8s-have-teachers-unqualified-in-maths-this-hits-disadvantaged-schools-even-harder-161100">1 in 4 Australian year 8s have teachers unqualified in maths — this hits disadvantaged schools even harder</a>
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<p>These gaps have persisted despite the efforts of students, parents, teachers and schools over many years. They’re also pre-COVID gaps, with <a href="https://grattan.edu.au/report/covid-catch-up/">concerns</a> that remote learning <a href="https://www.vu.edu.au/sites/default/files/impact-of-learning-from-home-federal-government-brief-mitchell-institute.pdf">may have widened them</a>. These children are in danger of not being able to participate economically and socially in our community. </p>
<h2>Australia must invest in catching up</h2>
<p>We can and must do better. These skills gaps aren’t inevitable. </p>
<p>The Catch-Up Learning program confirms international evidence of the value of tutoring for helping children who are behind in literacy and numeracy. But through its innovations – using online technology so tutoring takes place in the student’s home, with their carer’s engagement a key component – it has gone further. These innovations contributed to the outcomes achieved.</p>
<p>So Catch-Up Learning is helping to build the evidence base of how young Australians can be supported to achieve educationally. Australia should seize the opportunity to build on this work.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/165821/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Thomson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The evidence clearly shows one-on-one tutoring improves disadvantaged students’ skills. An Australian pilot program has now shown the benefits of online tutoring that supports students in their homes.Sue Thomson, Deputy CEO (Research), Australian Council for Educational ResearchLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1389152020-06-15T19:33:16Z2020-06-15T19:33:16ZFishing with Elders builds these children’s Oji-Cree language, cultural knowledge and writing<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340748/original/file-20200609-21208-idknjr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=104%2C52%2C4887%2C2754&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">A white sucker underwater in the St. Lawrence River.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>In a northern Ontario First Nation community, a council member who also drove the children’s school bus volunteered to take three primary teachers and their students to a nearby river. They had heard that the suckers were running. It was May, <a href="https://books.google.ca/books?id=yukqDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA27&lpg=PA27&dq=sucker+moon&source=bl&ots=gGWE25LSvW&sig=ACfU3U26BoBgNZt2YMVvn2lMWNHvjtkEDQ&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjWpu6jx_XpAhVnUN8KHQzZA-E4ChDoATAIegQICRAB#v=onepage&q=sucker%20moon&f=false">the time of the sucker moon</a>; time for community members to harvest the fish. </p>
<p>Community Elders used traditional Indigenous teaching methods that involve telling stories and explaining while demonstrating, as well as encouraging children to participate. The Elders taught children that the land is a provider of food and resources. They explained that children must watch and listen carefully so they remember how things are done in a respectful way.</p>
<p>Through observing, listening and participating, the children learned how to catch the fish using nets, snares made from rabbit wire and sticks and using their bare hands. They learned safe ways of catching, scaling, getting water from the lake to clean the fish, filleting, creating a smoker, gathering wood and making a fire and then smoking the fish. </p>
<p>They learned respectful ways, such as not playing with the fire or splashing water when washing the fish. Every part of the fish was smoked and eaten (including the head and intestines), so there was no waste. The children learned an important traditional way of living, from watching the Elder make the snares to placing the fish on the smoker.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=423&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340418/original/file-20200608-176595-t6vw80.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=531&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Children scaling the fish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kathy Sky)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>The next day, students, their teachers and community members took the bus to a nearby lake where there was a fire pit. An Elder cooked the fish over an open fire where the children had an opportunity to taste the fish they had caught. </p>
<p>The Elders used the community’s Indigenous language, Oji-Cree, reinforcing words that the children were learning in their Indigenous language classes. In Oji-Cree, the word for river is <em>Ziibii</em> (pronounced zeebee). <em>Namebin</em> (pronounced naamaybin) is the word for suckers. <em>Ishkode</em> (pronounced ishkoday) is the word for fire. The Elders told the children (<em>Abinoojiiyag</em>, pronounced abinojeeug) that their community’s traditional language is a connection to the land (<em>Aki</em>, pronounced ahki). It is the community’s first language, a gift given by the Creator.</p>
<h2>Return of the language</h2>
<p>Throughout much of the 20th century, Indigenous children were forced to attend <a href="https://indigenouspeoplesatlasofcanada.ca/article/history-of-residential-schools/">residential schools</a> where they were only allowed to use English. Living away from their families during the school year, the children started to lose their language. Because of residential schools, generations of Indigenous children and adults <a href="http://www.ecdip.org/docs/pdf/_2011_CJSLPA_Vol_35_No_02_103-213_Ball_Lewis_CJSLPA_2011.pdf">do not speak their Indigenous languages fluently</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/ancestral-languages-are-essential-to-indigenous-identities-in-canada-117655">Ancestral languages are essential to Indigenous identities in Canada</a>
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<p>The Elders, fluent speakers in the old language, some of whom are great-grandparents of children in school today in First Nation communities across Canada, are passing away. The next generation, such as Kathy (one of the authors of this article) is fluent, but has lost some of the words of the old language. Each generation knows less and less of the language because their parents have had fewer and fewer opportunities to learn and use the language at home with their families. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=838&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/341280/original/file-20200611-80789-1vjke9b.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1053&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The smokehouse.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kathy Sky)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Because English was the language of their schooling, this generation tended not to use their Indigenous language at home with their children. As a result, parents of school-aged children may have learned their community’s traditional practices growing up with their Elders, but very few are fluent in the language.</p>
