The art of writing; a look at social construction through written creation

Community intervention – Story Planet and UPTC

Jhan Carlos Higuita Muñoz

Code: 201620162

Professor: Juliana Borrero

Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia

Faculty of Education Sciences

Modern Languages Program

English Workshop I

2020-I
 Introduction

It is time to pull the thick, heavy rope of imposition and unpin the pier from silences.

The ship's staircases are waiting for you to immerse yourself in the adventure of writing.

The sails have been raised and the wind blows in our favor. Our destination is learning and

our arrival time is uncertain. Get ready to enjoy the wonderful landscape offers on the bow

of our boat; the infinity of imagination. The sea is making waves and the captain is a

reckless driver. Go and store your belongings and dress up to the nines that it is time to

watch the sunset of creation. It's time to feel the breeze of words and smell that exclusive

fragrance of freedom.

Throughout a journey around the Building Bridges: Cuentos y Puentes project, two

groups of children participants got themselves involved in an adventure about a cultural

exchange. By the means of words, they explore other’s realities and integrate it through a

space that allows the imagination works and reach the other child across the space. The

child participant I worked with found himself discovering the magic that is behind that

what I decided to name the bottle’s messages. Once he opened the bottle, he began to

wonder about who was behind those words that were send across the oceans. Within this

process the child and you, dear visitor, will come up with the surprise that there are words

that are being stained beyond where we believe the canvas for creation ends.

In the following pages of this research paper, I invite you to come aboard to this

Building Bridges’ trip and peek around the importance of get the social justice pedagogy,

the transformative sense, and the creative writing processes into schooling. The above is
strongly connected with the purpose of the aforementioned project. It is to encourage

children to use the language not only as a communication tool but also as a possibility of

create and recreate realities. Along this document, I pretend that the reader can recognize

how the words can acts as a trigger to able the child’s voice be heard.

During the course of this wonderful journey, you will find yourself in front of short

sections such as the contextualization, where the generalities of the Building Bridges:

Cuentos y Puentes project are highlighted in order to have an overall perspective about

what the community intervention is intended in. Then, the guiding principles take place

where the justification and theoretical journey are encapsulated and integrated in a single

piece. Therefore, there is a complete activities description within the procedure schedule in

what was denominated “the pedagogical proposal”. Before getting into the analysis of the

information, the two instruments that allow the gathering of the information are mentioned

and its connection with this short project is explained. By the end of this paper the data

analysis take its place. It encloses the mainly observations in regards to the whole process

my child participant went through and further discussions around the two constructs I

propose to base this intervention on; Anti- Oppressive practices and the theory of the

Transformative Language Arts.

Contextualization

The "building bridges" project is a possibility of working together between two

countries such as Colombia and Canada. Its name is not only due to the connection between

countries, but it is goes hand in hand with the main objective of this work which is to make

use of digital tools to bring children and facilitators to know and explore other contexts

such as the Colombian and the Canadian. This project of a "narrative" nature will take place
in an intermediate, virtual space. This joint work will take as entities the students of the

eighth/ninth semester of the UPTC by its acronym in Spanish (Universidad Pedagógica y

Tecnológica de Colombia) Modern Languages program. These students belong to the

English Workshop course. In addition, it will be assisted by facilitators and from the

Canadian non-profit "Story Planet". These teachers in training and facilitators will work to

allow the encounter between Colombian and Canadian children they will be the main focus

of this work.

Story Planet is a Canadian organization that focuses its work on creative writing and

ongoing support for all member inside it. As stated on their website "We believe that

empowering young people to share their stories, and respects the voices of others, will

create a more empathic and inclusive world." (About Us, n.d). They seeks to empower

young people to be able to find a voice and see in words a tool that allows them not only to

create stories outside their reality but also allows them to have an opinion in the face of

social problems. In other words, it is in the way that young people do not recognize their

realities and can articulate it through the possibility of creation with writing.

The UPTC is a Colombian university of a public nature. It is located in the city of Tunja,

which is in turn a capital city of one of the 32 departments (Colombian territorial division)

of the country. Tunja as the capital city is in the first place with respect to the geographical

height. This city, although it is the capital of one of the departments of Colombia, does not

have a comparative extension to large cities such as Medellin or Bogota (this being the

Colombian capital). In fact, there are a couple of cities in Boyacá department that

outnumber Tunja. The weather in this city is cold with an average of 60oF. Tunja also has

one of the largest unemployment levels in the country. About the UPTC, its mission
connects with this community project in the sense of connect, explore, and recognize

particular characteristics of our Colombian nation and also integrate them through a cross-

wise scope. Regarding its nature it has as part of its mission “Formar profesionales

competentes y éticos, constructores de una ciudadanía reflexiva, crítica y solidaria en

armonía con la visión humanista de la cultura Upetecista, comprometida con la promoción

del desarrollo y el bienestar social de la región y de la nación.” (Información Institucional,

n.d). In regards to its students, this university has about 30,000 students in its different

campuses. For a couple of years it had been working on the creation or restoration of one of

the first academic programs offered at the university. Finally, in 2019 the modern language

program disappeared and become the new and renewed program of foreign languages with

specific emphasis.

Within the extensive curriculum offered by the university there is a subject called

"English workshop I" which is immersed in the Modern Languages Program. Even though

the program has been reformulated it always has had as a vision “formación de docentes de

lenguas modernas, quienes generen posturas y asuman compromisos que contribuyan a la

transformación de su entorno inmediato y a la construcción de conocimiento abordado por

la comunidad académica a nivel local, nacional e internacional.” (Información general, n.d).

