Localized Ways and Experiences: Making a Positive Difference in a Rural Multigrade Primary Classroom

Abstract

This chapter describes how critical literacy and critical pedagogy were realized in a rural multi-grade primary English classroom in Verónica, a small town in Argentina. The English teacher implemented interdisciplinary projects in cooperation with the Social Sciences and Natural Sciences teachers on a variety of themes. She welcomed and valued the students’ linguistic and cultural backgrounds, for instance by enabling the use of Guarani in addition to Spanish and English. She also fostered the use of creative and artistic means of meaning making. One theme in particular mobilized the children to engage in action: hunting and animal protection. They created posters and poems to raise awareness in the school and their community of the dangers of indiscriminate hunting and the importance of protecting local fauna like ostriches. This action phase illustrates the citizenship and social justice dimension of critical literacy and critical pedagogy.