Transcript

Part 3: You will hear two early childhood education students discussing a presentation they will give on reading picture books with children.

Hi, are you ready to discuss our presentation?
Yeah, sure.

So what are we going to say about teachers reading picture books with young children?
Hmm, I think we should start with the reasons why teachers use picture books. The journal article we read mentioned several picture books and why they’re popular with teachers.
Right, like I Spy Friends, it’s a lovely story.
Yeah, the children like to find the familiar faces from the fairy tales they know so well.
And they’re all doing predictable things.
The article said children find this familiarity very comforting.
Yes.

Now, how about Goodnight Little Rabbit, which has those delightful pictures.
I love the way the colours get darker as the book progresses, indicating how evening turns into night.
Me too.
The article said that’s why teachers like it.
Very cute.
And a good example of visual subtext.
Hard to believe that it came out over 60 years ago.
It’s still relevant.

I really liked what the article said about The Boat Party.
There’s a lot of repetition, which I think would be great for vocabulary development.
That’s true, but apparently it’s the images that make it popular with children.
The artist is really well known and children often ask for her books.
Oh, that’s good to know.

And shall we also include Puppy and Friends?
Yes, it sounds like an innocent title, but the article warns that there’s a bit of a fright.
You know, the one on the last page when the puppy suddenly encounters the scary cat.
Teachers like to use this to help children explore their emotions.
Sounds good.

Hats and Socks is a good one.
It doesn’t really have a beginning and an end, does it, which is unusual.
That’s why teachers like this one though.
Because it’s so different, it’s good for children to hear a story that doesn’t follow the usual pattern.
And the pages are so full of life and colour.
A good choice.
Mmm.

And for our last one, how about A Family Adventure?
This one uses a lot of the same language throughout, which I think can help with letter and word recognition.
Teachers say it has a really poetic feel to it.
They often sing it to a simple tune.
Yes, and it’s full of beautiful watercolours too.

In the next part of our presentation, shall we look at some of the other research?
I really liked Smith’s article about the history of picture books.
Picture books haven’t been around for that long, of course.
And as we know from our reading lists, there’s a lot of research on them already.
Smith makes some interesting points.
Yes, one thing that shocked me was that some people don’t consider picture books as proper writing because they don’t have enough words in them.
Yes, that was unexpected for me as well.
I think they should be just as respected as other works of fiction.

Smith also mentioned that books from other countries are very popular here, even though they don’t show our daily life.
I think that’s interesting.
But it’s the same for adult fiction, too.
People want variety.
What I didn’t realize is how fixed the number of pages is.
Me neither.
I wasn’t expecting that they’re so strictly limited to 32 pages.
It’s important, so let’s include it.

Alright, now let’s think about other aspects of picture books we want to include in our presentation.
How about the characters?
Okay, well, a lot of them feature animals, or families often in very traditional roles.
But do you think we need to talk about that?
For me, the main thing is that they are mostly printed as board books.
The cardboard material makes it easy for young children to turn their pages.
I agree, and it’s essential for children to hold books and learn how they open at the front and that the text goes in a certain direction.
Good point.

Why don’t we also discuss how culture is important in picture books, like the importance of respecting the elderly?
Yes, it’s probably different all over the world.
Would it be interesting to make a comparison between modern and historical picture books and consider future directions for the genre?
It sounds interesting, but I don’t have any research on that, so we’d better leave it.
So what’s next?