About the “English Workshop” course, it is currently run by the teacher and writer Juliana

Borrero. This course aims to work continuously based on two components being both

"Social justice & Transformative language arts". Per the Syllabus "The social justice

component expects to develop pre-service teachers' critical thinking by not only reading

research but also ACTING. In." The above is the product of joint learning through

intervention practices.
 This project of cultural approach has as its reference two countries. One of them is

Canada, specifically the city of Toronto where Story Planet is mainly located. It is

important to recognize that Toronto is one of Canada's most important cities. One of the

main reasons is that there is a fairly high percentage of immigrants which leads to this city

being considered a multicultural center. However, this city also has some problems. These

difficulties are summed up in the high cost of housing, as well as the high flow of traffic.

It's important to understand some of Toronto's major problems in recognizing the context in

which many of The Children's Story Planet is placed. Later, the contrast with the problems

experienced by Colombian children participating in this intervention will be shown.

Regarding Toronto, one of the problems facing the city is about the exaggerated and high

income. This problem is a situation that has been taking hold in recent decades due to the

unexpected population growth and geographical extent that the city has had. Rent prices

become so high that many people can't afford them and this increases homeless numbers.

According to Pelley (2018), the income problem represents only one of the many problems

facing the city of Toronto in Canada. Added to this problem, the city's tedious traffic,

homeless numbers and government disagreement are other problems facing Toronto.

In addition, this Project will takes as a reference to Colombia. Although most of the

participants of this intervention are born and raised in the department of Boyacá. The

intervention I will carry out will take as context the department of Antioquia, specifically a

small town in the southwest called Ciudad Bolívar Antioquia. The reason I will take this

municipality as a reference is because the participant with whom I will work lives there.

Besides, this place is the place where I was born and where I lived all my life. It was not

until 2015 that after finishing my studies at school that I decided to come and live here to
continue my university training. The department of Antioquia is one of the most important

in the country for its economic contributions, as well as for its artistic wealth. It has the

second largest city in Colombia, Medellin, which is also the capital of the department.

Unlike Toronto Canada, Ciudad Bolivar is a medium-sized town that has many problems of

various types different than the traffic and expensive housing. These problems range from

ongoing violence, high poverty and a large number of child labour, especially in the

countryside. It is important to review these problems and how they affect the participant of

this intervention. Violence is an important factor in understanding the processes that bring

to the site. Much of the violence seen in this small town belongs to and unfortunately

corresponds to young people who are guided by hired killer and drugs indiscriminately and

murder people blinded by luxuries and the raising of amounts of money that compared to

their poverty contexts dazzle and seem to solve all their problems. This topic will be of

great help to understand the social and economic context in which the Colombian

participant lives. As a sketch, it is important to recognize that poverty levels influence the

education of local youth because they do not have sufficient resources, they mostly have no

major aspirations for their future.

At this point, it is important to talk about the main actors of this project: children. In the

Colombian case, child that this project will be focus on is Simon Isaza Olaya. Simon is a

13-year-old boy who was born and raised in Ciudad Bolívar Antioquia. He's a sweet kid

with an innocence that only children have. After talking to Simon about this project, I hope

that both he and the Canadian child will enjoy this experience to the fullest and create

bonds of friendship that can transcend virtuality.

GUIDING PRINCIPLES
 Throughout Building bridges: Cuentos y Puentes project participating children

encapsulate their realities and sent them across space until they reach the other child, by

means of words. This project promotes a multicultural exchange through which both

participants adventure themselves into a space where the imagination works together with

the exploration of each participant’s own reality, as well as that of the other; by means of

language. This section will start by examining the needs analysis study developed by my

child participant. The project is framed under the light of two important theories: Anti-

Oppressive practice which pretends to encourage people to develop the strength necessary

to be critical against the inequities that occurs not only in our immediate space but also as

an individual that is part of a society surrounded by oppression practices; and the theory of

Transformative Language Arts, where creative writing is an important basis to start

thinking about how the participants use the language to explore their inner self and bring

out stories hidden behind words.

The needs analysis that was applied to my child participant revealed important initial

information in regards to the context in which the participant lives in, as well as some

cultural general ideas it has about gender, diversity and inclusion. Simón Isaza, who is the

participant I work with, shows to be quite open about complex issues as the aforementioned

are. Along most of the questions that were asked to answer, the child expresses how he acts

like a sponge at the time of talking about other cultures. In the need analysis, he stated how

he would like to be part of a project that provides him with the possibility of a cultural

exchange and a language´s tool. Likewise, the child participant seems to be blindfolded

about the presence of violence and drugs around his environment, this represents a huge

opportunity for a future discussion topic. As a result of the needs analysis applied in the
first week of this project, the child I work with seems to understand the world under an

innocence and lovely perspective. The above is strongly related with the answers provided

in the gender – diversity needs analysis’ section. There, my child participant mentions that

the sexuality of a person does not represent a problem to him.

One of the theories I will focus this writing evidence on is Anti- Oppressive practices.

To do that, I will integrate this theory with the multicultural exchange the Building Bridges:

Cuentos y Puentos project represents to the participants. Clow, Hanson & Bernier (n.d.)

wrote an online module where they explain how the “Equity” concept is mainly connected

with the theory of Anti – Oppression. The above is sustained under the idea that factors

such as gender, diversity, equity – equality dichotomy, and inclusion influence in the way

we see ourselves and see the other. Carrying out an intercultural exchange like this allow us

to see how we are barely in the same level as our pen pal and also the same way around.

Despite both contexts are completely different the children participants are creating a joint

story that let those differences apart and put a space where the creation works together and

create a fairly place by the means of words.

Like the above, we as pre- service teachers need to take a look at the way of how to

bring Anti- Oppressive theory into practice. Per Deirdre Kelly (2012) we as future teachers

must be concern about the need of breaking down the inequalities around the scholar

training. And that begins by the recognition that there are inequalities with the students. Not

all the participants have the same access or treatment to schooling. That is where we act as

trainers. What it seems to me, this project tries to work on the rupture of that limitative and

oppressing teaching process and takes both participants and place them in front of a white
curtain, in the same position, with the same time (equity), and with a unique object: a

pencil. Then, both have to cross the curtain and show the public what they have done.

