Abstract: This article highlights the use of Shaun Tan's. The Arrival to teach literacy to English Language Learn- ers in social studies classrooms. The featured ...
The Clearing House, 87: 64–68, 2014 Copyright C Taylor & Francis Group, LLC ISSN: 0009-8655 print; 1939-912x online DOI: 10.1080/00098655.2013.843499
Reading without Words: Using The Arrival to Teach Visual Literacy with English Language Learners SARAH A. MATHEWS
Abstract: This article highlights the use of Shaun Tan’s The Arrival to teach literacy to English Language Learners in social studies classrooms. The featured text is a book that displays the complexity of migration within a text that does not feature a single written word. The author describes a variety of mini-lessons geared towards supporting ELLs at all stages of language development, reinforcing geography and history content, and promoting literacy skills outlined in the Common Core State Standards.
some preservice teachers born in the United States recall being placed in these classrooms as well, especially if English was not the primary language spoken in their homes. Although these individuals have been immersed in ESOL programs throughout their education, I find many still lack knowledge about high-quality strategies for teaching English language learners (ELL). At the same time, the prevalence of social studies at the elementary level is diminishing in Florida, as is the case in many other states across the nation. Teachers at that level face pressures to emphasize reading and math skills during this era of high-stakes testing (VanFossen 2005). Elementary teachers often admit that they may not have time to teach social studies. When they do teach the subject, they often do so through reading instruction and use picture books or nonfiction basil readers (Boyle-Baise et al. 2008). Therefore, many students enter middle school or junior high school without an in-depth study of U.S. and world history and geography. With the adoption of the Common Core State Standards (CCSS), middle and high school teachers are now mandated to teach literacy and numeracy within their discipline (The Council of Chief State School Offices and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices 2010). In regards to history and the social sciences, the CCSS recommend literacy instruction through the use of informational text. However, research involving secondary social studies teachers indicates that these teachers continue to rely on traditional textbooks without incorporating primary source documents, visual images, and historical fiction texts (Nokes, Dole, and Hacker 2007). Unfortunately, many social studies textbooks do little to motivate struggling and resistant readers.
Keywords: graphic novels, ELL, social studies, visual literacy In The Arrival, the absence of any written description also plants the reader more firmly in the shoes of an immigrant character. There is no guidance as to how the images might be interpreted, and we must ourselves search for meaning and seek familiarity in a world where such things are either scarce or concealed. (Tan 2013)
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t the beginning of each semester I ask my social studies methods students to create a snapshot autobiography, combining illustrations and written text, to describe four important events in their lives (Parker 2005). As my students share this project they describe their childhood in Venezuela or Jamaica, tell stories of migrating from Colombia or Haiti, or share cultural characteristics of life growing up in Little Havana or Hialeah (two Cuban-influenced regions surrounding Miami, Florida). When many individuals reflect on their early schooling experiences in the United States they remember spending time in English for speakers of other languages (ESOL) programs. While most were placed in these classrooms to learn English once they had arrived,
Sarah A. Mathews is at Florida International University, Teaching and Learning, Miami, FL. 64
Reading without Words
Throughout the semester, I deliver mini lessons in my secondary social studies methods course to demonstrate effective pedagogical strategies while also describing curricular decisions that teachers make when planning their instruction. I use these lessons to prepare my preservice teachers for teaching literacy and social studies in communities with large ELL populations and within this current reform and accountability climate. Debriefing sessions that immediately follow allow the preservice teachers opportunities to offer their ideas about adapting the lessons to cover additional social studies content or to address diverse learners in their classrooms. With these goals in mind I offer the following snapshot of practice, geared toward 6th- to 8th-grade students and centered on Shaun Tan’s (2006) The Arrival. This book displays the complexity of migration within a text that does not feature a single word. As we explore this “graphic” text I emphasize strategies for helping ELLs strengthen their vocabulary development, visual literacy skills, and understanding of social studies concepts. Yet this unit can be used with students at all levels. The Arrival then becomes an anchor, used in collaboration with a variety