Coimcs as a Tool for Learning Spanish

As a social studies teacher, my students appreciated the innovative ways that I used comics in the classroom. I have found that comics are even more powerful and appropriate at a tool for teaching foreign language. I developed a method of using comics to teach a foreign language while teaching Spanish at SummerBerg camp in Tiffin, OH, where I also served as director. Working with a cartoonist the previous summer, I developed a course that teaches kids how to make comics. This method will help participants ace standardized foreign language tests, prepare for trips to Spanish-speaking countries and build appreciation for other cultures.

The first reason why comics serve as an effective tool for foreign language acquisition is because of the combination of words and pictures. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, the images in a comic provide the reader with a critical base of information. Once the images provide the reader with a context of setting, atmosphere and character, they must complete the essential task of interpreting the text. While school typically focuses on verbal learning, using a medium that combines verbal and visual information supports verbal learners to develop visual intelligence and vice versa.

The second reason why comic books are an effective tool is because they increase student engagement, which manifest in careful reading and lively conversation. Because many learners find comics more exciting then typical school materials, comics facilitate increased attention and engagement. Unlike watching a movie or listening to a song, readers can pace themselves at the appropriate speed and reread passages until understanding is achieved. Because most text in a comic book is dialogue, the comic book format facilitates reading out loud and developing conversation skills.

The final reason why I have found comics to be an effective tool is because my passion about comics and personal experience with Latin American cartoonists inspires students to because enthusiastic about engaging with another culture. Comics served as a powerful gateway into Latin American culture for me and I enjoy sharing that with students. While traveling through South America, I met cartoonists who wrote and illustrated stories about local politics and history, tales of sci-fi and adventure and also autobiographical accounts of the daily lives of teens. These stories provide unique insight into life in another society.

In conclusion, there are several reasons that I have found Spanish-language comics to be a powerful tool for supporting student learning. The combination of words and pictures provides an appropriate scaffold for language learners. The format of comics facilitates engagement in a variety of forms. Comics also provide a rich and fascinating window into other cultures. As an added bonus, students also discover how kids like them around the world are using self-publishing in print and on the internet as a low-cost means of personal expression.

Summary of Explorations of Comics in South America

While traveling through South America in 2006-2008, getting to know local cartoonists and their work was one my richest experiences. It all started at a book fair in Mendoza, Argentina, where I met Cristian Mallea, visiting from Buenos Aires. I sent him an e-mail begging for an unpaid internship and he invited me to a comics convention in Montevideo, Uruguay. At the convention, Montevideo Comics, Latino cartoonists maintained a tight-knit community amid of sea of kids enthralled by Japanese comics.

Back in Buenos Aires, I visited a class taught by Cristian and his colleagues to children and teens. I also met the other cartoonists in the publishing collective to which Cristian belongs. Following in their teachers' footsteps, the students create their own comics and publish them with photocopiers and on the web. One of the students illustrated a script that I wrote about the Holocaust (page: 1, 2, 3).

After leaving Buenos Aires, I visited various cartoonists along my route, contacting friends of Cristian. I met an autobiographical cartoonist in San Luis, Argentina. In Chile, a cartoonist explained the status of publishing there and I attended a museum exhibit. In Bolivia, I attended Vinetas con Altura. In contrast to Montevideo Comics, this convention focused entirely on artists from Latin America.

Inspired by the Bolivian gathering, cartoonists in Buenos Aires organized Vinetas Sueltas, presenting independent comics from Latin America and also inviting four European artists. Through these travels, I met a variety of talented cartoonists, all of whom present their works on the web. One of the most exciting books I found was the first Chilean graphic novel, which I translated and reviewed.

Back in the States, I seek to develop the power of comics as a gateway of intercultural exchange. I guided kids in Spanish class through translating some Bolivian political cartoons. I translated Destino Invisible, also about the Holocaust, by Gervasio, another of Cristian's colleagues. The first few pages of which now appear as a free webcomic. I also created a Spanish-language blog in order to help latino cartoonists navigate the American market.

Bolvian Political Cartoons

I used the following Bolivian comic strips while teaching a Spanish class in Ohio. The high school students translated them into English with me. After translating the strips and some songs, the girls presented to the rest of the camp. The strips are by Joaquín Cuevas of Bolivia from the collection "Unoffensive".


The first strip caught their attention because it deals with something close to home.