The second theory I focus the Building bridges: Cuentos y Puentes project is

Transformative Language Arts. This theory encloses the transformative sense that the

language has and foster the power that means of words offer. As Metzger (1992) pointed

throughout her “writing for your life” publication, the silence that we as human beings have

inside is broken by the power of language. I strongly agree with the idea that “Each one of

us holds an incredible reserve of creativity and power, of unexamined and unrecorded

emotion and feeling” (Lorde, 1984). Words break down the wall of the unspoken, words

also give a voice and a face to minorities, to black communities. Language in this

multicultural exchange allows the children participants to show the world not only a

profoundly individual reality, this allows them to share the reality of many from their eyes,

from what I know and from what I consider to be shared.

A concept that I will include inside TLA theories and directly connected to this project

is: Empowerment. Per Byrne (2018), there has been an open discussion about the concept

itself and how to articulate it with pedagogical dynamics. Like the above, there is a

conceptual approach that a really like and it is that Empowerment refers to the “process by

which individuals and groups gain power, access to resources and control over their own

lives. In doing so, they gain the ability to achieve their highest personal and collective

aspirations and goals” (Robbins, Chatterjee, & Canda, 1998, p. 91). From my perspective,

empower a person is to provide him/her with the necessary information to be able to

recognize what is happening around and how it can participate in social actions that are
affecting it in a direct or indirect way. I think that with this project, teach my child

participant how to show a face and has a voice through language is help the society earns a

critical and reflective human being.

Pedagogical Proposal

This joint intervention work to the community will take as references a group of

Colombian children mostly from the department of Boyacá. Similarly, a group of Canadian

children from the non-profit Story Planet will be present. Its main headquartered primarily

is located in Toronto, Canada. Children's ages range from 8 to 13 years of age. The

intervention to the community will be framed within a space such as virtuality. Taking into

account the sanitary conditions, the location of both participants and/or facilitators, this

work will be carried out through weekly sessions held on different electronic platforms that

allow the connection and rapprochement between children.

The full development of the various activities proposed for this intervention, aims at first to

carry out intercultural work between the two organizations present in this project (The

Universidad Pedagógica y Tecnológica de Colombia and Story Planet). In this way,

children in their writing and creative creation process will show some particularities of their

contexts, as well as recognize some of the problems and facilities of the opposite

background. Likewise, this activity aims to enrich the dynamics of teaching creative writing

for those belonging to Story Planet and mainly for the teachers in training of the UPTC.

The following table will present the thematic and conceptual proposal on the work

that will be carried out for several weeks with the two groups of participants that are held.
 Here you will find a schedule which frames factors belonging to the organization of the

intervention. Due to conditions over time, some weeks will have two sessions which seek to

advance the work of the children. Recognizing in the same way that creative writing should

be understood as a process by which it should not fall into the pragmatically mistake of

hastening. Also, the materials with which they will be worked are mostly sheets of paper,

colors, among others. Seeking to strengthen the creative writing process. The objectives are

then presented to account for the purpose and goals that are intended to be achieved with

the development of activities. With regard to the activities, during each week an

observation will be made for the activities as a summary to record generalities and

particularities that occurred during the section.

Week Time Activity Objective Materials

July Postcard and Character create
27  – 31  
st tat
sheet: Who am I? What would I
like to talk about?

1) To begin with, the facilitator

20 Minutes proposes a warming up related to To allow participants ask and Postcard
vocabulary in which he presents receive information about each template.
to the participant some of the other.
words that are used in the material
and that will appear throughout
the intervention. Even though all
the material is going to be
translated from English into
Spanish and the same way around.
I consider, it is important that the
participant gets familiar with
some vocabulary that is used in
the material provided by story
planet and also used as
generalities of this community
intervention. (See annex 1).

15 Minutes 2) A first activity is based on the To recognize some personal and Stick
exchange’s idea. Both participants general information from both Notes
 send each other some information participants.
about what they are. This is based
on the Postcard template that
Story Planet sent to us. To do that,
they fill out the template which
ask them to tell general
information like favorite animal
and at the end of the template they
are going to ask a question to their
pen pal. (See annex 2).
To provide and receive
3) Before starting Character’s participants’ information through
40 Minutes creation, a conversation about a Postcard.
tales takes place. The facilitator
talks about tales presenting
different information like what a To recognize the fundamental
tale is and the different types of parts of a tale/story.
tales that exit. In this activity, it is
also important the participant’s
remarks about the topic. (See
annex 3).
To engage students into creative
4) Here is where the magic writing through conversation
30 Minutes begins. Based on Story Planet’s spaces. Character
template participants begins to create
create their stories. To do that, Sheet.
they are going to use the To create a story using
Character’s template provided by imagination and without having Virtual
Story planet. The only adaptation limitations. platform.
made by the Colombian facilitator
is to translate it into Spanish in
order to be understandable for the
Colombian participant. (See
annex 4).
To stablish a joint work among
5) Once time finishes, the participants and facilitators. Stick
15 Minutes facilitator is going to talk with the Notes
student in order to have
information about the first
session. Questions like what do
you think about the activity and
do you like to create stories? Are
presented. With this the facilitator
can close the session. The
facilitator says the participant that
he/she can use the time to
 continue thinking about the
character and the story itself. The
facilitators says to him/her that at
any time he/she can add, erase or
modify the information about the
character and the story. To do
that, the facilitator talks about
how the participant can include
new information through a
talkative space.

