Learning to fly and learning to read

Sitting on a deck at her vacation home in the small seaside town of Sayulita, Mexico, Dianne Dodsworth would spend hours with her grandchildren watching the pelicans as they dove for fish, groomed and sunned themselves and slept on the rocks nearby. 

 It got her thinking.

The sessional instructor in the Werklund School of Education thought about how challenging it must be for those birds to take their first flights--to leave their nests and to employ bravery, skill, and a bit of gutsiness to leave the nest and take to the sky and sea.

She considered that children face similar situations as they grow and become independent thinkers.

With that in mind, Dodsworth gave life to Pedro’s Dream, a story about a baby pelican who dreams that he has joined the big pelicans for his first attempt at diving for food, not an easy task and one that requires bravery and skill.

“In his dream, Pedro is successful and the excitement of the moment wakens him to his parents’ call for him to learn how to fly and catch food, explains Dodsworth.  “His dream has given him the confidence and self-assurance to follow his parents’ wishes.”

Pedro’s Dream is geared to early readers, aged four to seven, and Dodsworth says she hopes it will inspire children to be confident and competent readers. 

But there’s more to it than that. “I want the readers to understand that there is much to be learned by watching what surrounds them in the natural world. I think that inspires children to be strong believers in themselves and their ability to achieve.”

Creating a work for two cultures

One of the goals in writing Pedro’s Dream was to create a book for the children of Sayulita.   In order to share the story with local children, Dodsworth realized she’d need to translate the book into Spanish.  She turned to Werklund alum (B Ed ’14) Lidia Alton, who is currently teaching at  St. Margaret School,  part of the Calgary Catholic School District’s International Spanish Academy program.

“It’s important to share the story in the language of its birthplace and to recognize the common themes of stories that bond all people of all cultures together,” says Alton.  “Translating the story bridges the cultural divide and makes it accessible to a wider audience.”

And as she set to work on the translation, El Sueño de Pedro, Alton says the task had a dramatic effect on her language skills, as she was engaged in a creative process with the text. “This has been a form of professional development for me and has shown me the importance of always reaching for new experiences that will ultimately enhance my teaching and the experience of my students."

“Translation is much like writing - it isn’t possible to translate word for word and the translator needs to almost recreate the words--to find the best possible way to say something.”

“This gives me a sense of pride, responsibility and ownership in the project.”

Connecting with community through words and pictures

Dodsworth, whose interest is in early literacy education, says the concept that stories are most powerful when writers put themselves inside the experience and bring life to that experience for the reader is one that she will share with teachers and with the school and university communities, using Pedro’s Dream as an example of “you write best when you write what you know”.

Recently a special reading was held at St. Margaret School, with Dodsworth and Alton presenting the book in both languages.  The book will be taken by Dodsworth to Mexico in the near future.

“In Sayulita, this book will be a first for children about their community and I have been invited to share with the school and the community,” she says.  “This will be a very exciting experience for us all.”

Dianne Dodsworth believes this collaboration serves as an example of how the Werklund School of Education regularly connects to the various communities served by education.  “It also showcases how Werklund instructors and students collaborate and create impact.”

Lidia Alton agrees.  “Being engaged in this project with Dr. Dodsworth gives me a sense of continuity with my university community,” she says. “It reminds me that it takes a community to educate a child and that I can draw on many resources from the greater community to help my students grow and learn.”

“Pedro’s Dream shows me that we are never alone in our quest toward education.”