Zimmer Twins -Make a Movie

Today's Website~

● Zimmer Twins-Make a Movie

Zimmer Twins

What is it about?

●  Zimmer Twins is a website in which you can make a movie or create your own cartoon

    through the animation clips provided.

●  Though the function of the free version is limited, it is enough for learners to create a

    simple animation, leave comments and rate the movies.

●  Just send the link of your own movie to your friends and they can see it immediately.

●  You can save your movies in your own account.

Why is the content good for language teaching?

●  It is simple and fun to make an animation of your own.

●  Learners have to make the plot or story smooth, readable and coherent.  It engages them

    with careful planning, word-choosing and the skills of story telling.

●  To make a movie needs collaboration.  Collaboration involves negotiation of meanings,

    communication, idea sharing, brain-storming, compromising and synthesising.

●  Students can apply what they learn in class according to the topic teachers set.

●  It helps engage students in seeking resources related to their task and broaden their

    language learning.  The authentic resources make their learning meaningful.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

●  I would have students work in group, exploring the functions of the tool first.  Then, I will

    list several topics related to the unit we are learning right now.  Students can choose one

    and start to plan their story or plot.

●  In order to make students feel more comfortable about using this tool in language learning,

    the story should be short.  And they have to use the vocabulary and grammar we learn in

    the unit.  And the clips should be no more than 15 clips (It's for beginners).

●  Teachers could also make a movie with an open-ended question for students to continue

    the story.

●  Students then show and share what they create.  They are encouraged to leave

    comments, (in English if possible) or rate the movies of other groups.

●  The links of students' work can be pasted in the class blog for students and their friends

    or family to see.

●  The outcome could be one of students' assessment.  It can also be used to check

    students' understanding of what they have learned in class. 

Limitations

●  The function of free version is limited, for example, you could not change the characters,

    places or actions at will.

●  There is no voice of the actor or actress' lines created.  The lines can only be read.

●  Once you save the movie you create, you can not edit it.  You can only start over if you

    are not happy with your work.

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Example~ Start to use Zimmer Twins 

●  Check the movie I made by clicking on

     http://www.zimmertwins.com/node/1154182?designated=new

●  Log in and click on "Make a Movie".

Make a movie

●  Click on "Make From Scratch".

Make From Scratch

●  Now you can select "Talk Bubble", "Action Clips", "Close-up Clips", or "Star Clips"

    to make your own movie.  Explore and try each clip.  If you are not happy with the

    clip you choose, you can drag it away (on the bottom).  You can also rearrange the

    order of the clips if you like.

Animation Clips

Voki-Create Your Own Avatar

Today's Website~

● Voki-Create Your Own Avatar

Voki for Education

What is it about?

●  Voki is a free tool that you can use it to create your own speaking avatar.

●  It is easy to customize your avatar, add voice, and publish it.

●  You can post your personalized avatars in your blog or your website.  You can

    also use it as your profile.

●  Voki provides lesson plans (different subjects, different grades) for teachers to use

    in the classroom.  The "Teacher's Corner" provides teachers with a community to

    share their ideas and teaching plans. 

Why is the content good for language teaching?

●  Voki can be used in education to practice speaking and communicating in target

    language.

●  Voki encourages learners to participate in language learning.

●  Voki engages learners in creative expression in target language.

●  Every student (especially shy students) has a chance to speak and

    communicate in target language.

●  It is interesting and motivating.

●  The personalized feature empowers learners and provides learners with choices. 

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

●  I would have students make a story related to the topic, grammar, vocabulary,

    or sentence patterns we learned in class.

●  For example, if the grammatical focus is on comparative adjectives, we can have

    students make a story or according to the adjectives we learned in class.  They

    can use more adjectives if needed.  The teacher should be around for help.

●  Some resources should be provided for students to consult. e.g. online dictionary,

    the websites related to the topic, the grammar rules.

●  If students are beginners of Voki, teachers should offer specific criteria for students

    to follow.  For instance, students can use the 15 comparative adjectives taught to

    create a 2-minute story or introduction related to the topic. 

●  For individual learner, the teacher can have each student to talk about their hobby,

    introduce their pet, family or themselves.  But sufficient computers and headphones

    are needed.

●  There are many other activities, such as tongue twisters, sing English songs,

    practice their pronunciation and intonation by playing different roles.  Check out

    Teacher's corner in Voki for more ideas. 

●  See a lesson plan using Voki in  TEFL Teacher.

Limitations

●  Need computers and headphones (microphones) for students to create their avatars

    and add voice.

●  It is not easy for collaborative learning because one can only create one character.

