LITSIG: Intersectionality in children's picture books: The road to diversity

The relevance of literature as a means of providing children with opportunities to reflect their own experiences and to see into the experiences of others prompts the inquiry: why choose children's picturebooks as vehicles to explore diversity? Diversity, as portrayed in picturebooks through (dis)abilities, cultural, racial, and linguistic, can be explored in English language teaching (ELT)
creating opportunities for more inclusive spaces.

In ELT, picturebooks are widely recognised as a valuable scaffolding tool for literacy support, aiding in language comprehension. Visual images aid children’s language learning: from arousing interest, to facilitating comprehension, to engaging with the story, to making vocabulary memorable, to an important support in re-telling or acting out the story (Read 2008: 7).

Within this framework, this webinar will revolve around two picturebooks: Elena’s Serenade and Marcos an Aquanaut. In them, we will draw on linguistic and racial diversity, as well as (dis)abilities. We will examine the “word” in its aporia of signifiers along with the intersections presented in the images and the text. At this point, Iet us pause for a moment to explore the two stories further. Elena’s Serenade, written in English but interspersed with Spanish, anchors the narrative within the Mexican community in the US. Ibrahim emphasizes that such stories highlight the multilingual nature of the world, challenging the one- language-one-culture bias. The use of brown kraft paper in the picturebook enhances ethnicity, as the soft brown background complements the characters' brown skins, spreading their cultural world across the pages.

Marcos an Aquanaut features Marcos, a protagonist in a wheelchair, in a children's story that avoids forced messages about (dis)ability. The narrative presents Marcos as a typical, energetic boy who enjoys swimming with a team of aquanauts. The story is bilingual, in English and Spanish, highlighting the potential of dual language picturebooks to enrich English classrooms by embracing linguistic diversity.

These picturebooks serve as bridges to connect the multiple intersections where languages, ethnicities, and (dis)abilities converge. Mixed-race charactersin children's books contribute to diversity by disrupting the focus on monoracial identity. Characters that break free from the typical perspective that (dis)abilities limit them offer a more nuanced and empowering representation. This webinar will journey into what ELT educators can do before, during, and after reading Elena’s Serenade and Marcos an Aquanaut, which can be extended and adapted to other titles.

Speaker- Romina Muse

Romina Muse is a teacher of English based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. She holds a BA in English, specialising in English Literature and Film Studies. Currently, she is pursuing a Master's in Culture and Literature. She works as a language and literature teacher at the secondary and tertiary levels. She is also a Didactics trainer at the Teacher Training College at Universidad Nacional de José C. Paz and at ISFD Pedro Poveda. Additionally, she serves as co-editor for IATEFL YLTSIG. She presents talks and workshops at national and international conferences and online events. Romina is the author of Marcos an Aquanaut, a picture book that celebrates diversity and inclusion.

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