The Cartoon Network as a Teaching Aid?
Choose Your Cartoon Characters Carefully
This kind of activity is fairly straight forward, but in fact it can, with some careful thought about the cartoon characters and the plot, start discussions about many other important topics. Language and behavior are the obvious topics; many children learn a large part of their vocabulary from television, and cartoons make up a significant part of their viewing. These discussions can lead on to topics such as gender and social effects of behavior. Cartoons are particularly effective for this kind of discussion, as they are representations of characters, and therefore the children can be encouraged to think in more abstract terms about their behavior.Of course, many cartoons are designed to aid the teacher and there is a growing industry in this kind of teaching aid. You only have to look at the web to see websites advertising general and tailor-made cartoons for teaching purposes. Many people are learning how to create animated teaching aids, and creating a good career for themselves. If you are interested in learning how to create animated teaching aids, take a look at some of the animation programs available - some of them available as online programs.
