We developed an eZoomBook based on the book “Each Peach Pear Plum” by Janet and Alan Ahlberg (2004). Our objective was to guide French primary school pupils (ranging in ages from 7 to 9) in some short and easy exercises in English. The example in the above video shows how it is possible to use an eZoomBook with a pre-constructed structure and guidelines in a blended learning context. We had pre-defined the student input (rhyme-matching game, illustrations, recordings, etc.). We carried out all of the workshop activities in class and we then injected all of the student contributions into the pre-constructed eZoomBook template.
The teacher first introduced the book using the ‘sandwich story’ technique (Butzkamm, Caldwell, 2009). This involves telling the story first in French and then gradually introducing more and more layers of English items; after a few readings, the whole story is in English. The teacher in doing so drew attention to the structure and rhymes of the text. Although many familiar characters from fairytales were well known to English-speaking children, some of the characters from nursery rhymes were unfamiliar to French children. In this way, French children were introduced to English children’s cultural heritage.
Classroom activities were recorded in the tabs of the eZoomBook before the beginning of the workshop, with the exception of only one tab for the student contributions. While the first tab focused on the story itself, the second tab of the eZoomBook (entitled “pictures and names”) contained pictures of some characters from the story. Students could listen to the name of each character by clicking on a sound button.
On the third tab (entitled “Rhyming game”), pupils played a simple game to find words which rhyme with the characters. They were then ready to play with more complex elements on page four (entitled “New rhymes”) to create new sentences which respect the original rhyming structure of the book. The pupils then chose their own sentences combining characters and situations to collectively create a new version of the story.
Each pupil recorded his or her new sentence and illustrated the situation it described. The teacher inserted these illustrations and audio recordings into the first page of the book (Productions). In this way, the pupils contributed to making a new version of the story, which they could re-tell and illustrate themselves.
On the Tales References page, links to videos of all the characters were included, as well as links to videos of the book read aloud with and without the text. The teachers who want to replicate this experience can use these links to introduce the book in class and the pupils can click to listen to the story at home. The instructions tab contains all the instructions for teachers.
This example illustrates the development of an eZoomBook with a pre-constructed structure and guidelines.