Lessons > Visual Play

Examples: punctuation, formatting, visual symbolism, media intertextuality, cinematography, multimodality

L’Amour (et la guerre)

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Lesson Title:	L’Amour (et la guerre) [ Love (and War) ]
Lesson Author:	Joanna Luks
Instructional Language:	English / French
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year
Text Title:	6 september, 1939 / Excerpts from a WW II journal / Wartime correspondence
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	LLDQ, Visual Play

Cosas de ciudad

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Lesson Title:	Cosas de ciudad
Lesson Author:	Natasha César Suárez
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Puerta del Sol 2011
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play, Word Play

How does a caterpillar become a butterfly?

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Lesson Title:	How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? [ How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? ]
Lesson Author:	Hsiaomei, Tsai
Instructional Language:	Chinese
Level of Activities:	Elementary / Novice
Text Title:	The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Text Language:	Chinese
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Sound Play, Visual Play

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Text
Text Title:	The Very Hungry Caterpillar
Text Language:	Chinese
Text Author:	Written by Eric Carle, Translated by Zheng MingJin
Genre:	Narratives
Topic:	Weather, Seasons, and Time
Lesson
Lesson Title:	How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? [ How does a caterpillar become a butterfly? ]
Instructional Language:	Chinese
Lesson Author:	Hsiaomei, Tsai
Level of Activities:	Elementary / Novice
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	n/a
Main Objectives:
This lesson was created for a Chinese immersion class as part of a unit on the four stages of a butterfly’s life. The unit introduces relevant vocabulary in Chinese, such as caterpillar, butterfly, metamorphosis, cocoon, (callus), and egg. This lesson connects science and math with Chinese literacy development. This lesson in the unit focuses on the popular children’s picture book The Very Hungry Caterpillar by Eric Carle. The book was originally written in English but has been translated into many different languages, including Chinese. The Very Hungry Caterpillar is fictional rather than scientifically accurate, but plays off of the butterfly life stages and thus provides a literary glimpse at everyday scientific concepts with which the students are becoming familiar. At the same time, many of the linguistic resources in the text – e.g. the numbers, days of the week, food items, etc. – offer an opportunity for comparing and contrasting Chinese and English expressions. Texts, Genres & Practices “The Very Hungry Caterpillar” picture book Cultural Knowledge & Mindset The scientific focus of the lesson, means that the focus is largely on processes that seem to transcend culture, but some of the everyday expressions bring in opportunities for cultural comparison. In addition the continued expression of the caterpillar’s feelings can enable younger learners to express their feelings in their daily lives. Language Use & Language Play The story plays with the life cycle of the butterfly, a story that will be familiar to many young children. In this way, the primary type of play if genre play, in the blending of scientific text and children’s story. There is also a frequent use of repetition, which creates a sound play when the story is read aloud, as story books are meant to be. This includes: Repetition about past tense 了 (sound play) The repetition of describing caterpillar’s physical appearance ( 又___又___) and experience (肚子好饿，肚子好痛) (narrative play) Finally, there is visual play in the use of images to express the caterpillar’s transformation process and his feelings.
FLLITE Form:	Genre Play, Sound Play, Visual Play

Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas

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Lesson Title:	Las narrativas transmedia a partir de un cuento de hadas [ Transmedia Storytelling with a Fairytale ]
Lesson Author:	Maybel Mesa Morales
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year / Intermediate, Advanced
Text Title:	Transmedia Storytelling
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Narrative Play, Pragmatic Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play

El mayor premio es compartirlo

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Lesson Title:	El mayor premio es compartirlo [ The greatest prize is to share it ]
Lesson Author:	Raychel Vasseur
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year, 3. year / Novice
Text Title:	Anuncio de la lotería de Navidad 2015
Text Language:	Spanish
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Grammar Play, Visual Play

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Text
Text Title:	Anuncio de la lotería de Navidad 2015
Text Language:	Spanish
Text Author:	Leo Burnett agency
Genre:	Emails, Letters, and Postcards / TV and Film / Image
Topic:	Family, Friendships, and Relationships / Holidays and Celebrations
Lesson
Lesson Title:	El mayor premio es compartirlo [ The greatest prize is to share it ]
Instructional Language:	Spanish
Lesson Author:	Raychel Vasseur
Level of Activities:	College / 1. year, 2. year, 3. year / Novice
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Cultural Understanding
Grammar Focus:	adjectives as nouns, cognate (and false cognate) recognition, dates, telling time on a 24 hour clock
Main Objectives:
Grammatically the main objectives of this lesson are that students will be able to recognize, false cognates, recognize and understand adjectives used as nouns, to recognize, understand, and produce cognates, students will understand and produce written dates, and students will recognize the 24-hour clock system. Culturally, students will understand the practices and perspectives of the Spanish Christmas lottery and compare them to their culture’s lottery and Christmas traditions. Analytically, students will be able to use multimodal elements to support their interpretation and understanding of an advertisement. Texts, Genres & Practices Watching and analyzing a commercial for the Spanish Christmas lottery. Using multimodal elements (visual and audio) to support interpretation and understanding. Cultural Knowledge & Mindset Interpreting and understanding “The best prize is to share it” as the overarching theme of the Christmas lottery and how this appeals to working-class Spaniards. Making sense of the importance of social solidarity Language Use & Language Play grammar play: Using adjectives as nouns grammar play: Recognizing cognates (and non-cognates) culture play: Foregrounding relationships to advertise a lottery perspective play
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Grammar Play, Visual Play

