Nord University, Norway and the Erasmus+ ICEPELL project partners welcome you to our virtual symposium webpage.
The symposium took place on 7 – 8 June 2021 and the key themes were picturebooks, intercultural citizenship education and English language learning with children aged 5 to 12 years. We were joined by a lively audience tuning in from over 80 countries!
The exciting programme included read-alouds by two picturebook authors: Gro Dahle and Steve Antony, keynotes by Sandie Mourão, Gail Ellis, Carol Read, Nayr Ibrahim and David Valente, a panel discussion hosted by the Nord University research group, Children’s Literature in English Language Teaching (CLELT), an introduction to eTwinning by Silvana Rampone and Fabrizio Ferarri, and a superb plenary by the one and ony Michael Rosen!
Most importantly, the symposium showcased the teaching resources that the teachers participating in the ICEPELL project have created. These teaching packs, or ICEKits, are created by practitioners for practitioners, and we were thrilled to have the first teacher cohort sharing their experiences during the symposium.
Video recordings of this event are now available in the media section!
Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen is one of the United Kingdom’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults. He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children’s Literature. Michael has published in the region of 200 books for children and adults, including The Sad Book with Quentin Blake (Walker Books), We’re Going on a Bear Hunt with Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books) and A Great Big Cuddle with Chris Riddell (Walker Books). Michael has received several honorary awards, and for outstanding contribution to children’s literature he received the Eleanor Farjeon Award. He was Children’s Laureate, 2007-2009. His YouTube channel, Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen, has had over 55 million views.
For more information, visit Michael’s website.
Michael Rosen
Michael Rosen is one of the United Kingdom’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults. He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children’s Literature. Michael has published in the region of 200 books for children and adults, including The Sad Book with Quentin Blake (Walker Books), We’re Going on a Bear Hunt with Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books) and A Great Big Cuddle with Chris Riddell (Walker Books). Michael has received several honorary awards, and for outstanding contribution to children’s literature he received the Eleanor Farjeon Award. He was Children’s Laureate, 2007-2009. His YouTube channel, Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen, has had over 55 million views.
For more information, visit Michael’s website.
Steve Antony
Steve Antony is an award-winning writer and illustrator of 20 picturebooks, including Please Mr Panda, The Queen’s Hat, Unplugged and Green Lizards Vs Red Rectangles. Steve illustrated the new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up and The Famous Five. He's contributed work towards LGBTQ+ anthology Proud, Drawing Europe Together and Kind.
Steve Antony
Steve Antony is an award-winning writer and illustrator of 20 picturebooks, including Please Mr Panda, The Queen’s Hat, Unplugged and Green Lizards Vs Red Rectangles. Steve illustrated the new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up and The Famous Five. He's contributed work towards LGBTQ+ anthology Proud, Drawing Europe Together and Kind.
Janice Bland
Janice Bland is Professor of English Education, Nord University. Her core interests are creative writing, children’s literature from picturebooks to young adult fiction, visual literacy, critical literacy, interculturality and global issues as well as drama methodology. Janice is editor-in-chief of the open access journal Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELEjournal).
Janice Bland
Janice Bland is Professor of English Education, Nord University. Her core interests are creative writing, children’s literature from picturebooks to young adult fiction, visual literacy, critical literacy, interculturality and global issues as well as drama methodology. Janice is editor-in-chief of the open access journal Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELEjournal).
Gro Dahle
Gro Dahle (born 1962, Oslo) is a writer of poetry, novels, short stories, song lyrics and theater plays for both children and adults as well as picturebooks for all ages. She is also a teacher in creative writing and teaches courses and classes at the Academy of Art in Gothenburg. Her picturebooks are about difficult topics like domestic violence, unpredictable mothers, child neglect, incest, school refusal, the porn conversation, gender identity, depression and mental illness. She has received a number of prizes for her literature. Many of her picturebooks are translated and published in other countries.
Gro Dahle
Gro Dahle (born 1962, Oslo) is a writer of poetry, novels, short stories, song lyrics and theater plays for both children and adults as well as picturebooks for all ages. She is also a teacher in creative writing and teaches courses and classes at the Academy of Art in Gothenburg. Her picturebooks are about difficult topics like domestic violence, unpredictable mothers, child neglect, incest, school refusal, the porn conversation, gender identity, depression and mental illness. She has received a number of prizes for her literature. Many of her picturebooks are translated and published in other countries.
