Luna's Dog- The Comic Strip

Here is an example of the use of the website Stripgenerator.com!  This site is so easy to use to create your own comic strip, which is exactly what I attempted to do.  It has generic shapes, people graphics, text bubbles, and objects to choose from as well as comic strip layouts.  I decided to create a comic strip to use with young English language learners of the beginner level.  I titled my comic strip Luna's Dog, which contains very simple one-sentence dialogue for learners to read and follow along.  The comic contains six boxes and centers around a girl named Luna and her dog who she lost.  The dog is "hiding" (or really just placed) in relation to different objects.  The dog says a sentence in each strip that contains a preposition as well as an adjective.  This comic strip can be used to have students practice reading English for information, such as where the dog is in relation to objects that provides students practice with learning and using prepositions.  A handout or worksheet can also be created in addition to using this comic strip in a classroom.

The Bubblr Tool

My first time using Bubblr left me with many ideas for using this digital storytelling website in my future language classroom.  I decided to create a short, seven slide story containing just a little bit about the cultural background and a couple traditions carried out within my family.  I decided to title the story All About Me, and would use it in a classroom as an example of what I would like students to create in order to share a little bit about their cultural backgrounds with their peers and myself. 

Creating a story such as this example story does not require a lot of complex language or narration.  It is an activity that can be adapted for each individual learner's level of English.  This can be done by asking higher level English speakers to use certain vocabulary and/or tenses within their story, for example.  An objective for this type of activity could be as follows:

Students will be able to: state where they are from using the present tense; identify and share three facts about their family; write one questions directed towards a peer.

Not Your Normal Storytelling

Storytelling is one of the oldest forms of entertainment, used to pass information from generation to generation or for simply passing the time before television, the internet, and other technological advances came about.  An interesting spin on storytelling can be described as "Digital Storytelling".  This type of storytelling "combines a narrative with digital content, including images, sound and video, to create a short movie, typically with a strong emotional component", as stated in the article titled 7 Things You Should Know About Digital Storytelling on the website Educause.edu. This type of storytelling encompasses any type of storytelling, such as persuasive, historical, instructional, and can even be created as an interactional story that requires readers to choose the next path the story takes or choice a character makes.  The options available for digital storytelling are limitless.

 Photo by Rael1

That being said, thinking about how digital storytelling can be applied within language instruction is almost overwhelming due to all of the possibilities it has to offer for students.  Digital storytellers can use free websites like Flickr, for example, to share their cultural identity with a classroom to promote a community of learners who are open to learning about other cultures, beliefs, or values.  Using pictures paired with his or her narrative, for example, promotes ownership of their creation.  This project would be very meaningful for them as students assemble a meaningful story for a specific purpose.  It would be very eye opening and a great learning experience for both the language teacher and peers to listen to a person's story and/or cultural background as it is brought to life by digital storytelling.