Estudios Interculturales en Lengua Inglesa I

Introducción al Inglés para Fines Académicos

Prof. Jorgelina Carlassare

En este período trabajaremos integralmente con ambas materias.

Date: September, 3rd

Class 14

Theme​: Identity ​Topic:​ Representations of history

A-Food for thought: Do you agree? Why or why not?

“​ Stories create community, enable us to see through the eyes of other people, and open us to the claims of
others.” – ​Peter Forbes

B- Watch this TED Talk: ​“The Danger of a Single Story”​ and answer these following questions.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: The danger of a single story | TED Talk

1) In your own words, define Adichie’s concept of “the single story”.

2) What does Adichie say about the power of narrative in people’s lives?

3) Name one example in Adichie’s narrative, in which she admits to having a single story about a particular
group of people.

4) In which texts that we have read, has a “single story” caused harm, or limited the actions of certain
characters?

5) Name a time when you were understood by someone through a “single story.” How did it affect you?

6) Give an example of when you have believed “the single story” of someone only to find out that you were
way off the mark.
C- Intensive reading

These statements are extracted from Adichie’s talk. Could you explain these quotes using some ideas already
worked in previous classes?

1)- “​My roommate had a single story of Africa: a single story of catastrophe…”

2) “I must say that before I went to the U.S., I didn’t consciously identify as African. But I did come to embrace
this new identity”.

3) “The single story creates stereotypes, and the problem with stereotypes is not that they are untrue, but that
they are incomplete…”

4) “Stories can break the dignity of a people, but stories can also repair that broken dignity …”

D-What about you?

1) What are examples of “single stories” in your personal life?

2) What are examples of “single stories” in your education?
3) What are examples of “single stories” in the news?
4) How might we begin to “reject the single story” in our lives to regain Adichie’s so-called “paradise”?

E- Analyzing the TED Talk: “The Danger of a Single Story”

Explore this website and answer the following questions:

3 Lessons From Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's “The Danger of a Single Story”

1)How is Adichie’s talk described ?

2) What strong points in her talk are presented?

3) What weak points does the talk seem to have?

4) What is the role of the micro stories in this talk?

d-Teachers as intercultural mediators

Language teachers are key figures in preparing young people for participation in an increasingly multilingual
and culturally diverse world.

In your own words, describe the possible impact of these teaching ideas when debunking stereotypes.

https://lanetwork.facinghistory.org/the-danger-of-a-single-story-2/
For further reading:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's TED Talk: Summary & Analysis - Video & Lesson Transcript

Understanding and analysing representations of history

Cultural mediation in language learning and teaching

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Study the image below. What’s a digital story?

1. Watch these examples of digital stories to get a better idea of what we are talking about:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPrnDD51Y5s (Sofa by Wayne Richards, 2012)

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/video/3080685%20-%20Run%20your%20world.mp4
(Run your World by Madeleine de Bruin, 2015)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bKuGpBaWqQk (Home Movies by Dana Atchley, 2012)
http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/video/Famine%20Emigration-
Jennifer%20Dominquez.mp4 (Jennifer Dominquez, 2011)

More examples are available at:

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/example_stories.cfm?otherid=all

2. Read the material on storytelling below.

What is Digital Storytelling?

Digital storytelling at its most basic core is the practice of using computer-based tools to tell stories.
There are a wealth of other terms used to describe this practice, such as digital documentaries,
computer-based narratives, digital essays, electronic memoirs, interactive storytelling, etc.; but in
general, they all revolve around the idea of combining the art of telling stories with a variety of
multimedia, including graphics, audio, video, and Web publishing.

As with traditional storytelling, most digital stories focus on a specific topic and contain a particular
point of view. However, as the name implies, digital stories usually contain some mixture of computer-
based images, text, recorded audio narration, video clips, and/or music. Digital stories can vary in
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length, but most of the stories used in education typically last between 2 and 10 minutes. The topics used
in digital storytelling range from personal tales to the recounting of historical events, from exploring life
in one’s own community to the search for life in other corners of the universe, and literally, everything
in between.