<p>Parents, along with the chief and council and community members, see families, the community and the school as partners in revitalizing the community’s traditional practices and language. Indigenous communities are now <a href="https://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ895575">reclaiming their own traditional language and culture</a> by <a href="https://utorontopress.com/ca/pathways-for-remembering-and-recognizing-indigenous-thought-in-education-2">incorporating Indigenous knowledge and ways of teaching into Eurocentric provincial curriculum</a>.</p>
<h2>Northern language, writing and play</h2>
<p>Our <a href="https://now-play.org/">Northern Oral Language and Writing through Play</a> partnership research, funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council Partnership Grant, involves collaborative action research with Indigenous teachers, Elders and community members in northwestern Ontario in <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-3">Treaty 3</a>, <a href="https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-5">Treaty 5</a> <a href="https://thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-9">and Treaty 9</a> areas, as they bring together Indigenous knowledge and the provincial curriculum. </p>
<p>In the northern Ontario First Nation community where children learned traditional ways of fishing and smoking fish, teachers drew on research on early literacy, inviting children to use writing to communicate and reinforce <a href="https://mje.mcgill.ca/article/view/9506">what the children wanted to share and remember about their cultural experiences</a>. In this way, the teachers and students <a href="https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12174">reinforced the importance of the children’s language and cultural learning alongside literacy</a>. </p>
<p>Teachers encouraged children to communicate ideas that are important to them. In the example below, it is clear that cleaning the fish, something that the Grade 1 writer was able to participate in, was enjoyable and a significant part of the experience for her.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=185&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/340419/original/file-20200608-176546-1e9u5ny.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=232&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">A Grade 1 student’s writing following the sucker fishing experience: ‘I was clean[ing] the fish. I was taking off the scales.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Kathy Sky)</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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<p>Teachers wanted children to think, and asked children to use what they knew about letters, words and sounds, <a href="https://researchwebsite.files.wordpress.com/2015/01/dramatic-play-supports-children_s-writing-in-kindergarten-and-grade-one.pdf">rather than to copy words or only write the words they knew how to spell</a>. </p>
<p>Figuring out how to spell unfamiliar words was a literacy learning process for the children. In the example, the child knew the spelling of some words. She sounded out words, such as clean, fire and fish, and then thought about letters that she could use to write the sounds. She wrote a letter for every sound that she heard and was able to spell words that were repeated, such as clean and fish, correctly the second time.</p>
<p>The children learned traditional practices by observing, listening to Elders and other community members speaking their community’s Indigenous language and participating. They saw the connections between cultural learning and literacy by writing about what was important and enjoyable to them. In keeping with <a href="https://acurriculumjourney.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/battiste-henderson-2009-naturalizing-indigenous-knowledge-in-eurocentric-education.pdf">Indigenous knowledges</a> that are about relationships and being in harmony and balance with the environment, parents, community members and teachers see the need for children to be literate in the English language order to participate in mainstream society, as well.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/138915/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shelley Stagg Peterson receives funding from Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kathy Sky does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Children in an Oji-Cree northern First Nation are learning traditional teachings about ‘Namebin’ (suckers) and working on literacy skills at the same time through a community literacy project.Shelley Stagg Peterson, Professor of Elementary Literacy and Northern Rural and Indigenous Schooling, University of TorontoKathy Sky, Teacher and Northern Oral Language and Writing Through Play community research partnerLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1274802020-01-19T13:25:22Z2020-01-19T13:25:22ZGlobal Storybooks: From Arabic to Zulu, freely available digital tales in 50+ languages<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/309315/original/file-20200109-80116-16f0342.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=404%2C0%2C1336%2C932&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Illustration by Wiehan de Jager from the story by 'I Like to Read,' by Letta Machoga, originally from the African Storybook project. This story is now available on Storybooks Canada in 28 languages. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://africanstorybook.org/reader.php?id=10547">(African Storybook)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Globally, <a href="https://en.unesco.org/themes/literacy">750 million youth and adults do not know how to read and write</a> and 250 million children are failing to acquire basic literacy skills. Literacy is central to education and plays an important role in <a href="https://www.un.org/en/events/educationday/">development and peace</a>.</p>
<p>In response to this global educational challenge, our team based at the University of British Columbia developed the open multilingual literacy portal <a href="https://globalstorybooks.net/">Global Storybooks</a>. </p>
<p>This portal hosts custom sites with multilingual open-licensed books for over 40 countries and regions on five continents. Our vision is to help democratize global flows of information and resources, to facilitate language learning — including Indigenous languages — and to promote literacy. </p>
