Cartoons for Children - Part 1

The influence of cartoons on kids will always be a concern to parents. Cartoons do have positive and negative impacts on children. While they influence the children’s language acquisition and cognitive ability to a great extent, parents are concerned about some unwelcomed behavior the children learn from certain cartoons.

So, when I suggest to parents a list of cartoons that the children can watch at home, or to a teacher who can use these cartoons during class, I have to make sure the cartoons that I suggest are gems.

Here is a list of 90s cartoons that teach no violence and encourages no bad intentions or behaviors. They are safe, very imaginative, filled with life lessons, and teach many more positive skills.

And teachers, these cartoons are colorful, filled with vocabulary, and the dialogue pace is perfect for students to learn the English language.

Through this blog, I do not encourage children to spend a lot of time on cartoons. This is just a guide to good cartoons that do not require parental guidance and supervision. It is important to remember that too much of anything is poison, so Parents should restrict the amount of time spent on these cartoons.

I’ve categorized the cartoons according to the appropriate age groups.

3 & 4-year-olds

Dora the Explorer

This is a superfamous show premiered in the year 2000. It even has a movie adaptation. Dora, a seven-year-old girl, embarks on various adventures with her monkey pal Boots. She carries a backpack and a map for her adventure. The best part of this cartoon is, it’s interactive. Well, it’s a one-sided interaction written script but the children don’t have to know that. Songs, vocabulary, interaction, this cartoon is a package.

Children would enjoy this show. They’ll answer Dora’s questions, will sing along with her, and will learn a lot from the adventure they had with her.

Franny’s feet

Franny's feet is a sweet cartoon that aired in the year 2004. Franny Fantootsie is a six-year-old girl who is transported to a different world whenever she wears the shoes that are in her grandpa’s shoe repair shop. The world she goes to depends on the type of shoes she wears. If she wears snow boots, she goes on a snowy adventure; if she wears ballet shoes, she dances ballet on stage. At the end of every adventure, when she comes back, she finds a souvenir in her shoe from the place she went to. She makes new friends in each world and helps them solve their problems.

4 to 6-year-olds

Bob the Builder

Bob the builder was aired in the year 1998. It was one of the most successful cartoons in the UK. Bob is a building contractor. With his colleague Wendy and his talking work vehicles, Bob can fix anything. From the show’s catchphrase “Can we fix it? Yes, we can!”, we can understand what the show is about. The show develops problem-solving skills, teaches teamwork, socializing skills (Bob is very friendly.), and many other skills.

Make way for Noddy

Make way for Noddy is a British cartoon aired in the year 2002. Noddy is a taxi driver in Toyland. He also owns a plane. He is portrayed as a curious, impulsive kid who drives a taxi. He often gets into trouble but his friends always help him. We have Big Ears, a wise old gnome who gives good advice to Noddy and guides him towards the right path; we have Dinah Doll, a sister figure to Noddy, who owns a shop; we have the goblin brothers, who are the reason why Noddy gets into trouble most of the time and many more characters.

Oswald

Oswald was aired in 2001. In a colorful, big city (literally named “The Big City”) with anthropomorphic characters, lives Oswald – the blue octopus. Oswald is a very optimistic, polite, caring, friendly octopus. He is blue, wears a hat, and lives in an apartment with his dog Weenie. He is the best character ever written in a cartoon. His best friends are his neighbor Henry the penguin, and Daisy the flower. Oswald lives a peaceful life. He is always there for his friends, and he never hesitates to help anyone. He plays the piano, he sings, he dances, and he enjoys every moment of his life. He is still one of my role models. The show is very engaging. It gives a peaceful and pleasant aura. When you watch this show, you’ll feel extremely relaxed. This show gives me hope that there is hope for humanity, and people are good. Yes, I am a big fan of this series.

The only thing wrong about this show is, its short. It only has 26 episodes.

The show is like a jackpot for vocabulary. Highly recommended.

6 to 9-year-olds

Dragon tales

"I wish, I wish, with all my heart, to fly with dragons in a land apart." is the chant you say to go on adventures in the land of dragons. Siblings Max and Emmy find a magical dragon scale which, when held and the chant recited, will take them to the Dragon Land. There, they befriend the dragons - Ord, Cassie, Zak, Wheezie, and the wise Quetzal, and go on many adventures with them.

This show won the Parent’s Choice Award several times and was nominated thrice for Daytime Emmy Awards for Outstanding Children's Animated Program in 2001, 2002, and 2003.

Harry and his bucket full of dinosaurs

Adapted from the book - Harry and His Bucket Full of Dinosaurs written and drawn by Ian Whybrow and Adrian Reynolds, this show was aired in the year 2005. Harry has a bucket full of dinosaurs. To him, the dinosaurs talk but in others' eyes, they are toys. Harry jumps into the bucket that transports him to the Dinoworld where his dinosaur friends become dinosaur size! Like dragon tales, he goes on adventures, solving problems, and having fun.