Gail Ellis
Gail Ellis is a teacher educator and adviser and has been working with picturebooks since 1989. Her main interests include children’s rights, picturebooks in primary ELT, young learner ELT management and inclusive practices. Her recent publications include Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children with Sandie Mourão (DELTA Publshing/Klett, 2020), Teaching children how to learn with Nayr Ibrahim (DELTA Publishing 2015) and Tell it Again! with Jean Brewster (British Council, 2014).
Gail Ellis
Gail Ellis is a teacher educator and adviser and has been working with picturebooks since 1989. Her main interests include children’s rights, picturebooks in primary ELT, young learner ELT management and inclusive practices. Her recent publications include Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children with Sandie Mourão (DELTA Publshing/Klett, 2020), Teaching children how to learn with Nayr Ibrahim (DELTA Publishing 2015) and Tell it Again! with Jean Brewster (British Council, 2014).
Fabrizio Ferrari
Fabrizio Ferrari has been an elementary school teacher since 1998. He also has extensive experience with international projects, with Erasmus+ and eTwinning in particular. He is a teacher trainer in ICT and ESL, works with the University of Turin, and is a qualified Montessori teacher. Fabrizio is passionate about technology, coding and the Maker movement.
Fabrizio Ferrari
Fabrizio Ferrari has been an elementary school teacher since 1998. He also has extensive experience with international projects, with Erasmus+ and eTwinning in particular. He is a teacher trainer in ICT and ESL, works with the University of Turin, and is a qualified Montessori teacher. Fabrizio is passionate about technology, coding and the Maker movement.
Nayr Ibrahim
Nayr Ibrahim is Associate Professor of English Subject Pedagogy at Nord University. Her publication Teaching Children How to Learn (DELTA Publishing, 2015), with Gail Ellis, won an award at the 2016 ESU English Language Awards. Her research interests include early language learning, learning to learn, bi/multilingualism, multiple literacies, language and identity, children’s literature, children’s language rights. For more information, visit Nayr's faculty profile.
Nayr Ibrahim
Nayr Ibrahim is Associate Professor of English Subject Pedagogy at Nord University. Her publication Teaching Children How to Learn (DELTA Publishing, 2015), with Gail Ellis, won an award at the 2016 ESU English Language Awards. Her research interests include early language learning, learning to learn, bi/multilingualism, multiple literacies, language and identity, children’s literature, children’s language rights.For more information, visit Nayr's faculty profile.
Sandie Mourão
Sandie Mourão is a researcher at Nova University Lisbon, with over 30 years in ELT as a teacher, teacher educator and educational consultant. She is presently investigating picturebooks for intercultural citizenship education and is lead coordinator of the Erasmus+ project, ICEPELL. For more information, visit Sandie's CETAPS profile.
Sandie Mourão
Sandie Mourão is a researcher at Nova University Lisbon, with over 30 years in ELT as a teacher, teacher educator and educational consultant. She is presently investigating picturebooks for intercultural citizenship education and is lead coordinator of the Erasmus+ project, ICEPELL. For more information, visit Sandie's CETAPS profile.
Silvana Rampone
Silvana Rampone is an eTwinning ambassador, teacher trainer and International Projects Manager at the Regional Education Office (USR) in Piedmont, Italy. She has been awarded two European Labels for Languages (2007-2010) and coordinated six European CLIL projects for young learners. She co-authored Cross-curricular resources for young learners (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Cross-curricular projects for scuola media inferiore (Cambridge-Loescher, 2010).
Silvana Rampone
Silvana Rampone is an eTwinning ambassador, teacher trainer and International Projects Manager at the Regional Education Office (USR) in Piedmont, Italy. She has been awarded two European Labels for Languages (2007-2010) and coordinated six European CLIL projects for young learners. She co-authored Cross-curricular resources for young learners (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Cross-curricular projects for scuola media inferiore (Cambridge-Loescher, 2010).
Carol Read
Carol Read has over 30 years’ experience in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer, academic manager, materials writer and educational consultant. Carol specializes in pre-primary and primary English language education. Carol is an award-winning author and former President of IATEFL. You can find out more about Carol by visiting her website.
Carol Read
Carol Read has over 30 years’ experience in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer, academic manager, materials writer and educational consultant. Carol specializes in pre-primary and primary English language education. Carol is an award-winning author and former President of IATEFL. You can find out more about Carol by visiting her website.
