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��Having a good laugh: the merits of using cartoons as teaching material in university English classes��よく笑う：大学の英語教育で風刺画を教材にするメリット�

JALT, Matsuyama, 15 October 2023

Frances Causer フランセス・コーザ �Seijo University, Tokyo　成城大学（東京）

fcauser@seijo.ac.jp�

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<CARTOONS 風刺画 AND MEMES> : my file��First necessity: compile a collection of cartoons and memes to use in your teaching

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Use of cartoons in my 2023 classes

1. Planned, on syllabus for

Communication III class (2^nd to 4^th grade students), required class for �教職課程 kyōshoku katei students (who are fairly high level students)

・2. Ad hoc, in any class (any level of students), if relevant to what comes up in class discussions

e.g. in 2023 summer semester 1st grade class, after assignment to make a book report on 多読 readers, when many students chose fairy tales featuring princesses (Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, etc) – see next slide

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Why I think it’s important to discuss (the lack of progress towards) gender equality (a) worldwide (this cartoon) (b) in Japan (see next slide):

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Nikko, 25 June 2023: Masanobu Ogura represents Japan�https://time.com/6290088/japan-gender-equality-g7/

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��World Economic Forum’s annual Global Gender Gap Index 2023�https://www.weforum.org/reports/global-gender-gap-report-2023/in-full�table: https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_GGGR_2023.pdf��

Countries are ranked according to women’s

Health and survival (Japan ranks high)
Educational attainment (Japan ranks high)
Economic participation and opportunity (Japan ranks very low)
Political empowerment (Japan ranks very low)

Japan ranks 125th of 146 countries in the index
Japan ranks the lowest among the G7 states (Germany 6th, UK 15th, France 40th, USA 43rd, Italy 79th); and after Nepal 116^th, Gambia 119^th, Myanmar 123rd
Japan’s women and politics: Japan one of only seven countries that have regressed since 2017; men still make up about 90% of parliamentary and ministerial posts
Japan’s women and business: only 11.4% of executives in publicly listed companies are women

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This cartoon is useful in discussion of women’s status worldwide:

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Reasons for using cartoons

Humour, including black humour (fun!)
Concepts of satire, irony, parody, etc
Critical thinking
Interesting/ topical language content
Culture: general knowledge
Current events, including history, politics, social change
Insight into the cultures of different countries (leads to insight into own culture!)
Active learning
Rich discussion potential

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<CARTOONS 風刺画 AND MEMES> ��・ I am using my 2023 file, of 39 cartoons, accessible on� Web Class (university website) for my students��・[my cartoon file is revised and updated yearly]��

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2023 categories of cartoon

POLITICS AND SOCIETY (including environment vs convenience of modern life, women’s and LGBTQ issues vs various types of discrimination, issues re advances in technology, etc)

CORONAVIRUS PANDEMIC� 2020 TOKYO OLYMPICS

C. WAR IN UKRAINE

D. LIGHT-HEARTED: ANIMALS

E. ART, LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY

F. SCIENCE

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Method

Teacher introduces cartoon, to give students a model
Teacher invites questions and comments from students
Students each choose a cartoon, from the cartoon file, and are given homework, to prepare their cartoon introduction [if they want help explaining the cartoon they are encouraged to ask me]
In the following week’s class, students introduce their cartoon, and respond to questions and comments from classmates
Final feedback and review (e.g. what was interesting/ what did you learn/ are cartoons a good way of studying English?)

