MakeBeliefsComix Online
Educational Comics



Launches Free Graphic PRINTABLES
to Help ESL, Literacy Students 



Write, Read, Draw and Tell
Stories



 



 Dear reader,



 



As an author of interactive books
to help young people find their writers’ voices, I often am asked by educators
and parents for help in reaching reluctant writers. 



 



With this goal in mind, I have
launched a new PRINTABLES feature on my online comic strip site, MakeBeliefsComix.com,
that allows educators and students to print out free interactive comic book
pages from my books to use for writing, reading, drawing and telling stories. 



 



This new MakeBeliefs PRINTABLES
feature is the latest addition to the two year-old comic-generator site where educators
and students from 180 countries come to build their own comic strips and practice
language, writing and reading skills. 
These new printable pages are taken from my popular Make Beliefs and
Pocket Doodles for Kids books drawn by cartoonist Tom Bloom, who illustrated
the best-selling Children’s Letters to God.  



 



Now, a teacher using the web site
will be able to distribute graphic handouts to students in English-as-a-Second
Language or literacy programs that ask for written or drawn responses to such imaginative
questions as: 



 



.Make believe you could dream any
dream that you wanted.  What would
you dream about?



.Make believe you were given a
characteris
tic of some animal you loved. 
Which one would you like?



.Imagine you could change the
ending of a book.  What book would
you choose?  What would your new
ending be? 



.Imagine you are your family’s
first ancestor to immigrate to the United States.  Why did you come here? What are your hopes, dreams, fears? 



.Make believe you could tell a
love story.  How would it go? 



 



For copies of these printables
and more go to http://www.makebeliefscomix.com/Comix/
and click on the PRINTABLES button at the bottom right.  The feature also offers comix templates
featuring characters from the web site along with blank talk and thought balloons
that students can fill with text to create their own comic strips. 



 



In addition, MakeBeliefsComix has
added a TEACHER RESOURCES feature which offers educators 21 practical ideas on
how to use comics in the classroom.  Earlier this year, the site launched a WRITER PROMPTS button
that regularly gives teachers ideas for class writing assignments.  



 



Google and UNESCO selected
MakeBeliefsComix.com as one of the world’s most innovative web sites fostering
literacy and reading  -- http://www.google.com/literacy/projects.html.



 



Users of MakeBeliefsComix.com
make comics strips by selecting from 15 fun characters with different
moods  -- happy, sad, angry, worried -- and write words for blank
talk and thought balloons to make characters talk and think.  This s
ite is
used by educators to teach language, reading and writing skills, and also for
students in ESL programs to facilitate self-expression and storytelling, as
well as computer literacy. Some educational therapists use the online comics
with deaf and autistic people to help them understand concepts and
communicate.  Parents and children can create stories together, print them
to create comic books or email them to friends.  



 



Please share MakeBeliefsComix.com
with your colleagues, students, friends or readers of your publications and
favorite listserv groups.  We need
your help -- it takes a community to build and nature a rich educational
resource. 



 



Sincerely,



 



Bill Zimmerman     



billz at makebeliefscomix.com





-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: http://www.nifl.gov/pipermail/englishlanguage/attachments/20090321/30edf9ba/attachment.html