This document summarizes the work of Mallika Das at Auburn Public School to develop English as a Second Language (ESL) skills in refugee students through multimodal texts. The school has a diverse student body with over 35 languages spoken and many refugee families. Das led reception classes for newly arrived students and was part of an intensive English program. Activities included using movement, maps, and excursions to teach about rainforests; reading multimodal texts and creating a class "Big Book"; and analyzing how authors influence readers through language and images. The goal was to support students' language, literacy, and understanding of concepts.

1. “Developing ESL, including refugee students’, language and
literacy skills and the understanding of concepts through
multimodal texts”
By Mallika Das
Auburn Public School

2. Auburn Public School is a multicultural
school with around 560 students located in
Sydney’s mid western region. 98% of
students are bilingual and speak English as a
second language.
Over 35 different languages are spoken,
largest cultural groups are from turkey,
Somalia, Afghanistan, Lebanon, Iraq, China
and the Pacific Islands. A significant number
of families have refugee status resulting in
many students with disrupted or no prior
schooling.
Along with regular mainstream and special-
ed classes the school also has two reception
classes for newly arrived students, one for
Stage 1 and the other a multistage class
with students from stages 2 & 3.

3. In 2010 and 2011 I had a composite reception class of new arrival students
including refugee students. The students ranged from years 3 to 6 and their
Language backgrounds included Dari, Arabic, Chinese (Cantonese and
Mandarin), Somali and Russian. All of them were first and second phase ESL
learners.
I was part of PIEP program in
2010 and 2011. This program
is Primary Intensive English
Program which aims to
support the language and
literacy skills of newly arrived
refugee students as well as
their general health and well
being as well as their
participation in mainstream
classroom. I had 19 students
in the program in 2010 and
16 students in 2011.

4. The internet has added a new dimension to the way we access information.
Today we live in a world which is constantly changing and becoming more
and more technology oriented. Developing students understanding of
reading visual images and being able to create multimodal texts is very
important.
• The multimodal nature of English is deeply integrated in all strands of the
Australian national curriculum.In the literacy strand, it is written that “texts
provide the means for communication. They can be written, spoken or
multimodal, and in print or digital/online forms.”
• “Powerfully persuasive images and multimedia need to be met with equally
powerful tools for discussion, critique and analysis. One aspect of the multi-
literacies concept is the use of a visual metalanguage to assist in this task...
Teaching about visual literacy should provide students with a sound understanding
of visual and multimodal texts”
(JONCALLOW • AUSTRALIAN JOURNAL OF LANGUAGE AND LITERACY, Vol. 29, No. 1, 2006, pp. 7–23)

5. 2010
Rich Task:
Students use movement and storytelling to
develop and present a narrative/performance
that explores effect of human activity on
rainforest environment.
5

6. • Students looked at maps of the
world to locate rainforests areas
and discuss the tropical
rainforests in particular.
• Students learned about the
structure, some flora and fauna
of the Amazon Rainforest as well
as the Daintree rainforest and
compared the two rainforests.
• We went on an excursion to the
Royal Botanical Gardens to
experience and understand the
flora of rainforest in more detail.
6

7. Teaching and learning comprehension
strategies
• The students read ‘The Great Kapok Tree’
by Lynn Cherry and were taught
comprehension skills and strategies such as
sequencing, visualising, concept maps, key
words, paraphrasing and main idea through
this text. They also learnt the structure of
narratives through graphic organisers and
story boards among other things.
7

8. • Text Innovation based on
The Great Kapok Tree
• Students wrote their own
story based in the
Daintree Rainforest. For
this, they undertook
research work in groups,
and decided on the
setting, characters and
the plot for their story.
8

9. Writing our story on the
computer
They first produced their
story on the computer
using ‘To Create a Super
Story’ software.
Students were very
proud to see their
stories in colour print!
9

10. Producing the Big Book
• Students produced
a big book of their
own story to
present and
perhaps read it to
Kindergarten or
Year 1 audience.
10

11. Presenting the Big Book
11

12. Reading and presenting the Big Book to Kindergarten
L
12

13. Multi-lingual Big Book
• Students are so proud of
their finished story book
that we decided to
translate the story in other
languages and thought of
inviting parents for a
storytelling session too!
• Students were invited by
the Australian Community
of Languages (ACL) to
present their Big Book to
parents and community
during Book Week.
13

