On Friday I was ushered into the world of Wordless Picture Books. What is the appeal? Why bother using them? Don’t we want kids to hear a maximum of words? Are wordless books inferior to books with words? Perhaps they are a waste of time? And how would you use them anyway? Total silence accompanied by the flip, flip, flip of pages. Then, done?
Diane’s Wordless Picture Book booklist was leaked by a colleague a week ago. My interest was piqued. What could she possibly say about books without words? Even saying “books without words” makes them sound deficient. But let me share what I took away from this inspiring hour of pro-d.
Stratégie no 1
Partenariats A/B
Quatre images seront projetés sur l’écran. Dans chaque partenariat, un partenaire, A, est assis face à l’écran, tandis que l’autre, B, a son dos à l’écran. Partenaire A décrit la première image à B. B répète la description de l’image que A vient de faire. Puis, on échange de sièges et de rôles. Partenaire B décrit la deuxième image et ainsi de suite.
Après le visionnement des quatre images, le professeur dresse une liste de mots employés pour décrire chacune des images. Et voilà une banque de vocabulaire.
Stratégie no 2
At strategic times, we pose the following questions. On pose les questions suivantes:
- Qu’est-ce qui te saute aux yeux?
- Qu’as-tu vu? Qu’as-tu remarqué?
- Avec quoi ressens-tu un lien?
What is perhaps most powerful about Wordless Picture Books is the need to infer. You need to observe, to see and to interpret what is going on, and to make meaning out of it. There is no mimicry of the author’s words, no echo of the moral of the story, no easy way out. You have to transform the images into meaning and then, into your own words.
An inspiring workshop! Merci, Diane!
Mme Veilleux, c’est une bonne idée! On peut l’essayer dans la classe!