Crack in the classroom: a picturebook about the social problem of drug abuse and retrospective reflections from the classroom

For teenage learners, substance abuse is difficult to understand, and literature has a role to play in helping them come to terms with either their own problems or those of others close to them. Little has been written about picturebooks dealing with issues of substance abuse with English language learners. This chapter will share a retrospective description of how a teacher of English in Portugal substituted textbook-based activities, around a topic included in the national programme for health and sex education, with a unit of work developed around a picturebook about drug abuse, The House that Crack Built (Taylor/Thompson Dick, 1992). Data were collected from interviews with the teacher, observations of classroom activities, and the teenage learners’ work. I describe and discuss the teachers’ decisions and her approach to planning, implementing and assessing the activities, as well as the learners’ responses, and conclude by highlighting the richness of opportunities provided for developing language skills through the visual-verbal affordances within such a challenging picturebook as well as critical thinking and creativity.