Create Your Own English Comic Strip

The phrases and expressions used in written English are often different from those that would be used in spoken English, so remembering spoken English phrases is very important.

Today we will look at a fun way you can use spoken phrases to create comic strips using the Make Belief Comix website. You can use these either to remind your self of any new phrases you are learning, or just to enjoy creating your own comic strip.

Task:

• Go to: http://www.makebeliefscomix.com and click on 'Enter Here' below the comic strip.
• You will then be able to see the comic creator. Think of some spoken phrases that you have learned recently. Think about how they would be used in conversation and how the people you are talking to might respond.
• Now create a comic strip using the phrases and making them part of the dialogue. It's simple to make a comic strip. You just click on the first character you want to use, then scroll through different emotions that you would like them to have.
  

• Once you have the one you want, just click on the person and they will appear in the comic strip. You can drag the person to the position you want them. Add other characters and text balloons for your dialogue.

• When you have finished you can print up or email the comic strip to yourself and keep it as a reminder.

• If you enjoy this activity, there are also some story ideas that you could try. Try the first one 'Tell your life story'. This is a nice way to tell people about yourself.

I hope you enjoy this activity. Here a some more activities that use cartoons.

Related links for teachers:

• Dfilm - Dvolver Adds Embed Code
  
• Text to Speech Movies for EFL ESL
• Great Collection of Short Films
  
• Great Source of Animated Movies
• Text to Speech for EFL ESL Materials
• Creating audio-visual monologues
• Make you own animated movies
• Developing screencast tutorials

Best

Nik Peachey

Create an English Cartoon

Cartoons can be great fun to read, but creating your own can be even more fun and can help you develop your ability to understand dialogue.

DFilm is a great site that can help you to create cartoon scenes and send them to people as links in emails.
Here's a quick example film of two old friends meeting in the street and arranging an appointment.

The movie creator helps you to choose characters, add background music and insert the dialogue.

• Here's a tutorial movie showing you how to create a movie.

Task:

• I want you to make a movie with at least two scenes.
• I also want you to include these two characters.

Before you start the movie think about what the two characters might say to each other

• Now go to: http://www.dfilm.com/live/moviemaker.html and start making your movie.

• When you have finished your movie, email it to yourself. The email will contain a link to your movie.

If you would like to share your movies with other students, then post a comment to the site and copy the link to your movie into the message. I'll post the ten best movies in a couple of weeks time.

Hope you enjoyed this activity. Find another EFL ESL activity here tomorrow.

Related links for teachers:

• Creating audio-visual monologues
• Make you own animated movies
• UNICEF: Top 10 Cartoons for Children’s Rights
• Creating audio-visual monologues
• Animating vocabulary
• Creating multimedia stories
• Picture phrases

Best

Nik Peachey