Analyse Text Context Using Engaging, Age-Appropriate Comics

Understanding text context is a key skill in primary English, as it helps students interpret texts with greater depth and insight.

This resource offers three original comics on relevant, age-appropriate topics. Each comic comes with an accompanying set of questions about the historical, social and cultural context in which the comic is set. By working through the questions, students will develop their ability to make inferences, recognise author intent and appreciate how context influences storytelling.

The comics featured in this resource are:

1. No Free Rides – This comic explores personal hygiene and germ transference in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic.
2. Social Footprints – This comic explores safe sharing behaviours on digital platforms in the context of the digital/online age.
3. In Sync – This comic explores traditional gender stereotypes in the context of challenging social norms.

This resource downloads as a black-and-white PDF. Answers are also included in the download.

Ways to Explore the Context of a Text with Your Class

This versatile resource exploring text context can be used in multiple ways in your English lessons. Here are some ideas from our team you might like to consider:

• Whole-Class Discussion – Choose one of the comics to focus on, then project it onto your digital screen. Read the comic as a class, then work through the questions about the historical, social and cultural context together. Model how to use the text to make inferences and draw conclusions about each aspect of the text’s context.
• Literacy Rotations or Small Groups: Create small groups, then assign each group a different comic. Have the students read the comic together, discuss and answer the questions, then summarise and present their insights to the rest of the class.
• Homework or Independent Work – Allow the students to choose which comic they would like to analyse, then provide them with a copy of the text and the accompanying questions. Have the students work independently on the activity. This could also be completed as a homework task or assessment checkpoint.

Download This Text in Context Resource Today!

Getting started with this resource is simple. Use the Download button above to access the full set of comics, accompanying questions and associated answer pages.

As this resource contains answer pages, we recommend printing one copy of the entire file, then selecting and removing the pages you wish to photocopy for the students.

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