OMQ

The VOCAB file can be found here : https://docs.google.com/document/d/1KBvTpsVwQ_y-O2gRSTaMIDTTngzVO47f/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109767092901987067278&rtpof=true&sd=true

The NOTES file can be found here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1n_bcqq-5o8kUyc0ZMKFZvBViY1gtrfU_/edit?usp=sharing&ouid=109767092901987067278&rtpof=true&sd=true

The Old Master Q comic strip offers rich material for practicing and developing English composition. I here outline a sample lesson that used one of these strips.

Writing involves two things: deciding what to write about, and deciding how to write about it. We here tell (or more accurately show) our writing students what to write about, allowing them to practice the how without distraction. We do this by providing the student with an OMQ comic (usually in an image file called COMIC) and ask them to write a description of what it shows.

We guide them first by providing a list of appropriate vocabulary items (=words and phrases) in a file called VOCAB. The student’s first goal should be to become familiar with the VOCAB terms. We help them by providing inline notes to these terms. These notes appear as as bullet points under their terms in the VOCAB file. These notes may range from definitions and use cases to etymological and morphological analysis. They are meant to help students get a head start on guessing the basic meaning of the VOCAB terms.

Secondly, we provide a list of extra notes in the NOTES file. These extra notes will give the student a deeper understanding of vocabulary terms. They will also hint at how these terms might be used in describing the comic. The student is expected to read these extra notes and make them inline notes by determining which VOCAB item(s) the extra notes belong to, and then copying them appropriately to the VOCAB file. Doing this will make the student focus on, and think about the meanings of, these extra notes. This will help the student to internalize the meanings.

The student should now be able to read the comic and identify panel(s) where the vocabulary item is useful. After each item in VOCAB, the student should indicate which panel(s) have scenes which can use the item. Now the student should begin to write a description of the comic using appropriate words and phrases. (Not every VOCAB term needs to be used, and the student can use terms not found in VOCAB. But the student should consider VOCAB to be a good model.)

This description may contain many short simple sentences. This is fine for a first draft. After finishing a first draft the student should ‘take a break’ and ‘sleep on it’. After ‘sleeping on it’ the student should revise their first draft. When they revise they should try to combine the simple sentences into more complex sentence — especially sentences with subordinate clauses. There will me many ways of doing this. The student experiment. Note that very complicated sentences can be hard to read and are often not good style. (Sometimes, simpler is better.) But it is good practice for an ESL student to try writing some very complex sentences (with subordinate clauses containing subordinate clauses). Doing this will exercise and strengthen their understanding of grammar.

The files COMIC, VOCAB, and NOTES will be provided to the student a week before their lesson. The student should aim to provide the teacher with a revised draft before each lesson. During each lesson the teacher will help the student with their descriptions. The student should at least have a substantial first draft for the teacher to look at before the beginning of the lesson.