From a variety of stories and personal experience, gather ideas about grandmothers and record them for reference.
Share stories of grandmothers in pairs. For those children without grandmothers talk about family friends who are older than their parents. Some children may call their grandmothers by a made-up name or by their given name, this should be explored so that the children can sort out the relationships.
Talk about the features of grandmothers. What makes them special? For example:
Individually create a still image of grandmother doing something. Apply a caption and speak out and chorus back, for example "My grandmother is planting a kowhai seedling..."
For ESOL students, when creating a still image, it is advisable to copy a picture out of a story first. When students are more confident in creating a still picture they can create their own independently.
Talk about similarities and differences between their own grandmothers and the grandmothers in stories they know. For example: places they come from, clothes they might wear, cultures they represent. Note: This could be a sensitive issue for some children - those who have migrated from where their grandparents live, those who have had recent bereavements or are estranged from their grandparents.
Invite students to bring small examples of clothing, craft equipment and other items from their own culture and display them with descriptive tags. Students can (with the teacher's assistance) tell the class about their item.
Select a grandmother from a known story using the teacher, or a student, as a model for the tableau. The other students can dress them appropriately. Students coach about how to sit, what facial expression to show. Talk about how the scene could be photographed to create a tableau. Take some photographs so that the students can reflect on their work later.
Label these with descriptive phrases. Some phrases can have descriptive words missing for the students to complete (orally). Recycle the words learnt in the pre-teaching phase often.
Model being in role. Students prepare questions and ask the teacher in the role (Hotseating). Teacher could be dressed - or a particular piece of clothing could be worn to mark going into role. It is useful for the grandmother to be actively engaged in creating or producing something. She may have a particular problem with which the students can help out. For example, the grandmother may be making a tapa patchwork to go in the nearby daycare centre where some of the students' younger brothers and sisters go to preschool. She may require assistance with this project.
Develop the idea further by selecting an incident in the story. For example, while the grandmother role remains frozen, students could consider who else could be in the photo, for example, grandfather, great aunt, grandmother's best friend of fifty years. Other characters could be added one by one. In this way, the concept of the still image can be built up step-by-step.
From the stories that students have discussed, select a moment and recreate it (in groups) as a still image. It may be helpful to use the direct prompt of an illustration in a picture book, but with practise, students will be able to select a suitable point in the story, which would be effectively shown in a still image. In the initial stages, the gradual building of the freeze-frame will be a helpful process. Students need to practise freezing on cue. To achieve this it is useful to play "Moving into the Spaces". In this game students move about the room trying to fill up the spaces with their bodies and making sure they never bump into anyone else. They should never stand still except when the teacher calls "Freeze". It is useful to explain that they should stop immediately but will need to be in a comfortable position because they must stay frozen for 3, 5, 10, or 20 seconds. People who move can help the teacher watch the next round. Later they may create their own frozen moment. When students have acquired the skill of holding a freeze the teacher can begin to build up a frozen moment. Later they may create their own frozen moment and as they become more able they can create a sequence of three moments. To help students focus their moment it is important to use words like "The moment when..." so they are clear about exactly which moment they will use.
Ensure that ESOL students are contributing in this activity. Peer modelling can be used very effectively here. Students lacking in confidence (or language ability) can be encouraged by using them as characters in the freeze frame.
Watch, respond to, and discuss the still images. Talk about how facial expression, or other features of the image, may convey feelings or information. Place special emphasis on the words in the word lists. Write possible questions on a wall chart and discuss them before asking them.
Questions might include:
During the making of or after the freeze frame images of Grandma are made the teacher may ask some or all of the following questions:
For ESOL students, focus on words learnt to describe the body. In addition to the questions above, it might be necessary to ask more specific questions:
Focus on the word list when discussing such things as posture, emotions.
Published on: 09 Jan 2018