<p>One of the United Nations’ <a href="https://sustainabledevelopment.un.org/?menu=1300">Sustainable Development Goals</a> is to achieve quality education globally by the year 2030. High illiteracy rates among children are partly due to a lack of appropriate reading materials in languages familiar to children. Research has shown that children learn to read best in their <a href="https://www.unicef.org/sowc99/sowc99e.pdf">family’s home language, which also establishes a strong foundation for learning any additional languages</a>. </p>
<p>We believe the Global Storybooks project has the potential to promote quality education, literacy and multilingualism worldwide. <a href="https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000244365">Open educational resources (OER)</a> have much potential to address the lack of reading materials in poorly resourced communities, facilitate language learning and reduce inequities between communities and nations. </p>
<h2>From 150+ African languages</h2>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310505/original/file-20200116-181603-19h027w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the story ‘Simbegwire,’ a girl climbs a tree and sings, and one of the women listens very carefully. Illustration by Benjamin Mitchley from the story ‘Simbegwire,’ by Rukia Nantale from the African Storybook, also on Storybooks Canada.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.africanstorybook.org/">(African Storybook)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The origins of this Global Storybooks digital project are found in the <a href="https://africanstorybook.org/">African Storybook</a> initiative, which digitizes and makes freely available under an open license over 1,000 original stories in over 150 African languages, as well as English, French and Portuguese.</p>
<p>The South African organization <a href="https://www.saide.org.za/">Saide</a> began developing this site in 2013, with funding from the UK charity <a href="https://www.comicrelief.com/">Comic Relief</a> and research support from UBC scholars. </p>
<p>Grounded in a shared vision of global literacy and open technology, our UBC team collaborated on the development of <a href="https://www.storybookscanada.ca/">Storybooks Canada</a>, with seed funding from <a href="https://languagesciences.ubc.ca/">UBC Language Sciences</a>. <a href="http://hdl.handle.net/2429/72584">Launched in 2018</a>, Storybooks Canada was the first of our <a href="https://globalstorybooks.net/">Global Storybooks</a> sites. It has a growing <a href="https://www.storybookscanada.ca/about/team/">team</a>, with a range of funders, including <a href="https://www.educationwithoutborders.ca/">Education without Borders</a>, the <a href="https://pwias.ubc.ca/">Peter Wall Institute</a> and <a href="https://www.mitacs.ca/en">Mitacs</a>. It is built on a curated selection of 40 openly licensed stories from the African Storybook that have been repurposed for a Canadian and global audience.</p>
<p>The stories have been translated into 19 of the most widely spoken languages in Canada, with studio-quality audio versions. <a href="https://storybookscanada.ca/about/languages/">An additional 10 languages</a> are still in the process of being translated or recorded. Many of the translations and recordings, which are ongoing, are done by international graduate student volunteers with an interest in literacy and language learning.</p>
<h2>Indigenous languages and stories</h2>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/310499/original/file-20200116-181608-j36kbc.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">In the story ‘The Seasons,’ a young cat gets dressed for tobogganing. Story available in Swampy Cree, Plains Cree, Haida (Old Masset) and Haida (Skidegate), as well as in English, French and Spanish.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.indigenousstorybooks.ca">(Little Cree Books)</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Through the Global Storybooks portal, users can also access <a href="https://indigenousstorybooks.ca/">Indigenous Storybooks</a>, developed in collaboration with Haida scholar <a href="http://saraflorence.ca/">Sara Davidson</a> of the University of the Fraser Valley. This collection is based on the open licensed stories created by the <a href="http://littlecreebooks.com/">Little Cree Books</a> project at the University of Alberta. </p>
<p>The Indigenous Storybooks site now offers translations of these stories in Swampy Cree, Plains Cree, Haida (Old Masset) and Haida (Skidegate), as well as in English, French and Spanish. Recently, volunteers have also translated these stories into Huichol and Huastec, Indigenous languages of Mexico.</p>
<p>As news of Storybooks Canada has spread internationally, many scholars, educators and community agencies have invited us to collaborate on the development of localized sites for their communities, based on the Global Storybooks platform. </p>
<h2>Features and benefits</h2>
<p>This platform has been specifically designed to support the development of mother tongue literacy, bilingualism, and multilingualism with the following features:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Single-click access: The stories can be reached in a single click.</p></li>
<li><p>User-friendly layout: Easy to navigate and can support self-directed learning. </p></li>
<li><p>Audio and print: Promotes reading by linking sounds and symbols.</p></li>
<li><p>Mobile-first design: Websites can be easily viewed on any device, including cell phones, tablets and desktop computers.</p></li>
<li><p>Parallel texts: Users can toggle between different translations of the same story. The more familiar language helps to scaffold understanding of the less-familiar language.</p></li>
<li><p>Downloading: Stories can be downloaded in different PDF layouts, including monolingual or bilingual and regular or wordless/imageless versions. Users can also download in a landscape format (for reading on screens) or a booklet format (for printing).</p></li>
</ol>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/0KaYHqk8CYQ?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Interview with Bonny Norton at Cambridge University.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>New sites can draw on the existing database of stories and multimedia in multiple languages, and new translations are developed as needed. At present, translations have been made in more than 50 new languages. For example, the <a href="https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-jamaica/">Storybooks Jamaica</a> site features translations of the 40 stories into Jamaican Creole, and the stories on <a href="https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-haiti/">Storybooks Haiti</a> are available in Haitian Creole.</p>
<h2>Ongoing research</h2>
<p>The Global Storybooks project generates many questions for educational research: How well do stories travel from one region of the world to another? To what extent can sites like Storybooks Canada promote home and school connections for immigrant and refugee students? Does the use of dual language storybooks promote language awareness in linguistically diverse classrooms? </p>
