Comics Alive

When you learn another language, you are asking your mind and your body to do a lot of things that are not easy at first: you are asking your mind to remember new words and expressions. You are asking your body to use muscles it has never used before in speech. You are also asking your ear to hear differences between sounds it has never had to distinguish before, like for example, the difference in the sounds ship and sheep, a tiny difference in sound, which produces a huge difference in meaning. All of this takes dedication, persistence and support.

Many people have had the experience of sitting in a classroom listening to a teacher explaining grammar, and then doing exercises in a book to show that they have grasped the essential points of the lesson. All of this is very valuable and creates understanding, but it does not help the student speak the new language. Speaking needs practice. Comics Alive gives you this practice and engages you in such a way that you integrate all the language skills you need with the minimum effort and the maximum effect. The advantages of learning a new language are countless, and if you ever find yourself working in another country, or expanding your business throughout the world like Aviva (www.aviva.co.uk) or other global successes, then you're likely to need a sure-fire way of allowing your mind to interpret different methods of verbal communication. 

How it works

You look at the book and the teacher talks to you about the story that is unfolding in the pictures. If your level is pre-intermediate, then the language the teacher uses will be pre-intermediate. If your level is upper intermediate, the same events will be described in more sophisticated language. The teacher will then ask you to describe the events. Remembering what you have heard, and using the pictures to assist your memory, you reconstruct the story.

Memory

Memory experts tell us that the best way to remember something is to create associations. So, for example, if I say to you: 'White, brown, red, yellow, green, and gold! Remember those colours in that order!' It will be very difficult for you to remember them. You may remember for a short time, and then you will forget.

But picture this story in your imagination: 'A very elegant lady, wearing a white dress opens a brown handbag. She takes out her makeup and puts on red lipstick. A yellow taxicab pulls up. She gets in and notices that the driver is wearing a green cap. He turns around and smiles at her broadly. He has a gold tooth.' Now you will certainly remember the colours, and the order in which they appeared, because now you have the powerful association of a story told in pictures.

Learning English with Comics Alive engages your imagination. You go into this virtual reality and it becomes easy to remember the things you have experienced.

At the very beginning of the story of Ethel and Ernest we see Ernest turning up, smartly dressed, carrying a huge bunch of flowers. The teacher explains that the phrasal verb turn up means to arrive. He invites Ethel to the cinema. At first she is so taken aback that she does not know how to react. Then she accepts. The teacher explains that the phrasal verb taken aback means surprised almost shocked. Ethel and Ernest get married and time passes. Ethel is desperate to have a baby but she cannot get pregnant. She is broken-hearted. We sympathise with her and we feel her distress. One day the doctor gives her great news. She is pregnant! We are happy for her! The day comes when the baby is born. The birth was so difficult that it nearly killed her. The doctor tells Ernest that it was touch and go. The teacher explains that touch and go means that the chances of success are only 50/50. In other words, Ethel is safe now, but she could just as easily have died. She can never have any more children.

Success

Because the story captures your heart and your mind, you remember it. And you remember the events and the words you learned that explained those events to you.

More than that, because you reconstruct the story that the teacher has just told you, and that you see in the pictures in front of you, you effortlessly integrate this new language into your description of events.

So now you have something to talk about and you have the language you need to talk about it. You also have someone to talk to whose goal it is to help you achieve a higher level of expression in English.

Since we have started using this method in the classroom in our school in Dublin, we have seen remarkable improvement in our students' fluency. And not only are these classes highly effective, but they are a real pleasure for both student and teacher.

As it is not possible for everyone to come and learn English with us in Dublin, we now offer you the option of following these lessons 1-2-1 via the Internet.

I first began teaching English over thirty years ago and I have experienced many different methods of teaching English. Depending on what the student is trying to achieve, some methods are good and some are not so good. For those of you who already know some English but need to improve your fluency, I can tell you that the method we use in Comics Alive is by far the best I have ever experienced. I warmly recommend it to you, knowing it will help you achieve your goal of fluency, and in Comics Alive, this is our goal too.

Sincerely,

Monique Walsh

Director of ELTA (the English Language Tutorial Academy, Dublin, Ireland)

and

Creator of Comics Alive