of other texts, to enrich students’ history knowledge and geography skills. Why Use a Book with no Written Text to Teach Reading? The popularity of the Carter G. Woodson award, as well as the National Council for the Social Studies’ (NCSS) list of Notable Tradebooks for Young People, demonstrates that teachers are already using picture books to teach social studies. Comic books, graphic novels, and manga (Japanese graphic novels) are genres that communicate narratives using frames combining illustrations and written texts. These genres have garnered recognition as a valuable pedagogical tool in reading, language arts, and social studies classrooms (Carter 2007; Clark 2013; Cromer and Clark 2007). Educators that use graphic novels are attracted to the texts’ ability to accommodate students at a variety of reading levels, the illustrations’ appeal to children and youth, and the format’s applicability to teach visual literacy skills (Christensen 2006; Gallo and Weiner 2004; Moeller 2013; Norton 2003). These aspects support CCSS goals. For example, CCSS.ELA-Literacy.RI.6–8.7 requires that teachers address visual literacy throughout middle-level grades in order to help students integrate visual information (e.g., in charts, graphs, photographs, videos, or maps) with other information in print and digital texts. Educators suggest that graphic novels help students develop visual literacy skills as they decode symbolic images, utilize context clues to interpret messages, and unpack layers of meaning within illustrations (Bucher and Manning 2004; Carter 2007; Schwarz 2002). Tan’s (2006) The Arrival utilizes elements of graphic novels to tell a narrative of migration to a new land. The
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author wanted to capture the emotions felt during such experiences: sorrow on leaving one’s family, strangeness when encountering new cultural practices, and frustration when struggling with language barriers. Although there are no words, this book is a “graphic text” where the narrative unfolds through pictures separated into frames. The author explains: Words have a remarkable magnetic pull on our attention, and how we interpret images: in their absence, an image can often have more conceptual space around it, and invite a more lingering attention from a reader who might otherwise reach for the nearest convenient caption, and let that rule their imagination. (Tan 2013)
The illustrations in this text resemble photographs, but are incorporated as dreamlike sequences, aiding young children as they identify with complex social and historical issues often addressed by adults (Spiegelman 2006). Without indicating a particular nation of departure, and denying the reader of written clues to suggest language or nationality, this book encompasses an immigration story that can serve as a conversation piece for ELLs.1 Similar research on graphic novels dealing with issues surrounding immigration (e.g., feelings of displacement or experiences with racial prejudice) suggests that these texts can communicate that students are not alone in their experiences (Chun 2009). This text can also be used to reinforce additional CCSS standards. For example, this resource can be used to help students “determine the meaning of words and phrases as they are used in a text, including vocabulary specific to domains related to history/social studies” (The Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices 2010). Finally, ideas displayed in this book can be used to discuss the history of migration to, and within, the United States, reinforcing efforts to “explain events, procedures, ideas, concepts, relationships, and interactions between concepts in historical texts” (The Council of Chief State School Officers and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices 2010). Yet this unit is not solely for ELL students. In fact the lessons within help reinforce visual literacy skills and vocabulary for students at all reading levels. Using this text as an anchor, and reinforcing key ideas with additional texts, students realize that our nation’s history has been shaped by various migrations to and within the United States. Introducing the Unit: Stories from Our Suitcases On the day that I introduce The Arrival, I begin with a short Google Earth presentation about a recent trip I took to eastern Africa. In this presentation I have designated place marks for Mt. Kilimanjaro in Tanzania; Nairobi, Kenya; Lake Victoria in Uganda; and Kigali, Rwanda. As we scroll over each place marker, tabs open
