Introducing Alma and How She Got Her Name to a seventh-grade class
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Disclaimer
This blog, this post, and all related accounts are not an official Department of State publication, and the views and information presented are the Grantee’s and do not represent the Fulbright Program, ECA, the Post, Fulbright Commission, or the host country’s government or institutions. I tried something new in the classroom: I shared a read-aloud on YouTube.
Read-alouds are one of my favorite activities to lead in classrooms. I love to observe students’ curiosity when they encounter a meaningful, engaging book. I love hearing students’ ideas, questions, and takeaways in post-reading discussions. But most of all, I love bonding with students over a shared admiration for illustrations and characters. However, I have only shared books in their physical form. While in Montevideo, I challenged myself to create an accessible guide on choosing and using children’s literature for Uruguayan English teachers. Many Uruguayan public schools do not have a school library in which teachers or students can borrow books to use in the classroom. There is limited access to physical books and literature resources. Therefore, I thought outside the box of strategies for sharing high-quality literature in Uruguayan schools. YouTube and audiobooks were the answer. Across all the schools I visited across Uruguay, most had access to a television, internet (with sometimes spotty connection), and computers (every student has access to one due to their one-child-one-computer policy). Therefore, teachers could project a YouTube video read aloud on the classroom television. Through this media, they could still practice read-aloud strategies and engage students in listening activities. To promote reading comprehension and English understanding, teachers could type the book’s transcript and share it with students on Crea, their online class platform. Although YouTube read-aloud sounded effective in theory, I wanted to observe one in practice. This idea led me to plan my first YouTube read-aloud of Alma and How She Got Her Name with my seventh-grade students in Maldonado. For context, the class had discussed family vocabulary for the past couple of weeks. This read-aloud quickly transformed into a class project.
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(from left to right): Ryan, me, Denisha, and August in Rivera's International Plaza at the Brazilian border
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This blog, this post, and all related accounts are not an official Department of State publication, and the views and information presented are the Grantee’s and do not represent the Fulbright Program, ECA, the Post, Fulbright Commission, or the host country’s government or institutions. Let’s rewind to August 3rd: the first day of the English immersion camp in Minas, Llaveja. My Fulbright compañeros and I just departed from a three-day intensively cathartic seminar in Montevideo. For those three days, we shared a long table and even longer discussions with other Fulbright ETAs from Perú, Panamá, Paraguay, Guatemala, and Costa Rica.
(For a more detailed recount of this seminar, check out a recent blog post from Chelsea Ramsey: a Fulbright ETA in Perú!). |
AuthorMeghan Hesterman (she/her) is an aspiring educator, storyteller, and traveler. Through regular posts and commentary, she candidly reflects on her evolution as an educator and young adult. Categories
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