The final comic comments on the Bolivian movie "America Visa" in which a Bolivian tries to get the proper documentation to enter the United States. The girls were surprised that it is so hard to immigrate into our country. We also translated Manu Chau's song Clandestino about a wanderer who left Africa for Europe struggling to seek work without papers.

Page 3

The Second Page EVER

OK, here is the second page... might still need some work in terms of clarity, but I'm excited to share it. Constructive feedback welcome. Penciled and inked by the talented Laura Dattoli.

My first page ever!!!!

OK, kids. This is the moment you've all been waiting for. This is the first illustrated page of my script. It is about my grandfathers struggles in Nazi Poland (no mice though). That is him and his first family. It was illustrated by Laura Datolli, a student the workshop of La Productora in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Stay posted for more.

4th of July

As I walked from the dorm to the park to watch fireworks, some drunk local started talking to me. He mentioned that his license was taken away.

“If you walk down the street and kill someone, what happens?”

“You go to jail.” I answered.

“But in Afghanistan, what happens?”

“They give you a medal”

“I joined the navy in 1994 and I got a medal. They gave it to me because they just changed the name. This is the longest war in history. They just keep changing the name. Persian gulf, dessert storm…”

“Why’d you join?”

“Well, I wanted to join the marines, to travel over seas.”

“Why?”

“Because I hate this place and wanted to get the heck out of here.”

Historietas

While Latin American creators of comics, which they call historietas, face the same market forces that we do here (domination by superheroes and manga), they keep producing quality art, often publishing it themselves. My encounter started in August of 2006 at a book fair in Mendoza, Argentina, where I met Cristian Mallea of La Productora, a self-publishing collective based in Buenos Aires. Cristian served as my guide to the rich world of contemporary Latin American comics. I visited La Productora’s workshop regularly and traveled with them to conventions in Uruguay and Bolivia (Viñetas de Altura), where I met cartoonists from all over Latin America.

La Productora are considered to be part of the younger generation compared to the Argentina’s classical creators (Lalia, Alberto Breccia, Oesterheld etc.). Their work appears in the newly revived Fierro magazine. Angel Mosquito, another member of La Productora and Mallea run a comics workshop for local kids and teach at the newly formed Comics Design program at the University of Palermo in Buenos Aires. La Productora’s political anthology Carne Argentina was translated into French and presented in an exhibit on Argentine comics at Angouleme, France.

My incomplete list

Bolivia

Joaquín Cuevas makes a funny political strip as well as narratively solid silent comics.

Frank Arbelo (born in Cuba)

El Marco Toxico

Argentina

Cristian Mallea

Angel Mosquito: appears on the website Historietas Reales, which showcases the work of a number of contemporary creators.

Gervasio

Thomas Desscance: Born in France. Publishes comic magazines Revista Ex Abrupto and, with others, Suda Mery K,!, which that mix European and Latin American cartoonists.

Salvador Sanz

Ernán

Peru

Jorge Perez-Ruibal has a wild and detailed style that mixes humor and vulgarity.

Mexico

Ricardo Peláez

Colombia

Joni B and Nomás are part of the team that produces the free pamphlet Robot, which includes comics and prose humor.

Uruguay

Rodulfo Santullo publishes a number of talented artists.

Guacho

Chile

As a member of Ergocomics, Cristian Reyes is a talented creator and staunch advocate for Latin American comics.

Cristiano makes autobiographical and political comic strips.

Brazil

Fabio Zimbres’s comic that I bought reads like a Brazilian James Kochalka, but he does other stuff to.

Viñetas Sueltas

Before I left Argentina a few weeks ago, I attended a comics convention in Buenos Aires. Thomas Desscance organized the event. Receiving funding from European consulates, the convention hosted guests from Spain, France and Germany. Convention panels focused on foreign as well as regional comics scenes. Local European cultural centers hosted exhibits of the visiting cartoonists work.

I sat on a panel that Cristian facilitated about comics throughout the Americas at the convention Viñetas Sueltas in Buenos Aires (pics below). I’ve met more cartoonists then I could quickly rattle off, but I’ve included a brief list below with some of my favorites (and links to their websites). As in my previous entry, I am focusing on using my blog to share Latin American comics with English-speaking readers.

The convention floor. In addition to the row of stands on the left, there was another smaller row on the other side of the room. Impressive for the event's first year.

Exhibits were prepared of the work by artists visiting from Europe, both at the convention and at separate art galleries.


The Productora table manned by Angel Mosquito and Gervasio.

Our Pan-American panel with convention coordinator Thomas Desscance on left, next to panel facilitator Cristian Mallea.

