Assignment
Topic:-
Cartoons and comics as instructional materials
in English Teaching
Name: Karthika M K
Reg No: 13379010
Introduction
Cartoon
is defined as a comic or satirical drawing commenting on current events. In modern
print media, a cartoon is a piece of art, usually humours in intent. The person
who draws cartons is called cartoonist.
A good cartoon
can convey information more clearly and sharply than words can do. It
successfully discloses the weaknesses, hidden agendas of politicians, rulers,
other persons at the helm. Cartoons exercise far reaching impact on the people.
It has crucial roles in forming public opinion.
Both drawing and interpreting
cartoons need good comprehension of the situation. Cartoon drawing improves one’s
knowledge comprehension, imagination, creative power, wit and sense of humour. As a form of art and a mode of communication,
cartoon is indeed powerful and sharply pointed. It injures cures and heals. It
is a pleasurable disturbance or disturbing pleasure.
The use of comics
in education is based on the concept of creating engagement and motivation for students.
The effectiveness of comics as medium for effective learning and development
has been the subject of debate since the origin modern comic book in the 1930s.Sones
in 1944 notes that comics “evoked more than a hundred critical articles in
educational and non professional periodicals”.
The use of
comics in education would later attract the attention of Fredric Werthan who
noted that the use of comics in education represented “an all-time low in
American Science”.
It has been
noted that the use of a narrative form such as a comic “can foster pupils interest”
and help students to remember what they have learnt and providing a means of
fostering discussion. However, it has also been noted that many educators
remain “ambivalent” about the use of comic books as an educational tool.
Content
Cartoons
and comics can be used from beginner level to advanced level of variety of
language and discussion activities. Cartoons are powerful teaching tools and
can:-
- Tell a complex story in a few images
- Provide comment and provoke thoughts on events and issues in the news
- Give can example of vocabulary related to current trends and facts.
- Provide easily identifiable characters to form the basis for sketches.
- Show culture in action with the ways that men or women are behaving and are expected to behave.
- Comment on and illustrate whole range of issues like racism, teenage, relationships, sexism, ageism, family relationship
Cartoons
For
most of us, children and adults alike cartoons are appealing. We feel we are entering
a dream, a fantasy world, and that we are escaping from everyday reality.
Cartoons are colourful and amusing. They are pure pleasure. Although older folks
may prefer Mickey Mouse or Cinderella over the more modern space war type
younger people seems to like, they are still entertainment that we enjoy.
Therefore, if teachers want to use a cartoon as part of one as a stimulus for
some language activity in the class room we already have the student’s willing attention.
Even with students with whose native language is English using animated
versions of well known stories can give the more unwilling students their first
exposure to literacy classics and perhaps even stimulate them to pick up the book
Telling Stories
Cartoons
usually tell a simple story that is easy to follow. Often the good character is
pitted against bad character of the forces of evil and the good always conquers
bad. Because of the length of the typical cartoon, about 5 minutes, the story cannot
get too complicated. Even the 20 – 25 minute cartoon story usually has a simple
plot that can be exploited for the classroom use, particularly if it is broken
down into scenes. The full length is too long to show at one sitting. Our job
is not to entertain students but to give them opportunities to use and improve
their English. If we have a cartoon film we especially like, we can use our
favorite scene or two to spark some language activities in class, and then let
the students watch the rest on their own time in the lab if they are interested
we could really get their interest if we ended on a diff- hanger, a point of suspense.
Language
Although
some animated programs, such as full length film and some TV Programs like the Simpson’s
are aimed also at an adult audience, most shorter cartoons the kind down on
Saturday mornings and weekday afternoon, are aimed at children. The child or
creature characters take in a language the children understand. They use
contractions, elisions, children’s vocabulary, and slang terms. These features,
in addition to the strange voices, add to the language learner’s burden but
they also provide an excellent opportunity for exposure to stang, ordinary street
terms and children’s languages.
Culture
Many
cartoons are particularly rich in cultural content. For example we may see
children considering whether to do something that their parents or teachers
would not approve of ; the children already know what is and is not permitted
in their culture. Or we may see children interacting in school and compare
whether they behave the same way as in our student’s native culture. Better
quality cartoons have a moral and can teach a lesson.
Choosing a cartoon to use in class
Theme: The most obvious reason for using a cartoon in class is
our desire to utilize its Content to teach about a topic. Good cartoon tell a
story and have a moral or lesson to teach. Longer cartoons often present typical
issues such as TV, Violence versus censorship or the legal reception of cable
TV, so, like other genres, the video can be part of a set of materials on a topic.
A pointless cartoon or the usual mouse – outsmarts- cat variety probably does
not have enough intelligence to come to school.
Language: Despite silent viewing for prediction or dialogue activities,
we usually use a video for its language to provide students with listening
input. Some cartoons contain mostly action and have very little dialogue voices
combined with sound effects that further obscure clarity.
Comics
The use of comic
for educational purpose in printed form, began in the USA in the middle of the 20th
century and this trend expanded world wide in the forth coming years. As experts
argue comics could be a powerful educational media school community is the
exploration of the educational use of digital comics in authentic school
environments.
The scope of
this deliverable is to make a literature review of studies that discuss the potential
added value of comics printed and digital form as an educational medium. This
deliverable is the outcome of an in- depth research study which aims at
investigating whether comic can be used in classrooms.
Use of comics in teaching punctuation, paragraphing and outlining
Comics
can be used to teach punctuation for dialogues and use term as an extremely
visual way of getting across the concept of using quotation marks around
narrative texts inside was spoken and needed to be placed in quotation marks.
Comic and
cartoons are an effective way to teach outlining skills, “Using a comic the
students were able to understand that each panel represented a paragraph. The
narrative text at the top became the topic sentence of sorts, communicating the
main idea of the paragraph. The details were found in the visuals and in the
dialogue”.
Teaching literary terms
When
we use comics for teaching literary terms it will be more effective many of today’s
comic rely heavily on allusion, satire, irony and parody to make a point. Making
this connection has strengthened their understanding of terms.
Conclusion
Comics and cartoons
act as motivational tools. They inspire and excite the learner. Comic and
cartoons have universal appeal and most children are familiar with many of
them. Using cartoon helps the teacher develop positive attitude towards
learning what fun is. They could develop basic skills promote creativity and imagination
clarify bias prejudice and exaggeration in the media promote integration of
subject areas and promote group work and discussion.
Reference
Dhand
Harry: Techniques of Teaching, New
Delhi , Ashish Publishing House, 2004
Pahuja
N D: Teaching of English, New Delhi ,
Anmol Publishers, 2001
www. Wikepedia.com
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