Grammarman welcomes Brunei Times' readers
Saturday, July 7, 2007
WIELDING Brunei's national flag on his official website, comic character Grammarman has extended a warm welcome to Bruneians after the strip's first appearance in the first issue of The Brunei Times' Newspaper in Education pull-out.
"I thought it would be a good idea to welcome (Bruneians) and make them feel appreciated," said 38-year-old Brian Boyd, the Irishman behind the Grammarman comics.
Boyd started teaching English in Thailand six years ago and is currently employed at the Bangkok British Council.
In the course of teaching, he discovered that fun-loving Thais preferred creative ways to learn English. He also noticed that the students were obsessed with comic books, particularly Japanese comics, or manga. The idea to use comic books to attract more learners to read English arose over a drink with a close friend.
Grammarman was born as a superhero and together with his two loyal sidekicks, an android Alpha-bot and alien Syntax, the trio is dedicated to saving the world from the bad guys who constantly commit grammatical mistakes.
When The Brunei Times asked him why he chose to name his character Grammarman instead of "Vocabman", he laughed.
"I don't know. I think because I'm teaching English. Every stage usually has grammar in it," he said, adding that most people who were learning English as a second language were particularly concerned about getting their grammar perfectly right.
However, Boyd thinks that it is wrong to just concentrate on grammar, which is why "not every episode talks about grammar"; some focus on other things such as attitudes towards learning English and conversation practice.
The Grammarman comic is set in Verbo City, which Boyd based on New York City.
"Because when I was a kid, all the comics I read were American comics," he explained.
In keeping with this inspiration, he includes American slang in his comic, although he still sticks to British English standards when it comes to spelling, and of course, grammar.
Most of Boyd's ideas for his comic are based on his real-life experiences. Having taught language learners from Korea, Japan, Iran and Europe, he said that "they all have their particular problems".It takes Boyd six days to complete each episode of Grammarman, which he does in his free time between teaching. He creates his strips either by identifying which points of grammar he wants to include in a particular episode and then modelling the story around them, but occasionally this happens in reverse.
Coincidentally, he said: "Just before you called, I just finished episode 34. I've a pile of papers and notes of ideas I haven't drawn which are more than 50 possible stories."
"It takes a lot of work to make one page so that's why I have to be doing it all the time to meet the deadline for newspapers."
Initially he created six comics and his first client only wanted to publish it once a month.
When Malaysian newspaper The New Straits Times proposed publishing it on a weekly basis, he had to bargain this down to having it once a fortnight due to time constraints.
"Now, I have enough finished comics for a year. I keep on making them as quickly as I can," he said.
Grammarman makes his weekly appearance in The New Straits Times and The Buenos Aires Herald. Boyd is currently considering publishing an e-book and a workbook, and promises that his fans can look forward to the addition of new characters.
The Brunei Times
"I thought it would be a good idea to welcome (Bruneians) and make them feel appreciated," said 38-year-old Brian Boyd, the Irishman behind the Grammarman comics.
Boyd started teaching English in Thailand six years ago and is currently employed at the Bangkok British Council.
In the course of teaching, he discovered that fun-loving Thais preferred creative ways to learn English. He also noticed that the students were obsessed with comic books, particularly Japanese comics, or manga. The idea to use comic books to attract more learners to read English arose over a drink with a close friend.
Grammarman was born as a superhero and together with his two loyal sidekicks, an android Alpha-bot and alien Syntax, the trio is dedicated to saving the world from the bad guys who constantly commit grammatical mistakes.
When The Brunei Times asked him why he chose to name his character Grammarman instead of "Vocabman", he laughed.
"I don't know. I think because I'm teaching English. Every stage usually has grammar in it," he said, adding that most people who were learning English as a second language were particularly concerned about getting their grammar perfectly right.
However, Boyd thinks that it is wrong to just concentrate on grammar, which is why "not every episode talks about grammar"; some focus on other things such as attitudes towards learning English and conversation practice.
The Grammarman comic is set in Verbo City, which Boyd based on New York City.
"Because when I was a kid, all the comics I read were American comics," he explained.
In keeping with this inspiration, he includes American slang in his comic, although he still sticks to British English standards when it comes to spelling, and of course, grammar.
Most of Boyd's ideas for his comic are based on his real-life experiences. Having taught language learners from Korea, Japan, Iran and Europe, he said that "they all have their particular problems".It takes Boyd six days to complete each episode of Grammarman, which he does in his free time between teaching. He creates his strips either by identifying which points of grammar he wants to include in a particular episode and then modelling the story around them, but occasionally this happens in reverse.
Coincidentally, he said: "Just before you called, I just finished episode 34. I've a pile of papers and notes of ideas I haven't drawn which are more than 50 possible stories."
"It takes a lot of work to make one page so that's why I have to be doing it all the time to meet the deadline for newspapers."
Initially he created six comics and his first client only wanted to publish it once a month.
When Malaysian newspaper The New Straits Times proposed publishing it on a weekly basis, he had to bargain this down to having it once a fortnight due to time constraints.
"Now, I have enough finished comics for a year. I keep on making them as quickly as I can," he said.
Grammarman makes his weekly appearance in The New Straits Times and The Buenos Aires Herald. Boyd is currently considering publishing an e-book and a workbook, and promises that his fans can look forward to the addition of new characters.
The Brunei Times
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