Cypriano, André, photographer. Dois Capoeiristas no ar. Salvador, Brazil, 1993. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021635542/.
This photograph of two capoeira players in mid-air is relevant for students learning about capoeira for the first time. Some children may have little prior knowledge about capoeira. Teachers can use this photograph and other similar photographs to help students build background knowledge about the practice of capoeira. This can be tied to the curriculum through Duncan Tonatiuh’s biography Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira. According to the publisher, Abrams Books, “award-winning creator Duncan Tonatiuh sheds light on the legacy of a legendary capoeira player, Mestre Bimba, who resisted racial oppression through art and turned a marginalized practice into a global phenomenon” (“Game of Freedom,” accessed December 29, 2024). In addition to connecting the photograph to Tonatiuh’s nonfiction book, teachers can share videos of capoeira with students or play audio recordings of the music that accompanies capoeira. Students may be interested to learn more about the berimbau, the instrument associated with capoeira. While students may or may not have personal experience with capoeira, many are familiar with other forms of martial arts. Viewing photographs, watching videos, and listening to audio recordings will help Duncan Tonatiuh’s book come to life for young readers. Learning about the Brazilian practice of capoeira from an award-winning Mexican author-illustrator is also an opportunity for students to be exposed to diverse stories from around the world.
Teachers can use this image to help students build background knowledge around capoeira and its history before reading Duncan Tonatiuh’s biography Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira. Students who are unfamiliar with capoeira will benefit from the opportunity to see visual examples and watch video footage of capoeira. Teachers can use this text and image to model reading comprehension strategies or provide opportunities for students to respond to the text by summarizing or answering questions using text evidence.
This photograph from Brazilian photographer André Cypriano shows two men performing capoeira on Amaralina Beach in Salvador, Brazil. The black-and-white photograph was taken in 1993. It captures both men in mid-air, between two palm trees. According to UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage, “Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice – simultaneously a fight and a dance – that can be interpreted as a tradition, a sport and even an art form” (“Capoeira Circle,” accessed December 29, 2024). Also according to UNESCO, capoeira players typically form a circle and “sing, chant, clap and play percussive instruments” including the berimbau as two players perform the physically demanding capoeira movements (“Capoeira Circle,” accessed December 29, 2024). The capoeira circle includes a master, who teaches, guides the group, and passes down knowledge. Finally, UNESCO explains that “the capoeira circle is a place where knowledge and skills are learned by observation and imitation. It also functions as an affirmation of mutual respect between communities, groups and individuals and promotes social integration and the memory of resistance to historical oppression” (“Capoeira Circle,” accessed December 29, 2024). In this photograph, the two capoeira players are not pictured within a circle.
- How can you summarize Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira using key ideas from the text?
- What is capoeira, and how does it relate to ideas of freedom? Does this photograph remind you of freedom?
- How do readers ask questions and make predictions before, during, and after reading?
- What does this photograph have in common with Game of Freedom, and how is it different from capoeira as described in the book?
Texas ELAR TEKS
ELAR.4.6(B-H): Comprehension skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student uses metacognitive skills to both develop and deepen comprehension of increasingly complex texts. The student is expected to: . . . (B) generate questions about text before, during, and after reading to deepen understanding and gain information; (C) make and correct or confirm predictions using text features, characteristics of genre, and structures; (D) create mental images to deepen understanding; (E) make connections to personal experiences, ideas in other texts, and society; (F) make inferences and use evidence to support understanding; (G) evaluate details read to determine key ideas; (H) synthesize information to create new understanding.
- Teachers can incorporate these comprehension skills by modeling how readers ask questions, make predictions, make connections, and monitor comprehension while reading. They can guide students in finding key details from the text to incorporate into a summary.
