“La Llorona” Folktale: A Tool For Developing Communication Skills

Open publication - Free publishing - More education

Adolescent’s Approach to Texts: A Look into the Young’s relationship with Reading

Open publication - Free publishing - More education

Jugate conmigo - revival (TV show proposal)

Mr Yankelevich:

We are writing this letter as a response to your advertisement looking for new ideas for a teenagers T.V show.

Taking into account the characteristics and interests of teenagers nowadays, we are pleased to present you our idea about the revival of one of the most famous entertaining  T.V programme of the nineties in Argentina: “Jugate Conmigo”

This show, which will be broadcast weekly, will include different sections in which participants, arranged in two teams, will have to demonstrate their abilities in singing, dancing, acting and playing games. The winner will get a Prize: a trip to Brazil.

As regards singing and dancing, participants will have to recreate a video clips from pop artists chosen by the opposite team.

As for acting, a few members from each team will pick a card where they will find the explanation of the situation they will act out.

Each of the previously mentioned performances will be judged by four celebrities, all of whom have great knowledge about acting, dancing and singing.

Concerning the game section, it will include some ball games, such as “Football Tennis”, general knowledge games such as quizzes, action games such as paintball wars.

We look forward to hearing from you in the near future.

We can be contacted at the above address.

As the doorbell rang, mum was mopping the floor

by Natalia Brucciamonti

Look carefully at the woman holding the mop. Who do you think the lady is? Was your answer “the mother”? Well, then you would probably find the following lines interesting.

In recent years, it is possible to recognize a breakdown of the traditional family, where the man is the one who works and the woman stays at home looking after their children. Nowadays, women not only sweep the floor and look after the kids, but they also get degrees and have excellent jobs. The role of women has changed considerably. However, stereotypes and gender role discrimination still exists. The book “As the Doorbell Rang”, by Pat Hutchins, is a clear example of it.

Sociologists explain that gender roles are a social construct and that they are based on physical differences upon men and women. As men have physical advantages over women and the latest have a biological capacity for reproduction and child bearing, in the past, the woman was supposed to do domestic labor while the man was supposed to work outside to provide the family with the necessary food, clothes, etc. In the book, there’s a very clear example of this. The mother is in the kitchen, mopping the floor and baking cookies for their children. It isn’t possible to see a male character (one who isn’t a child) cooking or cleaning the house.

Researchers of gender roles also argue that there is a hierarchy inside gender distinction. This means that if you are a man, you have more power or social acceptance if you are more experienced in the work you perform. The same happens among women. If they are older, they are thought to be better. An instance of this is the character of the grandmother. Throughout the pages you can read “nobody makes cookies like Grandma”. This assertion implies that no matter what a good cook the mother is, her cookies aren’t (and won’t be) as tasty as the ones of the most experienced woman.

Although we are aware of the changes produced in the roles that people perform, it’s still very difficult to de-internalize the obsolete stereotypes that we were taught as socially correct. This is the reason why contemporary writers like Hutchins still show on their books the stereotypes which they have been brought up with.

Cars: Successfully Rich vs. Successfully Happy

Brucciamonti Vena, Natalia Paula

What does “success” imply for you? Having the latest things available in the market? Belonging to a specific social class? Producing large sums of money? Having economical power? For Lightening McQueen, the main character from the movie “Cars”, success means all this and much more.

Since the last two or three decades, a capitalist thinking has been introducing deeper and deeper in people’s minds. That’s the reason why probably, nowadays, you don’t consider things as you did in past years. The previously mentioned animated movie reflects the way in which capitalism provoked a change in the value assigned to success. 

According to the foundations of capitalism, the more money you produce, the more success you have. One of the factors that affect production is time. For any business to be profitable, it’s necessary to produce the largest amount possible in the shortest time. The movie shows this relation between time and money in different scenes. An example of this is Route 66. The route was disregarded by the cars when the highway was built. They preferred to shorten the travelling time in order to get faster to their homes, works, etc, than to simply enjoy the trip.

In a capitalist society, being famous is a synonym of being successful. This is shown in the movie through the character of Hudson Hornet. He was a famous racing car in the 50’s. Everybody loved him and he was surrounded by people who were in a high economical position. Because of this, he was considered a successful car. When Hudson had a crash in 1954, he had to be absent from the piston cup. Little by little, people stopped supporting him and they finally forgot him. He was no longer famous, in consequence he wasn’t able to produce big amounts of money, so he was considered unsuccessful.

The previous paragraphs are only two examples taken from the movie, about the way capitalism became the dominant ideology that surrounds the value of success. If you’ve seen “Cars”, probably you could think about many more instances where the main character reflects his capitalist conception of success.  However, in the final minutes of the film, there is a change in Lightening McQueen’s ideas. The final message of the movie is that, to be successful, it isn’t necessary to have a lot of money, to be famous or to relate with people who have economical power. The most important thing that we need to have success in life is enjoying the little things that life gifts us with. In simpler words, if you are happy without the need of money, just by enjoying every moment and person present in your life, you can be considered successful. 

Let me ask you a question: are you happy?

Eat up, Gemma (review by Natalia Brucciamonti)

Written by Sarah Hayes

Illustrations by Jan Ormerod

Entertaining for learners who are in kindergarten, “Eat Up, Gemma” is a story about a baby who doesn’t want to eat her food. Sarah Hayes, the writer, shows in the book the way Gemma’s entire family care about her. They all try to make the toddler eat up her meals.

