Of tired students, comic books and Maker Space

Most of my students are teenagers, in their late teens. In that age when they start worrying about college, adult life and all things boring in life. And they feel so much pressure! From their school, with constant tests and mock tests and extra credits; from their parents, who want them to get into the best school ever in the universe; from their peers, who are trying to get into the same school as them.

So it comes to no surprise when they arrive in my classroom like zombies: barely awake, almost drooling, exhausted! 

And I know how important English is for their life, so I would like them to give me more than they do. How do I achieve that?

Well, I just found out a great trend in schools: Maker Space. A special place where they can sit down and create something, anything, from whatever material they can get hold of, using their creativity and collaborating with each other; it seemed too good to be true, a dream come true. 

It truly is. 

When I tried it out with one of my groups, they were over the moon just by making their own comic book: a choice not made by chance, but I knew that this particular group are really into comics.

The end result: I got my tired zombies engaged in a activity that they honestly enjoyed, I got to teach and practice the target language of my lesson, I got to recycle the material produced by them in another classroom, and most important, we all had fun! So much fun!

Sometimes getting a bunch of 16-year-olds to act childish and start coloring might seem like a very bad idea, but it´s exactly what they need to learn. 

In the end, I taught them so much more than English: we talked about culture and the impact of comics in society, we talked about partnership and the importance of collaboration, the environment and the effects of recycling, and they were so happy and proud to know that their work would be used again and again by my other groups.

I felt that this particular class was a lesson on citizenship; I learned to empathize with them, and they learned about their role in society.