<p>Team member and UBC PhD candidate Michelle Gilman is investigating connections between Storybooks Canada and the <a href="https://www.storybookscanada.ca/teachers/">B.C. curriculum</a>. PhD student Asma Afreen is addressing cultural identity in the translation of English language stories from the African Storybook into Bengali for Storybooks Canada and <a href="https://global-asp.github.io/storybooks-bangladesh/">Storybooks Bangladesh</a>. Her knowledge of Bangladeshi cultural practices and social relationships helps inform the translation process.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YBiHZY4ap3o?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Asma Afreen discusses translation issues.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>As we celebrate the International Day of Education on Jan. 24, 2020, we believe that the global community needs to heed the <a href="https://www.un.org/en/observances/education-day">advice of the UN Secretary General</a> to do far more to promote equitable education internationally. The ongoing development of Global Storybooks is one response to this urgent call.</p>
<p><em>This story was co-authored by Liam Doherty, a PhD candidate at UBC in language and literacy education.</em></p>
<p>[ <em>Deep knowledge, daily.</em> <a href="https://theconversation.com/ca/newsletters?utm_source=TCCA&utm_medium=inline-link&utm_campaign=newsletter-text&utm_content=deepknowledge">Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter</a>. ]</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/127480/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>This article was supported by a UBC Public Humanities award. Dr. Bonny Norton is affiliated with the Canadian organization, Education without Borders, and the South African organization, Saide.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Espen Stranger-Johannessen received funding from The International Research Foundation for English Language Education (TIRF) during his PhD studies.</span></em></p>A free, open-access repository of multilingual children’s stories is one response to the United Nations’ urgent call to promote equitable education on the International Day of Education, January 24.Bonny Norton, Professor, Department of Language & Literacy Education, University of British ColumbiaEspen Stranger-Johannessen, Associate professor, Faculty of Education, Inland Norway University of Applied SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1008352018-08-08T14:47:53Z2018-08-08T14:47:53ZHow contracts drawn up as comic strips are being put to use in South Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/230429/original/file-20180802-136661-1i1d2si.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Comic Contracts can help bridge language and literacy barriers. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Creative Comics</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Contracts are an important part of our lives. We need to sign them if we want to have a job, a place to live, medical services, insurance, a bank account, a loan, or to send our children to school. The list goes on. </p>
<p>But, contracts always seem to be documents <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/228185535_Promoting_Business_Success_Through_Contract_Visualization">“written by lawyers for lawyers”</a>. They are dense, complex and hard to read even if you’re very literate; and are largely impenetrable if you have low literacy skills. In addition, contracts in South Africa are usually available only in English or Afrikaans, which are spoken as a first language by only a minority of South Africans. </p>
<p>How can the party supplying a contract convey the necessary information to a recipient with low literacy skills or in cross-cultural settings? This was the question which led to the idea of Comic Contracts. Comic Contracts are visually dominant contracts <a href="https://theconversation.com/comic-contracts-and-other-ways-to-make-the-law-understandable-90313">“written” in pictures</a>. Parties are represented by illustrated characters, the terms of the agreement are captured as comics and the parties sign the comic as their contract.</p>
<p>Well designed pictures are engaging, easy to understand and easy to remember. When pictures and text are strategically used together, such as in speech balloons or captions, the text becomes less intimidating and comprehension is both invited and enhanced. </p>
<p>Comic contracts were <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/katevitasek/2017/02/14/comic-contracts-a-novel-approach-to-contract-clarity-and-accessibility/#219393f67635">developed by attorney Robert de Rooy</a> in South Africa, with the world’s first comic contract being his employment contract for fruit pickers on farms in the Western Cape province, produced in 2016. </p>
<p><a href="https://creative-contracts.com/examples/">Other examples</a> include non-disclosure agreements that have been developed for a major multinational company that needed to contract with a diversified supplier base in various countries. Earlier this year, the first comic contract in Australia was created for a <a href="https://www.aurecongroup.com/about/latest-news/2018/may/visual-employment-contract">multinational consulting engineering firm</a> by Professor Camilla Andersen and her team at the <a href="http://www.news.uwa.edu.au/201708259881/camilla-andersen/comic-books-contracts-and-law">University of Western Australia </a>. </p>
<p>Comic contracts are also being developed for agreements between parents and schools, specifically for schools in economically depressed areas, where the parents’ informed involvement in their children’s education is critical. But there’s huge potential still for further use, for example as contracts supplied by banks, insurers, and other businesses to their consumer clients. </p>
<h2>Are comic contracts legally binding?</h2>
<p>Under South African law, a <a href="https://www.lawteacher.net/free-law-essays/contract-law/the-law-of-contract-in-south-africa-contract-law-essay.php">contract</a> is formed when parties agree on terms they intend to be legally binding. Agreement is the basis of any contract. But there are a few other requirements too. Parties must have the capacity to contract and the object of the contract must be legal and possible. </p>
<p>In addition, any necessary formalities – such as that the contract must be in writing or signed by one or both parties – must be observed. Lastly, for the contract to be certain, a court must be able to interpret it. </p>
<p>Comic contracts can meet all these requirements. The requirements of capacity, legality, and possibility will be the same as for any other contract. And there’s no reason why a court should not be able to derive a clear meaning from a contract in the form of a comic: interpreting pictures is very much a part of everyday life. </p>
