J. McAdam

Visualizing Intercultural Literacy: Engaging Critically with Diversity and Migration in the Classroom through an Image-Based Approach.

Accessible forms of language, learning and literacy, as well as strategies that support intercultural communication are needed for the diverse population of refugee, asylum seeker and migrant children within schools. The research project Journeys from Images to Words explored the potential of visual texts to address these issues. Working in Glasgow primary schools within critical pedagogical frameworks that invite sharing of personal narratives and of cultural knowledge, the researchers examined and evaluated an image-based approach, both for reading and responding to a selection of childrens texts and for obtaining an insight into the home literacy practices of diverse communities. In this article, a ‘generative theme’, as used by Paulo Freire is used to examine how students engaged with reading visual texts, shared their responses and extended their intercultural understanding. The results from this project provide evidence for the inclusion of visual texts and methodologies within critical pedagogies in order to develop intercultural literacy in the classroom.

Crossing Visual Borders and Connecting Cultures: Children's Responses to the Photographic Theme in David Wiesner's Flotsam

Flotsam (2006), the award-winning wordless picturebook by David Wiesner is about the power and mystery of photographs but, at the same time, it plays with many of the techniques of photography to tell its story. This article discusses these themes and techniques and also examines childrens responses to the picturebook, both oral and photographic. It considers photography with children as a research tool for investigating identity, culture, and literacy. The discussion about Flotsam and the photographs provided an insight into childrens understanding, not only of wordless narrative but also of the techniques and uses of photography. We argue that the photographs increase the childrens control of the way in which their space, as well as their identity, is represented to others; a representation that is particularly important for immigrant pupils. We conclude that Flotsam can act as an incentive to reflect on the idea of looking carefully; to think about artistically complex texts and about the potential of photography. Finally, we suggest that photography is a promising way of exploring the visual image, not only from an investigative but also from a pedagogic point of view, as it can draw attention to the construction and metalanguage of image and thus strengthening comprehension and critical literacy skills.

Managing the Learning of New Arrival Children in Mainstream Schooling

As the authors point out, this case study has much wider implications beyond managing the integration of New Arrival children into mainstream schooling. There is a great deal of political controversy and social hostility reported in mass media communication over increasing immigration to Western countries.

Homicidal arsenic poisoning.

The case of a 50-year-old man who died mysteriously after being admitted to hospital is reported. He had raised the possibility of being poisoned prior to his death. A Coroner’s post-mortem did not reveal the cause of death but this was subsequently established by post-mortem trace element analysis of liver, urine, blood and hair all of which revealed very high arsenic concentrations.