Improve Students' writing by using Bubblr

Bubblr is a tool which users can create their own comic strips based on the pictures from flickr. The comic strips remind me of my entrance exam to university in Taiwan so long ago. In that exam, students were asked to make up their own dialogues in the bubbles. Then they had to compose writing based on the dialogues they created. I found this creative and fun activity could really give students a boost to their writing. Though it appears to be simple, this writing activity based on comic strips requires coherence and logic, in which students will be trained to be more aware of their flow and organization in writing. Other way of using Bubblr's comic strips in the classroom include asking students to do storytelling. For example, the teacher divides students into groups of four and those who are in the same group will be working on the same comic strips. Students can discuss their topics, pictures, and storyline for the presentation. By showing their comic strips to the class, students have to tell a story using their work. In this activity, not only will students' speaking skills be developed, but also their cooperative learning will be increased.