<p>But what do we make of (for example) the statutory requirement that an employer supply an employee with a minimum of <a href="http://www.labour.gov.za/DOL/legislation/acts/basic-guides/basic-guide-to-employment-contracts">written particulars</a>? To ensure compliance, ordinary written text (in simplified plain language, strategically placed in speech balloons or captions) could be included as part of a comic employment contract. </p>
<h2>The future</h2>
<p>There is no case law on comic contracts anywhere in the world that we’re aware of. An <a href="https://theconversation.com/comic-contracts-and-other-ways-to-make-the-law-understandable-90313">Australian High Court judge is on record</a> as saying (in his personal capacity) that he thinks provided they are clear and understandable, comic contracts are valid and binding. </p>
<p>The more cautious party wishing to use a comic contract could always ensure that where contracts are regulated, the textual components of the comic contract contain the minimum essential text as part of its design.</p>
<p>We believe that comic contracts fill an important gap in communication between contracting parties, particularly businesses and consumers. Indeed, comics may be the future of consumer contracting.</p>
<p><em><a href="https://creative-contracts.com/our-team/">Attorney Robert de Rooy </a> contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/100835/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Hutchison receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa. The opinions, findings, conclusions, and recommendations in this article are the authors' and the NRF accepts no liability in this regard. </span></em></p>Comic contracts can meet all the requirements for contracts to be legally binding.Andrew Hutchison, Associate Professor of Commercial Law, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/833852017-09-19T10:14:11Z2017-09-19T10:14:11ZThe most important ways parents can prepare children for school<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186239/original/file-20170915-8121-19yo3vz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Reading to children and talking to them about the story helps them love stories and become better readers. </span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/bed-time-story-711534445?src=roJqae_659GhzFF0MUL8ng-2-8">Slavic/www.shutterstock.com</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>With school starting, parents wonder what they can do to help their children succeed. Almost everyone knows that reading books with young children is important, and it is. But even more important is that we talk with our children. A lot. The more talk children engage in with adults, the bigger their vocabularies will become. The <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/232548799_Is_Literacy_Enough_Pathways_to_Academic_Success_for_Adolescents">bigger their vocabularies when they enter kindergarten</a>, the better they do with reading comprehension tasks – even 11 years later. </p>
<p>Not all kinds of <a href="http://products.brookespublishing.com/Meaningful-Differences-in-the-Everyday-Experience-of-Young-American-Children-P14.aspx">talk with children</a> are equally beneficial. Reprimanding a child is not a good opportunity to learn language. Commanding children to buckle their seat belts or brush their teeth may be necessary, but is also not optimal for helping them to acquire language. Children may be upset if scolded or, at best, uninterested when commanded, both conditions that interfere with learning. </p>
<p>I have taught university-level developmental psychology for many years and have done extensive research on many aspects of language development, especially as those relate to literacy skills. I have seen how specific actions parents take to improve children’s language skills prepare them to succeed at reading and writing.</p>
<h2>How to be a kid conversationalist</h2>
<p>Talking with your child about objects and events of interest to them is most optimal for <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Language-Games-Play-Your-Child/dp/0306443201">language acquisition</a>. It does not matter whether you talk about types of rocks or cars. What counts is that both parent and child are in a good mood and that the child is very interested in whatever you are talking about. Here are some ways to help start those conversations. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186240/original/file-20170915-8076-e5cki3.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Taking children to a museum may help them become better readers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/portrait-mother-her-sons-museum-412088488?src=hztOBtWhhO1L3773CFN9tw-1-32">Chubykin Arkady/www.shutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<ol>
<li><p>Some of the most beneficial kinds of talk can happen when parent and child are doing something together. A walk in the park or a visit to a museum is a great time to talk to your child. Do not use a cellphone or even a museum recording. Notice what your child looks at and talk about that object. Ask your child questions about it. </p></li>
<li><p>Use time that you are waiting for something – a bus, a doctor’s appointment – to rhyme words with your child or tell a story you make up about a fantastic creature or a rude duck. Time will pass quickly, and your children will be having so much fun they will forget to misbehave while they are improving their language skills. </p></li>
<li><p>Don’t simply read a book to a child straight through and require that a child listen quietly. Engage your child while you are reading aloud. Ask your child questions about how a character in the story feels. Ask your child what she thinks will happen next before you turn the page.</p></li>
<li><p>Eat dinner as a family as often as possible. At the table, ask your child what happened during the day. Don’t accept “nothing” as an answer. Ask your children to elaborate on whatever they tell you. Some families report a fun practice of each member of the family telling the best and worst things that happened to them each day. </p></li>
<li><p>Make sure the television is off and that hand-held devices are nowhere to be seen or heard. </p></li>
<li><p>Tell your child things that happened to you when you were a child. The best way to get a story is to tell a story. Tell you children about your first week at school, your first (or second or third…) grade teacher. Tell them about the time you forgot your lunch bag or you lost your homework. </p></li>
</ol>
<h2>Special concerns</h2>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=401&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/186241/original/file-20170915-8071-6hbche.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=504&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sharing family meals is important in building language.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/happy-family-having-lunch-together-home-206407909?src=zTYIibQLihzMnSM77lFnYA-1-40">wavebreakmedia/www.shiutterstock.com</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Parents for whom English is not a native language may hear from uninformed professionals that they should speak to their children only in English or the child will become confused, especially if that child has special needs. This is bad advice. Talking to children in a language in which parents are not fluent and comfortable is not optimal for either parents or children. Extensive research supports the recommendation that <a href="https://www.srcd.org/sites/default/files/documents/E-News/spr_27_4.pdf">parents use their native language</a> in communicating with children. </p>