August First story maker process… To allow participants to think and

8 – 16  
rd th
know that they can write about
15 Minutes 1) As first, the participant is asked everything that they want. Stick Notes
to present isolated ideas about
what he wants to learn. Possible To promote participants’
main character, possible imagination by saying “yes, and?”
scenography, among others. For following the Story Planet’s work
doing this, the facilitator is going philosophy.
to be based on few questions
wrote by him. This activity seeks
to get the participant motivated at
the time of writing. (See annex
5).
To introduce specific information Stick Notes
2) General ideas about the starting related to tales and its parts
15 Minutes point, the conflict, and the seeking that the participant will be Images
resolution of a story are mention able to identify them and taking
to the participants. These ideas into account at the time of writing
emerged from answering the the story.
previous question. This more than
activity is a facilitator’s control
that is going to be written in the
field diary. (See annex 6). Paper.
To start writing the character’s
3) Once the first and warming up creation. Markers
40 Minutes activity ends, they start writing
the first paragraph. During this To stablish a sequential work
writing activity, they are hand by understood as a process within Story Planet
hand with the facilitators. They creative writing. Material
began to write the first paragraphs
of the story based on the template
provided by Story planet. (See
annex 7).
10 Minutes 4) At the end, a space is open To motivate students to get Stick Notes
where the children talk about their involved into the writing context.
stories, about what they have and
what they will have by continue To get both participants present
writing. This more than an ideas and complement others’
activity seeks to continue having a ideas.
control about what the participant
does. This also contribute to let
participant has an unconscious
work about the possible outcomes
of the story he is writing.
Story Planet
5) When the session finishes, each templates
10 Minutes participant is going to write To let participants, feel supported
questions in order to receive by both facilitators. Virtual
feedback from the facilitators. The Platform.
participant ask the question he
wants to be answered, in case he
wants to know the facilitators’
opinion about what he is writing
about.

Second story maker process....

1) Facilitators ask participants to

talk about their day and thing they To involve participants in the
15 Minutes want to talk about.the participants other’s context. Recognize that Paper
is freely open to talk about what is there are generalities and
going on around him. Things particularities about the other
about his context will appear and context. Markers
it will be meaningful not only for
the participants but also for the
facilitator that would collect
information on his field diary.
(See annex 8).

2) Facilitators retakes the work To contextualized participants and Virtual

40 Minutes done the previous session. And remark that all activities are platform.
give them instructions to continue connected and are conducted to
working on the Character create follow a process. Stick colored
sheet. Once the warming up notes
finishes the facilitator is going to
indicate participant that is time to
continue creating the story based
 on Story Planet template that is
the same that the previous session.
(See annex 7)
To include participants into Story
3) Participants continue working creative spaces during the whole Planet’s
in writing their stories inside the process he is going to carry out. Template
Story Planet template.
To provide participants’ feedback
4) Children present the story they in order to improve their stories
25 Minutes have until that moment. It is and their experience.
supposed that the conflict is
formulate by this moment. The Story
facilitator asks the participant to Planet’s
read at loud the story that he has template
until that moment. The purpose
that the facilitator has here is to Stick notes
ask the participant if he is
conscious about where is the Field noted
conflict part inside the story. In
case the participant does not
recognize the conflict, the
facilitator is going to guide him to
underline it. (See annex 9).
Annex with
10 Minutes 5) Facilitator introduces a game in To present children the possibility the game
which the participant is asked to of seeing the project as a space to
say a word related to a specific have fun, to learn, and to enjoy Flashcards
context. The facilitator explains the creative writing.
the game saying that he is going Stick notes
to say a context and the
participant is going to reply
saying a word related to the
context proposed by the
facilitator. For instance, if the
facilitator says the word “Sports”
the participant would answer
saying words related to sports like
“soccer, basketball, ball, match,
Real Madrid”. This activity is
proposed like a way to relax the
climate and close the session. (See
annex 10).
August The day of our story’s exchange Flash cards

17 - 21  
th th
1) The facilitator is going to To promote interaction between Stick notes
present the participant an English both participants and facilitators.
5 Minutes word that this last has to try to
guess what is the meaning of that
word in Spanish. In this activity,
the participant also is going to To let participants, understand Paper
think in some words that would that creative writing is a process
ask to his pen pal about what so it requires time. Markers
he/she thinks it is about. The last
part of this activity is organized in
a template created by the
facilitator. It important to clarify
that some of the English words Relaxing
are taken from the workshops sent music
by the Canadian pen pal. (See
annex 11).
To provide participants the self-
5 Minutes 2) Facilitator ask participants evaluation idea as a self- Character
about how they have felt about recognition of mistakes. create sheet
creating the story. Has it been
difficult? Challenging? In this
sense, the facilitator open a short
space in which he dialogues with
the participant about the process
both have been carry out. (See Story Planet
annex 12). material
To promote respect between both
40 Minutes Children present their story while participants, understanding that
the participant is listening to. As each work is as important as the
it is supposed that both other.
participants have almost the
finished story they are going to
share with the other participant
what his/her story is about. (this is
going to be based on a document Relaxing
that Story Planet will upload by music
the time the session is going to
10 Minutes take place). To continue supporting Stick notes
participants’ process by helping
4) Here I as the Colombian them to improve and correct their Virtual
facilitator can provide some mistakes. platform
feedback to my Canadian pen pal.
Answering questions that I have
received from my pen pal and also
from my child based on a
document summited by Story
Planet organization. (See annex
13 provided by Story Planet). To present participants the fact
 that what they write is not only
5) Facilitators demand important and meaningful for
participants to imagine they are in them. It can also be important to
a book launch. They are other people around the world.
presenting their own book. How
would they feel? Have they ever
thought about their stories being
read around the world? This
activity is based on the idea of
making the participant to feel
comfortable and conscious about
what he writes. To do that, the
participant is going to close his
eyes while listening what the
facilitator is saying. This is also
based on a set of questions written
by the facilitator ( See annex 14).