David Valente
David Valente is a Nord University, Norway research fellow in English language and literature subject pedagogy. His research interests include children’s literature in primary English teaching, primary and secondary teacher education and intercultural learning. David is also reviews editor for the Children’s Literature in English Language Education journal.
David Valente
David Valente is a Nord University, Norway research fellow in English language and literature subject pedagogy. His research interests include children’s literature in primary English teaching, primary and secondary teacher education and intercultural learning. David is also reviews editor for the Children’s Literature in English Language Education journal.
To catch up on what you missed or to revisit your favorite sessions, check out videos of the symposium plenary, keynotes, and author read-alouds below!
Steve Antony
Gro Dahle
ICEPELL Symposium 2021
Reading of Angryman (Sinna Mann)
There’s someone in the living room.
It's Dad.
It is Angryman.
Boj’s father can be very angry and violent. Boj calls this side of his father’s personality “Angryman.” When Angryman comes no one is safe. Until something powerful happens...
Gro Dahle’s astute text and Svein Nyhus’s bold, evocative art capture the full range of emotions that descend upon a small family as they grapple with “Angryman.”
With an important message to children who experience the same things as Boj: You are not alone. It’s not your fault. You must tell someone you trust. It doesn’t have to be this way!
Gro Dahle (born 1962, Oslo) is a writer of poetry, novels, short stories, song lyrics and theater plays for both children and adults as well as picturebooks for all ages. She is also a teacher in creative writing and teaches courses and classes at the Academy of Art in Gothenburg. Her picturebooks are about difficult topics like domestic violence, unpredictable mothers, child neglect, incest, school refusal, the porn conversation, gender identity, depression and mental illness. She has received a number of prizes for her literature. Many of her picturebooks are translated and published in other countries.
Gail Ellis and Sandie Mourão
Demystifying the read-aloud in early English language learning
In this keynote we will unpack the term ‘story’ and its many different collocations and discuss the implications for storytelling as an approach in early language learning. Our objective is to clarify what a picturebook read-aloud is, outline techniques for mediation and demonstrate the affordances of read aloud talk – all to help teachers achieve a more holistic learning experience for their learners.
Gail Ellis is a teacher educator and adviser and has been working with picturebooks since 1989. Her main interests include children’s rights, picturebooks in primary ELT, young learner ELT management and inclusive practices. Her recent publications include Teaching English to Pre-Primary Children with Sandie Mourão (DELTA Publshing/Klett, 2020), Teaching children how to learn with Nayr Ibrahim (DELTA Publishing 2015) and Tell it Again! with Jean Brewster (British Council, 2014).
Sandie Mourão is a researcher at Nova University Lisbon, with over 30 years in ELT as a teacher, teacher educator and educational consultant. She is presently investigating picturebooks for intercultural citizenship education and is lead coordinator of the Erasmus+ project, ICEPELL. For more information, visit her CETAPS profile.
Gail and Sandie are two of the four co-founders of Picturebooks in European Primary English Language Teaching (PEPELT), a finalist in the British Council’s 2020 ELTons awards.
ICEKit Showcase: Strictly No Elephants By Lisa Mantchev & Taeeun Yoo
Today is Pet Club day. There will be cats and dogs and fish, but strictly no elephants are allowed. The Pet Club doesn’t understand that pets come in all shapes and sizes, just like friends. Now it is time for a boy and his tiny pet elephant to show them what it means to be a true friend.
Strictly No Elephants has been sold around the world and is heralded as a pitch-perfect book about inclusion. Imaginative and lyrical, this sweet story captures the magic of friendship and the joy of having a pet.
Developing intercultural competence with children: issues, challenges and solutions
In this session, we will explore key issues and challenges in developing intercultural competence effectively in early years and primary English programmes. A model for teaching intercultural competence that provides a flexible, age-appropriate pedagogical framework and is suitable to use in different educational and cultural contexts will also be presented.
Carol Read has over 30 years’ experience in ELT as a teacher, teacher trainer, academic manager, materials writer and educational consultant. Carol specializes in pre-primary and primary English language education. Carol is an award-winning author and former President of IATEFL. You can find out more about Carol by visiting www.carolread.com
ICEKit Showcase: The Suitcase by Chris Naylor-Ballesteros
When a strange-looking animal arrives pulling a big suitcase, the other animals are curious. What on earth could be inside that suitcase? A teacup? Maybe. A table and chair? Perhaps. A whole home and hillside with trees? This stranger must be fibbing! But when the animals break into the suitcase and discover a very special photograph, they begin to understand what the strange creature has been through, and together they create a very special welcome present . . .