14. Making Props and puppets for the
movie
14

15. Getting ready for filming
15

16. The Premiere
INVITATION
You are invited to the premiere of
‘The Blue Fig Tree’
Produced and Directed By
4-6 D
The Movie show
Jobs for the show
16

17. 2011

18. Action Inquiry: To support refugee students to
interpret the positions advocated by texts - How
authors and illustrators can influence the reader to a
particular point of view through their choice of
language and images.
Action Inquiry: To support refugee students reading
and writing of multimodal, multimedia texts(different
ways in which meaning can be created and
communicated in the world today).
18

19. I introduced ‘Fox’ by Margaret Wild and Ron Brooks to explicitly
teach my students how authors and illustrators can influence the
reader to a particular point of view through their choice of
language and images.
As we read the book ‘Fox’ we
evaluated visual messages by asking:
- What am I looking at? What does
this image mean to me?
- What is the relationship between
the image and the displayed text
message?
- How is this message effective?
- How do the pictures and text
work?
•LETTERING
• PICTURES –the use of line,
• COLOUR
•TEXT ORIENTATION and
•LAYOUT
19

20. In picture books, there are two texts – the words and
the images. As we read we put these two texts
together to form a composite text.
Creating Images
20

21. After creating images, students were shown how the pictures in a text work.
For example - Fox’s power over Magpie is communicated by Fox looking down
on Magpie as she looks up at him.
Students created their own books and tried to use some of their new found
knowledge in their own illustrations.
21

22. LAYOUT – GIVEN AND NEW
Given New What does it
mean?
Dog runs with Fox comes Fox is
Magpie. dangerous.
into the
( ‘haunted’,
.
bush and ‘fire’ and,
Magpie ‘flickers....like a
trembles. tongue’ = scary
like the snake?
Dog and Fox and Magpie has a
Magpie at Magpie relationship
with Fox that
their together,
does not
pool, without Dog include Dog.
together.
22

23. I chose “Inanimate Alice”, a digital story by Kate Pullinger to develop student’s critical and
creative reading and writing.Inanimate Alice tells the story of Alice, a young girl growing up in
the first half of the 21st century, and her imaginary digital friend, Brad.
Inanimate Alice was created as a digital book; the immersive story allows users to
interact with the central character, Alice, and to help her advance into the story.
Text, audio, video, special effects and gaming are all used to deliver the narrative in a
compelling way.
23

24. We began with students reading episode 1 without sound then with sound to see the
difference of adding sound to a story. Later we discussed the various elements
individually and their effect on a reader.
24

25. 25

26. We discussed the meaning of 'inanimate‘. We We compared and contrasted
thought the 'in' might mean an opposite and different literacy media as readers
'animate' could be related to cartoons and
animation. We had learnt about ‘here’, ‘hidden’
and ‘head’ questions. So we made some of our
own.
26

27. 27

28. 28

30. Creating ‘Inanimate Alice, Episode-5
Students created
episode-5 of inanimate
Alice using
‘Powerpoint’ and
‘Photostory’. Discussion
on issues of copyright
and publicity consent
for photos took place
and decision was taken
not to use photos of
people.
30

31. Student Outcomes
• Rich tasks resulted in enhancing student’s
language and literacy skills as well as
developing their confidence and engagement.
• Learning to read and creating multimedia text
has given the students an essential tool for
learning across the curriculum.
• Students are able to achieve the stage
appropriate learning about outcomes.

32. 6
5
ESL Scales 4
3
2
1
0
5
4 Oral Interaction
3
2
1
0
3.5
Reading & Responding 3
2.5
2
1.5
1
0.5
0
Writing
32

33. Reflection
• It is possible to teach newly arrived students
comprehension skills even though they may not
be fluent at decoding skills with the use of
multimodal stories.
• With high challenge and high support ESL and
refugee students can achieve beyond our
expectations.
• I believe that we must teach children to thrive in
this century rather than preparing for the last.
The need for creative and critical thinkers is never
been more needed.