It's time to change some nuts in

our history

1) Facilitators make a summary of To guide participants about the Paper

5 Minutes what has been done. For that, it is consequential work that has been
important to talk about the work done during the sessions.
done the previous sessions as well Makers
as the agreement established by
both pairs. This is make to retake
the line that has been followed.
Stick notes
5 Minutes 2) Participants try to say four To improve participants’
things about the other child. It is partnership as one of the main Creative
to re-enhance friendship objectives of the intervention. sheets
connection between both
participants. This activity is Optional
connected to the very first activity material by
that the participant developed. Story planet
The Postcard activity allows
participants to know a little bit Motivational
more about the other. Based on message
that, participants are going to
make assumptions (immerse in Chilling
social justice purpose) about their music
pen pal.
To let participants work together Feedback’s
 3) The participant is going to read in order to support each other template
the feedback provided by his/her under a team work. Paper
pen pal. Once he/ she reads the Marker
feedback he/she is going to Stick notes
change and take into account the
pen pal’s comments in order to let
the story be improved. ( See
annex 13 again). Once the
participant read the pen pal’s
comments he/she is going to do
the same and provide some
comment to let the pen pal´s story
get improved. To guide participants about the
30 Minutes illustration of their story.
4) Participants continue working
on the story trying to end the
resolution. The participant Illustration
continues writing on the Story template
Planet’s template about the story.
It is supposed that at this point Colors
they closed the story by finishing
the resolution part. Paper
30 Minutes To increase participant’s self-
4) Once the 30 minutes are over, confidence about the skills he has
the illustration’s work takes place as well as all the potential that it Stick notes
and participants begins to capture has to offer.
their ideas into some draws. For
this, it is only necessary to have a
piece of paper to create the story’s
draw. (See annex 15). In this
activity, the facilitator is going to
practice the colors in English with
the participant. The above, as a
way to keep the participant
bearing in mind that he/she is
working with an English speaker
and both despite that they are
writing in their modern language, Markers
they are also making an effort to
practice a little about Spanish and To let the participant’s voice be Paper
10 Minutes English. heard and talk about what he has
to say in regards to the
5) Facilitators thanks the child for community intervention.
their commitment and all the work
done. To do this, the facilitator
puts some relaxing music and
 express all the gratitude that the
participant deserves for his To stablish a space where both
commitment during the whole participant and facilitator would Virtual
10 Minutes process. express their feeling and say platform
“thanks” for the whole process
6) Participants take time to say that has been developed.
whatever they want to the other
child. This activity tries to
connect both participants in order
to close in a formal way the
process around creative writing.

Create a video card and put

August your words into colors

24th - 28th  1) This is a different activity focus Paper

30 minutes on a closer meeting with the To express gratitude for all the
participant I am working to. To process developed. Markers
achieve this, a virtual videocall is
going to be arrange in order to To motivate the child to continue Thanks
thanks the participant for all the working on creative writing. message
support and desire to work on this
intercultural process.

2) Both the child and I work on

30 minutes creating a thankful video to send Script
to the Canadian Pen Pal as well as To create a video card showing
the Canadian facilitator. Both thanks to the Canadian Video’s ideas
create a script in English and organization.
Spanish saying thanks to all the
Canadian’s Story Planet staff for
being part of this process and
encourage students to create and
write. (See annex 16).

3) The participant close and ends

20 minutes the illustration work. He is going
to present the final draw and Final Draw
would explain what the draw To portray in a draw the main idea
means to him. It is important to of the story that has been built
recognize that draw enclosed all during the whole process.
the work done by the student
during the whole process. The
participant would answer some
 questions made by the facilitator
(See annex 17).

4) The facilitator thanks the

20 minutes participant and present him a
collection of pictures capture Pictures’
during the whole process. The collection
pictures are taken in any time To express gratitude as well as
during the sessions so the remember the different activities
facilitator keeps them and create a that took place while the different
collection that would be presented exercises were done. Facilitators
at this time while he is saying annexes
thank you to the participant (See
annex 18).

5) Both participants are going to

20 minutes receive a symbolic diploma that Diploma
recognize them as creative
writers. To do that, the facilitators Graduating
have an agreement about creating music
the diploma and printing it to be To let participants be graduated
presented to the participants. In from a symbolic course of
both cases facilitators are going to creative writing.
be in contact with the children’s
tutors in order to arrange the
printing of the diploma. (See
annex 19).

Figure 1; Community intervention’s Schedule

Data Collection Instruments

In order to obtain the necessary information for its subsequent analysis, two different

data collection instruments were necessary. To begin with, the first instrument implemented

throughout this Building Bridges: Cuentos y Puentes project is field notes instrument.

According to Phillippi and Lauderdale (2018) field notes refers to a continues and closely

guidance at the time of receiving and discriminating information. Both argues that this data

collection instrument allows the researcher to remove the information in synchronic process
within the development of the research or in this case along the intervention. Per Neuman

(2011) there are an extensive variety of field notes that differs about the time it is taken, the

immediate purpose and the analysis functions that it refers to. Among the well-known field

notes that exists are: direct observation, inference, personal journal, among others. At first,

direct observation is about the notes taken just after finishing the encounter with the

participant. Secondly, the inference field notes’ category encapsulates those meanings that

the researcher finds in regards to social and cultural relationships as well as the emotional

background that the participant has. Finally, the personal journal collects all the information

connected with the emotional reactions and personal feelings about the participant.

In this project, the direct observation takes place as the resource to gather the

information regarding the different interventions with and about the participant. The

instrument’s choice answer to the importance of discriminating the information provided by

the children participant along each one of the interventions. Take notes just after finishing

the interventions ensured that the most relevant information was directly portrayed under a

sequential process. To obtain the information and have a control over it, I was based on

field notes template provided by Hoey (2014). This resource allows me to have a control

over the details emerged along the interventions with the different activities that I proposed

for each intervention (See the pedagogical proposal section) and the contributions from the

child participant.

Field notes were used twice a week during a four week – long period. As it was

previously mention, the field notes I worked with along this project were under the direct

observation label that means that once the intervention was finish Hoey’s template was fill

out with the information provided by the child participant. This data collection instrument
was helpful to have a organized display in regards to both the generalities and

particularities resulting from each of the eight interventions developed along this project.