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�The cartoon I introduce to students, to give them a model for explaining cartoons: “The class of covid 19”, cartoon (風刺画) by Ben Jennings for the Guardian, 17 May 2020�https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/picture/2020/may/17/ben-jennings-school-return-coronavirus-cartoon�

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1. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student YM

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2. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student EA �

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It can be a challenge to find suitable cartoons: this is an example of a cartoon that does not get chosen by students, as it’s rather difficult for them to research and explain (cartoon by Tom Toro, The New Yorker, 30 July 2021, cartoon originally from 2015)�

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How cartoons work

Shock of the incongruous (sudden reversal of expectations/ norms) – see next slide
Comedy often mixed with tragedy
Implied criticism of stupidity/ narrow-mindedness/ inflexible systems of being and thinking/ what is wrong, immoral, cruel, etc – see next slide
Mental release: laughter takes away the pain of intolerable situations (e.g. covid pandemic)
Weapon for those lacking power to oppose/ criticise those in authority: in Bakhtin’s terms the marketplace vs the official �(soft power, e.g. Vaclav Havel in the Communist era in Soviet-controlled Czechoslovakia, Ukraine now)

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Theory (from Andrew Stott, Comedy (2005)

“ … comedy as a manifestation of vitality … dynamic forces of intuition and impulse … creative and demanding life forces” (Stott on Henri Bergson, p27)�
“Instances of joking, humour or irony invoke a separation between ‘authorized’, egocentric or rational views of the world and their revealed alternatives …” (p14)

“… truth emerging in the guise of folly” – see next slide�
“Comedy … a fertile site of resistance and liberation” (p14) cf. Ukraine�
“Laughter remains an inexplicable aspect of human behaviour.” (p16)

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Cartoon that was syndicated worldwide after the 2011 triple disaster in Tohoku (earthquake, tsunami, Fukushima nuclear power plant), but that could be used now (Oct 2023) to discuss the release of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant

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5. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student AH

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�12. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student MH�

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��13. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student AS�

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��9. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student HD�

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Good example of cartoon to use to illustrate linguistic humour (wordplay, puns)

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“Tokyo Olympia”, Marian Kamensky, 8 July 2021

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��18. Meme chosen and introduced by Student HM��

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Vladimir Kazanevsky (Ukrainian cartoonist)

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��24. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student YK �(Cartoon refers to European countries and their refugee policies, but can also be used to discuss Japan and its policies towards refugees and asylum seekers)��

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Spirit of Old, Facebook, 2 March 2021

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�29. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student KI��https://www.ilovedoodle.com/collections/cat-minimal-landscape-art-series�Artist Lim Heng Swee, https://www.ilovedoodle.com/pages/about-us��

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�31. Cartoon chosen and introduced by Student AN��

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This cartoon is too difficult for my students, but as they are mostly from 英文学科（Department of English Literature) I think it is worthwhile for them to understand the cartoon’s literary references to A.A. Milne’s Winnie-the Pooh and Edgar Allan Poe’s “The Tell-Tale Heart”, so I explain the cartoon to them rather than asking them to investigate it.

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Selected references: (1) Sources for cartoons

Patrick Chapatte (Lebanese-Swiss cartoonist, widely syndicated)�https://chappatte.com/en

Roger Dahl, cartoonist for the Japan Times (cartoons focus on Japan)�https://www.japantimes.co.jp/author/252/roger-dahl/

Cartoons by many cartoonists in the Guardian (UK newspaper, also with strong presence in the US and Australia, and good international news coverage; no paywall)�https://www.theguardian.com/tone/cartoons

Social media e.g. Facebook, X (Twitter). often post cartoons and memes; disadvantage that it’s hard to give accurate references for cartoons, as authors/ sources/ dates are often omitted

�

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Selected references (2): Comedy/ humour

Henri Bergson, Laughter: An Essay in the Meaning of the Comic (1900)�https://www.gutenberg.org/files/4352/4352-h/4352-h.htm

Jonathan Burack, “Interpreting Political Cartoons in the History Classroom”�https://teachinghistory.org/teaching-materials/teaching-guides/21733

Esra Özay Köse, “Effects of cartoons on Students’ Achievement and Attitudes in Biology teaching (Endocrine System)” (Eylül 2013 Cilt:21 No:3 Kastamonu Eğitim Dergisi 931-944) �https://dergipark.org.tr/tr/download/article-file/210009

Janice Rodrigues, “Cartoons in the Classroom” (15 September 2017)�https://natlib.govt.nz/blog/posts/cartoons-in-the-classroom

Andrew Stott, Comedy (Routledge, 2005)