Hi everyone,
I hope you are all able to see my photo. It is a little silly, but I thought it could be read as a type of theater literacy.
It is a picture of mimes. Mimes are a form of theater and since they do not speak, you have to read them by their actions which could be interpreted as a form of literacy.
Thanks,
Ashley
First of all, I'm wondering where this photo came from--are these people you know? It's really wonderful, especially as the opening photo I saw on our 'blog--very dramatic!
ReplyDeleteI could see using this photo to help students see that literacy is more than just reading or writing words on a page. Being literate also (often) involves reading the world around us--body language, traffic patterns, the weather. Mimes are extreme examples of how a person's affect, their bodies and facial expressions, can communicate a clear message. Because your photo is so extreme (in a good way) you would easily be able to help students develop a broader definition of literacy.
I completed my three semesters of American Sign Language last year and miming was something we did every single day! It is how deaf people communicate with each other. Like Dr. K said, "being literate also (often) involves reading the world around us" such as facial expressions and body movements. Every sign in ASL you have to do this and each is a small mime.
ReplyDeleteTo say boy you pretend to grasp the bill of your baseball cap and to say cup, you hold the cup in your hand. You also have to watch the person signing to see how they are saying boy or cup. Is it a question, an order, a statement?
Miming was a great way for us to understand our ASL teacher in the first semester, especially when we didn't know any words. We would mime being different animals or sports and she would show us the word in ASL. Most of the time, they were pretty close to our impersonation!
I really enjoyed this image because like Ashley wrote mimes communicate without using words which makes the viewer really pay attention to their body language and facial expressions to understand what they are saying.
ReplyDeleteThis just reminds me that we communicate in so many different ways and we cannot only rely on verbal language.
I have never watched mimes but I would like to know more about where they originated.