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to a photograph I took of that location or information about that location’s importance on my trip. As we engage in this activity I reinforce vocabulary terms such as scale, location, globe, map, global positioning system, latitude, longitude, and compass, while also spatially demonstrating the physical attributes of the four east African countries I visited. After describing the physical and cultural characteristics of this region, I ask my students to list items I need to take on this trip. The geography concepts as well as the vocabulary terms included in my luggage are added to our word wall. Then I ask students to reflect on a journey they have completed or might take in the future. They need to locate where they came from, where they traveled to, literally or hypothetically, and what they did or would pack in their luggage. After this activity I introduce Part I of The Arrival. In this section we read images of a man preparing for a trip. The first illustrated blocks contain pictures of the items he packs in preparation for his journey. This section can be used to teach students of all stages of language development. For example, these pages can be used to teach vocabulary to students in the preproduction stage (e.g., students that respond by pointing and who listen actively) or students in the early production stage (e.g., students who can utter short sentences) (Cruz et al. 2003; Cruz and Thornton 2013). Teachers can repeat words while pointing to images on page 1 and 2 in order to help students learn vocabulary terms such as bird, clock, hat, clothing, spoon, pot, picture, drawing, tea pot/kettle, cup, luggage, photograph, family, and journey. On page 3 all of these images are incorporated into a larger illustration of the man speaking to his wife, which can be used to help review these words. I model this by asking students to point to objects as I call out the term, or by selecting an object and asking specific students to tell me the object’s name. I also model how teachers can use this text with students at more advanced levels of language development: speech emergence, intermediate fluency, and advanced fluency. For example, I project the image and then engage the class in a discussion of four questions: “What do you see?” “What do you think is going on in this picture?” “What clues in this image helped you?” and “How does this picture make you feel?” This allows the students to contextualize the image using the information they observe in the text. I then ask them to predict what they think will happen next. At the end of this activity I provide an opportunity for students to share their journeys as a way to incorporate students’ own experiences in my classroom. Teachers can use a variety of methods to display this text to their class. Since I want my students to analyze the smallest details in the examples, I use a document camera to highlight a page or specific frame in the book. This allows us to discuss an image or segment as a large group. On some occasions I want to emphasize a specific
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section of an illustration and I may scan the image, use Photoshop to crop specific features, and then project that portion of the image onto the whiteboard.
Stage Two: Stories from Far-off Suitcases After we analyze Part I, I divide my students into four heterogeneous groups and distribute one text per table. They are allowed to flip through and interpret Part II of the text as a group. This second section depicts the main character’s journey to his new destination, first by train and then by boat. Students are encouraged to investigate the images using magnifying glasses and then use visual evidence to make connections to the larger narrative, as well as to concepts we studied in class. All students can participate since this is a visual text. In addition, by placing students in mixed groups, ELLs have the opportunity to learn by listening to their native English-speaking peers. After groups have had a chance to talk about the images, I engage the students in a whole-class discussion. Many images throughout this section offer a great starting point to examine immigration in the United States in the early 1900s. Students can analyze these images using the same four questions listed previously. The next seven pages in The Arrival include illustrations depicting what it was like when individuals first arrived at Ellis Island (e.g., long lines of individuals waiting for inspections, the process of undergoing physical examinations, and the main character’s confusion while communicating across language barriers). At this point I introduce a variety of additional books that can be used to help students study immigration during this time period. For example, we can gather more information about Ellis Island using Carol Bierman’s Journey to Ellis Island. Then we can compare that with Katrina Currier’s Kai’s Journey to Gold Mountain, a text describing the experiences of Chinese immigrants who were held at Angel Island. All students can practice visual literacy skills as they interpret photographs or use illustrations to predict what will happen next. Students with greater English-language proficiency can read modified quotes gathered from primary source documents in texts such as Veronica Lawlor’s I Was Dreaming to Come to America, or poetry scribbled on the walls at Angel Island, as presented in Him Mark Lai’s Island. ELLs and native English speakers can both practice oral speaking by reading these accounts out loud. I also use this opportunity to point out and label countries of departure and places of arrival on our classroom world map; for example, Russia, China, Italy, and Poland. Domain-specific, as well as conversational, vocabularies are reinforced as these texts help students compare and contrast the immigrant experience (Chun 2009; Libresco, Balantic, and Kipling 2011).