ICEKit Showcase: Here We Are: Notes for Living on Planet Earth by Oliver Jeffers
Our world can be a bewildering place, especially if you've only just got here. Your head will be filled with questions, so let's explore what makes our planet and how we live on it. From land and sky, to people and time, these notes can be your guide and start you on your journey.
Michael Rosen: On the Move
Michael will talk about two of his recent books with refugees and migration themes in his plenary. The first On the Move: Poems about Migration is illustrated by Quentin Blake and the second, co-authored with Annemarie Young, is Who are Refugees and Migrants? What Makes People Leave their Homes? And Other Big Questions.
The plenary will focus on Michael’s sense of his migrant 'background' as he grew up, rather than being a migrant himself. Then he will explore his research into this background which revealed that people in his family had been refugees. Widening this context, Michael will consider how the themes can be explored in school education, drawing on empathetic and creative approaches to refugees and persecution.
Michael Rosen is one of the United Kingdom’s best loved writers and performance poets for children and adults. He is currently Professor of Children’s Literature at Goldsmiths, University of London where he co-devised and teaches an MA in Children’s Literature. Michael has published in the region of 200 books for children and adults, including The Sad Book with Quentin Blake (Walker Books), We’re Going on a Bear Hunt with Helen Oxenbury (Walker Books) and A Great Big Cuddle with Chris Riddell (Walker Books). Michael has received several honorary awards, and for outstanding contribution to children’s literature he received the Eleanor Farjeon Award. He was Children’s Laureate, 2007-2009. His YouTube channel, Kids’ Poems and Stories with Michael Rosen, has had over 55 million views.
For more information, visit Michael’s website.
ICEPro: Intercultural citizenship education through picturebooks - a professional development course
The ‘ICEPro Course’ is a professional development course for practitioners teaching children from 5 to 12 years old. It provides practitioners with the skills and competencies to confidently plan for intercultural citizenship through picturebooks in their English lessons or library sessions. I will present the course and some of its featured picturebooks.
Sandie Mourão is a researcher at Nova University Lisbon, with over 30 years in ELT as a teacher, teacher educator and educational consultant. She is presently investigating picturebooks for intercultural citizenship education and is lead coordinator of the Erasmus+ project, ICEPELL. For more information, visit her CETAPS profile.
Creating materials for creative responses: doing intercultural learning in PELT
In this keynote, I will shine a light on principles for creating materials to develop intercultural learning in primary English language teaching (PELT). My objective is to explore the design of arts-based, embodied materials to equip teachers with ideas – especially for evoking children’s empathetic responses to picturebooks with intercultural themes.
David Valente is a Nord University, Norway research fellow in English language and literature subject pedagogy. His research interests include children’s literature in primary English teaching, primary and secondary teacher education and intercultural learning. David is also reviews editor for the Children’s Literature in English Language Education journal.
ICEKit Showcase: Cyril: The Lonely Cloud by Tim Hopgood
As Cyril the cloud drifts alone through the skies, all he wants is to see a happy face smiling up at him. Instead, he is confronted by frowns and angry glares, as everyone blames him for spoiling their day. He floats over picnics, campsites and open-top buses, knowing that everyone on the ground would rather he went away. Gloomily, he heads towards the ocean, getting bigger and sadder as he wafts above the water.
Eventually, Cyril reaches a new land, where lions, elephants and giraffes roam across the baking hot plain below and he wonders if anyone will be pleased to see him in this barren landscape.
This simple picture book is touching and thought-provoking, clearly demonstrating the importance of rainwater so that the planet to thrive. A lovely uplifting tale with vibrant illustrations bursting from every page, ideal for a project on weather or the environment.
The eTwinning Learning Journey
In this session, we will explore the potential of eTwinning for connecting classrooms across borders to enhance English learning in Europe. We will provide examples of collaboration and co-creation of projects that have used the eTwinning platform successfully and present the ICEPELL eTwinning cycle with concrete examples from the classroom. 
Silvana Rampone is an eTwinning ambassador, teacher trainer and International Projects Manager at the Regional Education Office (USR) in Piedmont, Italy. She has been awarded two European Labels for Languages (2007-2010) and coordinated six European CLIL projects for young learners. She co-authored Cross-curricular resources for young learners (Oxford University Press, 2007) and Cross-curricular projects for scuola media inferiore (Cambridge-Loescher, 2010).