Our panel (from left to right): Joni B (Colombia), Me (USA), Rodulfo Santullo (Uruguay), Chiqui Vilca (Peru) and a cartoonist from Brazil.

The audience.


Guests gather for the farewell.

The guests from Galicia, Spain: Brais Rodriguez (left) and Ablerto Vazquez.


Enjoying the exhibit of Peruvian artist Jorge Perez-Ruibal (bottom left).

A traditional locro at Mosquito's house to celebrate the Argentine national holiday

The First Chilean Graphic Novel

Here is one gem that I found at convention Viñetas Sueltas in Buenos Aires in May. Published in 2007, Road Story is a comics adaptation of a short story by Chilean Alberto Fuguet (whose accomplishments include translations into several languages and one movie). As in David Mazzuchelli’s adaptation of City of Glass, cartoonist Gonzalo Martínez uses the unique language of comics. While collections of serialized political or humorous comics are common in Chile, it is less usual to publish a longer narrative story, in this case 127 pages.

A paragraph from Jack Kerouac’s On the Road including the line “I didn’t know who I was” introduces the story opposite the splash page. While Kerouac transformed travel into a lifelong journey of losing his ego and searching for Enlightenment, this adventure is a road trip with which middle-class Americans may be more familiar. As the opening line states: "Simon feels that all this is a parenthesis. Parentheses are like boomerangs, he believes. They even look like them. They enter your life suddenly and cut off your past from your present with a clean precise blow."

Subtly using characters' experiences to hint at a broader social context, Road Story is a telling window into both the pan-American dream and its dark side. After a failed marriage, protagonist Simon sold his business and left his home in Chile. Retracing a path that Fuguet once traveled himself, Simon weaves around the American Southwest and dips into Mexico. As seen below (click to enlarge), using awkward camera angles that don't reveal the character’s face, Simon contemplates his accomplishments. A book he edited for his father's company is tossed aside amid a bottle of Gatorade, a symbol of American consumption familiar in South America. (Before I cheaply inserted English text using Paint, captions had typed letters while world and thought balloons were hand-lettered.)

Like Jason Lutes, the author subtly creates a sad, yet endearing tone and enriches the story with visual motifs that illustrate the character’s inner experience. For example, Simon's changes in hair style reflect his fumbling self-image. In the flashback below, thawing frost on a windshield serves as a metaphor for his growing awareness that his wife Natalia was cheating on him.

While Jessica Abel’s La Perdida reveals the misguided entry into Latin America of a half-Mexican girl born in the United States, Road Story (the original title of the Spanish-language comic) shows how oddly comfortable a Chilean is in the United States. Indeed, Simon thinks that the United States colonized his subconscious.

The story works because of poignant prose narration complimented by austere drawings. There are also a number of moments, like the illustrations at right and below of how Simon met and married Natalia years earlier, in which images alone communicate key developments.

As Simon travels, Road Story concisely takes the reader through a process of healing, a very human process with painfully real moments, expressed in ways that are both blunt and naked while also subtle and understated. While wandering, Simon links up with a Bolivian woman, Adriana, who was “made in the USA”. The relationship between Simon and Ariadna develops infused with uttered clichés and made-up identities. A scene in which Simon is rudely awakened by the suicide of a hotel neighbor eerily foreshadows a later scene in which Adriana nearly drinks herself to death.

The art is straight-forward and utilitarian, if at times uninteresting. By the end of the story, the reader may tire of looking at Simon's frowning mug. The entire work stays true to the mood of parenthesis. Ultimately, Simon closes the parenthesis. But does he really acknowledging the cause of his problems? While Road Story critiques consumerist culture, it is the nuanced perspective of someone ingrained in it, enjoying its benefits.

Compared to its neighbor’s, Chile is a country who has historically had closer economic and political relations with the United States and it is a place with a substantial middle and upper class. In 1988, when the pro-capitalist CIA-backed dictator Pinochet allowed elections for the first time since his coup in 1973, he narrowly lost, winning 44% of the vote. By contrast, the Argentine dictators only received about 10% of the votes when they tried to continue their rule once elections were held. Chile is a country that deals with the complicated legacy of economic "success". Were it to be translated in English, Road Story would be a fascinating treatment of familiar issues with the twist of the perspective of the developing world.

For the first 10 pages translated into English, check out: http://www.wordswithoutborders.org/?lab=FuguetRoadStory

Disclaimer: This blog author does not promote the abuse of drugs. On the contrary, this story reveals problems that result from it.

