Grade by Grade
C–D. Reading and Writing · Reading and Writing in French: Voices, Stories and Communities

La bande dessinée : Reading Graphic Texts, Making Inferences and Reflecting on My Reading

C1.1 C1.2 C1.3 C2.1 C2.2 C2.3About 65 minutes
Learning goals
  • I can name and explain the features of a comic (panels, speech and thought bubbles, captions, sound effects, motion lines).
  • I can make inferences by reading the images and the gaps between panels.
  • I can read comic dialogue aloud with the right intonation for !, ? and ....
  • I can situate an action in time with aller + infinitive, être sur le point de, être en train de and venir de.
  • I can keep a reading journal that tracks my strategies and my progress.

Words to know

une bande dessinée (une BD)
A comic: a story told in a sequence of drawings with text.
une case
A panel: one picture frame in a comic.
une bulle (un phylactère)
A speech bubble. A thought bubble is connected by small circles.
un récitatif (un cartouche)
A caption box, usually at the top of a panel, giving time, place or narration.
une onomatopée
A word that imitates a sound: VRRR, TOC, BOUM.
une inférence
A conclusion you draw from clues that the text doesn't say directly.
un journal de lecture
A reading journal: notes on what you read, the strategies you used and your reactions.

Reading pictures and words together

Comics are a huge part of francophone culture. Belgium and France are famous for them: Tintin, by the Belgian author Hergé, and the Smurfs (les Schtroumpfs), by the Belgian author Peyo, began as French-language comics. Québec has a lively comics scene too.

Reading a comic is a real skill. You read two languages at once: words and images. And much of the story happens in the gaps between panels, where you must infer what happened.

Remember from earlier grades: you read a comic about daily routines in Grade 6. In Grade 9 you'll analyse how comics create meaning, practise inference, and start a reading journal.

Mardi, au club…Cinq minutes plus tardSoudain…Notre robot vientd'avancer de deux mètres !Génial !InèsKarimIl est en train detourner en rond…KarimVRRR !Attention ! Il est surle point de sortir !Bonjour à toiaussi, robot !InèsMme DupuisTOC !
A three-panel comic made for this lesson. Read left to right: caption boxes (green) give time, bubbles hold speech, the bubble with small circles is a thought, and VRRR ! and TOC ! are sound effects.
Worked example

Let's read a comic strip and make inferences

Transcript of the comic above (written for this lesson; Inès is the new student from Lesson 1 who joined the robotics club, and Karim is from Lesson 6)

Case 1 · Récitatif : Mardi, au club... · Inès : Notre robot vient d'avancer de deux mètres ! · Karim : Génial ! Case 2 · Récitatif : Cinq minutes plus tard · Karim (pensée) : Il est en train de tourner en rond... · Onomatopée : VRRR ! Case 3 · Récitatif : Soudain... · Inès : Attention ! Il est sur le point de sortir ! · Onomatopée : TOC ! · Mme Dupuis : Bonjour à toi aussi, robot !

Glossaire : avancer = to move forward · tourner en rond = to go around in circles · sortir = to go out

  1. Reading order: left to right, top to bottom; inside a panel, read the caption first, then the bubbles from left to right.
  2. Panel 1: the caption sets the time and place (Tuesday, the robotics club). Inès announces that the robot has just moved forward and Karim answers Génial !: success!
  3. Panel 2 (inference): Karim's words are in a thought bubble: he is worried but doesn't want to say it aloud. The dotted circle and VRRR ! show the robot spinning. The caption Cinq minutes plus tard tells us time has passed between panels.
  4. Panel 3 (inference): the robot rolls toward the door just as the teacher, Mme Dupuis, arrives. TOC ! and the small motion lines tell us it bumps into her. Nobody says it hit her: we infer it from the sound and the lines.
  5. Humour: Mme Dupuis answers calmly, Bonjour à toi aussi, robot !, as if the robot had greeted her. The joke works because of the gap between what happened (a crash) and her polite reply.
  6. Comic features used: caption boxes (récitatifs), speech bubbles, a thought bubble, sound effects (onomatopées), motion lines, and an ellipsis (...) that builds suspense.

The robot works at first, then spins out of control and bumps into the teacher, who reacts with humour. Much of the story is inferred from images, sound effects and the time gaps between panels.

Reading strategies for graphic texts

  • Look before you read: scan all the panels first. Faces, gestures and backgrounds give context for new words.
  • Mind the gutter (l'espace entre les cases): ask What happened between these two panels? That's an inference.
  • Bubble shapes carry meaning: a smooth tail = speech; small circles = thought; a jagged outline usually = shouting or a sound from a machine or phone.
  • Captions vs bubbles: captions are the narrator (time, place); bubbles are the characters.
  • Punctuation is acting direction: ! = strong emotion, ? = rising voice, ... = hesitation or suspense.

These strategies also help with other graphic texts: infographics, storyboards, picture books and even instruction diagrams.

Placing an action in time

Comics freeze single moments, so they often use expressions that say exactly where we are in an action. You know the futur proche (aller + infinitive). Three more:

  • être sur le point de + infinitive = to be about to: Il est sur le point de sortir !
  • être en train de + infinitive = to be in the middle of (doing): Il est en train de tourner en rond.
  • venir de + infinitive = to have just (done): Notre robot vient d'avancer de deux mètres !

Only the first verb is conjugated: nous sommes en train de lire, ils viennent de partir. In the past, use the imparfait: Il venait de partir quand je suis arrivé(e). (He had just left when I arrived.)

