French, Illustrated
Gaspard, juste à temps!
Gaspard, juste à temps! is a story about a cat (with a fantastic moustache) who is perpetually late. This series of illustrations aims to teach French verb tenses and conjugations in an intuitive, memorable way.
Background
I studied French for over eight years; along the way, I cultivated a love of the language, but a nagging frustration with the way it was taught. In the classroom, students learn concepts in disjointed units and by rote memorization, which can be confusing, tedious, and inefficient.
Inspired by Chineasy, I re-imagined how I would have wanted French grammar concepts to be visualized and presented so that they would be both easy to understand and exciting to learn.
Educational Storytelling
Stories are a powerful medium for teaching language because of two main reasons:
- They illustrate how language used in its natural context, in a way that is fluid and cohesive.
- Stories are memorable – they are remembered up to 22 times more than facts alone.
For these reasons, I experimented with transforming a few French grammar lessons into a witty, illustrated short story.
My role
I created and designed all parts of this project -- the story, layout, and illustrations.
Skills
Storytelling
Illustration
French language