9 to 13-year-olds 

(entertaining for teenagers and adults too)

Scooby-doo, where are you!

If anyone says they don’t know Scooby-doo, they are either lying or very unfortunate. Scooby-doo was one of the best things that came out of Hannah-Barbera and Warner Brothers Productions. This classic show written by Joe Ruby and Ken Spears involves a group of friends Fred Jones, Daphne Blake, Velma Dinkley, and Norville "Shaggy" Rogers, and their talking brown Great Dane Scooby-Doo solving supernatural mysteries and mishaps.

Pokémon

"Pokémon? That’s not violent free! The Pokémon fight each other!"

Well, Pokémon is an exception. The good outweighs the bad, so it cannot be ignored as a potential cartoon for children. I grew up watching Pokémon. If there’s an anime that teaches you to chase your dreams and never give up on it, that’s Pokémon. Although its origin is Japanese, the English dubbing team for this anime has done an excellent job.

Evolved from card games to video games, and video games to tv series, the Pokémon series has been on and running since 1997. With over 1119 episodes (still airing), 23 movies, 8 TV specials, 25 side stories, and 896 Pokémons, it becomes one of the biggest anime franchises in the animation industry.

Pokémon does not teach or encourage violence. It teaches kids to treat animals with kindness. I recommend you to watch the very first episode, and you’ll understand its concept. It teaches the importance of friendship, trust, compassion, willpower, and many more.

Honorable mentions

These cartoons definitely would've made the list if it weren't for a few issues. Teenagers would love these cartoons.

1.       Phineas and Ferb (the characters use construction tools without supervision.)

2.       Kid vs Kat (the cat is an alien that wishes to destroy the earth.)

3.       The Powerpuff Girls (violence)

4.       Code name: kids next door (some unwanted behaviors)

 

These series are available for sales on DVDs in their respective official websites or in Amazon.

 I grew up watching these cartoons. I wrote this blog with such nostalgia. What was your favorite cartoon? Let me know in the comments.

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The Because & So dilemma

Are because and so similar?

The conjunctions “because” and “so” are closely related.

Because expresses the cause/reason. It connects the effect phrase to the cause/reason phrase.

I couldn’t play outside                    because                              it was raining.

(effect)                                           (conjunction)                    (cause/reason)

Whereas So expresses the effect. It connects the cause/reason phrase to the effect phrase.

It was raining,                  so                                      I couldn’t play outside.

(cause/reason)                (conjunction)                    (effect)

The first example can be converted to the second example by interchanging the position of the clauses, changing the conjunction, and adding a comma, and vice versa.

This simple trick can help the students understand the concept faster. This method stresses on identifying the cause/reason and its effect in a sentence which is, skill-wise, good practice for the students.

Lesson plan

Lesson plan

Practice material

Practice material

Leave a comment. let me know what you think about this method.

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WhatsApp ESL classes - An experiment

During this pandemic, with schools and colleges opting for online classes, and internet service providers seeing this an opportunity to profit, learning became even more luxurious than it was. Youtube videos and learning apps are the most easily accessible and cost-efficient alternatives one can go for, but it is not an interactive platform. One cannot always expect a reply from the teacher in the videos.

I started looking for a cost-efficient, interactive, effective alternative method, and chat-based learning came to my mind. The investment in this method would be less for both the teacher and the student, but would it be productive? Can the students actually learn through this method? What would it lack? These were the questions that first occurred to me. 

So, I conducted free WhatsApp chat-based online ESL classes as an experiment for three months to determine how efficient it could be.

What is WhatsApp?

WhatsApp is a popular messaging mobile application that allows users to send text and voice messages, pictures, videos, and to make audio/video calls. It is one of the most user-friendly messaging apps in the market.

My students

I couldn’t continue teaching my regular students during quarantine since most of them did not have enough facilities for regular online video classes. And I personally believe that classes during summer vacation months are a cruel thing to do to kids. It’s bad enough they can’t play outside because of the pandemic. I also did not think the chat-based lessons would be suitable for children.

So, I approached some of my classmates. I offered free English classes at their own convenient time. Only two showed interest. I am keeping their names anonymous. So, let us call them student A and student B.

Student A

Student A was very adept. Just by the first five classes, I could say she was more than a B2 level student. She had a good set of vocabulary. She was confident in her speaking skills, and her reading skills were commendable.

I had no prior experience teaching a B2 level student. So, to assess her proficiency, I had to send her some links to skill assessment websites for reading and listening skills, written assignments to assess her grammar and writing skills, and voice recordings to assess her fluency.