Figure 2. Hoey (2014) field notes’ template academic resource.

The second data collection instrument I made use of was the student’s artifacts. Despite

this project was a short long period one, all the material collected served as a potential

opportunity to integrate the children participants with the social justice and transformative
purpose that his project has. Baur, Hering, Rashke, and Thierbach (2014) stated that all the

written pieces of information provided by the participants of a study or investigation

portray either in a general or in superficial form the way in which they perceived, see, and

understand the world. Therefore, having a control over the participants’ manifestations

allows the researcher to understand how they integrate the academic situations with their

own realities. The above, is strongly connected with the purpose of this project that seeks to

portray how through stories the children participants show signs of their own realities and

integrate them with the fictional part. In this project, the student’s artifacts were useful to

have a direct look at the cultural and intercultural processes the children participants live in.

In this Building Bridges: Cuentos y Puentes project, the participants’ artifacts were

collected throughout the four weeks this project lasted. These artifacts are mainly made of

the participant’s postcard document, the character creation sheet, their stories, the

illustration work, and all the different activities they developed along the eight sessions he

gone through. The participant’s artifacts data collection instrument allowed me to see how

the child process was in regards to the social justice and transformative component that this

project has. As a general perspective, those artifacts show the step by step process that my

child participant followed from the beginning of the project to the final version of the story

and the illustrative presentation that he had.

 References

About Us | Story Planet. Retrieved from https://storyplanet.ca/about-us/

Baur, Nina, Linda Hering, Anna Laura Raschke, and Cornelia Thierbach. 2014. Theory

and Methods in Spatial Analysis: Towards Integrating Qualitative, Quantitative

and Cartographic Approaches in the Social Sciences and Humanities. Historical

Social Research 39 (2): 7-50. doi: 10.12759/hsr.39.2014. 2.7-50.

Byrne, I. (2018). What is “empowerment” in education? [Blog].

Clow, B., Hanson, Y., & Bernier, J. Equity | SGBA e-Learning Resource. Retrieved

from http://sgba-resource.ca/en/concepts/equity/

Deggs, D., & Hernandez, F. (2018). Enhancing the Value of Qualitative Field Notes

Through Purposeful Reflection. The Qualitative Report, 23(10), 2552-2560. Retrieved from

https://nsuworks.nova.edu/tqr/vol23/iss10/18

Harper San Francisco. ISBN 978-0-06-155499-5.

Información Institucional. (2019). Retrieved from

http://www.uptc.edu.co/universidad/acerca_de/inf_institucional/
 Jeffery, D. (2005). The Pedagogy of Anti-Oppression. Learning and Teaching Centre

Grant and Internal Research Grant and SSHRC Research, 1-2.

Kelly, D. (2012). Translating an anti-oppression approach into practice. In Teaching for

Social Justice (pp. 135-154).

Kumashiro, K. (2000) “Toward a Theory of Anti-Oppressive Education”; Review of

Educational

Lawson, T. (2011). Empowerment in Education: liberation, governance or a distraction?

Lorde, A. (1984). The transformation of Language Into Language and Action. Zami

Sister

Metzger, D. (1992). Writing for your life: A guide and companion to the inner worlds.

Outsider Undersong, p. 40-44.

Pelley, L. (2018). 5 critical issues Toronto's new city council will face this term. CBC

News. Retrieved from https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/toronto/5-critical-issues-toronto-s-

new-city-council-will-face-this-term-1.4925405

Phillippi, J., & Lauderdale, J. (2018). A Guide to Field Notes for Qualitative Research:

Context and Conversation. Qualitative Health Research, 28(3), 381–388.

https://doi.org/10.1177/1049732317697102

Research. 70(1), 25-53.review. Power and Education, 3(2), 89-103.

Robbins, S. P., Chatterjee, P., & Canda, E. R. (1998). Contemporary human behavior

theory: A critical perspective for social work. Boston: Allyn and Bacon.
 Rothbaum, F. M., Weisz, J. R., & Snyder, S. S. (1982). Changing the world and

changing self: A two process model of perceived control. Journal of Personality and Social

Psychology, 42, 5-37.

Syllabus Taller I de Inglés. (2018). Word Online, Tunja.

Annexes

Annex # 1

¡Simón! Durante todo éste proceso de escritura creativa que llevaremos a cabo vamos a

contar con un material el cual nos será proporcionado por la organización canadiense sin

fines de lucro llamada “Story Planet”. Éste material originalmente está escrito en inglés y

es mi deber traducirlo al español para presentarte la información de una manera más clara.

Sin embargo, quiero que aprendamos juntos, un vocabulario en inglés el cual está

estrechamente relacionado con todo el trabajo que vamos a estar desarrollando. Para ello, te

voy a mostrar una palabra en inglés, la voy a pronunciar y me vas a decir que crees que

significa esta palabra en español.

¡Comencemos!

Postcard Postcard Postcard Postcard

 Postcard Postal Creature Criatura
¿Sabes qué es una
¿Sabes qué es?
postal?

Story Historia Pen Pal Amigos por

correspondencia
¿Sabes qué es una
historia? ¿Sabes qué es?

Character Personaje
Exchange Intercambio
¿Sabes qué es un
personaje? ¿Sabes qué es?

