Comic strips in languageclasses

• By: Lorena Palomares Chavez

QuestionsHave you ever tried comic strips in your classes?

What kind of language can you teach With comic strips?

Do you want to know… what is a comic strip?

A comic strip is a sequence of drawings arranged in interrelated panels to display brief humor or form a narrative, often serialized, with text in balloons and captions

Comic strips can be humorous

AdvantagesMotivationFunnyCheerful atmosphereFacilitate vocabularyVocabulary and language can be used in context.Grammatical points can be introduce and practiced.Improve communicative competenceComic strips are authenticBuild up confidence

Comic strips can be used to teach a wide variety of skills including: •To practice describing characters using adjectives (e.g., Garfield is a very troublesome cat);

Pedagogical Uses

-To learn synonyms and antonyms to expand vocabulary

-To introduce culture-specific onomatopoeia (e.g., Drip, drip for the sound of falling rain Bang representing the sound of something crashing, etc.).

-To practice writing direct speech

Reported speech (The man said, “………..");

•To improve students' listening by reading aloud the action in one of four panels in a comic strip and having students select the correct picture.

•To practice formation of different verb tenses (i.e., changing the present tense of the action in the strip to the past tense).

•To practice telling the story of a sequentially-ordered comic strip that has been scrambled up.

•To reinforce the use of time-sequence transition words to maintain the unity of a paragraph or story (e.g., First, the boy left for school. Next, he . . .).

•To practice basic rules of pronunciation.

Creating comic stripsSUMMARY: Students will practice writing skills in a fun a creative manner.The will create their own comic strips using templates given.

“Learners are asked to generatePeronal responses to somethingIn the text, responses which Necessitate the production ofOriginal discourse” (Hirvela 1996, 128)

to demonstrate high-frequency vocabulary in context

VOCABULARY

To illustrate idioms and expressions

Adapting Comics and for Classroom Teaching

Write the english word of this pictures

Write the english expression of these statements

ENTREGAR. TRANSFERIR

QUE PASA?QUE HAY DE MALO?

To teach verbs and other parts of speech as examples of connected speech

Write the past tense of these verbs

WRITE:COMPARE:DETACH:OPEN:LIVE:SEE:WANT:

to simulate dialogues to inject humor into class sessions

to provide a basis for oral discourse and writing activities

to illustrate culture and values

Thanks

http://comics.com/

References

http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=1981&addr=810401

• http://comics.com/lola/• http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/

http://comics.lib.msu.edu/rri/index.htm