Literacy At Play Summary

In chapter four of Curtis Hayes, Robert Baruth, and Carolyn Hayes’ (1998) Literacy con Cariño, Mr. B focuses mainly of the importance of play, especially within writing, in regards to literacy. The authors recognize that while play “…is not usually associated with writing”, it is “…something they would want to do” and that “Children usually succeed at play” (Hayes et al., 1998, p. 63). They also assert that language is both fun and social in the same aspect as play. Because of these reasons, Mr. B incorporates play with different activities such as writing class books, allowing talking within the class, working with idioms, writing poems, and much more. As we have seen in the past, the students have been reluctant to engage in these activities at first, but slowly warm up to Mr. B’s methods. The use of play within the literacy world allows them to further practice their skills without fear of mistakes. An idea I had not heard of before was the notion of allowing students to talk in the classroom. Not only did they learn social skills and the differences between friendly and academic writing, but also how to discern when it was appropriate to chat with classmates and when to hold back. Another concept I thought was useful for not only ESL students, but also general
The idea was usually that if you were talking, you were not focused, thus not performing to the best of your ability. I think it was also for the teacher to be seen as an authoritarian figure and demand respect from the children. It is often thought that teachers who allow their students to talk have no control and are taken advantage of by the students. It seems that just the opposite occurred in Mr. B’s case. The students were better able to understand when conversation was suitable and when to respect others by staying