The document discusses using comics to support language learning through the MakeBeliefsComix website. It provides ideas for collaborative comic activities including having students cut up and rearrange comic panels, create their own comics around images or feelings words, and act out comic stories. The document advises teachers to challenge students to create a daily comic and shares that the website offers over 350 lesson plans and apps to integrate comics into any classroom.

1. Comic characters by MakeBelief comix
MakeBeliefsComix.com
Creative Comic
collaboration For
Fun Fluency
Development.
MOODLE MOOC 3
Research:
www.visuallanguagelab.com

2. Comic characters by MakeBelief comix
Interview questions
Comic ideas
1) Planning
Brainstorm, Interview, mind map
Creative Comic
2) Linguistics
Cohn, Sousanis, spin, weave, cut
collaboration For
3) psychology
Vygotsky, Cohn, Zimmerman, McCloud
Fun Fluency
4) Personal story
Personal story lesson plan & grassroots
Development.
5) Emotional Intelligence
Self-expression & feelings
6) Special needs
MOODLE MOOC
From comic to drama
7) Creativity and fluency
Blank bubbles, mood, story
8) Characters as surrogates
Safe, magical articulation.
9) Advice to teachers
10) Resources
3
Challenge to experiment
Research:
350 printables, blogs, comics, apps
www.visuallanguagelab.com

3. Comic characters by MakeBelief comix
Creative Comic
collaboration For
Fun Fluency
Development.
MOODLE MOOC 3
Research:
www.visuallanguagelab.com

4. m
. aterial that they are taught each day in school, as well as to reflect on their life
es.
Today, comics is one
of the few forms of
mass communication
in which individual
voices still have a
chance to be heard.
Scott McCloud
Comic characters by MakeBelief comix
“Just like words in
sentences are used in
spoken
Creative Comic
languages…..sequences
collaboration For
of images can create
aFun Fluency
visual language”
Neil Cohn
Development.
“To be better thinkers, to be more whole
in our thinking, we need to engage the
various viewpoints, the different ways of
seeing that we have at our disposal. In a
grand sense this means not building
barriers between the arts and sciences.”
Research:
Nick Sousanis
www.visuallanguagelab.com
“The process of using
MOODLE MOOC 3
drawn characters and
writing words for them
to say or think provides
a way for students to
integrate key material.”
Bill Zimmerman

5. When we combine visual
language with spoken and
written language, we
create more meaningful
channels of
communication. This aids
comprehension, memory,
language development
and increases motivation.
Comics & linguistics
www.visuallanguagelab.com
Comics classroom

6. What an exciting
day!! I‟ve got to make
a presentation about
„comics in education‟
at an important
webinar and
interview Bill
Zimmerman from
MakeBeliefsComix.co
m
www.visuallanguagelab.com

7. I‟ll write out
some
questions for
Bill and then
mind map my
ideas………

9. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Scrambled comic collaboration
Question
1
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
My own love of
Do you have a
3) Put students into groups to
comics and
personal story
recreate their stories.
understanding of
behind the
their value as a
You can use comic websites online ,
building of the
learning tool began
Cut up old comics, orBelief
Make draw your own.
when I was a child.
Comix website?

10. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Scrambled comic collaboration
Collaborative comic ideas
IDEA
1) Find or create a comic strip and 1
cut up the
Retelling personal stories. panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you from their lives. A comic strip
Students think of a good storywant to practice specific
vocabulary speech bubbles can
maker with objects, characters andor grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
provide the thinking tools necessary to help simple stories to
feel free to design is story as
evolve. A fun thing about MakeBeliefsComix thethat students
can represent themselvesyou either human or animal
as please.
3) Put students into groups to
creatures and this all helps to open up the imagination.
recreate their stories.
First demonstrate by telling students a funny story from
You can use comic websites online ,
your own life and then show them your comic strip. Ask a
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
couple of students to retell your story, using the comic strip
as a visual guide.
Adapted from storytelling ideas on waze.net
Grassroots comics

11. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Scrambled comic collaboration
Collaborative comic ideas
1) Find or create a comic strip and
Some story prompts: panels so that the
cut up the
story line is mixed-up.
- a funny thing that happened when you were young
2) If you want to practice specific
- a lucky escape
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
- an embarrassing moment
to make your own comic and
- your best day ever
feel free to design the story as
- a romantic evening
you please.
- an adventure while travelling
3) Put students into groups to
recreate their stories.
Students create their own stories at home or in class using
You can use comic websites online ,
online sites like MakeBeliefsComix.com or on print-outs from
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
the website.

12. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
ScrambledCollaborative comic ideas
comic collaboration
1) Find or create a comic strip and
Instruct the studentscut uptellpanels so stories to
to the their that the
story comic strip
their partners using the line is mixed-up. as a prompt.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
When they have finished telling their stories to their partner,
to make your own comic and
they swap the comic strip. Then students find a new partner and
feel free to design the story
retell the story based on the comic strip they have. as
you please.
As this goes on, students 3) Put students into groups to stories
get to retell many different
recreate classmates.
that were originally inspired by theirtheir stories.
You can use comic websites online ,
Finally place all of the comic print stories together, and let the
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
class identify who wrote the original story. Then display the comic
printouts around the classroom.

13. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Online version
Scrambled comic collaboration
Collaborative comic ideas
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the in pairs or groups?.
How can online students work panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
They can pair up with partners via break out rooms, skype,
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
hangouts, or asynchronously using voxopop, or mailvu, for example.
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
In this case they can tell the stories without revealing the comic strip.
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
They continue retelling stories with new partners. Finally, the whole class
recreate their stories.
meets in the virtual classroom and teacher showcases the comic strips.
Everyone has to guess who created comic websites online ,
You can use the original one.
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
Then the comic strips can be posted on a class blog and shared on pinterest,
class comic sites, electronic posters, such as eduglogster, or
wikis, or other visual media sties.

14. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Emotional
Scrambled
intelligence
comic collaboration
What role do you think that
emotional intelligence plays in
the language learning process?
Question
2
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to Much of my work is
to help students tap
recreate their stories.
into the memories
You can use comic websites online , and deep feelings
Cut up old comics, or draw your own. which nurture
them..

15. Images, words,
Creative writing ideas
Collaborative comic
feelings
Using words and pictures together in groups:
IDEA
2
Choose a theme the class has been studying and
which, preferably, “helps students to tap into
memories and feelings”. You can provide some
vocabulary and/or grammar structures if you want to
focus on form.
Next give random images to each group and they must
create their stories around the images in comic form
using both captions and speech bubbles to build up the
background narrative and introduce dialogue.

16. Self-expression
Creative writing ideas
Collaborative comic
Vocabulary and feelings:
IDEA
3
Make a list of „feeling‟ words that you‟d like to teach your
students. Your aim is to develop their self-expression and
self-awareness through creativity.
Here‟s a sample list.
Angry, sad, embarrassed, frustrated, bored, excited, jealo
us etc.
For more advanced students create a more sophisticated
word list. I wrote a story based on feelings from
„nonviolent communication‟ – a language of life – Marshall B.
Rosenburg.
Find ‘Natural English through story-telling on amazon.

17. New imaginary
Creative writing comic
Collaborative
experiences
ideas
Vocabulary and feelings:
Students create comic strip stories in groups based on their list
of „feeling‟ words. This is a wonderful collaborative activity
because in doing so, students are really sharing their perceptions
and memories of feelings and combining them to create new
imaginary experiences.
The MakeBeliefsComix.com site also lets students choose facial
expressions for their characters.
When all of the stories are created, each group can act out their
story for the class and then reveal their comic strips.

18. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Special needs
Scrambled comic collaboration
How does your website help
those with special
needs, autism or even dyslexia?
Question
3
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
It helps student to
recreate their stories.
create stories which
You can use comic websites online , them to express
help
Cut up old comics, or draw your own. inside of them.
what is

19. Comic to drama
Creative writing ideas
Collaborative comic
Best practice for special needs,
dyslexia and all teaching:
IDEA
4
Dyslexic students are primarily visual learners. That‟s the power of
comics in helping dyslexic students to read and write.
Make stories come to life. From comic to drama. This could be from a
real comic, one you created especially, or one they created themselves.
This idea incorporates drama with something I learnt from a recent
webinar with luke Prodromou. Create a magic box for the class where
students bring in their favourite soft toys or puppets and keep them in
the box. Students create skits or puppet shows to act out stories from
the comic.
Being dyslexic What is dyslexia? Also inspired by specialed.about.com

20. Creativity &
Scrambled comic collaboration
fluency
How can storytelling through
Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
comics develop creativity and
fluency?
Question
4
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
Students with limited reading or
3) Put students into groups to
writing skills are not as
recreate their stories.
overwhelmed in dealing with
You can use comic websitescomic panels as they might be
online ,
with
Cut up old comics, or draw your own. too much text.