Annex #2
Provide by Story Planet non-profit organization

Annex # 3
Lo que un cuento realmente es….
Un cuento es la posibilidad de pensar en mundos maravillosos donde la magia puede usarse
para crear y hacer de lo imposible posible. Un cuento es una historia la cual tiene un
comienzo y un lugar en donde sucede. En ese lugar habitan los personajes los cuales se van
a encargar de vivir las aventuras que el escritor les tiene preparadas. Ese personaje o en
personajes sí es que este cuenta con compañeros, va a tener que pasar por una serie de
problemas los cuales se encuentran en el “conflicto” de la historia. Allí luchará por el amor
no correspondido de una princesa o luchará contra el villano para proteger la nación, pero
siempre buscará que ese conflicto desaparezca para que así pueda llegar la paz, esa paz la
llamaremos la “resolución”.
Un cuento puede hablar de cualquier cosa, puede contar cualquier historia y sus personajes
pueden ser lo que el escritor desee que sean. Existen muchos tipos de historias: por
ejemplo, si hablamos del caballero luchando por salvar a la princesa podríamos decir que se
trata de una historia romántica, si por otro lado si nuestro personaje es un súper héroe
luchando contra malvados podríamos concluir que nuestra historia es sobre ficción. El tipo
de historia depende de nuestros personajes, del lugar donde se ubica nuestra historia y del
mensaje que nos cuenta ésta.
Annex # 4
Annex 5
Hola Simón, ¿Cómo estás?, antes de que entremos directamente a escribir tu historia, me

gustaría que habláramos un poco sobre esas ideas que puedes tener. En nuestra sesión

anterior estuvimos hablando sobre qué es un cuento y los diferentes tipos de cuentos que

existen.

¿Recuerdas qué dijimos sobre los cuentos?

¿Qué tipos de cuentos existen?

Sí contamos la historia de un caballero que salva a la princesa ¿Qué tipo de historia sería?

Ahora vamos a mirar sobre qué ideas se te ocurren para la historia que vas a crear. Para ello

vamos a mirar qué ideas tienes sobre los siguientes temas:

¿Has estado pensado en el personaje? ¿Qué has pensado?

¿Qué nombre le darías a tu historia?

¿Has pensado en dónde va a suceder tu historia? ¿Dónde?

¿Qué ideas tienes sobre tu historia?

¿Hay un villano en ésta?

¿Has pensando en posibles personajes distinto al o la protagonista?

¿Has pensado en cómo se comporta tu personaje?

¿Qué otras ideas tienes sobre tu historia?

Annex 6

Cuando estamos contando una historia, por lo general siempre se presenta un inicio que

comienza por contarnos qué, quién y dónde va a tomar lugar nuestra historia. A partir de

éste punto se agregan una serie de detalles los cuales los van a permitir que se pueda dar un

cierre o un punto final en nuestra historia. Pero alguna vez te has preguntado ¿Qué es lo que

sucede en el medio de ésta historia? ¿Qué tan importante es? Es en esa serie de detalles los

que ponemos cuando contamos una historia lo que llamamos” el conflicto”. El conflicto es

ese punto de tensión o problema que sucede en nuestra historia. Éste es el problema o los

problemas por los cuales nuestro/s personaje va a tener que atravesar por diversas razones;

ya sea que éste debe aprender algo de ésta situación o que ésta situación le permita avanzar

en la historia para poder llegar al final de ésta.

Con lo anterior, me podrías responder ¿Qué dijimos que es “el conflicto” al interior de una

historia?

Una vez que ya tenemos identificado “el conflicto” podemos hablar de como un cuento

consta principalmente de tres partes: “El inicio” donde contamos sobre nuestro personaje y

el lugar en donde se encuentra, “el conflicto” el cual representa el problema que atraviesa

nuestro personaje y “la resolución”, ésta última trata de nuestro personaje o nuestros

personajes resolviendo ese conflicto y avanzando en la historia para poder llegar hacia el

final de ésta. Vamos a poner estas tres partes del cuento/historia en un corto ejemplo; el

inicio de mi historia puede ser describir sobre una competencia deportiva que tuve, el lugar,

los competidos. Luego, sucede un accidente en mitad de la carrera (el conflicto), me

lastimó y comienzo a sangras. Más adelante, mi padre entra a la pista y me venda la herida,

me paro, tomo la bici y continúo la carrera llegando así de primer lugar (resolución).
Annex 7
Annex 8

Antes de continuar con nuestro proceso de creación, me gustaría que habláramos un poco

sobre nosotros, sobre nuestro entorno, las cosas que pasan en nuestro alrededor y como

percibimos estas cosas. Para ello:

Cuéntame ¿Cómo estuvo tu día?

¿Cuál fue la cosa más interesante que te ha pasado hasta este momento en el día? ¿Por qué?

¿Cuál consideras qué es lo más aburrido que te ha pasado hoy? ¿Por qué?

¿Cómo describirías el clima el día de hoy?

¿Qué fue la primera cosa que hiciste cuando te levantaste?

¿Recuerdas cuál fue la primera palabra que dijiste en la mañana? ¿Cuál?

Muchas veces, cuando miramos a nuestro alrededor y pensamos en las cosas que suceden a

diario, jugamos con nuestra imaginación y creamos historias basadas en lo que vemos y en

lo que vivimos. Todos los días, al final de éste podemos sentarnos y pensar sobre los

cientos de cosas que sucedieron a nuestro alrededor. Muchas veces no nos damos cuenta de

qué pasa en nuestro entorno, pero sin saberlo hay un sinfín de historias que nos rodena a

diario. Desde la caída de una hoja de un árbol hasta el sonido del carrito de helados que

pasa a la misma hora. Por esto es tan importante prestar atención a los detalles, en ellos

podemos encontrar elementos importantes para la creación de nuestra historia. Mediante las

palabras y las historias podemos contar esa caída de la hoja de un árbol como si se tratase

de la mejor aventura que ha sucedido en el mundo.

Annex 9

¡Lee en voz alta la historia que tienes hasta el momento!

En secciones anteriores hemos hablado sobre las partes que tiene un cuento. Vamos a

refrescar un poco nuestra memoria.

Recuerdas ¿Cuántas son las partes principales de un cuento?

¿Cuáles son éstas partes principales?

¿Consideras que tu historia ya cuenta con éstas partes?

¿Crees que ya se ha mencionado el conflicto en tu historia?

¿Puedes señalarme cuál es el conflicto en tu historia?