ELAR.4.7(A-D): Response skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking using multiple texts. The student responds to an increasingly challenging variety of sources that are read, heard, or viewed. The student is expected to (A) describe personal connections to a variety of sources, including self-selected texts; (B) write responses that demonstrate understanding of texts, including comparing and contrasting ideas across a variety of sources; (C) use text evidence to support an appropriate response; (D) retell, paraphrase, or summarize texts in ways that maintain meaning and logical order.
- Teachers can guide students in making connections between the text and this photograph and in retelling the events of the book using text evidence.
- Teachers can use Duncan Tonatiuh’s biography Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira as a read-aloud, modeling comprehension skills from TEKS 4.6. Teachers can pause while reading to model skills such as self-monitoring for comprehension, generating questions, making predictions, and making connections to the text. Students and teachers can also generate ideas together, with the teacher writing down questions or predictions generated by students. Teachers can guide students in analyzing the text structure, making inferences, determining main ideas, or synthesizing information from the text. The photograph of two capoeira players will be especially helpful to students as they create their own mental images while reading. Teachers can choose any of the comprehension skills from TEKS 4.6 as the focus of their lesson.
- In addition to comprehension skills, teachers can use this photograph and Game of Freedom: Mestre Bimba and the Art of Capoeira to teach composition skills in response to reading. After reading the biography, students can use a graphic organizer to help them record key details and events from the story. They can use this text evidence to practice summarizing and retelling. Students can also reflect on questions based on the text in order to practice using text evidence in response questions. One strategy teachers can employ to guide students is the RACES strategy. Students restate the question, answer the question, cite text evidence, explain, and summarize. More information can be found in the link below from Purdue University.
Reference
“The RACES Writing Strategy Is an Acronym That Stands for the Following Components:” RACES Writing Strategy - College of Science - Purdue University. Accessed December 29, 2024. https://www.purdue.edu/science/K12/races.html.
- Capoeira is a tradition originating in Brazil but closely linked to Africa, as explained in the article by Smithsonian Magazine. Teachers may face criticism for those who question the relevance of capoeira to students in the United States. As explained in the article, capoeira has become a worldwide practice. Martial arts in general are practiced throughout the world, so young readers who practice a different form of martial arts can compare capoeira to their own practice. Finally, teachers can reference the National Council of Teachers of English statement Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children’s and Young Adult Books, which emphasizes the importance of giving young people the opportunity to read diverse books such as Game of Freedom.
Links to resources for approaching those topics
- Resolution on the Need for Diverse Children’s and Young Adult Books. National Council of Teachers of English, October 27, 2017. https://ncte.org/statement/diverse-books/.
- This color photograph from the same photographer shows a capoeira master playing the berimbau in Rio de Janeiro.
Cypriano, André, photographer. Mestre Camisa, berimbau e Urca. Rio De Janeiro Brazil, 2008. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2020639476/. - This 2001 photograph from the same photographer shows two men performing Capoeira on the sidewalk in Rio de Janeiro.
Cypriano, André, photographer. Capoeira No Calçadão. Rio De Janeiro Brazil Copacabana, 2001. Photograph. https://www.loc.gov/item/2021635533/.
- Teachers can learn more about the photographer through the biography on his website.
- Cypriano, André. “Bio - Andre Cypriano.” bio - Andre Cypriano, 2018. https://andrecypriano.com/bio.
- Teachers can read more about capoeira at the website for UNESCO Intangible Cultural Heritage.
- “UNESCO - Capoeira Circle.” Intangible Cultural Heritage. Accessed December 29, 2024. https://ich.unesco.org/en/RL/capoeira-circle-00892.
- The publisher of Game of Freedom includes a description of the book on their website.
- Game of Freedom. Abrams Books. Accessed December 29, 2024. https://store.abramsbooks.com/products/game-of-freedom.
- Teachers can learn more about the history of capoeira from Smithsonian Magazine.
- Goncalves-Borrega, Juan. “How Brazilian Capoeira Evolved from a Martial Art to an International Dance Craze.” Smithsonian.com, September 21, 2017. https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/capoeira-occult-martial-art-international-dance-180964924/.