Exchange I

Today the learners are going to make a comic strip online. This is the first part of the exchange with learners in Holland. With the comic maker you can make digital comics. The tool is specifically developed for learners, to tell your stories in a creative way. Here you can download a manual on the comic maker itself.

Goals
Have a meaningful exchange between Dutch and South African learners about conflict.

Guidelines
For this exchange with Dutch learners via the comic strip do the following steps:


Divide the learners into 10 groups.
Tell each group to think of a name for their group.
Give each group a number (from 1 to 10) This number should be placed behind the group name, for instance girlzz01 (this will be to link each group to an exchange group).


Each group should make one comic about a conflict situation. Allow them 10 minutes before going to the strip maker to think of a conflict situation that is typical for young people in South Africa. It can be something that they experienced themselves or something they have heard about. They only have to think of a conflict, not about the resolution or consequences.


Each group sits behind one computer and goes to the comic maker by
clicking here: or typing in http://againstviolence.butterfly-works.org/
you can also find the link via ‘online’


Tell the learners how to use the comic maker


The learners go to ‘Make comic strip’
They click on ‘register’ to create their profile.

Nickname: your group and number
Login name: Group name
Password: They then choose their own password.
E-mail address: your (intern) e-mail address
Let them select their language and country
They type in the first letter of their school and click on ‘go’
Then they select their school and your class and click on ‘go’


Now they are in the comic maker and can make a comic.
It is important that they follow step 5 and 6 of their assignment exactly, in order to make the exchange work:
Tell Learners:
Create a comic about the conflict your group came up with in step 2.
The comic should consist of 5 frames.
The comic should only show a conflict/problem situation.
You don’t have to give the solution or resolve the conflict.
Make five frames for your story
Make one more frame and in it ask: Do you recognise this situation? and How would you resolve this conflict?


When the learners have finished their comics they click on ‘test’ , give the comics a title and then publish them.
When the comics are published, everyone can see them and react to them. The students in the Netherlands will look at the comics and give their reaction in the coming week.


Discuss the comics with the whole class.

Extra Guidelines:
The size of the groups will depend on how many computers you have available to work on in the next session. Each group needs a computer to make their comic strip on, or they could even take turns. It will take each group at least 15 mins to make their comic strip. So groups can be from as little as 2 up to 8 learners.

Each story should have a clear event and a clear conclusion. Encourage the learners to be very concise and clear as to what happens at each point of their story.