Situer une action dans le tempsl'actionaller + infinitifbientôtêtre sur le point dejuste avantêtre en train dependantvenir dejuste aprèsIl va sortir.Il est sur le pointde sortir.Il est en trainde tourner.Il vientd'avancer.
Four expressions that zoom in on one moment of an action: soon, just before, during, just after.

Stress pronouns in dialogue

Comic dialogue is full of short, punchy pronouns: Moi ? Jamais ! C'est lui ! Et toi ? These are stress pronouns (pronoms toniques): moi, toi, lui, elle, nous, vous, eux, elles. Use them alone, after c'est, after prepositions (avec toi, chez eux), and for emphasis (Moi, je préfère la robotique). In the comic: Bonjour à toi aussi !

Worked example

Let's write a reading journal entry

After reading the comic, write a reading journal entry in French (with some English if needed): title, summary, two strategies, one inference, a reaction and a goal.

  1. Title and form: Titre : « Le robot du club » · Forme : bande dessinée (3 cases)
  2. Summary (2 sentences, present tense): Inès et Karim testent leur robot. Le robot tourne en rond, puis il heurte Mme Dupuis.
  3. Strategies: J'ai regardé les images avant de lire les bulles. J'ai utilisé les récitatifs pour comprendre le temps (« Cinq minutes plus tard »).
  4. Inference: Dans la case 3, personne ne dit que le robot touche Mme Dupuis, mais l'onomatopée « TOC ! » le montre.
  5. Reaction: J'ai trouvé la fin drôle parce que Mme Dupuis reste très calme.
  6. Goal (metacognition): La prochaine fois, je vais lire les dialogues à voix haute pour pratiquer l'intonation.

A complete entry has: title and form, a short summary, the strategies used, one inference with its clue, a personal reaction, and a goal. Keep all entries in one notebook or file so you can see your progress.

Just for fun

In French, a sneeze in a comic is often written Atchoum ! and a kiss is Smack ! Every language has its own sounds. Some French comics even have their own sound words, like the Smurfs, who replace lots of words with schtroumpf. Schtroumpfement drôle !

Hands-on activity

Make a 4-panel comic

You need: paper, a ruler, a pencil and a fine marker. (Or use a free comic-making app, with a parent's permission.)

  1. Draw four panels. Plan a mini-story about something at home or school that goes wrong in a funny way (a pet, a recipe, a snowman, a science project).
  2. Use every feature: at least one caption box, speech bubbles, one thought bubble, two sound effects, motion lines.
  3. Use each time expression once: aller + infinitive, être sur le point de, être en train de, venir de.
  4. Leave one important event between panels for the reader to infer.
  5. Give your comic to someone at home. Ask them what happened in the gap. Did they infer correctly?
  6. Read your dialogue aloud with expression, then write a reading journal entry about a comic someone else made (or one from the library).

Look for: a clear reading order, each feature used on purpose, correct venir de / en train de / sur le point de + infinitive.

Your turn

1

What did the robot do in panel 1?

2

Why is Karim's sentence in panel 2 in a thought bubble?

3

What happens between panels 2 and 3? How do you know?

4

What does TOC ! tell us?

5

What is a récitatif, and give one from the comic.

6

Translate: Il est en train de tourner en rond.

7

How should you read Attention ! aloud?

More practice: warm-up

1

What is une case?

2

Translate: Je viens de manger.

3

Translate: Nous sommes en train de lire.

4

What does être sur le point de mean?

5

Give an onomatopée for a knock on a door.

More practice: on your own

1

Complete with venir de: Les élèves (just finished) ____ leur projet.

2

Complete: Chut ! Le bébé (is about to) ____ s'endormir.

3

Complete with a stress pronoun: Tu viens avec ____ ? (me) · Ils rentrent chez ____ . (them, masc.)

4

Rewrite in the past: Je viens d'arriver quand le film commence.

5

Name two ways a comic shows that time has passed.

Challenge

1

Describe what is happening in panel 2 using être en train de and in panel 1 using venir de, from Karim's point of view in the first person.

2

Explain how the comic creates humour in panel 3 using at least two features.

3

Compare reading a comic and reading a news article: give one strategy that works for both and one that is special to comics.

Check your understanding

Quiz

1.

In a comic, a box at the top of a panel that says Le lendemain matin is...

2.

Il vient de partir means...

3.

Nous ______ en train de lire.

4.

A bubble connected by small circles shows...

5.

Inferring what happens between two panels means...

6.

C'est ______ qui a construit le robot ! (her)

For parents and teachers

Big idea: Your child learns strategies for reading graphic texts, especially inference (C1.1, C1.2), practises reading dialogue aloud with expression (C1.3), analyses comic features (C2.1, C2.2), and starts a reading journal to reflect on strategies (C2.3). The grammar is the time expressions venir de, être en train de, être sur le point de and stress pronouns.

How to help:

  • Borrow a French comic from the public library (many Ontario libraries have Astérix, Tintin or Québec comics). Read a page together and ask: What happened between these two panels?
  • Act out comic dialogue together with exaggerated expression.

Common difficulties:

  • Conjugating the second verb: il vient de part (wrong) → il vient de partir.
  • Confusing venir de (just did) with the futur proche aller (going to).
  • Skipping the images and reading only the bubbles, which makes inference impossible.

Fact note: Tintin (by Hergé) and the Smurfs (by Peyo) were created by Belgian authors in French. The comic in this lesson was made for the site.