Fabrizio Ferrari has been an elementary school teacher since 1998. He also has extensive experience with international projects, with Erasmus+ and eTwinning in particular. He is a teacher trainer in ICT and ESL, works with the University of Turin, and is a qualified Montessori teacher. Fabrizio is passionate about technology, coding and the Maker movement.
Reflect and review: the Head-Heart-Hands model for ICE
This session will focus on how introducing effective metacognitive processes in teacher education can lead to better integration of learning to learn in young language learner classrooms. It will draw on the Head-Heart-Hands model as a transformative and action-oriented approach to reflecting on the ICE element in English language education.
Nayr Ibrahim is Associate Professor of English Subject Pedagogy at Nord University. Her publication Teaching Children How to Learn (DELTA Publishing, 2015), with Gail Ellis, won an award at the 2016 ESU English Language Awards. Her research interests include early language learning, learning to learn, bi/multilingualism, multiple literacies, language and identity, children’s literature, children’s language rights. For more information, visit Nayr's faculty profile.
ICEKit Showcase: How to be a Lion by Ed Vere
In this timely and charming story about the importance of being true to yourself, mindfulness, and standing by your friends, we meet Leonard, a lion, and his best friend Marianne, a . . . duck. Leonard and Marianne have a happy life together—talking, playing, writing poems, and making wishes—until one day a pack of bullies questions whether it’s right for a lion and a duck to be pals. Leonard soon learns there are many ways to be a lion, and many ways to be a friend, and that sometimes finding just the right words can change the world . . .
ICEKit Showcase: The Day War Came by Nicola Davies & Rebecca Cobb
The day war came there were flowers on the windowsill and my father sang my baby brother back to sleep.
Imagine if, on an ordinary day, after a morning of studying tadpoles and drawing birds at school, war came to your town and turned it to rubble. Imagine if you lost everything and everyone, and you had to make a dangerous journey all alone. Imagine that there was no welcome at the end, and no room for you to even take a seat at school. And then a child, just like you, gave you something ordinary but so very, very precious. In lyrical, deeply affecting language, Nicola Davies’s text combines with Rebecca Cobb’s expressive illustrations to evoke the experience of a child who sees war take away all that she knows.
Opportunities for Norway: interculturality with children’s literature
Interculturality, relying on a fluid notion of culture and cultural diversity, focuses on dialogue and mutual respect (UNESCO 2017). In this panel, members of the Nord University Research Group for Children's Literature in English Language Teaching (CLELT) will discuss the enriching opportunities of children's literature for interculturality against the background of the Norwegian core curriculum and curriculum for English.
Panel Chair:
Janice Bland is Professor of English Education, Nord University. Her core interests are creative writing, children’s literature from picturebooks to young adult fiction, visual literacy, critical literacy, interculturality and global issues as well as drama methodology. Janice is editor-in-chief of the open access journal Children’s Literature in English Language Education (CLELEjournal).
Panel:
Anja Synnøve Bakken is Associate Professor, PhD, at the Faculty of Teacher Education and Arts, Nord University, Levanger, Norway. Her research interests are in curriculum history, critical discourse analysis (CDA), text-based learning, literacy and intercultural education, and language development in multilingual contexts.
Maja Henriette Jensvoll is an Assistant Professor of English at Nord University, Bodø, Norway, where she currently teaches language learning, linguistics, and pedagogy in teacher education. Her overarching research focus is on teachers’ professional development and their professional identity.
David Valente is a Nord University, Norway research fellow in English language and literature subject pedagogy. His research interests include children’s literature in primary English teaching, primary and secondary teacher education and intercultural learning. David is also reviews editor for the Children’s Literature in English Language Education journal.
Reading of Green Lizards vs. Red Rectangles
The green lizards and the red rectangles are at war. No one can remember why, but they fight and fight... Until one day, a little red rectangle decides to speak up. Can lizards and rectangles find a way to overcome their differences and live peacefully together?
Steve Antony is an award-winning writer and illustrator of 20 picturebooks, including Please Mr Panda, The Queen’s Hat, Unplugged and Green Lizards Vs Red Rectangles. Steve illustrated the new Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Tim Minchin’s When I Grow Up and The Famous Five. He's contributed work towards LGBTQ+ anthology Proud, Drawing Europe Together and Kind.
For inquiries about this event, contact
