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n the first year teachers were using multimodal texts to teach how meaning is conveyed and then transferring the reading into writing rather than teaching multimodality.  Teachers in KS1 have always used picture books but now the focus was on use of colour, common themes, the effect of the picture as well as text and conscious reading gesture.  Teachers were allowing pictures to aid comprehension and consequent writing rather than overlooking them. 

iving them the confidence to explicitly teach it, along with how it is effective in conveying meaning and this helped the project to keep up momentum.  This worked well with the teachers who had been with us during the first year and some teachers who were new to the project but were able to catch up through sharing in their experience

Year 2 Children were talking about links between modes – ‘If we didn’t have the pictures we wouldn’t know how they’re feeling’ ‘The words and pictures try to trick each other’ ‘It’s like the pictures and text are having an argument’ Supported work at KS5 with ‘aspects of narrative’ where the word multimodal is used all the time

Some questions you might like to ask your class to provoke a response to the opening scenes- What did you see? What did you hear? Where and when is this film set? How do you know? What do you know about this period? Who are the main characters? How do you know? What is this film going to be about ? How do you know? What do the titles and theme music contribute to our understanding of the text?

Try showing a key scene, perhaps one suggested by students, and calling the shots or the editing or the lighting for them. Ask them to do the same for the next key scene. My students always end up laughing that for me every scene is a key scene! Show a scene with the sound turned off. Ask students to listen to the same scene with their eyes closed. Get students to identify films where the same techniques have been used, is this a function of genre, time, culture, style, homage or rip off? Ask them to identify how they used this prior experience to understand the narrative of the film being studied. Spend a whole lesson on visual imagery. Spend a whole lesson on symbolism- visual, character, story, sound. In films like Blade Runner it is possible to find all four in one short scene. Ask students to consider the differences between novel, story, plot and script.

I like to ask students to set some tasks to be undertaken during a second viewing. Perhaps they might like to divide these tasks amongst the class and pool the information gathered later. You can always seed the things you want them to identify as part of the discussion. Students should view the film a second time, viewing conditions are not so critical at this time. Discussion after the second viewing should be much deeper, it is great to see the lights go on during this discussion. Again, a viewing diary is a good idea.

As a viewer, we are positioned as quite dominant here. This high angle shot, looking down on the sea of people, most of who are looking up to us, portrays them as much less powerful than we, the viewers, are. While the ropes and masts take some of our attention, it is the sheer number of passengers staring upwards that is a salient feature of this photo. Historically we know that most have given all they have to travel to the land of opportunity, often leaving family and friends behind in their birth country. How might an individual feel in the midst of this? Can one historical photo give insight into the emotional experiences of these people? How does this photo suggest we "should" feel about immigrants in general? By explicitly combining knowledge of the photo’s composition and its implied power relations, teachers can help students understand how some images can create empathy, while some can suggest superiority or dominance. It is here that reading a graphic novel such as The Arrival can provide another "account" of the immigrant experience. Compare the historic photo here to the images on Shaun Tan’s website, taken from The Arrival. The images of the harbor entry are particularly poignant, when compared to similar historical photos of the Statue of Liberty who greeted ships coming to Ellis Island. Tan studied many photos and documents from that period and students can find many points of connection when viewing the graphic novel with other historical photos.

but for teachers to clearly understand how to guide students in reading visual elements. Making meaning, extracting relevant information, developing relevant, shared metalinguistic terms to describe what is seen, and understanding how images and multimodal texts position viewers are key skills. T