Unanswered Questions

It is time we consider some of the underling questions that the media conveniently hasn’t addressed during this election cycle. We must remember that we don’t live under a regime where top offices are stolen by shrewd political manipulation. We live in a republic, where the presidency goes to the leader who wins the hearts and minds of voters. In an environment of free speech, statesmen compete to sell their intellectual treatises to the public.

I mean, voters actually spend money on politicians’ books! Nonetheless, while we listen to sound bites touting the great differences between candidates and search the candidates' memoirs for evidence, we should also remember the ways in which our options are defined and limited. While Obama became a millionaire with Dreams from my Father, McCain revealed his views with Faith of my Fathers. They both wrote about their fathers!! What about their mothers? And let’s face it. Is there really that much of a difference between dreams and faith?

But all cynicism aside, in every election, we have the moral responsibility of ignoring hangups based on idealistic fantasies (dreams and faith, you might say) and choosing the best of all options. Nonetheless, I think we need to ask: is America ready for a Hawaiian president? I mean, I know our nation has come a long way since the 50^th state was added to the Union in 1959 and I have no doubt in my mind that Americans born outside of the continental US are just as American as everyone else, but there are a lot of ignorant people in this country. And those ignorant people may ask: what next? A Puerto Rican president? Representatives from every country disproportionately influenced by the American government?

Do you really think continental Americans will let an islander win? Hawaii is pretty far into the Pacific, much closer to Asia then the rest of the United States and much of Hawaii claims Asian descent. But most importantly, what will happen when people actually start looking at Hawaii’s state flag and realize that it contains the union jack? We all remember what happened in Georgia. Do Hawaiians secretly maintain allegiance to the British Empire? That empire expanded until the sun didn't set on the land it controlled...and look at it today. Might that be a bad example?

If we elect someone more representative of the world than of the Brady Bunch, we may risk losing our belief of having ended history and having achieved the purest, more perfect socio-political system. We may have to acknowledge that everybody isn’t the same and that the whole world no longer wishes they could be like us.

As we move forward during this historic moment, we must be sure that we press politicians to address the real issues at play and we must not get wrapped up in petty politics and cheap sensational news coverage.

Why Obama?

The last eight years have been a dark time in the United States. George W. Bush used protecting heterosexual marriage and abortion as rallying cries to prove his “values” while giving tax cuts to the rich at the expense of the poor and middle class. Basically, he used rhetoric of discrimination to gain support from a minority of politically active conservative Christians. After the 9-11 attacks, he extended his divisive policies to a global level. His administration used faulty information to win domestic support for poorly planned invasions with unrealistic proposed goals. Furthermore, it did this undiplomatically against the United Nations, with only a handful of supporters in the world community.

Now, life is economically harder for most Americans while we waste tax dollars on military engagements that do nothing but increase resentment for the United States and further threaten our security. For a moment in 2004, it seemed like Americans might get excited about John Kerry. For many people, it was enough that he was not Bush. Other’s needed something more. Bush’s greatest legacy may be causing so much disappointment that he opens the door to fundamental leap in progress in the history of the nation.

If we want to restore the middle class, we need a Democrat in the White House. Americans already began to realize the failure of Republican leadership when they elected a Democratic congress in 2006. We need to take it further to see the full fruition of that process. Only the Democrats propose a tax plan that respects the poor and the middle class. Only the Democrats propose health care reform that could improve the quality of life of millions. Only the Democrats recognize the contribution that immigrants make to the United States.

The Democrats did better on the economy and on foreign policy before Bush and there is reason to believe that Hillary could usher a return to previous success. The Clintons have been hardened by years of fighting for things that have benefited many Americans. Nonetheless, getting that far in politics comes at a price. Politicians in the system owe their status to powerful moneyed interests. Furthermore, on foreign policy, Hillary does not represent a strong enough break with Bush. She supported the invasion in Iraq. She supported the drive to label the Revolutionary Guard of Iran a terrorist organization and she called Barak Obama naïve for suggesting that he would just talk with our enemies. Yes Hillary has experience, but what is the value of experience in a flawed system? What is the value of experience if she hasn’t fully used it to break from the past?

