Hello Kitty to help educate UAE’s school kids

Over the years, generations of children have grown up reading comic books during their free time. Parents considered it a waste of time, and kids were asked to instead focus on their textbooks to improve their grades.

Breaking from the past, however, comic character books are now going mainstream, gaining acceptance and even a bit of respect from the educators.

They may not (yet) be the typical textbooks in the classrooms here in the UAE, but books based on cartoon characters are being used to not only keep children occupied, but also help them become creative by making children learn to plot and write by drawing inspiration from their favourite character and then using examples from their own lives.

“When I ask children in the class to draw and write about a character, they mostly pick one from their favourite comic book, cartoon or a movie and some of the thoughts I see on paper are amazing,” said a Grade 3 teacher in an international school without wishing to be named.

The fun way of learning for children in the UAE is likely to become more interesting as the country’s much loved character Hello Kitty is all set to make an entry in the nearest bookstore in your neighbourhood.

Al Ahli Publishing and Distribution (APD), a UAE-based firm, has entered into a tie-up with Japan’s Sanrio and as a result has released Hello Kitty colouring magazine and activity books targeting school children. The character is already popular in schools with the fare of stationery, desktop accessories, backpacks and lunch bags.

In the UAE, APD comic books are available at leading book stores, supermarkets and gas stations nationwide. For ages five and above, the Hello Kitty Mini magazines have been released and the Hello Kitty Teens for ages 12 and above and many bilingual sticker books are available too. This is also expected to promote Arabic culture and the language in the country, which many expat children struggle with.

Globally, comic have already made inroads into classrooms – and have been there for a while now. In the US, The Comic Book Project started in 2001, in an elementary school in Queens.

Since its creation, the programme, which is more of an after-school-hours activity, has gained acceptance by more than 850 urban and rural schools across the country. It has become extremely popular by getting a big push from the comic loving adolescents in the country.

People in Europe and Japan have a greater acceptance rate when it comes to learning from comics. Manga (comics) and anime (animated manga films) are very popular in Japan, the home of Hello Kitty.

In junior high and high schools in Japan, teachers have students draw manga pieces to sharpen their drawing skills, and they ask students to read manga and try to understand the message the artist is trying to convey.

This growing popularity is evident by the increasing use of websites such as www.comicsintheclassroom.com, which is an extensive library of links and resources for teachers and educators.

And it’s for a reason. Research proves that comics expand vocabulary and introduce the ideas of plot, pacing, and sequence.

According to a 1993 study published in The Journal of Child Language, comic books or graphic novels “introduce children to nearly twice as many new words as the average children’s book and more than five times as many as the average child-adult conversation.”

So, next time your child picks up a comic book, encourage them to read on.

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