She did not know some of the complex grammar topics and had a habit of using monotonous sentences to compensate for this. She had trouble with punctuation and usage of articles.

Student B

Student B’s level of proficiency was that of a beginner. The medium of instruction in the schools he studied was Tamil, so he only had a vague understanding of the basic structure – the syntax and semantics of the English language. But he was smart. He understood each concept I taught even though my medium of instruction was in English. He progressed exponentially.

Lesson plans

The lesson plans for chat-based classes are not much different from normal classes. I followed the same ESA method of teaching to create lesson plans. The ideas for engaging and activity stages are, like always, only limited to one’s imagination.

Sample Lesson Plan

Lesson Plan Execution

Materials

• I used the links of authentic websites. Some of the links I used: 

https://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/

https://www.ielts.org/

https://www.examenglish.com/index.html

https://agendaweb.org/verbs/modals-must-have-to-exercises.html

 

• Images and video clips from YouTube.

Oswald - The Animated Series

• Self-designed materials. You can create your own editable/non-editable materials and send them in the document form to download. A suitable app like Microsoft Word and Adobe PDF viewer can open it. These apps are easily available in the Google Play Store.
• Loads of workbooks for download are available on the internet. You can download them in document format and use them during the classes. You can make a hard copy or use a split-screen to refer to the soft copy during the classes. I did not use any grammar workbooks in my classes.

 Materials Usage

Pros

Setup cost

• You don’t need a modem.
• A two-hour class won’t charge you more than 10 mb.
• You don’t have to worry about an unstable internet connection.
• You don’t have to pay heavy bills for a big data pack.

Convenience

• You don’t have to dress up; you don’t need a workspace with a table; you don’t need any props.
• You can lay down, stretch your legs, and text casually like you are chatting with a friend.
• Students don’t necessarily have to take notes. They can scroll through the chats or search for keywords to find and revise the previous lessons.

Application features

• You can send anything through the app: Photos, videos, audios, questionnaires in document forms, pdfs, and screenshots, just like in Skype calls.
• You can use emojis! Your chat-based lessons won’t be blunt and emotionless with emojis. They can liven up your class. The students like using it too.

 

Cons

Speaking practice

This chat-based learning method is not suitable for practicing speaking. Speaking skills like Pronunciation, intonation, which sound to drop and which sound to add while speaking, cannot be taught by this method.

Listening practice

Listening and processing information is very important in communication. Reading a text message and processing is not the same as listening. You can read a text message over and over to understand it. But listening requires you to process the words as fast as you can. This method fails to practice listening and responding skills.

Time

• A class that usually takes an hour takes more than one and a half hours to complete.
• The replying time; the loading time; the typing, deleting and retyping time; the download and upload speed, etc., takes a good amount of time.

Autocorrect and Word suggestion feature

• Error corrections done by a teacher is different from the error corrections done by an inbuilt software. A safe amount of error correction can help the students attain a conscious idea of the language.
• Autocorrect and word suggestion features decrease the students’ capability to think on their own. The keyboard completes the words for them and autocorrects the spelling errors they rarely notice making.

Distractions

Smartphones in their hands?! The device that holds all their SNS accounts, phone numbers, notifications, messages, and games? And the teacher can’t see what they are doing. Well, that’s not good.

Conclusion

This method has its fair share of successes and failures.

Was it academically progressive?

Yes, it was. You can see the growth in student B’s proficiency from his first-class compared to his latter. Grammar can be taught as efficiently as in online video classes. Students showed tremendous improvement in their reading and writing skills. Student A was given advanced level reading tasks and was able to achieve perfect scores most of the time. She was able to present a written explanation of David Lynch’s Mulholland Drive movie in 400 words in a comfortable and understandable sequence from beginning to end explaining how each scene is related to another. Breaking down and explaining David Lynch’s movie in a second language is no ordinary feat.

Grammar classes with Student A

Student B, like the image shows, was able to write a flawless informal email expressing concern. He structured the mail in a well-mannered order: greeting, introduction, the body of the letter, and closing. Student B was able to give a fair written narrative of an episode from Oswald the octopus – the animated series.

Student B's progress

Where did I face problems?

Speaking and listening tasks. I can chat with them all day, send them all types of cartoons, songs, and movie clips I want to help them improve their listening and responding skills, but that’s not the same as listening to a conversation and responding to it. Pronunciation, intonation, assimilation, liaison, and elision are all the things I couldn’t teach. It was also difficult to explain some things which would’ve been easier to explain non-verbally.

 

I enjoyed teaching this way. I originally planned to do this for 15 days but the students’ interest in learning and their progress motivated me to continue the classes for 3 months. The students weren’t bored. They had fun and their language skills improved a lot. I think that’s what matters. To me, that’s a huge success.

What do you think about this method? Let me know in the comments.

 

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