Girl:
Hi, are you ready to discuss our presentation?
Girl:
So, what are we going to say about teachers reading picture books with young children?
Boy:
I think we should start with the reasons why teachers use picture books.
Girl:
The journal article we read mentioned several picture books and why they're popular with teachers.
Boy:
Right, like I Spy Friends.
Boy:
It's a lovely story.
Girl:
Yeah, the children like to find the familiar faces from the fairy tales they know so well.
Boy:
And they're all doing predictable things.
Boy:
The article said children find this familiarity very comforting.
Girl:
Now, how about Goodnight Little Rabbit, which has those delightful pictures.
Girl:
I love the way the colours get darker as the book progresses, indicating how evening turns into night.
Boy:
The article said that's why teachers like it.
Girl:
And a good example of visual subtext.
Girl:
Hard to believe that it came out over 60 years ago.
Girl:
It's still relevant.
Boy:
I really liked what the article said about the boat party.
Boy:
There's a lot of repetition, which I think would be great for vocabulary development.
Girl:
But apparently it's the images that make it popular with children.
Girl:
The artist is really well known and children often ask for her books.
Boy:
Oh, that's good to know.
Girl:
And shall we also include Puppy and Friends?
Boy:
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.
Boy:
Teachers like to use this to help children explore their emotions.
Girl:
Hats and Socks is a good one.
Girl:
It doesn't really have a beginning and an end, does it?
Boy:
That's why teachers like this one though.
Boy:
Because it's so different, it's good for children to hear a story that doesn't follow the usual pattern.
Girl:
And the pages are so full of life and colour.
Girl:
And for our last one, how about A Family Adventure?
Girl:
This one uses a lot of the same language throughout, which I think can help with letter and word recognition.
Girl:
Teachers say it has a really poetic feel to it.
Girl:
They often sing it to a simple tune.
Boy:
And it's full of beautiful watercolors too.
Girl:
In the next part of our presentation, shall we look at some of the other research?
Girl:
I really liked Smith's article about the history of picture books.
Girl:
Picture books haven't been around for that long, of course.
Girl:
And as we know from our reading lists, there's a lot of research on them already.
Girl:
Smith makes some interesting points.
Boy:
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.
Girl:
Yes, that was unexpected for me as well.
Girl:
I think they should be just as respected as other works of fiction.
Girl:
Smith also mentioned that books from other countries are very popular here, even though they don't show our daily life.
Girl:
I think that's interesting.
Boy:
But it's the same for adult fiction too.
Boy:
People want variety.
Boy:
What I didn't realise is how fixed the number of pages is.
Girl:
I wasn't expecting that they're so strictly limited to 32 pages.
Girl:
It's important, so let's include it.
Boy:
Now let's think about other aspects of picture books we want to include in our presentation.
Boy:
How about the characters?
Girl:
Okay, well, a lot of them feature animals or families often in very traditional roles.
Girl:
But do you think we need to talk about that?
Girl:
For me, the main thing is that they are mostly printed as board books.
Girl:
The cardboard material makes it easy for young children to turn their pages.
Boy:
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.
Girl:
Why don't we also discuss how culture is important in picture books, like the importance of respecting the elderly?
Boy:
Yes, it's probably different all over the world.
Boy:
Would it be interesting to make a comparison between modern and historical picture books and consider future directions for the genre?
Girl:
It sounds interesting, but I don't have any research on that, so we'd better leave it.
