Post by pudgimelon on Nov 26, 2007 3:37:13 GMT
Well, I decided to start reading Gunnerkrigg to my second grade class in Thailand. The vocabulary is a bit steep, but I just substitute easier words and add some helpful narration of my own.
So today we put the comic up on the projector screen (which is connected to my class computer), and I read Chapter One to the kids.
They really enjoyed it, and after we finished they had lots of questions about it. Some of their questions were pretty insightful and made me think about things I'd never considered before.
For example, one boy asked "How did Shadow 2 get into the school?" Wow, you know, I never really thought about that. The bridge is lit so he couldn't have crossed it alone, so one of the girls in the class suggested, "Maybe someone brought him into the school." Good point. But who and why?
That's a plot thread that's still hanging out there unresolved, even after all these chapters, and a bunch of Thai second graders spotted it right off the bat. Good English comprehension skills, eh?
Anyway, I've got a couple of 5th and 6th graders that I tutor as well, and I've got them reading Gunnerkrigg too. The vocabulary is still a bit steep for them, but there's usually not more than three or four sentences per page, so it's not too much to ask them to read a page or two with a dictionary at hand. Plus a lot of meaning is conveyed in the art, so the kids can guess at words based on the context presented in that frame.
Comparisons between Harry Potter and Gunnerkrigg Court have been made, and initially the Court may have seemed a bit derivative to some people (not me), but after a dozen chapters it's quite clear that GC is a unique piece of work. Still, the Harry Potter comparison got me to thinking about whether or not GC could be used to help ESL learners become better readers, and it turns out that GC is ideal for that. The reading demands are light, the art is entertaining and helps comprehension, and the story grabs the kids quickly and pulls them in, encouraging them to keep reading (We get a lot of conversation practice out of it too).
Also, unlike many webcomics that I enjoy (like Erfworld or Sam and Fuzzy), the material in Gunnerkrigg Court is both age-appropriate and not too esoteric. I don't need to explain American geek culture (like role-playing nerd slang) and I don't need to dump the comic into photoshop to erase profanities. The protagonist is a child and so not only do the kids relate to her easily, but the challenges/situations she faces are not "adult-level". Compare the "romance" in Gunnerkrigg (holding hands and talking about rock albums) to the "romance" in Harry Potter (snogging in the hallways), and you'll see what I mean.
So, my plan is to read one chapter of Gunnerkrigg every week. I'll stick it in at the end of lessons if we have time. And then we'll spend a few minutes talking about what happened and what they think will happen next (right now, the kids are predicting that Robot will find a new arm and we all know how that turns out
). I'm not going to do any worksheets or homework for this, it's just some guided reading in class. When I finished chapter one, there were a lot of "Awwww's" from the kids because they wanted me to keep reading! So it's definitely a good sign!
So today we put the comic up on the projector screen (which is connected to my class computer), and I read Chapter One to the kids.
They really enjoyed it, and after we finished they had lots of questions about it. Some of their questions were pretty insightful and made me think about things I'd never considered before.
For example, one boy asked "How did Shadow 2 get into the school?" Wow, you know, I never really thought about that. The bridge is lit so he couldn't have crossed it alone, so one of the girls in the class suggested, "Maybe someone brought him into the school." Good point. But who and why?
That's a plot thread that's still hanging out there unresolved, even after all these chapters, and a bunch of Thai second graders spotted it right off the bat. Good English comprehension skills, eh?
Anyway, I've got a couple of 5th and 6th graders that I tutor as well, and I've got them reading Gunnerkrigg too. The vocabulary is still a bit steep for them, but there's usually not more than three or four sentences per page, so it's not too much to ask them to read a page or two with a dictionary at hand. Plus a lot of meaning is conveyed in the art, so the kids can guess at words based on the context presented in that frame.
Comparisons between Harry Potter and Gunnerkrigg Court have been made, and initially the Court may have seemed a bit derivative to some people (not me), but after a dozen chapters it's quite clear that GC is a unique piece of work. Still, the Harry Potter comparison got me to thinking about whether or not GC could be used to help ESL learners become better readers, and it turns out that GC is ideal for that. The reading demands are light, the art is entertaining and helps comprehension, and the story grabs the kids quickly and pulls them in, encouraging them to keep reading (We get a lot of conversation practice out of it too).
Also, unlike many webcomics that I enjoy (like Erfworld or Sam and Fuzzy), the material in Gunnerkrigg Court is both age-appropriate and not too esoteric. I don't need to explain American geek culture (like role-playing nerd slang) and I don't need to dump the comic into photoshop to erase profanities. The protagonist is a child and so not only do the kids relate to her easily, but the challenges/situations she faces are not "adult-level". Compare the "romance" in Gunnerkrigg (holding hands and talking about rock albums) to the "romance" in Harry Potter (snogging in the hallways), and you'll see what I mean.
So, my plan is to read one chapter of Gunnerkrigg every week. I'll stick it in at the end of lessons if we have time. And then we'll spend a few minutes talking about what happened and what they think will happen next (right now, the kids are predicting that Robot will find a new arm and we all know how that turns out
). I'm not going to do any worksheets or homework for this, it's just some guided reading in class. When I finished chapter one, there were a lot of "Awwww's" from the kids because they wanted me to keep reading! So it's definitely a good sign! 
.
