This site offers students a way to make their own comic strips. It has animal and human graphics which can be chosen and placed into comic strips. The user can also choose what emotion they want the cartoon to display. (happy, angry, sad, etc.) The user can then add dialog bubbles and write their cartoon story in either English or Spanish.
Type of Material:
Tool
Recommended Uses:
The perfect tool for learners of English or Spanish to create illustrated stories.
Technical Requirements:
Flash
Identify Major Learning Goals:
Language and literacy
Target Student Population:
Later elementary through high school aged students
Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:
Students need to have a basic understanding of the target languages vocabulary and writing system. Students must also be able to read and write in the target language.
Content Quality
Rating:
Strengths:
The purpose of this site is clear and to the point. It aims to allow students a way to create cartoons. The site offers an extremely easy to use graphic interface which allows the user to create his or her own comics from a list of 10 characters. It also offers numerous ideas found in a link called, More Story Ideas. The story ideas are good. There is little language support and the use and quality of the language which is used in the comics is entirely left to the author of the cartoon.
The best thing about this website is the ease of its use. It is very easy to create nice looking cartoons. In addition to this, the story ideas are of good quality and would help spark the imagination of many users.
Concerns:
There are limitations to the things that can be done to the cartoon bubbles. The user cannot add a setting or objects to the cartoons which limit the stories content. This site would also be difficult for younger learners or beginning ELLs to use because of the necessity of being able to write. It would be better if it offered different settings to put the characters in and provided language supports, like word boxes with phrases or names of objects, for beginning ELLs to refer to.
Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool
Rating:
Strengths:
There is a wide variety of things a teacher could do to prepare students to be able to write cartons. It has the potential to be used as a teaching tool for teachers who are looking for an additional way of getting their students to write. This site does not, within its self, teach language. A teacher could teach the language which is needed for a story and then allow students to make cartoons. It would allow for a very open lessons which could include anything a teacher wants. Older students, with a high beginning to advanced grasp of English, could independently use this site to create simple stories. It can be used to help students build and reinforce language skills with the guidance of a good teacher.
Concerns:
This site is very open. It does not provide feedback to students and therefore could reinforce incorrect use of English. Teachers who want to use this site should find a way to look at the final products before the students log off of the site. There is not a way to save one's work.
Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty
Rating:
Strengths:
The site is easy to use. There are not any audio or video files. There are only three links which are extremely easy to understand and use. There is not much of a chance for users to become lost on this site. The graphics are good and the text is easy to read.
Concerns:
None
Other Issues and Comments:
None
Creative Commons:
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