●  Also need more time to teach students how to publish their avatars in the blog or

    website.

●  It might be very noisy when everyone records their voice at the same time.

●  The teachers need to organize the questions or content they would like their students

    to answer in case it looks messy on the screen.

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Example~ Start to use Voki

●  Log in and click on "Create your own Voki" or "Create".

Log in and Create

 ●  Customized  your Voki.  Choose the character you like, dress it and add accessories.

Choose, Dress and Add bling

Select the character

 ●  Add a voice to your character.  You can record your voice via phone or microphone,

     text to speech, or upload an audio file from your computer.  Here, we use "text to

    speech" function.  We type the text, choose the language, the voice and accent

    you like.

Text to Speech

●  Select the background  you like.  Publish your Voki now.

Select Backgrounds and Publish

●  You can embed your Voki in your website or blog, or send a link to your friends.

     You can click on "My Voki" to edit your characters.

Send a Link to Your Friend or Embed Your Voki

●  An example of my Voki character.

●  You can watch  Voki Tutorial in Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Video for more 

    instructions.

YUDU-Read and Publish Your Content (Word, Powerpoint, Excel, PDF, Videos, Podcasts)

Today's Website~ 

●  YUDU

YUDU

What is it about?

●  Issuu is a free digital publishing library that let you to read, publish, buy, sell and

    share what "you do" (YUDU) (your content-Word, Powerpoint, PDF) with the world .

●  You can set up your own personal library to story things.  E-books, brochures,

    portfolios, magazines, documents, photos, music, podcasts and visual bookmarks

    can be added into your library. 

●  Like, Issuu, you can collect and share the documents.  And you can embed them into

    your own website or your blog.


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Self Publishing with YUDU

Why is the content good for language learning?

●  Like Issuu, learners can publish their complete works, reports, notes or their own

    portfolios.

●  The page-turning effects (interactive publication) make their complete works look

    wonderful.  It is motivating.

●  Learners are encouraged to write and edit collaborative, and make themselves editors.

●  Learners can embed their works and share them with others.  It makes them be

    cautious of what they write during the writing process.

●  The publications of students works, the library and bookshelf the website offers

    can be students' best learning portfolios.  Students could also learn how to organize

    their documents and works.

● You can embed your library in your blog.  The collection in your library could be view

    clearly.  It is a good way to organize learners' works during their learning process.

●  One of the characteristics that is different from Issuu is that YUDU could add photos,

    music, videos and podcasts into your library.  Learners' learning portfolios could be

    various, not confined to written documents. 

How might you use it in a language teaching context?  

●  First, I would introduce this tool and we will talk about what they should do before 

    they publish their works.

●  I will teach students how to upload their files.  The functions of the library will be 

    introduced, too.

●  Set the criteria to help them to their own library, e.g. how to manage and organize

    their documents, reports or portfolio.  Embed their works in the class blog would 

    make it a simple presentation of their works.  Their peers and parents could easily

    see what they learn in class.

●  Classroom notes, story-telling, photo books, diaries and journals, comic books, 

    student newspaper, book reports and summaries, movie reviews, or any collaborative

    learning activities could be published according to the teaching context.

●  The publishing features make it easy to collect the works presented by students 

    during their learning process.  

●  If students publish their classroom notes, it could be their best e-notes, and it could

    be the records of their learning process.

●  Students can download the works or notes made by their peers.

Limitations~

  

●  Need sufficient computers and Internet.

●  There are so many documents, magazines and books on Issuu, teachers should 

    guide their students and help students select appropriate online publications when 

    students would like to put them in their own bookshelf. 

●  Once students publish their documents, everyone can search them online.  Therefore,
    
    teachers should make students aware of the publishing options (make it private or 

    public).  Be cautious when they store their own documents in the library.

●  There are not many EFL contents in this website.  

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 Example~

●  When reading the content, you can:  1. Add or remove highlights.  2. Add a note.

    3. Add a bookmark.  4. Print the content.
 

Check Out the Functions When Reading the Documents

●  Search inside YUDU.  Embed the document in your blog.  You could add it to your

    personal library, too.  

Embed and Add to Your Library

●  Upload documents, audios, photos or bookmarks to YUDU.  Three rules have to

    be followed:  No Adult Content.  No Copyright Abuse.  No Offensive Material.

Upload and Pulish

●  Upload your document, fill in the descriptions and tag your documents.  You can

    
    make it private use, too.

Upload, Fill in Description, and Tag Your Documents

●  Embed example~Twelve Essentials for Technology Integration by Richard Byrne

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Digital Publishing with YUDU