<p>Many parents have discovered that if they want their child to behave, all they need to do is hand over an iPhone to play games on or let the child watch a favorite movie. Unfortunately, the talk children hear on television, movies or hand-held devices is not optimal. In fact, in a recent study of almost 900 children, researchers found that the more time parents reported their <a href="http://leader.pubs.asha.org/article.aspx?articleid=2647387">children using hand-held devices</a>, the more likely it was that the children exhibited expressive language delay, measurable even at 18 months. This phenomenon has been widely observed by speech-language pathologists, and their national organization, ASHA, has been outspoken about the dangers of this modern parenting strategy. </p>
<p>Talking with children requires no expensive equipment. Talking with children costs nothing, in fact. But talking with children makes them smarter and more connected with whomever they are talking. Apart from feeding children, loving children and keeping them safe, nothing is more important than talking with them as much as possible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/83385/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allyssa McCabe received funding from The Theodore Edson Parker Foundation of Lowell, Massachusetts for an intervention to boost the literacy-related language skills of at-risk children in a Lowell Preschool</span></em></p>Parents want to do everything they can to get their kids’ school year off to a good start. Here’s why talking with them is one of the best ways to do that.Allyssa McCabe, Professor of Psychology, UMass LowellLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/621752016-07-08T03:23:58Z2016-07-08T03:23:58ZWhat went wrong at Aurukun School?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/129778/original/image-20160708-30690-1m98ar6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students at the Cape York Aboriginal Australian Academy in Aurukun.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Peter Holmes A Court</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Aurukun School in Cape York, far north Queensland, closed in May this year after <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-05-25/aurukun-teachers-evacuated-for-second-time/7444630">a series of violent episodes</a> directed at teaching staff. </p>
<p>The school is one of the Cape York Academy schools operating under the stewardship of prominent Indigenous leader Noel Pearson. </p>
<p>Pearson was given state and federal funding to take over the running of the Cape York schools because they weren’t doing as well as Department of Education schools. Attendance was low, behaviour poor and academic results were well below par. </p>
<p>So why not try giving the schools more autonomy to operate a curriculum that responds to local circumstances, rather than a curriculum conceived and managed from a distant and out-of-touch Brisbane or Canberra?</p>
<p>So far so good. </p>
<h2>Direct Instruction</h2>
<p>The Academy schools then imported a curriculum from even more distant Eugene, Oregon in the US. </p>
<p>It is called <a href="https://theconversation.com/direct-instruction-and-the-teaching-of-reading-29157">Direct Instruction</a>, or DI, and it costs Aurukun school close to A$2 million a year. That is a lot of Australian tax payer money going to the US developer, the <a href="http://www.nifdi.org">National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI)</a>.</p>
<p>As a consequence of this year’s turmoil, the Queensland Department of Education conducted a review of Aurukun school and <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Content/MediaAttachments/2016/pdf/Review%20of%20school%20education%20in%20Aurukun.pdf">made numerous recommendations</a>, including the scaling back of DI in the school. </p>
<p>A close reading of the review reveals the many ways in which DI has been <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/may/27/aurukun-imported-syllabus-partly-to-blame-for-school-closure-says-former-principal">a failed experiment</a> in Aurukun. </p>
<h2>Learning English is not a learning disability</h2>
<p>Direct Instruction is a teaching methodology developed for English speaking children with cognitive dysfunctions that inhibit their capacity to process language.</p>
<p>The children in Aurukun do not have learning disabilities, they are simply learning English as an additional language.</p>
<p>They speak Wik as their first language. Many also speak additional dialects or creoles in their daily lives. <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-we-kill-languages-and-fail-our-cleverest-children-29137">These children are linguistically proficient</a>, and their language processing capabilities are superior to the majority monolingual English speaking population of Australia. </p>
<p>DI is, quite simply, the wrong intervention for the children of Aurukun. </p>
<h2>What matters more - the teacher or the program?</h2>
<p>A key rationale for implementing DI was to counter the high teacher attrition rates in remote indigenous communities like Aurukun. The program would be constant, even if the teachers weren’t. </p>
<p>DI is fully scripted, and teachers must not diverge from the script. Neither the lesson planning nor the assessment is conducted by the teachers. The program’s selling point is that it “teacher proofs” the curriculum. </p>
<p>Anybody can deliver the script on any given day because it is the program that does the teaching, not the teacher. The data from each week’s teaching is sent to Cairns where it is number crunched by National Institute for Direct Instruction (NIFDI) personnel and students are promoted or demoted based on that analysis. </p>
<p>Teachers are completely removed from the learning equation. </p>
<p>It is fortunate, then, that DI is designed to be impervious to high teacher turnover because teacher retention at Aurukun is about 64% compared to 90% in the rest of the state, and teacher morale has dropped from 94% to 40% over the past four years.</p>
<h2>As long as it gets results</h2>
<p>All the criticisms of DI would fade to grey if the results were good, but they are not. </p>
<p>The school’s national literacy and numeracy results (NAPLAN) remain well below the national benchmarks on every measure of reading, writing, spelling, grammar and numeracy. </p>
<p>Very modest in-school improvements have been recorded in some areas. However the sample size for those results renders them invalid. The school has one of the lowest NAPLAN participation rates in the state - only 14 of the 28 children in Year 3 sat the test in 2015. And the Department’s report implies that they might have been the “good” students.</p>
