Comics revolution

These books are now considered useful teaching tools for the young
theSun, Tues, 27 Apr 2010


I learnt a new word from my seven-year-old today. It is ‘tephra’.

I was talking to another adult about the current volcanic ash situation in Iceland when my daughter told us the rocks that are blown out from the volcano during the eruption are called tephra.

Knowing that she must have read it somewhere, I asked her the name of the book. It turned out to be a comic book, a science-based one, which I had bought for her some time back.

When I was young, the comics that I read were Beano and Dandy which ‘taught’ schoolroom antics and mischievous pranks.

Later in my teenage years, I read the Archie comics which gave an insight into the typical’American teenager’s life played out by Archie, Veronica, Betty, Moose, Jughead and Reggie.

Local newspapers, meanwhile, offered the likes of Bringing Up Father and Dagwood – nothing close to real educational content, let alone science.

I’m sure there were educational comics back then but they were not readily available in my part of the world. I would think the limited copies of Tintin at my school library were as close as I could get to ‘educational’ comics.

Nevertheless, comics brought excitement and played a part in developing my reading interest. Hence, I believe they do and can play a part in encouraging children to read and learn.

While I’m no expert in this case, I would think a ‘good’ comic as one that teaches and entertains. After all, learning should be fun.

However, it should be well written with good grammar and syntax, albeit simpler compared to books. It has to be also free from profanity and sexually suggestive or obscene pictures.

The storyline needs to be age appropriate as well with interesting and factual and relevant content.

And how do comics really help?

Comiclife.com lists a summary of The Key Benefits for Students Using Comics by Marilee Sarlitto, found in a 2003 article titled Creating Comics: Visual and Verbal Thinking in the Ultimate Show and Tell (Janette Combs, 2003).

The benefits include:

» giving a great visual representation of knowledge;

» presenting what is essential;

» making it easier to remember a visual graphic containing key information;

» engaging through thinking, creating and writing;

» being a perfect avenue for writing dialogue;

» inciting students with low interest in writing;

» helping organisation through storytelling and storyboarding;

» using visual images to convey meaning to a story or topic;

» developing creative and higher level thought processes;

» developing composition techniques through visual-verbal connections;

» enriching reading, writing and thinking;

» serving as an assessment and evaluation tool; and

» sequencing which promotes understanding.

In short, comics can help students to write, read, remember, understand, organise, think and be creative.

Besides reading them, students can create their own comics. A number of websites have made it easier for you to create your own comics. Some require you to purchase their software while others are free.

According to Bill Zimmerman, creator of MakeBeliefsComix.com, many of the visitors to his site have been educators who use it to teach reading, writing and the learning of English and other languages.

It certainly looks like comics are gaining acceptance as another useful teaching tool. The next time you and your child hit the newsstand or bookstore, see if you can find some interesting and educational comics for a change.