Christina Lee – Blog Entry #1
Graphic novels may somewhat appear to be a recent phenomenon, but images have been telling powerful stories for over 40 centuries. It is exciting to see the gradual emergence of graphic novels in more and more English classrooms. Engaging with graphic novels is definitely an effective way to help students build the visual literacy needed for them to be successful critical thinkers in the 21st century, a time where we are constantly bombarded by images with mixed messages. It is our duty as English teachers to encourage students to detach themselves from the perception that graphic novels simply provide “nice” visuals to the narrative, and start really looking at the images deeply and reading it as a part of the language of the medium. Ultimately, students can become more self-aware readers, especially in how they interact with the text by seeing their own and the author’s perspectives in conjunction with each other. Discussions will arise where students are able to make reasonable assumptions and challenge preconceptions in society. Graphic novels enable students to understand that expressing themselves and telling their stories are not limited to printed words on paper anymore, which will instill in them a newfound satisfaction and feeling of success in using images to convey ideas.
On a side note, another interesting type of graphic novel that may add a whole new dimension to visual literacy is the silent or wordless graphic novel, or simply, the picture book, as Shaun Tan likes to call them. Shaun Tan is an Australian author and illustrator known for addressing a multitude of social, political, and historical issues through his wordless books. I am an absolute fan of his work, and I highly recommend The Arrival, a story about immigration and the struggle to survive in the land of the unknown. Another thought-provoking story is The Lost Thing, which talks about a boy’s journey to finding the origin of this lost “thing” or “creature”. It has also been adapted into a short animated film (with minimal dialogue), and is equally brilliant. (Disclaimer: I shed many tears reading/viewing both of them.) I have shown both to students whom I tutor, and the way they were able to engage with it emotionally was phenomenal. The fact that the novels had no text and only had highly evocative images empowered my students and provided them with the agency to wrestle with the deeper implications, which often led to the creation of their own meanings. Students whose English was not their first language were able to enjoy it just as much as students who were native English speakers because they did not feel threatened by any vocabulary or grammar structures with which they were not familiar. We had a fantastic time going through various images and scenes, holding discussions pertaining to the various emotions they had experienced and how the images manipulated them to feel a certain way.
However, as valuable and useful graphic novels are in building English language skills in various innovative ways, that is not to say that graphic takes precedence over traditional texts, or that traditional texts should be replaced entirely. We should aim to integrate graphic novels in our English classrooms in such a way where the visual and the written can work in tandem, producing the best learning environment possible for students of all skill levels.
3 responses so far ↓
TMD // Jul 5th 2013 at 9:40 am
Hi Christina,
Thanks for your comment. Shaun Tan is one of my favourite artists as well. We’ll be looking at some of his texts in class today. I look forward to your input.
Best,
Teresa
scsmart // Jul 5th 2013 at 10:18 am
Hey Christina,
I especially like what you’ve said about how graphic novels are about more than adding pretty pictures to a story. There is, to be certain, a great deal of information to be found in an image (any image). Graphic novels, as I’m sure you’re aware, have their own rules and tropes that – once identified – can help readers make more meaning from the visual text. Shading, colour, the way movement is expressed or emotion is conveyed… there’s a code to graphica, just like with so many other methods of communication. On that note, using graphic novels could be a good opportunity to get students to do the teaching, as they might know the tropes better than their teachers 🙂
sarahw77 // Jul 18th 2013 at 3:24 pm
Hi Christina,
I am really interested in the idea of using a picture book that you presented in your post. I have read Shaun Tan’s The Arrival and found it very fascinating and educational. During my practicum, I have actually recommended this book to my SA and he came up with a great activity that can be done using this book in an ELL class. In most ELL classes, many students need practice with their writing skills. The activity my SA thought would be useful was to use The Arrival as a visual resource and students can write their own stories based on the images presented in the book. I think this activity is a great activity to use not only in ELL classes, but also in creative writing or English classes. From my experience, students write better when they have an open-ended guideline. Often when students are given specific structures to write, they lose their interest and the quality of their work declines. Therefore, creative writing will help students with their writing skills and their creative thinking skills. In addition, the visuals provide some context for the story so students are less likely to lose directions when they are writing their story.
Using graphic novels to teach content courses are becoming more common in many of today’s classrooms. Personally, I found graphic novels more interesting and easier to read than traditional novels. As educators, I hope we will incorporate more graphic novels or picture books in our classrooms to provide both knowledge and enjoyment to our students.
Thank you for such an interesting post ☺
<3
Sarah
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