Anxiety after the Revolution

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Lesson Title:	Anxiety after the Revolution
Lesson Author:	Kelly Houck
Instructional Language:	Persian
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year, 3. year, 4. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	در این بن بست [In This Blind Alley]
Text Language:	Persian
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Sound Play, Symbolic Play, Visual Play

Cherchez le dépaysement

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Lesson Title:	Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Instructional Language:	French
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Sites et curiosités
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

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Text
Text Title:	Sites et curiosités
Text Language:	French
Text Author:	René Gosciny / Marcel Gotlib
Genre:	Image / Comics and Graphic Novels
Topic:	Travel and Vacation
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Cherchez le dépaysement [ Look for a change of scenery ]
Instructional Language:	French
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	Inflectional Future Tense (futur simple)
Main Objectives:
This lesson is designed around a two-page bande dessinée (French comic strip) by writer René Gosciny and illustrator Marcel Gotlib. In this strip, Gotlib uses his trademark burlesque, farcical visuals to poke fun at the tourism industry by illustrating how to manufacture folklore and turn the most isolated and bleak village into a picturesque tourist favorite. Through humor, this artifact leads the learners to wonder: What constitutes folklore? How does folklore intersect with history? Are these characteristics cross-cultural? Additionally, students will reflect on the discourse of tourism and the genre of tourist text, while apprehending the use of the inflectional future (futur simple) in planning an itinerary. The final task is designed as a team effort. Student will create their own tourist brochure about their college town by following the tropes highlighted by Gosciny and Gotlib. The brochure will be presented orally in class to the rest of the students who will then vote on which version of their college town they would rather live and attend university in. This lesson can easily be implemented in most textbook-based curricula, as these typically include a thematic unit of tourism and traveling. Texts, Genres & Practices Reading and responding to a satirical bande dessinée (text and image) Reading and analyzing a short touristic text on Brittany Writing/Designing a tourist brochure about a College Town Presenting (through promoting) a tourist destination Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives Apprehending Franco-Belgian bande dessinée as a satirical tool Reflecting on the essence of folklore as a concept Comparing French folklore with the learners’ native culture folklore Analyzing French examples of touristic discourse. Discovering French historical and literary references Language Use & Language Play Culture play: subversion of cultural practice (creation of folklore) Genre play: genre subversion (humorification of folklore) Visual play: visual subversion of monuments and historical sites Language Skills: viewing, reading, listening writing, speaking
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Visual Play

Rat de ville ou rat des champs ?

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Lesson Title:	Rat de ville ou rat des champs ? [ Town Mouse or Country Mouse? ]
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Instructional Language:	French / English
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Text Title:	Nouillorc
Text Language:	French
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play, Visual Play, Word Play

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Text
Text Title:	Nouillorc
Text Language:	French
Text Author:	Olivier Amsellem, Sébastien Pierre, Sylvain Thirache, Alexander Kalchev
Genre:	Advertisements and Personal ads / Image
Topic:	Travel and Vacation
Lesson
Lesson Title:	Rat de ville ou rat des champs ? [ Town Mouse or Country Mouse? ]
Instructional Language:	French / English
Lesson Author:	David Barny
Level of Activities:	College / 2. year / Intermediate
Pedagogical Practices:	Reading / Writing / Speaking / Listening
Grammar Focus:	Negation
Main Objectives:
This lesson is designed around one of the posters for an ad campaign by the French National Railway Company SNCF (Société nationale des chemins de fer français). This ad plays on the sounds of the French language and the imagery of the French countryside by comparing it humorously to the sounds of English and the expected imagery of global metropolises. Through humor, this artifact leads the learners to wonder about the relationship between urban and rural cultures/perspectives in France? Does this type of power relationship exist between their native urban and rural cultures? Does it surface in specific cultural practices? Additionally, students will reflect on advertising strategies in the target culture, while considering the different types of negation in French and their uses. The final task is designed as a team effort. Student will script and design their own parody of a commercial promoting their college town by reinvesting the semiotic codes they noticed in the various documents under study. This lesson can easily be implemented in most textbook-based curricula, as these typically include a thematic unit of tourism and traveling, although they rarely, if ever, discuss the issue of centralization and rural desertification. Texts, Genres & Practices Reading, watching, listening and interpreting the languaculture behind satirical texts (billboards, commercials, comedy sketches) Reading and analyzing a short touristic text on Auvergne (blog) Writing/Designing a script for a satirical commercial promoting a college town Presenting (through promoting) a tourist destination Cultural Knowledge & Perspectives Analyze French examples of satirical discourse. Conceive advertising as a satirical tool Reflect on the on the part of humor that is culture specific. Compare French advertising with equivalents in the learners’ native culture Discover historical and cultural aspects of French demographics and geography Language Use & Language Play Word play / Sound play: Subversion of the French phonetic inventory to create rural metropolises. Visual play: subversion of rural semiotics (reinterpreting the visual identity of the French countryside). Culture play: subversion of the theme of rural exodus. Genre play / Perspective play: subversion of the advertising genre by adopting a negative perspective. Language Skills: viewing, reading, listening, writing, speaking, cultural understanding
FLLITE Form:	Culture Play, Genre Play, Perspective Play, Sound Play, Visual Play, Word Play