Going Graphic: Comics at Work in the Multilingual Classroom

Comics are a natural for second language development. Their unique mix of abundant, comprehension-building visuals and authentic text readily engages learners, contextualizes language, and offers a window into the culture. Yet despite their obvious advantages, comics remain unfairly branded as inappropriate classroom reading material, misunderstood and woefully underutilized. No more.

In Going Graphic teachers will find a comprehensive guide to embracing comics and effectively using them in any multilingual classroom. Building on the latest brain-based research, second language acquisition theory, and progressive literacy principles, Stephen Cary offers twenty-five proven activities for comics-based instruction in all classrooms, especially TESL/TEFL settings, and for all grade and English-proficiency levels.

These activities help nonnative and native learners alike meet a broad range of content and English-language development standards.

In fact, Cary has given you literally everything you need to start successfully integrating comics into your classroom tomorrow, including:

• an FAQ that dispels the myths about comics, tells you why they work, and answers your questions about using them
• field sketches from real classrooms that show you firsthand how to make comics an integral part of your multilingual teaching
• authentic examples of student work from a variety of grade levels and settings that reveal just how much students can do when given the opportunity to both learn from comics and create their own
• dozens of commercial samples to give you a sense of the remarkable breadth and depth of contemporary cartoons, comic strips, comic books, and graphic novels
• copious resource lists, including material reviews, publications, comics in other languages, and categorized websites for locating and reading thousands of comics online.