Day two..

Day two with our kids was a great success! With the help of our translator, Chandana, we were able to communicate with the children with ease.

We began by reviewing some of the images that the children captured during the free shoot yesterday. They were very excited to see the pictures they had taken. As we reviewed the images we taught them the English words for what they had shot. The children have a beginning level of English language proficiency. That is, they understand a few isolated words and expressions. Nevertheless, they are eager to shout out all the words that they know in English.

In order to communicate the idea that a photograph can tell a story we used an image from Helen Levitt's book, A Way of Seeing. With the help of our translator we began by asking the children to look closely at the details in the photograph. We then asked them to describe what they see and what they think might have happened in the picture. We reiterated that there was no correct answer. Their responses were creative and reflect their developing understanding of how a photograph tells a story.

Untitled (broken mirror), Helen Levitt, New York, c.1940

To introduce the first assignment, Family, we presented images of diverse families. As the children looked at the photographs we taught them the English words for the members of a family. We then asked the children to draw their family in their journal. The children worked diligently. "Teacher, Teacher!" they exclaimed as they finished their work. They were eager to show us their drawings and use their newly acquired English vocabulary to describe their families.

Finally, it was time to send the cameras home with the children. Their assignment was to photograph their family and their home. We hope that this will give us an intimate glimpse into their lives. The children were incredibly anxious to get the cameras into their hands and I think we are just as anxious to see what they will photograph!