Teaching Unit for the Graphic Novel Brain Camp

Research Paper (undergraduate) from the year 2016 in the subject Didactics - English - Pedagogy, Literature Studies, grade: 9, Justus-Liebig-University Giessen, language: English, abstract: Living in a time in which working with technology has become usual in all kinds of situations and especially in educational terms, people still tend to underestimate the benefits of using several kinds of media which are actually obvious. Parents and politicians tend to focus on the usage of technology and emphasize its pros and importance for teaching. On the one hand, they demand for the newest media and technologies, but on the other hands they seem to refuse innovations such as using youth literature, especially graphic novels. While reading the classics keeps being a big part of the curriculum, the educational standards themself have changed. Especially while teaching English in a foreign language classroom it is now demanded to concentrate on fostering competences than making the students memorize several information. But the curriculum and the methods of teaching remain instead of innovating them. One innovation which still is not considered may be teaching English by using Graphic Novels. Firstly, it is important to define the term ¿graphic novel¿ correctly and to know about its traces and development. According to Hallet, graphic novels are fictional and similar to long novels, but uses the narrative form of comics. Graphic novels mainly arisen from the comic books from the US. Secondly, it is necessary to be aware of their benefits and how to use them while teaching English.

Although graphic novels seem to remain as media which are not considered while teaching English in a foreign language classroom, an increasing number of educators try to integrate them in the curriculum and stand against the criticism. The following term paper will discuss the usage of graphic novels in the foreign language classroom, will relate to the educational policies and compare the advantages and disadvantages. Furthermore, a graphic novel will be analyzed and a teaching unit using it will be presented.