Gemma is asked to eat by her mother, grandmother, dad and friends, but all she does is throwing, squashing and banging her food. The baby’s relatives get more and more worried as days pass and Gemma continues without eating. Fortunately, the toddler’s little brother finds a clever solution to end with this situation.

Although the story might be interesting for your learners you should be aware of the discriminatory message that can be inferred by reading the book. The context of the story is a black-colored community. Gemma and her relatives are black-colored people who have black-colored friends. It’s not possible to see in Ormerod’s illustrations a person who doesn’t belong to that specific ethnic community. The issue about this is that the characters of the book are presented as a preferential group, segregated from the rest of the people.

If you’re interested in teaching your young learners values and the importance of tolerance towards a multicultural society, this isn’t the book I would recommend you to read them.

Plan B: A hungry decision

Once upon a time a big colony of Red Ants was getting ready for the winter season. They had to collect food and keep it in a big store-room.

Little Red Ant was supervising the operation. He asked Big Red Head, his right hand, to go upstairs and have a look at the garden. “Sir, we’re fucked! Big Black Bottoms got ahead of us. They took all the food”, said Big Red Head. “God damn those fat asses! Time for plan B has come. Start immediately”, answered Little Red Ant.

Big Red Head was worried. He thought plan B was wrong. “But sir, are you sure? Don’t you think it’s a bit too soon?”, asked Big Red Head. “What’s wrong with that?”, said Little Red Ant, “it makes room for new people”. “To the retirement house!”, he ordered.

Exquisite cadaver

Caroline hid behind the oak tree, but her shadow could be seen projected on the field. Therefore the criminal saw her spying on the murder that was taking place and realized she could reveal the truth.

Caroline suddenly burst into tears because she could recognize the man. He was her beloved husband. The closer the man was to her, the more astonished she felt since she could not believe what she was seeing. She felt extremely disappointed.

The criminal was decided to put an end to that situation shutting the witness´ mouth for ever but when he faced her everything changed and she went away without saying a word. 

And she went away without saying a word, after finding her Duckling playing happily in the water.

The beautiful Mother Duck was in the lake enjoying a warm and sunny day with her five yellow Ducklings when one of them disappeared.

“Oh, my God! One of my babies is missing!”, said the Mother.

“Oh, my God! One of us is missing!”, said the Ducklings.

Then they began to look for him. They looked under the Big Tree where they use to play. But he wasn’t there. They looked behind the Old Rock. But he wasn’t there. They looked in Mr. Turtle’s house. But he wasn’t there. They looked in the Three Little Pigs’ house. But he wasn’t there. They looked in The Smurfs’ Village... But he wasn’t there.

The Sun  was going down and Mother Duck was very sad and the Ducklings were crying. So, they came back to the lake... and saw the little Duckling was having a bath at home. Bob Marley was on, and the duck was feeling so relaxed that he thought, “I wonder why the room looks so foggy. It´s almost like being in heaven.”

The little duckling used to take that kind of baths frequently. It helped him forget that everyone consider him the ugly one of the family. He didn’t have any friends, so he usually talked and reflected upon things with his inner duck. It brought peace and comfort to his life.

All of a sudden his mother entered the room and screamed at him, “Stop smoking that shit”, to what the little duckling answered, “I tried to give up smoking weed many times, but the truth is I like it too much," Caroline wrote in her private diary. She started using grass some years ago, in those times she could afford it, but nowadays it is too expensive and she is unemployed. She decided to grow her own plants so she moved to the countryside where legislation is not a matter of concern. Caroline’s friends were so excited to smoke her plants that they would stay with her for ever. On the other hand, her family tried to change Caroline’s mind, and warned her about ending up in jail.

One night, Caroline was relaxing at home when she started listening strange noises, as if someone was forcing the locks, outside, near the gate. Since Caroline had been smoking all day, her blood pressure increased and her heart bits grew faster and faster. Adrenaline ran through her blood stream and desperation took over her. Unable to think clearly she went out through the kitchen door to the garden and got into the oak wood.

“Caroline is not in the house, let’s search the garden”. 

“Look this is legal evidence, let’s confiscate it.”

“She can’t be that far, search the wood”

Caroline ran as far as leopard, sweating and trembling. She looked in her pockets for one last joint. 

The invulnerable oak started firmly among the trees. Caroline went straight towards it, with the lighter ready in her hand. She fell on her knees and lit her precious, mind blogging ciggy.

An aromatic thick, grey smoke filtered through the branches of the oak as the silver moon rays reflected in the mist.

“That’s smell, let’s go right there”

Caroline hid behind the oak tree but her shadow could be seen projected on the field.

Flash fiction

Teacher: You’ll have a zero. Student: Pity you won’t be able to write it.

A priest in need is a kid in danger.

Rastafarian Airlines: take a trip to paradise.

People getting married. Lawyers delivering pamphlets.
(M. A., Natalia Brucciamonti, Camila Chaves, Cintia López, Julián Riobó, Gonzalo Viola)

Growing inside me after such desperate wait.
(Valeria Niell, Nadina González, Gisela Méndez)

Come back. You forgot your life.
(Gisela Méndez)

-“You take it. I’m totally lost!... I can’t read it” –“It’s upside-down”
(Valeria Niell)

Five minutes to evacuate… Get your ticket ready. No ticket, no life.

Can I live in your bubble? Mine is leaking air.

Be clear when you order. Mine was delivered with blue eyes.
(Julieta Acevedo, Gabriela Belitzky, Marisa Gallardo, Betina Ricchezza)

Son: Don’t cry, I’ll be your angel.
(Nadina González)