Reading without Words
Stage Three: Learning to Navigate New Surroundings Part III of The Arrival demonstrates the main character’s efforts to navigate his new surroundings. Images demonstrate how he learns about new currency, reads maps to find different locations, and communicates with individuals in the market. This section offers a variety of opportunities for students to practice visual literacy skills to learn vocabulary as well as interpret the narrative using context clues. Teachers can use this opportunity to help students develop map skills and practice giving directions orally. As the main character encounters individuals in these surroundings, the reader is introduced to two additional stories of migration. One is an example of a young girl forced into labor who runs away to escape harsh living conditions. The second depicts a couple fleeing from some negative force, possibly political or religious persecution. As students read these visual images, teachers can introduce the social studies concepts of push and pull factors to explain the different reasons individuals migrate to new locations. This section also offers the opportunity to introduce examples of migration within the United States during various periods in our nation’s history. I begin by reading Faith Ringgold’s Aunt Harriet’s Underground Railroad in the Sky to help students gain background knowledge about the conditions that provoked slaves in Southern states to flee to the Northern states. This book illustrates the experiences individuals may have faced while traveling along the Underground Railroad. Ringgold’s elaborate illustrations provide opportunities to reinforce visual literacy as students are again asked: “What do you see?” “What do you think is going on in this picture?” “What clues in this image helped you?” and “How does this picture make you feel?” We then read Bettye Stroud’s The Patchwork Path, explaining how slaves created quilts with hidden symbols, which were used as maps, to communicate safe passage on the Underground Railroad. These texts help us compare and contrast the experience of escaping slavery with some of the migration experiences depicted in The Arrival. Teachers can utilize additional examples of children’s trade books to emphasize other periods of migration in the United States. For example, Jeanne Peterson and Kimberly Root’s Don’t Forget Winona portrays a family forced to move from Oklahoma as a result of the dust bowl of the 1930s and their migration to California. Janice Harrington’s Going North depicts an African American family moving from Alabama to Nebraska in the 1960s in search of better jobs and in an effort to escape the Jim Crow segregated South. These books provide multiple opportunities for students to compare and contrast the migration experience. Both books also include illustrated maps
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that reinforce the visual skills necessary for geographic literacy. At this point in the unit some preservice teachers raise the issue that middle school students might view picture books as “too babyish,” and they question whether ELLs feel that these texts present watered-down material. I like to remind them that as soon as they entered my classroom they immediately picked up the copies of these books placed at their tables, flipping through them, looking at the pictures, and skimming the text. I also tell them that I use similar texts with high school students to indicate the basic level of information they need to know about a topic, using the books to motivate individuals to research additional information. Nonetheless, to satisfy their concerns we generate a list of resources that fall at various reading levels, which can be used in conjunction with, or in place of, these trade books. For example, Art Spiegelman’s Maus (1986) and Gene Luen Yang’s (2008) American Born Chinese are graphic novels that display issues and experiences that occur from migration—whether the story features the forced migration of Jews in Nazi Germany, as in Spiegelman’s text, or the story of a teen’s process of acculturation, as in Yang’s book. Tying it Together My experience working in Miami has taught me that not every ELL is an immigrant. Many students born in the United States speak another language at home. Therefore, I conclude our unit, “Stories of Our Suitcases,” by reading Eve Bunting’s Going Home. This book tells the story of a family going “home” to Mexico, although the children were not born there. I ask my students to recall stories that their parents or family members may have shared about their home countries. Students that were not born in the United States can share stories of the aspects of their home nation they miss or explain activities they would engage in if they could return for the day. This final activity helps students develop vocabulary, share cross-cultural characteristics, and practice speaking. I have two goals when modeling how to use The Arrival to teach reading through social studies with middle school students. The first is to emphasize how the text can be used to develop visual literacy skills. Using a graphic book with no written text levels the playing field so that ELLs feel they have the capability of contributing to the reading process. Yet this particular text offers a detailed narrative that requires complex skills to interpret the symbolism within each image. This resource offers a variety of opportunities for teachers to reinforce conversational as well as subject-specific vocabulary for all students. The snapshot of practice, featured previously, describes how I use The Arrival as an anchor text, linking it to additional resources that cover migration dur-
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ing various time periods as well as throughout a variety of different spaces. Therefore, this book helps address my second goal in that I want my ELL students to read themselves and their experiences into this social studies content, through either their own stories of migration or those offered by family members. Note 1. The author recognizes that not all ELL students are immigrants to this country, a point emphasized by many of the preservice teachers enrolled in the course discussed in this article.
