Online Comic Strips

Please note:

You should be able to complete the homework after this very short lesson in the 90 minutes of the class.

"Passive Use" of online comics:

There are plenty of online comic strips! You can give them to your students as fun reading, or as the starting point of a discussion, a grammar lesson, or a written exercise.  

Here's a list of collections of comics that are suitable (according to Google) for kids. Before you give any particular comic strip to your specific class, examine the comic strip for its content and use of language!

https://www.gocomics.com/comics/kids.htm

 https://www.kidsgen.com/comics/

http://www.kidsites.com/sites-fun/comics.htm

https://www.gocomics.com/

https://www.storyberries.com/category/comic-books-for-kids/

Here are some individual comic strips that are well-known and may be suitable for use in class.

1. Peanuts by Charles Schulz: peanuts.com

2. Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson: gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes

3. Foxtrot by Bill Amend: gocomics.com/foxtrot

4. Baby Blues by Rick Kirkman and Jerry Scott: gocomics.com/babyblues

5. Big Nate by Lincoln Peirce: gocomics.com/bignate

6. Phoebe and Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson: gocomics.com/phoebe-and-her-unicorn

"Active Use" of online comics:

• Please experiment with MakeBeliefsComix - Click here. (You will have to create a free account.)

• An OPTIONAL alternative to MakeBeliefsComix is StoryboardThat, which many teachers like to use. There is a free trial version, with limited options, which will produce images with watermarks that degrade the image. If you are going to look for other online comic strip generators, try to find ones that are user-friendly and free of charge.

NOTE: Comic strips are not just for kids! Just like Haiku poems, they can be used to express the essence of something. Creating comic strips can motivate ELLs, of all ages, to produce high quality English. 

Homework: 

Please note: Late homework will receive a 20% penalty. You have until midnight of 19 March 2024 to complete this assignment, but please DO NOT wait until the very last moment.

1. Open a WORD doc in order to SAVE and organize the material that will go into your initial post in the MOODLE discussion forum for Lesson 23.

2. Choose a specific pre-existing comic strip that would be good for teaching some content (concept, vocabulary, grammar, etc.) to your ELLs. COPY the unique URL of that specific comic strip (i.e., not the home page of the comic strip series) and PASTE the URL on to a WORD doc for safe-keeping. Later, you will have to to PASTE that URL into the MOODLE Lesson 23 discussion forum, along with a brief explanation of why you chose that specific comic strip. After posting your message (when the time comes), click on the link and make sure that it brings you to the specific comic strip that you wanted (i.e., not the homepage of the comic strip).

3. Go to MakeBeliefsComix  and open a free account. If you prefer some other online comic strip generator, you can use that too, according to the instructions below.

   1. Make a comic strip with at least three frames. When you are done, SAVE your work as a .png file - or some  other graphic file (i.e., download it into your computer). 

   2. Be ready to upload the .png file of comic strip to the MOODLE Lesson 23 discussion forum. 

4. OK, now post to the Lesson 23 MOODLE discussion forum:

   1. Present the URL of the specific pre-existing comic strip and a brief explanation of why you chose it.

   2. Report if you have ever used comic strips in teaching ELLs. Did the students like using comic strips? Did you think it was worth the effort? Briefly, write about your experience with MakeBeliefsComix (or your chosen alternative) and your opinions about using it in class.

   3. Include the image of the comic strip that you made.

5. Follow the links of at least TWO students to the pre-existing comic strips that they chose. Look at ALL the original comic strips that the other students posted in the discussion forum. Now, REPLY to at at least ONE student's work (the choice of pre-existing comics and/or the original comic strip)  in a meaningful way. (i.e., much more that "great" - Why is it great, in your opinion.)

SAVE the image of your comic strip in a logically-named folder.  Then INSERT it into the "Other Items" page of your website.