Despite its emphasis on computer technology, digital storytelling is not a new practice. One of the field’s
most noted pioneers is Joe Lambert, the co-founder of the Center for Digital Storytelling (CDS), a
nonprofit, community arts organization in Berkeley, California. The CDS has been assisting young
people and adults in the creation and sharing of personal narratives through the combination of
thoughtful writing and digital media tools since the early 1990's.

Another pioneer in the field, British photographer, author, and educator Daniel Meadows defined digital
stories as “short, personal multimedia tales told from the heart.” The beauty of this form of digital
expression, he maintained, is that these stories can be created by people everywhere, on any subject, and
shared electronically all over the world. Meadows added that digital stories are “multimedia sonnets
from the people” in which “photographs discover the talkies, and the stories told assemble in the ether
as pieces of a jigsaw puzzle, a gaggle of invisible histories which, when viewed together, tell the bigger
story of our time, the story that defines who we are.”

Researcher and digital culture consultant, John Seely Brown described digital storytelling this way:

I’m particularly interested in Digital Storytelling, in new ways to use multiple media to tell stories and
in the ability of kids, who are now growing up in a digital world, to figure out new ways to tell stories.
They have the ability to build interpretive movies very simply and to lay sound tracks around the content.
They condition or “sculpture” the context around the content. The serious interplay between context
and content is key to what film—and rich media in general—are about.

Today the use of digital storytelling is being practiced in neighborhood community centers, schools,
libraries and businesses, by novice technology users to those with advanced skills. In the field of
education, teachers and their students, from early childhood classrooms through graduate school, are
using digital storytelling in many different content areas and across a wide range of grade levels.

http://digitalstorytelling.coe.uh.edu/page.cfm?id=27&cid=27

3. How do you create your digital story?

Create a Script

(Source: http://www.techsoup.org/learningcenter/training/archives/page10096.cfm)

Step 1: Decide on the Story You Want to Tell

You probably already have a person or subject in mind. Think small. Focus. Don't get caught up trying
to convey all the aspects of someone's life — you're not writing the great American novel, you're creating
what will optimally be a three- to five-minute work that recounts a personal tale and reveals a small
truth.
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What form should your story take? In their decade of leading workshops, Lambert and Mullen list these
main varieties of digital stories:

The story about someone important. Character stories center on a person who's touched you in a deep
way. Often, these stories reveal as much about the narrator as about the subject of the piece. Memorial
stories pay tribute to someone who passed on but left a lasting impression.

The story about an event in your life. Travel stories — stories about a personal journey or passage —
can be effective if they result in the narrator being transformed by the experience in some way.
Accomplishment stories about achieving a goal, graduating from school, or winning an honor can easily
fit into the framework of the desire-struggle-realization structure of a classic story.

The story about a place in your life. Our sense of place serves as the focal point of a great many profound
stories.

The story about what I do. People find value in their work, hobbies, or social commitments and can
weave wonderful stories from their experiences in each.

Recovery stories. Sharing the experience of overcoming a tragedy, challenge, or personal obstacle is an
archetype that always has the potential to move audiences.

Love stories. We all want to know how someone proposed, met a spouse, experienced the birth of a first
child, or came to terms with a parent. Exploring these kinds of relationships helps affirm our own.

Discovery stories. These stories probe how we uncovered a truth or learned how to do something.

Now, choose one type of story that appeals to you.

Step 2: Gather Your Materials

Start collecting memories. The most powerful images are often discovered during a treasure hunt in the
family attic. Start gathering old photos, vintage film reels, digital video, flyers, mementos — anything
that holds emotional resonance. Don't think you have to go out and visually capture a story with your
camera or cell phone. Use what you have!

Step 3: Begin Writing Your Script

Next, start jotting down ideas. Discuss your ideas with family and friends. Play out a rough story in your
head.

Sketch out a script that you'll soon record with your own voice (in this class you won’t be doing the
recording; instead, you’ll be doing the oral presentation of your story). Resist the temptation
to take the easy way out and create a story with only images and music. People want to hear a personal
voice. Don't be self-conscious about how your voice sounds; we all think we sound odd on tape.