<p>For the past five years, every school day, from 8.30am to 2.30pm, has been entirely devoted to teaching literacy and numeracy through the DI program. </p>
<p>But the results indicate an extraordinarily poor return on money and time invested. </p>
<h2>Engagement is key</h2>
<p>DI program material is patriotically North American. It is far removed from the day to day lives of the children of Cape York, or any Australian child. As one teacher told <a href="http://statements.qld.gov.au/Content/MediaAttachments/2016/pdf/Review%20of%20school%20education%20in%20Aurukun.pdf">the review</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>“They learn about July 4 Thanksgiving and the stories they listen to are about American states. The kids know more about American states than Australian.” </p>
</blockquote>
<p>No other curriculum work is done. There is no hands-on solving of mathematical problems, or reading of authentic literature. No exploration of Australian history, or science concepts, and certainly no 21st-century curriculum innovations like coding.</p>
<p>It’s an old, white, American curriculum. No wonder only 50% of the kids turn up for class, and are poorly behaved when they do.</p>
<h2>Direct Instruction versus explicit instruction</h2>
<p>Direct Instruction is <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-08-28/tony-abbott-didnt-do-homework-on-remote-school/6731542">not to be confused</a> with the educational principle of <a href="https://theconversation.com/ignore-the-fads-teachers-should-teach-and-students-should-listen-39634">explicit teaching</a>. DI is the copyright name of a commercial program. </p>
<p>The children of Aurukun do need explicit teaching, <a href="https://theconversation.com/lost-for-words-why-the-best-literacy-approaches-are-not-reaching-the-classroom-19561">as do most children</a>. </p>
<p>They need to be shown how English works because it is not their first language, and because proficiency in English is crucial to success in Australian society. </p>
<p>They need to be taught by English language specialists who can develop a program that explicitly teaches how the English language works through engaging the children with their local environment, reading real books and nurturing their existing multilingual proficiency. </p>
<h2>A lesson learned?</h2>
<p>What has happened in Aurukun is a lesson. </p>
<p>This is what happens when you out-source education to commercial interests.</p>
<p>This is what happens when you think it is easier and cheaper to buy a program than invest in teacher professional development. </p>
<p>This is what happens when you take a remedy for a specific learning difficulty and apply it to children who don’t have that difficulty.</p>
<p>Let’s hope it’s a lesson well learned.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/62175/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<h4 class="border">Disclosure</h4><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Misty Adoniou works for the University of Canberra. She has received funding from government sources to research refugee education, literacy teaching and teacher standards. She is on the Board of Directors of TESOL International, an affiliation of over 100 professional teachers associations. </span></em></p>The lesson to be learned from Aurukun is around the impact of out-sourcing education to commercial interests.Misty Adoniou, Associate Professor in Language, Literacy and TESL, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/516462015-12-04T11:10:17Z2015-12-04T11:10:17ZHere’s how screen time is changing the way kids tell stories<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104316/original/image-20151203-22452-671u3o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">How much screen time should kids get?</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/ticoneva/5581238453/in/photolist-9vciKc-czxg1y-cNCt2f-cEdiHw-9vfjhG-d8xR6q-cFoHN1-cFizYW-8HHKcW-8h3VKq-oHHVrV-9vfjn3-psg5Zp-dGhh3n-9vfjpb-9vciQ4-b9wfxp-pPqUYq-oaR3RE-rNwbmw-rwtr7X-ryff9m-rwubKt-b9wcMV-b9wY7D-b9wzna-adf5Rs-b9wzc2-b9wCVn-b9ws7r-b9wdHv-b9wofn-b9wWhM-b9woPx-b9wrUg-b9wA7n-b9wBVF-b9wzyB-b9wXWn-b9wTRZ-b9wbFz-b9w7TH-b9wBHa-b9wKde-b9wYic-b9wXAc-b9wAhT-b9waAB-b9wCJD-b9wejM">Yan Chi Vinci Chow</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Recently, at a child’s birthday party, I overheard a conversation between parents discussing their concern about “screen time.” </p>
<p>Phones, computers, iPads and the good old television are all around us. And this can be a source of anxiety for parents, caregivers and teachers. A recent <a href="https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/Pages/Media-and-Children.aspx">report</a> from the <a href="https://www.aap.org/en-us/Pages/Default.aspx">American Academy of Pediatrics</a> suggests the amount of time young children spend viewing television and movies and playing on handheld devices is increasing. </p>
<p>As an early childhood media researcher, an early childhood teacher educator and a parent, I understand these concerns. But, I believe, it is equally important that we consider how children are learning from the time spent in front of the screen. </p>
<p>My research shows that children are creating complex oral stories through the characters they see on screen.</p>
<h2>Educational opportunities in “screen time”</h2>
<p>A number of <a href="http://www.taylorandfrancis.com/books/details/9780805839364/">studies</a> show how viewing television and other media can contribute to children’s learning. Children have been known to improve their math and literacy skills from watching “educational” shows such as Sesame Street. </p>
<p>When children watch educational programs and interact with apps that promote learning, they make gains in literacy, numeracy and vocabulary. A <a href="http://www.naeyc.org/yc/files/yc/file/201205/McManis_YC0512.pdf">recent article</a> in Young Children, a publication of the <a href="http://www.naeyc.org/">National Association for the Education of Young Children (NAEYC)</a> (a nonprofit organization that works to promote early learning), shows how children can gain several skills through experience with computers and handheld devices. </p>
<p>These devices can facilitate better language and literacy outcomes, such as letter recognition, listening, comprehension and vocabulary. When children play games that link letter sounds to written letters, it can increase their ability to hear and identify individual sounds – skills children need in order to read.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=327&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104318/original/image-20151203-21427-144dprq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=411&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">How are children interpreting television show characters?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/wwworks/208917634/in/photolist-jsKWb-8wTXNJ-iHbn7m-8vw4mN-8vsCQR-8vwHnS-8vugpH-8uYX9q-aPFrM4-dUBkDB-8vvoaR-8vv6gX-8wQWZn-8wTXJy-dEQpbD-8w36Fd-8vsUSp-8vsJTt-8vupkr-hE5oza-bzDq69-am7ALL-9ozHnq-8vuFTD-8vvfSM-auo7zn-9JutQm-8vta3M-8vsETH-8vwNRd-8vt3Rn-6Kathh-aJPPrK-kBySf8-9eNTXx-8vyodS-8vxQn7-8vuJWV-8vxHZ5-8vtBUp-8vyoRj-8vydqG-8vv83p-8MK4qC-8wQXkB-57XARs-cRXbMd-bsexcT-8vtyRx-8vtw32">woodleywonderworks</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Researchers <a href="http://www.readinghalloffame.org/sites/default/files/yokota__teale-rt_may_2014.pdf">show</a> that children learn from both print and digital picture books. Digital storybooks (e-books) that pair spoken word with pictures and print text can enhance vocabulary. </p>
