Pokemon and writing

I've watched my son go from watching Pokemon cartoons and movies, to playing the trading card game, to collecting the pokemon plushies and playing the many Gameboy games. Many friends told me it was only a phase and that he would quickly lose interest in it. Well it has now been three years and I don't see any sign of his interest waining. Although he has many different interests it wasn't until a teacher recognized the power of Pokemon and my sons devotion to it that I finally understood what a wonderful tool Pokemon and other popular gaming texts are for teachers. My son a very reluctant writer would constantly complain when asked to write about what he did on the weekend. "It's so boring. Why do I have to write about something that has already happened? Why can't I write about something exciting?" I realized I didn't have an answer - so when he and my other students started asking to use some of these non-realistic fictional characters I said yes. What I learnt was that an excited and motivated student will gladly sit down and write - even my son when given the chance to choose their own topic. For many of them Pokemon was the motivator.


You might wonder or question what Pokemon and other similar games have to teach a child about literacy. I know I did. The reality is that if you walk around your school games like Pokemon, Go-Go's, Beyblades etc. are being played by a number of our students. I think it does us and them a disservice if we ask our students to leave these games in the playground. I remember having a student ask if they could read their Pokemon cards during independent reading. Initially I resisted and told the student to put the cards away but the more I observed my own son playing with these cards, the more I have come to realise that these cards have great value in teaching literacy. You may ask how so hear are some observations I have made.



If we look specifically at the Pokemon trading card game, you see that in order to be successful, a child needs to know and understand the value of the cards as the goal of the game is to trade cards with other players. To do this they need to be able to read the cards, understand and analyse the information on the cards. This game involves social interaction and provides a venue for players to design and redesign their own cards. Looking at it from an educational point of view it supports learning in many different way:

• Players need to be actively involved in the game, making quick decisions about the value of the cards and their strategy.


• Children love designing and creating their own cards and characters. This redesigning/designing requires the children to understand how the cards were originally designed.


• Children have to understand the interrelation within and across many different sign systems (images, words, actions, symbols, artifacts etc.)


• Children can extend their participation by role playing different pokemon.


• As different versions and new cards/pokemon come out the children must adapt to the new and changed conditions in order to be successful.


• While designing Pokemon cards, the meaning of the signs/symbols are situated in the child's experience as a participant, which is based on who the other participants are and on their trading decks.


• Children understands texts as a genre (family of related texts) and understands any one such text in relation to the others in the family. A child who designs his/her own cards needs to know and understand where they can get information (i.e. magazines, trade books, handbooks, game guides).


• Meaning and understanding is built through a variety of modes i.e. text, images, symbols, sound etc.


• Repeated exposure and practice with a child's group of friends or affinity group helps build a child's knowledge and skill of the game.


• A child through playing the trading card game becomes more than just a participant, they become a teacher, expert, and producer.

Several things that I learned by observing my son and students in my classes - I now recognize how important it is for me to understand popular culture texts such as Pokemon if I am to really know and understand my students. These type of texts are the kinds of things that many kids read, have access to, and participate with and in. They are a form of literacy that does not deal only with the 'privileged' but with all shapes and sizes of children. They provide teachers and parents with a way of understanding what interests and motivates their children, and therefore provides a valuable source of information that can be used to motivate a child's writing.

Some ideas of how to use Pokemon (or similar popular culture texts) in your writing program:

1. Free journal writing and creative writing.


2. How-To-Play guides or procedural writing about the pokemon.


3. Designing new trading cards.


4. Writing a story based on a video game.


5. Creating their own game and characters.


6. Analyzing what the different Pokemon names mean - seeing what words they originated from.


7. Writing a script, designing the set and performing.


8. Writing a comparison between different trading card games - i.e. Pokemon, digimon, Yu-Gi-Oh!


9. Analyzing the slogans used on the different packaging used and the messages that go with it. For example you could listen to the Pokemon theme "Gotta catch 'em all" and talk about what it means. This can help students develop their critical thinking skills.

All the above invite the writer to be an active participant in their writing - they are the expert, they choose their topic, and most importantly they have control over their writing. We as teachers are their to provide support and guidance as we help our students develop their critical literacy skills and writing while using popular culture and Pokemon.

What is Pokemon?

If you are like me and either teach young children (in particular boys) or have a boy of your own, then you are probably very much aware of Pokemon and the phenomenon that surrounds it. But for those of you who have been able to avoid it, then here is some background for you. Pokemon came to North America from Japan and includes a variety of different formats - T.V., books, video and Gameboy games, films, plushies, trading cards and board games. Its name is the Japanese pronunciation of Pocket Monster. For many, Pokemon was their first interaction with Anime. If you take a moment to look at it, you realise that Pokemon provides parents and more importantly teachers with a wealth of raw material. Pokemon live in Pokemon balls and come out when called on by their human trainers. Currently there are over 400 Pokemons and the list continues to grow. Each one has its own distinctive traits and characteristics. Each name is descriptive in that it matches the characters unique images. For example: Bulbasaur is a turtle-like creature that looks like it has a fat tulip bulb growing from it's back. Hence its name - bulb and saur (as in dinosaur).


A number of other Japanese popular culture gaming texts have since followed: Digimon, Dragonball Z, Yu-Gi-Oh!, Beyblades and most recently Go-Go's. With each of these popular gaming texts is an associated discourse which the participants use when playing the games and communicating with each other.


To ignore the presence of such a powerful phenomenon means that teachers are missing an opportunity to tap into and learn about a game that covers a number of literacy domains and crosses a variety of platforms that can be used to deliver our language curriculum.

Background Information and Purpose

Have you noticed that over the past decade the media spotlight has been focused on the phenomenon of the poor, under-achieving male student? The notion that girls outperform boys in both reading and writing seems to have become embedded in the popular consciousness. So many (perhaps too) many people have chosen to focus on the results reported in many standardized tests that highlight this under performance. Countries including Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, and the United States have spent a substantial amount of money and time researching and searching for the answer to this phenomenon. (Blair & Sanford, 2003; Booth et al., 2005; Millard, 1997). But based on my own personal and professional experience as a mother and teacher, I find myself questioning whether this under performance in literacy is purely gender related or whether there are many other factors are at play and that need to be looked at when trying to engage boys and girls in writing. I know in my own classes I have had boys who love to write and whom are quite talented and girls that won't write for one reason or another.


The purpose of my blog is to provide an alternative lens for parents and teachers to look through. Parents and teachers need to recognize the importance of the lives our children live both inside and out of the classroom. Popular culture influences everyone in some manner. Recognizing and taping into this influence is one way of gaining our children's interest, engagement and excitement for in-school writing activities. A number of my posts and ideas will be targeted towards getting boys engaged in writing but realistically are applicable to all students. For a closer look at some of the research on boys and literacy and what some of the experts say, please visit the links on the side of my blog.