En caso que la respuesta sea positiva:

Muy bien, veo que diferencias correctamente las tres partes principales del cuento: el inicio,

el conflicto y la resolución del conflicto. Es momento de que continuemos avanzando en la

creación de tu historia para que así podamos llegar a esa tercera parte donde buscaremos la

manera de cerrar la historia en la que hemos venido trabajando.

En caso que el participante no diferencie las tres partes de la historia y no pueda señalar el

conflicto en su historia:

Recordemos que el cuento cuenta con tres partes fundamentales: un inicio, un conflicto y

un final o bien llamado la resolución del conflicto. Es sumamente importante mencionar un

problema/conflicto en nuestras historias porque de allí partimos hacia el desarrollo de

nuestros personajes y podemos pensar en un final o cierra para la historia que hemos venido

construyendo.

Annex 10

Vamos a jugar un pequeño juego para que podamos despertar nuestros sentidos y podamos

pensar en diversos contextos los cuales tienen características especiales. El juego consiste

en que yo voy a decir una palabra y tú tienes que mencionarme una palabra que éste

relacionada con la que yo dije. Por ejemplo, si yo digo la palabra “música”, tú puedes decir

palabras como; guitarra, Shakira, Rock, Vallenato, acordeón. La palabra que digas debe

estar relacionada con la palabra que yo dije.

Para lo anterior, hay una bolsa con una serie de pequeños papeles los cuales contienen

diversas palabras correspondientes a contextos diferentes y en algunos casos opuestos entre

sí. El facilitador mete la mano al interior de la bolsa y saca aleatoriamente una de las

palabras al interior de ésta y la lee en voz alta.

Palabra Posibles respuestas del participante

Deportes fútbol, básquetbol, tenis, pelota, estadio

Naturaleza árbol, animales, león, mar, cascada, río

Cuento personaje, villano, ambiente, final, problema

Película comedia, terror, monstruo, acción, coches, pareja

Criatura duende, bruja, princesa, príncipe, serpiente,

tiburón
Héroe rubio, caballo, espada, princesa, amor, pueblo,

poder

Annex 11

¡Simón! En ésta actividad vamos a mencionar algunas palabras en inglés las cual vas a

pensar en cuál sería su significado en español. Primero vas a ver la palabra y luego

escucharás la pronunciación.

Juicy Caterpillar Scare

Ahora vamos a pensar en algunas palabras en español para enviárselas a nuestro
¿Qué es? ¿Qué es? ¿Qué es?
cuentamigo para ver si el puede entender el significado de alguna de ellas. Miremos estos

ejemplos de palabras interesantes para que nuestro cuentamigo pueda aprender:

Quarantine Yummy Cheetah

¿Qué es? ¿Qué es? ¿Qué es?

Chiste Hueso Guarida

What is it? What is it?
What is it?

Annex 12

¡Es momento de una pausa!

Simón, vamos a abrir un espacio donde hablaremos sobre cómo te has sentido durante todo

el proceso de escritura en el que hemos estado trabajando. Para ello, vamos a tomar una

pausa en nuestra escritura para que respiremos un poco y podamos entender como ambos

nos hemos sentido con todo éste trabajo. Así que cuenta Simón:

¿Cómo te has sentido hasta escribiendo la historia?

¿Consideras qué has tenido problemas a la hora de escribir? ¿Por qué?

¿Consideras qué es un reto este proceso con tu cuentamigo canadiense? ¿Por qué?

¿Qué es lo que más te ha gustado de éste proceso?

¿Qué es lo que menos te ha gustado de éste proceso?

¿Te gustaría tener la oportunidad de hablar en llamada con tu cuentamigo?

¿Has pensado en incluir el personaje de tu cuentamigo en tu historia?

¿Te gusta la forma en la que tu historia se está creando?

Annex 13
Annex 14

Lanzamiento del

libro…
Bienvenidos al lanzamiento del libro del grandioso

escritor colombiano Simón Isaza. Es un placer tenerte

aquí con nosotros, todos y creo hablar en nombre de

los acá presentes tenemos muchas preguntas para

hacerte:

¿Cómo se te ocurrió la idea de tu libro?

¿En qué te inspiraste para crear tu historia?

¿Has pensado en seguir escribiendo?

¿De dónde viene el título de tu historia?

¿Cuéntanos un poco más sobre tu personaje?

Annex 15

Ahora dibuja la parte que más te gusta de tu historia, incluye personajes, ambiente, objetos.

Pero primer, vamos a practicar un poco los colores en inglés así que ¡Manos a la obra!

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Brown

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Orange

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Purple

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Blue

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Yellow

Pinta la figura del siguiente color: Red

Pinta la figura de los siguientes colores: Red, yellow, blue, pink

¡Manos al pincel y comienza a dibujar!
Annex #16

¡Se aproxima nuestro final!

Simón, ya estamos a punto de dar cierre a este maravilloso proceso en el que

hemos estado trabajando las últimas semanas. Para ello, es importante que

pensemos en unas buenas líneas para que creemos el video de agradecimiento

no solo para nuestro cuentamigo sino también para el facilitador canadiense

que también ha estado dispuesto a ayudarnos cada que requerimos de su

ayuda.

¿Qué ideas tienes?

Hagamos una lista de las ideas que se te ocurren en estos momentos:

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________

___________________________________
___________________________________

__________________________________

¿Qué le quieres decir a Peace?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

________________________________________

What wiil you say to Peace?

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

_______________________________________________________________

___________________________________

Annex # 17

¡Simón! El momento ha llegado, quiero que me muestres cual es el dibujo que hiciste. Así

que ¡Sorpréndeme!

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

_________________________________________________________________________

Tu dibujo está asombroso, ahora quiero que me respondas unas preguntas:

¿De qué trata tu dibujo?

¿Cuál es la escena que decidiste dibujar?

¿Por qué elegiste esos colores?

¿Qué significa el dibujo para tí?

¿Te consideras capaz de hacer un marco para tu dibujo?

Annex # 18
Annex # 19