Children’s Narratives: A Mirror of Their Social Sensitivity

• Main Author: Yudy Constanza Paola Quevedo
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: ASOCOPI 2008-12-01
• Series: HOW
• Subjects: Children’s life stories and narratives; writing as social practice; social sensitivity
• Online Access: http://howjournalcolombia.org/index.php/how/article/view/91

This article presents the theoretical background I have used to carry out a current research project conducted at a private school. The need to bridge the gap between the traditional teaching practices of writing with a socio-critical dimension of this skill, the intention of exploring a group of children’s social views, and the aim of contributing to children’s language learning, have been prior reasons for developing and constructing a writing center named The River of Life, which is dedicated to providing students with a sensitive environment where they write narratives based on their life experiences. It is after writing and exploring these narratives that students are encouraged to manifest their voices, bearing in mind the social component and implications of the facts that surround them, and, hopefully, give account of their decisions and life stories in order to foster their writing as social practice when assuming a critical view of the world around them.