Literature Used Bierman, Carol. 1998. Journey to Ellis Island: How my father came to America. New York: Hyperion/Madison Press. Bunting, Eve. 1996. Going home. New York: HarperCollins. Currier, Katrina Saltonstall. 2004. Kai’s journey to Gold Mountain: An Angel Island story. Manhattan Beach, CA: East West Discovery Press. Harrington, Janice N. 2004. Going north. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. Lai, Him Mark, Genny Lim, and Judy Yang. 1991. Island. Seattle: University of Washington Press. Lawlor, Veronica. 1995. I was dreaming to come to America. New York: Puffin Books. Peterson, Jeanne Whitehouse, and Kimberly Bulcken Root. 2004. Don’t forget Winona. New York: HarperCollins. Ringgold, Faith. 1992. Aunt Harriet’s underground railroad in the sky. New York: Crown Publishers. Spiegelman, Art. 1986. Maus I: A survivor’s tale. New York: Panteon. Stroud, Bettye. 2005. The patchwork path: A quilt map to freedom. Cambridge, MA: Candlewick Press. Tan, Shaun. 2006. The arrival. New York: Scholastic. Yang, Gene Luen. 2006. American born Chinese. New York: First Second. REFERENCES Boyle-Baise, Marilynne, Ming-Chu Hsu, Shaun Johnson, Stephanie Serriere, and Dorchelle Stewart. 2008. “Putting reading first”: Teach-
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ing social studies in elementary classrooms. Theory and Research in Social Education 36(3): 233–55. Bucher, Katherine, and M. Lee Manning. 2004. Bringing graphic novels into a school’s curriculum. The Clearing House 78(2): 67–72. Carter, James Buckey, ed. 2007. Building literacy connections with graphic novels: Page by page, panel by panel. Urbana, IL: National Council of Teachres of English. Christensen, Lila L. 2006. Graphic global conflict: Graphic novels in the high school social studies classroom. The Social Studies 97(6): 227–30. Chun, Christian. 2009. Critical literacies and graphic novels for English-language learners: Teaching Maus. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 53: 144–52. Clark, J. Spencer. 2013. “Your credibility could be shot”: Preservice teachers’ thinking about non-fiction graphic novels, curriculum decision making, and professional acceptance. The Social Studies 104(1): 38–45. The Council of Chief State School Officers (CCSSO) and the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices. 2010. Common core state standards for English language arts and literacy in history/social studies, science, and technical subjects. http://www.corestandards.org/ELA-Literacy. Cromer, Michael, and Penney Clark. 2007. Getting graphic with the past: Graphic novels and the teaching of history. Theory and Research in Social Education 35 (4): 574–91. Cruz, Barbara, Joyce Nutta, Jason O’Brien, Carine Feyten, and Jane Govoni. 2003. Passport to learning: Teaching social studies to ESL students. NCSS Bulletin 101. Silver Spring, MD: NCSS. Cruz, Barbara, and Stephan Thornton. 2013. Teaching social studies to English language learners. New York: Routledge. Gallo, Don, and Stephen Weiner. 2004. Show, don’t tell: Graphic novels in the classroom. English Journal 94(2): 114– 17. Libresco, Andrea, Jeannette Balantic, and Jonie Kipling. 2011. Uncovering the immigrants’ stories: It all begins with picture books. Social Studies and the Young Learner 23(4): P1–P4. Moeller, Robin A. 2013. Convincing the naysayers: Why graphic novels deserve a place in the school library. Knowledge Quest 41 (3): 12–17. Nokes, Jeffery, Janice Dole, and Douglas Hacker. 2007. Teaching high school students to use heuristics while reading historical texts. Journal of Educational Psychology 99: 492–504. Norton, Bonny. 2003. The motivating power of comic books: Insights from Archie comic readers. The Reading Teachers 57 (2): 140– 47. Parker, Walter. 2005. Social studies in elementary education. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson. Schwarz, Gretchen. 2002. Graphic novels for multiple literacies. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy 46 (3): 262–65. Spiegelman, Art. 2006. Review of “The Arrival.” New York: Scholastic. Tan, Shaun. 2006. The arrival. New York: Scholastic. Tan, Shaun. 2013. Shaun Tan video interview. Scholastic video, 1:33. May 5. www.scholastic.com/teachers/collection/shaun-tan-videointerview. VanFossen, Philip. 2005. “Reading and math take so much of the time”: An overview of social studies instruction in elementary classrooms in Indiana. Theory and Research in Social Education 33(3): 376–403.
