A journey through creativity, imagination, and time. An adventure towards romanticism. A shudder at the monumental power of magical, horror, and suspense realism. “An emotional outlet, the sometimes-lapidary existentialism of these times” were some lectures that made us feel and live for a few days, said the students of the Pedagogy in Spanish Language and Communications career of the Universidad de Los Lagos in the commemoration of the Book Day.
Thus, for three days, students of this career, specifically around Literature and Cultural Extension together with the Environmental Relations Commission replace desolated corridors by the pandemic with encounter, color, creativity, and literature stations.
According to this, the professor in training and collaborator in the Outreach and Cultural Extension Area of the Pedagogy in Spanish Language and Communications career, María José Navarro said “These activities like thematic corridors presentation, the fusion dance show, the poetry reading, the book sale and barter, and the virtual closing ceremony were organized simultaneously with the teachers. Representatives were designated by level and collaborating teachers” he said.
Regarding expectations of these activities, the leader said “It is expected to be able to diffuse the book’s importance in all its media, as well as foster diverse milestones. 27 years of creating content from this important day. We hope that the university community inspires itself through different literary genres and they do not close to the possibility of opening a book and getting inspired. We hope that these activities, which were planned, have been to everyone’s liking” she said.
When asked about the meaning and importance of organizing the Book Day of a totalizing technology period, the student explains “The event is important for the career and the university, due to the book is fundamental not only for learning but for the exploration of different contents, worlds, creations and its infinite number of purposes for which it is created. Currently and because of confinement, we had to read digital books more often, even though the increase of process in the book tax, it was much less accessible for us to buy a book. In addition, the diversity of e-books, reading platforms, and applications, allow us to make reading compatible with technology without any major problems” she said.
On this same analysis grade, regarding training professors and the innovation in their practices, María José Navarro says “In the formative practices to become a professor, we faced students who can lead with different platforms that allow the reading can innovate. I have seen in my teaching strategy that is more versatile to create entertainment based on the reading, either by creating a chapter diary, informative podcasts or even creating games in the classroom with the characters” she said.
At the same time, the fourth-year student of Spanish Language and Communications Pedagogy, María Antonella Martire Molina expressed that the significance of being part of the organization of the event, in this stage of academic formation “Is a challenge, because the work team, which is composed of professors and students who always seeks to make the activities innovative, entertaining, and informative at the same time, so this is something that is organized in advance. And well, being in the fourth year often means not having so much time, but these are initiatives so you always learn something new, where you take experience and that is very important for our training”, she said.
When asked if the book is enhanced or diminished by technology, if it is possible to awaken critical analysis, to achieve a deep understanding of the text if it is read digitally, Antonella Martire indicated “The truth is a complex question, since it will depend on each type of reader. Some are already used to reading digitally and prefer the text in this type of format, but others still prefer the physical book. However, it is complicated nowadays to achieve a good reading comprehension, not only when reading in digital format, but also with the physical book, and that is a major problem that afflicts the education system” she said.
And what does a book mean to her? Considering that she will be a language teacher, Antonella Martiré answered “I see the book as a powerful tool, which can provide you with infinite possibilities. Do you want to travel the world, do you want to learn about new cultures, do you not understand something about a subject, do you want to learn about something in particular? Well, for all these questions, you can do it through a book. However, it is an element that you must know how to put to good use and I say that thinking as a future professional” she said.
Javiera Aguilar, a fourth-year student of Pedagogy in Spanish Language and Communications, and participant in the event organization, commented her expectations for the commemoration of Book Day 2022 are “The community will be interested in what we are going to do, attracting their attention, finding it dynamic, and realizing that there was a lot of work involved in it. From the decoration, the artistic show, the costumes, among others” she explained.
Also, for the objectives to be achieved, the “Students become interested in different kinds of literature. They should not see reading as a distant thing, since it constantly happens, as we have seen in our professional practices. So, presenting them with this event in which there are many literary genres, allows them to approach from many aspects, more literature to be able to read. The important thing is to promote reading, for they continue to have spaces where they can develop their critical thinking, spelling, and writing because the most important thing is reading. That is why the idea of Book Day is to promote reading” she said.
“Therefore, the target audience for this event is the students at Los Lagos University, in a transversal way, since reading is something universal. Then we want to promote reading from different areas and genres” said Javiera Aguilar.
