Abstract Book of the 9th International Conference on Advanced Research in Education
Year: 2025
[PDF]
Teaching a Foreign Language Through Comics & Comic Book Creation
Shu-Min Tung Kaldis
ABSTRACT:
Teaching a foreign language using non-traditional methods has been my passion for many years. Drawing on my education background and teaching experience, I have combined the language arts and studio art to create a college level course: Learn Chinese Through Comics. This presentation will outline my method of using comic books to teach a foreign language, which merges the language arts and studio art in the creation of handwritten and handmade comic book projects. My teaching method and course structure promote language learning in the four areas (listening, speaking, reading and writing), and encourage student creativity through story invention and narrative/dialogue writing in the target language. Alongside language learning, students acquire multiple studio art techniques to produce their own comic books. Students interact with and learn from each other as they develop their projects, and completed comic books are discussed in group Q & A and critique sessions. While Learn Chinese Through Comics is designed as a college level Chinese course, I believe this method can be adjusted to suit foreign language teaching at multiple levels.
Keywords: Bookmaking; Comic books; Foreign Languages; Non-traditional language teaching methods; Studio art