Let's Create A Story

Cultures have always told tales as a way of passing down beliefs, traditions, and history to future generation. Hence, storytelling can be considered as the oldest form of education. Stories teach us about life, ourselves, and others. It is a unique way for students to develop understanding, respect, and appreciation for other cultures. From the previous post, I have introduced Dvolver as a tool for digital storytelling. This post will introduce other two tools that can be used for the same purpose. The tools are Bubblr and Bookr.

Link for Bubblr: http://www.pimpampum.net/bubblr/

Link for Bookr: http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/

General Description

Bubblr is a tool to create photo or comic strips using photos from Flickr. It is a simple tool for users to narrate a story using the bubbles like a comic strip. To be able to use it, users firstly have to decide what they would like to write and illustrate, for instance about a visit to Istanbul. Then, they have to search for the photo tag ‘Istanbul’, which brings up hundreds of pictures from Flickr. The users then see a few pictures that they like and then drag them from the mini-gallery at the top of Bubblr’s page onto a comic strip-type format in the centre of the page. Hence, their illustration will build the storyboard, one panel at a time. If the pictures that they want are not available in the mini-gallery, they have to change the tag search, for example from ‘Istanbul’ to ‘Hagia Sophia’ (a museum in Istanbul). Once the users have arranged the photos, they can then add text to each photo, using either a work speech bubble, a thought bubble, or a text bubble. To finish the strip, it needs to be published. The end product can now be embedded into blogs or sent by e-mail for others to share.

Similarly, Bookr is another simple publishing application that uses Flickr. It is a tool that allows users to make an oline illustrated book using Flickr images. In contrast to the Bubblr, Bookr users are creating what looks more like a book and its pages flip virtually. This tool would be great for a picture book format or picture book length publication. The users are allowed to add as many pages as they need them. The steps to use the Bookr are similar to the Bubblr. The only different is that the text in Bookr is not added using bubble but using the box provided at the bottom of each page.

Both Bubblr and Bookr are established by the same website called PimPamPum. The following screenshot shows an example of photos strip about a visit to Istanbul that I have created using the Bubblr.

 

Level and Age

Bubblr and Bookr are applicable for students at all levels of English proficiency because the tools allow students to adjust content to their ability. The tools can be used by both primary and secondary students at the age of 10-17. However, it is a teacher’s role to adapt the tools according to students’ proficiency in English. Bubblr and Bookr are also applicable for adult learners to use.

How To Use Bubblr And Bookr For Teaching English?

Both tools are mainly created for improving writing skills. Besides the usual activity where students create their own story based on preferred topic, there are another two ways of using the tools with the students:

1. Set a situation or topic for students to write about. Teachers can give students a topic or theme for them to write and illustrate about. For example:
   
   a.       Bubblr: Write a difficult conversation between a parent and a child
   b.      Bookr: Write about your daily activities
2.  Teachers can create a story, but leaving the beginning and ending parts of the story for students to complete with their own ideas and illustrations.

Furthermore, these tools can also be used to improve speaking skills. For instance:

1. Teacher asks students to create a story on their preferred topics. Once they have finished creating the story, the students have to make a classroom presentation about their story.
2. Teachers can also create the story and then teachers can either ask students with related questions to the story or ask them to argue/comments the storyline.

Evaluation

Advantages:

1.    Bubblr and Bookr use authentic visual material (pictures). Authentic materials play a big role in contextualizing language learning (Gebhard, 1996). When lessons are centred on comprehending pictures, students tend to focus more on content and meaning rather than the language itself (language acquisition).

2.   The use of pictures also serves as a scaffolding technique. Pictures are used to offer a visual framework for assimilating new information. This non-verbal communication helps students to link old information or familiar situations with new knowledge.

3.       Bubblr and Bookr appeal to the different learning styles of the students. The teaching materials should consider student’s different learning styles. When their learning styles are considered, students who have become bored with learning may become interested once again.

4.      Freedom of voice. Students can express their ideas freely based on the topics that they like.

5.     The tools also help students to develop planning skills, creativity, and innovation skills. Planning is an important stage in the writing process. Therefore, it is good for students to use these tools for practicing the planning skills.

6.    Besides, the web tools allow the products to be easily published to the public. This gives learners a sense of readership in writing and they can also get some comments from others to improve their writing.

Disadvantages:

1. Time consuming and distracting. This is due to the lots of pictures available in the mini-gallery to be chosen for.
2. The bubbles in Bubblr cannot be resized, thus distract the images. 
3. Students do not really use the language, especially those in beginner level or primary school. This is because they might only put a title for the picture or a very short sentence to illustrate the picture. Therefore, teachers need to set a fixed task (for example, as I provided above) for students to make full use of language

Reference:

Gebhard, J. G., (1996). Teaching English as a Foreign Language: A Teacher Self-development and
    Methodology Guide. Ann Arbor: The University of Michigan Press.