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First days In Worlds of Words

30 October 2019


Kia ora  koutou

Yesterday was my first day at Worlds of Words, the center for global literature where I am visiting for the duration of my time here. It is a beautiful facility with a current exhibition of Visual Narratives (also known as silent picturebooks or wordless picturebooks). Given that this is the topic for next year’s WaiPRU picturebook seminar, I am looking very closely!



Worlds of Words is a beautiful space including a large library area, desks for students to work at, exhibition spaces, conference rooms, offices, a classroom and a presentation space where I will be giving a talk next Tuesday 5 November. 

In the afternoon I had the opportunity to travel to a local school with my host Kathy where she and her colleagues run a Global Cultures Club as part of the after school programme. In this they use children’s literature to open discussions about the world, raise global awareness,  and develop intercultural skills. It was the last session on a series on life in Korea, and it was such a privilege to be there. The session ended with a Korean tea ceremony and the children (and me)  were fully absorbed.
The day ended with an opportunity to attend a graduate class in critical visual analysis, attended by a range of PhD students. This is based on a recent book that Kathy and her colleagues have written entitled CriticalContent Analysis of Visual Images in Books for Young People.  We had copies of the books analysed in the chapters available to look at and then had wonderful discussions. I am very lucky to be attending this class, learning skills in visual analysis which I can bring into my own research and teaching.

Aside from all of these wonderful experiences, I am struggling a bit with arrival paperwork and setting up bank accounts and phone numbers at the moment, but this will soon pass.

Ngā mihi mahana
Nicola

Comments

  1. Unknown31 October 2019 at 18:16

    Kia ora Nicola - it sounds like you have been busy and in such an exciting way. I'm sure your initial admin difficulties will get sorted out and you'll be able to relax into life in Arizona. Best wishes, Christine

    ReplyDelete

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