<p>Apps that allow a “read-along” experience, for example, can help children develop a <a href="http://www.literacyandtechnology.org/uploads/1/3/6/8/136889/jlt_v15_3.pdf">better understanding</a> of concepts about stories and print, especially if they have printed text that children can see. E-books that highlight words as they are read, help young children learn that print is read from left to right in English.</p>
<h2>Children learn from superheroes as well</h2>
<p>But it is important to realize that it is not just “educational” television and media from which children learn. Children pick up ideas from television (even television not considered “educational”) and use them to enhance literacy.</p>
<p>Children can learn from superheroes, too. Researcher on early childhood learning <a href="http://education.illinois.edu/faculty/ahdyson">Anne Haas Dyson</a> found that <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807736392.shtml">seven- to nine-year-old children</a>] took the superheroes they watched on cartoons and brought them into their fiction writing and dramatic play. </p>
<p>Her research shows children, like adults, often use media and media characters as tools. With the help of their teacher, children brought their home life and interests into school to make their writing come to life. </p>
<p>Dyson’s research demonstrates that when allowed, children <a href="http://store.tcpress.com/0807742805.shtml">use media</a> – songs, characters from their favorite shows and movies – as a way to enhance their “school learning.” </p>
<p>My own <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/09540253.2014.949634">research</a> demonstrates how preschool children take unlikely characters in popular television shows and movies and blend them together to create complex oral stories. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/104323/original/image-20151203-32297-1lrk1hf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Children bring what they learn from superheroes into fiction writing and dramatic play.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mrtea/572531978/in/photolist-4hFBue-f8kESr-7p34Lx-4VMBYX-dXWT7r-qHP1EX-7z3mTX-5WgaCb-SAnP1-8k5ddv-7y4AZN-LTBoH-9ZVsTq-o2JbF-4iAQTq-7uqB8b-96Vp7M-6cksVM-6fSaKB-xLDeCZ-5QTVF">Stephen Train</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I spent nearly a year in a preschool to observe how three- to five-year-old preschool children talked and thought about television, movies and handheld devices. These preschool children often talked about characters from a wide range of television shows and movies.</p>
<p>For example, one preschooler, I observed, “borrowed” <a href="http://disneychannel.disney.com/hannah-montana">Disney Channel’s Hannah Montana</a>, a tween rockstar, as the protagonist in her tale. After introducing Hannah Montana, she brought Boots (the monkey from <a href="http://www.nickjr.com/dora-the-explorer/">Dora the Explorer</a>, a preschool cartoon) into her story. She spun a story in which Hannah Montana and Boots battled and ultimately defeated a villainous monster from a movie. </p>
<p>Preschoolers took ideas from shows such as Sesame Street, Mickey mouse Clubhouse, cartoons featuring Spiderman, Tinkerbell and Spongebob. Some combined these with shows that older siblings and family members watched such as action movies, professional wrestling and even monster movies.</p>
<p>Rather than repeating what they saw on television, they brought ideas from their own community to make new stories. </p>
<p>The stories children saw and the characters they knew from television also allowed them to relate to other children. Superheroes, characters from Frozen and other popular culture characters can give children from diverse backgrounds a common (and exciting) topic in which to <a href="https://rowman.com/isbn/9781475807967">create play scenarios</a>.</p>
<p>And this play involves negotiating and talking with other children about characters and plot, which in turn enhances oral language. Oral language is a crucial aspect of literacy for young children. </p>
<h2>How should adults monitor screen-time?</h2>
<p>Although research shows the way in which children learn from media, there are also legitimate concerns about what children see on these screens. </p>
<p>Media is created from viewpoints and stances that may not always be acceptable to parents and teachers. Media can show people in inaccurate and stereotypical lights. </p>
<p>So what should adults do with all of the media content coming into their children’s lives?</p>
<p><a href="https://www.routledge.com/products/9780415539517">Research</a> with preschoolers has shown that conversations allow a child to examine who is being shown in media and the way they are being shown. And it is important to note that <a href="http://cie.sagepub.com/content/14/2/138.abstract">children’s</a> view of these stereotypes often depends on their home lives and environments. These conversations are important for children. </p>
<p>Adults also need to recognize that screen time is one way for children to learn. It is certainly not the only way. The American Academy of Pediatrics <a href="https://www.aap.org/en-us/advocacy-and-policy/aap-health-initiatives/Pages/Media-and-Children.aspx">suggests</a> that children should engage with entertainment media for no more than one or two hours per day. </p>
<p>As they note, it is important for kids to spend time on outdoor play, reading, hobbies and using their imaginations in free play. Children need rich experiences in their lives and <a href="http://www.cambridge.org/ve/academic/subjects/languages-linguistics/sociolinguistics/words-work-and-play-three-decades-family-and-community-life">interactions</a> with other people. Screens cannot make up for this.</p>
<p>Children need a healthy balance. While we should be careful in flinging open the gates of media, we should be equally concerned about chaining them shut.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/51646/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Allison S Henward does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research shows that preschool children take characters from popular television shows and movies and blend them together to create complex oral stories.Allison S Henward, Assistant Professor of Early Childhood Education, University of HawaiiLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.