Draft a short script. Some tips:

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Get personal. Forget everything you've been taught about using a dispassionate, authoritative, essay-
like voice. This isn't an essay contest. People want to hear your voice. The story must be told from your
point of view.

Write lousy first drafts. Don't edit as you go. Editing and writing use different parts of the brain. Let it
spill out. Get the main elements of your story down on paper, then go back and edit later.

Choose your images and sounds carefully. Each image, each sound or piece of music, and each
combination evokes a different response in your audience. When editing, make sure that each image
and sound does exactly what you want it to do to further your story. Make sure that you use images in a
nonliteral way; don’t just choose an image to illustrate your words, ideas, or tone, but use images that
comment on them, expand them, or interact with them in some way. For a good example of how to use
images, watch True America, a YouTube video by a high-school student.

Be as brief as you can be. Longer doesn’t mean better in digital storytelling. The challenge is to create a
moving story that will affect your audience so powerfully that they will remember it. Don’t try to tell
everything. Select only the details or events that will sharpen the story and keep it moving. This allows
the audience to actively participate by filling in the gaps.

Read your script aloud as you're fine-tuning it. Use plain speech.

Don't hold back. Be real. You need to reach an emotional depth, and sometimes that can only be
achieved by revealing uncomfortable truths. Ultimately, however, it's up to you to make a profoundly
personal decision about what material you want to share — and with whom.

Look for a narrative arc for your story. All stories — even three-minute gems — have a beginning,
middle, and end. Map out the story using storyboards. The beginning tells the premise of your story: it
sets up the dramatic tension that should hold throughout the story. The middle outlines conflicts along
the way. The end is the destination, revealing a small discovery, revelation, or insight. This is sometimes
called the desire-action-realization model. Will the guy get the girl? Will the hero prevail? Will the sleuth
solve the mystery? With a three-minute script, you don't have time to indulge detours. Get to the payoff.

Capture your audience’s attention right away, and keep it. Some stories start with a dramatic question,
others with a shocking statistic or image. Find a way to grab your audience’s interest right away, and
then keep them expecting more. Raise more questions or suspense along the way.

Work on the pace. Many consider pacing to be the true secret of successful storytelling. The rhythm and
tempo of a story is what sustains an audience's interest. Experiment. Lambert and Mullen write, "Good
stories breathe. They move along generally at an even pace, but once in a while they stop. They take a
deep breath and proceed."

Trust your voice. All of us have our own distinctive style of storytelling. Trust yours.

Read your script to a friend when you think you've finished. Very often, your confidant will point out
glaring omissions, help firm up the language of a passage, or help you identify your true voice.

https://sites.google.com/site/digitalstorysite/process/create-script
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PhD. Sofía Romanelli

Instructions for the oral assignment: Digital storytelling

4. After watching and reading about digital storytelling, it’s now your turn to create your own
digital story.

Unlike typical digital stories which include the voice of the storyteller, your story will be told in
class via Zoom (so it will NOT be included in your video or presentation).

You should create your own digital story and present it orally via Zoom on Thursday September 17th.
You will be able to share your screen so that we can all watch your presentation while you present it
orally.

I will be giving you feedback on your performance. Focus on the following aspects when you
prepare your presentation:

- organization of your speech

- language/grammar use (pay special attention to the use of tenses. See Class 12)

- fluency (speed of talking; hesitation while speaking)

- pronunciation (individual sounds; stress & rhythm; intonation)**

- non-verbal (eye contact & body posture; gestures & facial expressions)

** Remember that you can check the pronunciation of words in the online Longman Dictionary
of Contemporary English | LDOCE

5. Remember not to read your story!

6. Your story should be about 3 to 4 minutes long. Time your presentation.

7. You could use Windows Movie Maker or just Power Point.

8. Make sure your story is well organized; this means that it should have an introduction, body
and conclusion. The purpose of your story should be clearly stated.
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PhD. Sofía Romanelli

Visualizing the steps to creating a digital story:

Extra resources that might help:

The Seven Elements of digital storytelling

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NipDAd3_7Do

Create a Digital Story

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LVKeO5IIR_A