ESLComics – Comics that Teach English

The Project - Hi. I'm Sterling Daniels.  I want to design a comic book volume of 10 engaging illustrated stories (roughly 160 pages) that teach English. It will be in the form of an interactive PDF.  In short, it's a comic book that teaches English. On each page there will be treasure hunts, word searches, grammar tip, other games, and playable audio pieces that pop out when prompted without interrupting the enjoyment of the comic. 

How will the interactive comic book work?

On the surface it will look like any other online comic. The stories are in English and you turn the pages by clicking the corners or the edge of the page. 

Here are the differences;

• Click on the speech bubbles to hear audio of the text.

  

• Double-click the speech bubbles to see a translation of the text.

  

• Click on colored words to hear audio of key vocabulary.

• Double-click the colored words to see a translation of key vocabulary.

• Click on objects in the picture panels to find hidden clues to lesson questions.

  

• Click the space between the picture panels for pop-up activities and mini lessons.

  

• At the end of each page answer comprehension questions. Earn badges and points. Spend points on hints to future activities and lessons.

• At the end of the story take a language quest (test). Earn a certificate.

  

What is an interactive PDF?
PDF stands for Portable Document Format. It's a file specifically designed for recording and sharing reading material. The interactive part allows users to fill out forms, click images, and get results from their input. We want to create this as an interactive PDF simply because it will be easy to share with educators.

So do you need money for a website or something?
No. We are not creating a website. The ESLComics site already exists. This would be for a book. The book would be in electronic format.

What's your idea of an anthology?
In this project, a comics anthology is a volume of different comic book stories by several different authors. The authors lined up for this project are experienced comics and television play authors:

David Chodack – Writer, Editor, Managing Director at Words With A Purpose

Stephen Laffler – author and illustrator of numerous online and print comics including El Vocho and Bughouse

Deron Sedy – improv comedian, director, producer, and creator of BrevityTV.com

and Sterling Daniels (me) – author and illustrator of several projects

What is your publishing experience?
I am the author of Gladiators RPG, a tabletop arena melee system and combined comic book. In other words, a mini role playing game with a comic book.

I also created the ESL Comics blog, which provides English language lessons to go with my own comic online comic strips.

Then there is the ESL Comics web site that offers translations of my web site in several different languages.

I am the author of Bump!, available through Amazon, a children's ebook that teaches children to recognize when small accidents are not a big deal.

I am also the author of Yas, a children's book that encourages children who have experienced racial bigotry.

I am also the author of several humorous online comic stories that are fun for all ages.

Educators lined up for this project are:

Mojeska Graham – nine years of experience teaching English as a Second Language and Special Education

Traci McCabe – twelve years of English as a Second Language and early childhood education

Karen Santiago – Director of The English Institute at Esperanza College in Philadelphia

Shanshan Zhang (my wife) – five years experience teaching English to middle and high school students in China

Sterling Daniels (me) – seven years teaching English as a Second Language to Hispanic and Asian populations in the U.S. And China as well as high school and middle school English Language Arts.

Programmers lined up for the project
Jeff Moller (center of photo) – software engineer and project manager

Abu Panackal – software engineer

The translators and voice actors are:
Munier Keidie – Teacher; feature film actor; fluent in Spanish, Arabic, English and German

Tania Ruiz – Proud supermom, fluent in English and Spanish

Zhen Liu – College student, fluent in Chinese and English

Vincent Hernandez – Recording Engineer and musician, fluent in English and Spanish

Shanshan Zhang – College student, fluent in Chinese and English

Angelina Citra Saputri – College student, fluent in Chinese and English

How do you plan to complete this interactive PDF project in so short a time.
Much of what's needed is already in place and ready to be assemble into one collective piece. Experts in their own separate fields are contributing their material, including several of the stories. Our team of professional comic book artists will collaborate on graphics files online. Meanwhile programmers will assemble the interactive PDF pages in anticipation of the artwork.
At the same time, voice actors will be recording audio versions of the comics in English, Spanish and Chinese. And while this is going on English Language educators will contribute their material.

Where Will the Money Go? - The money goes to hire writers, letterers, character artists, illustrators and translators. It goes to qualified lesson planners.  It goes to the layout person who must work with the interactive PDF expert, and web designers.

Can You  Get It Done - Yes. I've studied this from top to bottom and even mapped it out with project planners. It's sort of like assembling a puzzle and knowing that you are just missing a few crucial pieces.

I sincerely hope you can get behind this project enough to contribute your support. This has been a personal dream of mine for a long time. I am determined to see it done no matter what and will take whatever help I can get.