Intercultural education, picturebooks and refugees: approaches for language teachers

Abstract

Picturebooks can be used as a means of teaching a range of intercultural issues as well as enriching learners’ linguistic and literacy skills. As windows and mirrors, picturebooks can be a powerful vehicle in the classroom in terms of intercultural education for all learners, including those working through the medium of a second language. This article explores the potential of teaching the topic of refugees through picturebooks. While developing the traditional forms of literacy, reading and writing, strategies can also be used to promote critical literacies and intercultural education. Critical multicultural analysis of these picturebooks examines the complex web of power in our society, the interconnected systems of race, class and gender and how they work together. A framework is presented for analysing one picturebook through a series of activities that help learners and teachers to critically interrogate the topic of refugees with empathy and understanding.