There were also advertisements across the top of both sides of the bus. Pamphlets were available to those who wanted more information on various city routes. Finally, the same sign was at the front and back of the bus that served to visually reinforce the written rules of what is prohibited on the bus (smoking, food and drink, and the radio.)
There wasn't very much oral language being used on the bus. The stops were announced but they were largely unintelligible. There were a couple of conversations that occurred, but one finished before the ride was over. The other seemed to between two people who knew each other and they inquired about each other's jobs. Riding the bus is similar to other mass transit I've been on, in that the majority of people keep to themselves. I think there is some unwritten code that people not be too loud on public transit. However, people not knowing each other probably contributes to the silence, excluding the substantial bus noise.
In debriefing with my group, we discussed how there really is quite a bit of information available to the literate and novice bus rider. However, it appears that most people are familiar with the routine on the bus and take little notice of the words all around them. I think a person unfamiliar with riding the bus or a child would be most likely to be curious and take notice of the signs and words on the bus.
Similar to The Donut House article, I think it would be interesting to recreate the bus in a classroom as a means to integrate real world literacy and integrate play. Students could make advertisements for business (real or pretend) of their choosing. They could create their own rules for our in-class bus. I continue to think that couching literacy in play and real life would be an effective means of keeping students engaged in learning.
M-
ReplyDeleteI love your idea of recreating a bus in your classroom! With it you could pretend to take your class to many "places" and offer even more engagement...I am imagining a class of young students thinking about what they need to go visit say the dentist, "getting onto" their room bus and then having a real dentist come and visit them!
As with the skating rink, that I visited with my group, I believe you are correct with how familiar patrons seem to take little notice of the signs and information all around them. Maybe that is a key to literacy instruction as well though, we first learn by observing before we learn what the words tell us. It would be interesting to discuss this point in our class, since I believe from my own experiences, when my children were much younger, confirm to me that is an effective way to begin to learn.
This is the first location that anyone has mentioned signage being posted in two languages. I think that this is very important and should be considered in many other places. I also agree with Hootie that many people are so familiar with a bus setting that they ignore the signage. It is not until someone who hasn't experienced riding a bus that they would heavily depend on the literacy around them. I also think the lack of spoken literacy is very interesting and the unwritten silence code you mentioned above. I would be curious to know how many of the people on the bus were looking at their cell phones or other electronic devices while riding the bus.
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