Obama’s charismatic speech at the 2004 Democratic convention catapulted him to notoriety and made his candidacy possible without the dirtying process of a slow rise through the American political system. The movement arising in his support represents a real opportunity for positive change. One thing that conservatives are right about is that government cannot fix everything and the vitality of society is measured by the voluntary, active participation of citizens in public life. Obama got his start working on the streets of Chicago and his message continues to be one not only of presidential promises, but of a call to action. Reminding us of historical leaders like Martin Luther King, Jr. and John F. Kennedy, he is succeeding. Early in the campaign, Democrats raised more than Republicans for the first time and Obama raised more than Hillary. Furthermore, he did so piecing together small contributions that rivaled Hillary’s weathered machine. He is also partially responsible for record turnout at Democratic primaries in which he has received the support of both Democrats and independents. He is inspiring people to get involved who never before believed that they had a voice.

Finally, Obama offers a vision of America’s role in the world that best promotes national and global security. With Bush’s overly simplistic ‘us vs. them’ rhetoric, flagrant unilateralism and two invasions that have destabilized dangerous regions in the world, he fed into the hands of U.S. critics like Hugo Chavez and Mahmoud Ahmadinejad. Not only was Bush unwilling to practice diplomacy, he was not capable of seeing the world from another perspective. He led our government and people down a disastrous path of myopia. When Bush proposed creating a Palestinian state, nobody could believe that Bush would do anything but harm another nation for our own perceived benefit. Barack Obama lived in a foreign nation. Like many Americans, he has family from other nations. His love of this country is based on direct knowledge of alternatives and of this nation’s unique opportunities. He is someone who could realistically find common ground with foreign leaders and find workable cooperative solutions to problems like terrorism, global warming and globalization.

We are at a unique point in our history. America’s actions have fostered dangerous resentment around the world. We cannot continue to favor special interests at the expense of most Americans. We cannot continue a short-sighted policy of paranoia, arrogance and aggression. We need to have the moral courage to take responsibility for our actions, return to the inclusive ideals of our nation and take action for change. Barack Obama is the best candidate to lead that process.

Dear Wine Spectator,

Thursday, December 13, 2007

Dear Wine Spectator,

I have only recently fallen in love with wine, and it is clear that, among the many allies available to consumers in navigating the thousands of bottles available, you are one of the most beloved. In the 2007 year end issue, in which you provide the most detailed explanation of your blind tasting method to date, you say that tasters are only told the region and variety of the wine without beyond told the winery. It is laudable that individual tasters initial reviews so that consumers could see how different tasters differ.

Having traveled abroad, it is clear that Americans suffer from acute myopia when dealing with world culture. Be it Hollywood, music or literature, with the exception of a few lucky Brits, we just don’t bother (or aren’t exposed to) foreign influences. This is due in part to our innovation and vitality of our ability to produce products, but also our ability to market them. In addition to helping local producers, you have done a lot for getting Americans into French and Italian wines.

In terms of your tasting, I can’t help but wonder: isn’t one of the signs of being a wine expert the ability to guess the region and variety? The famed 1976 Paris wine tasting that put American wine on the map was revolutionary precisely because the judges were blind to the region of origin of the wine. I am left wondering if I can trust Wine Spectator to inform me about the next revolution. It is great to promote our once underdog domestic industry, but are you bringing to readers attention wines and aspects of wine that they wouldn’t otherwise notice?

• Have you made efforts to explain what criteria judges use to give points? How do WS judges differ from each other? How do WS judges differ from judges at other magazines? Other countries?

• You say that you tasted 15,000 wines this year and that most of those wines were sent to you by producers. Do you have relationships with producers in other countries? What percentage of the wines reviewed are from other countries? Is it the same percentage as the percentage of wines produced by those countries?

• How do WS tastes reflect popular tastes in the U.S.? How do they influence popular tastes?

I am going to buy and read the next issue, in which you treat the “science of blind tasting”. If I don’t see adequate answers to these questions, I think I’ll just limit my reading to the pile of magazines I peruse while sitting at Borders after buying nothing but a cup of coffee.

Sincerely yours,

Ari Pliskin

Ecological Farm

North of Lima, I did volunteer work at a self-sufficient, environmentally sustainable farm called Eco Truly Park. I learned about organic farming, alternative energy sources and recycling. I helped with daily responsibilities such as cleaning the kitchen, weeding the garden, moving materials and guiding educational visits, like the field trip pictured above.

Oasis

Alter Colca, I headed north, running into my American friend again. We went though Nasca together, didn’t fly over the lines because we wanted to save money but we saw them. They are pretty cool. We went to the Chauchilla cemetery.
After that, I went with him to the Huacachina Oasis outside of Ica. We did sandboarding. You could see me gracefully mastering the slopes.