21. Blank bubbles
Creative writing
Collaborative comic ideas
Can you
resist
blank
speech
bubbles??
IDEA
5

22. Audio/video/dictation
CreativeCollaborative
writing
Step one.
Listen to a dialogue from a movie clip
or audio file.
Write down what you can hear.
Check what you wrote with your partner.
Check with transcript.
Convert into a comic dialogue.
ideas
IDEA
6
Step two
Personalise.
Add a new element to the dialogue.
Different tense, mood, characters.
Create new comics and dialogues
based on these changes. Compare and
contrast with originals and discuss
differences/similarities.
Let‟s have a
selfexpression
brain-storm.

23. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
surrogates
Scrambled comic collaboration
What's the idea behind
Question
5
using comic characters as
surrogates for selfexpression?
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
I think using these
you please.
characters to express our
3) Put students into groups to
ideas and feelings provides
recreate their stories.
a safe way for students to
You can use comic websites online , what is deep inside
say
Cut up old comics, or draw your own. them.

24. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Characters
Scrambled Collaborative comic ideas
comic collaboration
1) Find or create a comic strip and
IDEA
cut up the panels so that the
6
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
If you could be one of these characters for the day which
recreate their stories.
would you choose, what would you do, how would you feel?
You can use comic websites online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
Which character suits your friend/partner /family
member/pet in your opinion? Create a character for your
friend. Choose a character and create your story.
Also inspired by story arts.

25. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Advise and
Scrambled comic collaboration
What advice would you give
challenge
to teachers who want to
Question
6
start teaching with
comics??
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
I‟d like to throw
3) Put students into groups toout a challenge to the
recreateteachers to experiment and set aside
their stories.
a 20-minute period at the end of each
You can use comic websiteswhen kids are encouraged
school day online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own. or comic strip
to create a daily comic
of something they learned or read or
experienced or imagined that day

26. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Limitless lesson
Scrambled comic collaboration
350 more lesson
ideas
plans
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
recreate their stories.
You can use comic websites online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
Special needs

27. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
Explore
Scrambled comic collaboration
IDEAS AND APPS.
1) Find or create a comic strip and
21 WAYS TO USE MAKEBELIEFSCOMIX.COM IN THE CLASSROOM
cut up the panels so that the
By Bill Zimmerman
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
Students talk to the New York Times about learning English
to make your own comic and
MakeBeliefComix
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
recreate their stories.
You can use comic websites online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
MAKE BELIEF COMIX IS NOW A FREE IPAD APP

28. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
MakeBeliefComix
Scrambled comic collaboration
Resources
Collection of
significant links.
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
to make your own comic and
feel free to design the story as
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
recreate their stories.
AUTISM
You can use
SPECIAL NEEDScomic websites online ,
SPECTRUM
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
SPARK YOUR
SPARK YOUR
LEARNING
WRITING
WRITING
DISABILITIES

29. Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
The End….and
Scrambled comic collaboration
Wrapping up.
the beginning
More useful a comic strip and
links
1) Find or create
20+ tips for
teaching
with
comics
Shelly Terrell
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
Social and
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
Scoopit
Creative
emotionalmake your own comic and
to
links
and happy
approaches free to design the story as
feel
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
Sylvia Guinan
recreate Sylviastories.
their Guinan@WiziQ Janet Bianchini
You can use comic websites online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.
Follow me at www.sylviasenglishonline.org

30. Professional
Scrambled comic collaboration
Development
Acknowledgements
Do you have a personal story behind the building of the Make Belief Comix website?
::.
MOODLE MOOC 3
1) Find or create a comic strip and
cut up the panels so that the
story line is mixed-up.
2) If you want to practice specific
Special thanks to Dr. Nellie
vocabulary or grammar it’s best
Deutsch for organising the
to make your own comic and
MOODLE MOOC and for this
feel free to design the story as
invitation to present.
you please.
3) Put students into groups to
Also thanks to Shelly Terrell
recreate their stories.
for EVO eperfect ebook
inspiration.
You can use comic websites online ,
Cut up old comics, or draw your own.