There are many cartoon-generating Web tools, but few are so language rich as Zimmer Twins. Once you’ve registered, you can create a cartoon of as many frames as you like, based around three set characters – Edgar, Eva and Thirteen the cat. You have four types of frame: communicating (talking, thinking, whispering, etc), actions (anything from walking and running to hugging, chasing, strutting and even crowd surfing!), close ups showing facial expressions (eg confused, dizzy, relieved) and a set of ’star clips’ (including sequencing captions such as ‘earlier’, ‘later’ and ‘meanwhile’). All of these are labelled meaning that students come into contact with over eighty words and phrases every time they use the tool, as well as the language they’re using the tool to create.

Watch the following tutorial to see how easy it is to create a Zimmer Twins film…

Zimmertwins video tutorial

…and click  here to view our example.

Creating a blog using Bloggerç

When you’ve finished watching the tutorial, click on the back arrow to return to the blog.

Creating a Google account tutorial

When you’ve finished watching the tutorial, click on the back arrow to return to the blog.

This is an excellent tool which allows you to create your own flashcards containing pictures, words and/or definitions. You can print them off or work with them them online.

Watch the following PowerPoint tutorials to find out how to access and use Flashcard machine:

Signing up to Flashcard machine:

Signing up to flashcard machine PowerPoint tutorial

Using Flashcard machine:

Using flashcard machine PowerPoint tutorial

Animoto provides a great way of making a presentation or quick-fire flashcard quiz. You can make very professional-looking videos and include music, either from your own collection or from Animoto’s extensive library.

The PowerPoint presentation below explains how to create an Animoto quick-fire flashcard quiz. When you have finished viewing the presentation, click on the back arrow to return to the blog.

Animoto PowerPoint tutorial

Here’s the Animoto video we created:

]]> http://www.ttblog.e-learning.macmillan.es/2010/02/animoto/feed/ 0 http://www.ttblog.e-learning.macmillan.es/2009/12/voki/ http://www.ttblog.e-learning.macmillan.es/2009/12/voki/#comments Mon, 21 Dec 2009 15:47:47 +0000 Macmillan Teacher Training http://www.ttblog.e-learning.macmillan.es/?p=119 Location: www.voki.com

Voki is a tool for creating your own avatar (an animated picture of someone). You can personalise your avatar and record (or type in) the words you want it to speak.

1) How to use it:

PRIMARY:

Voki PowerPoint tutorial

SECONDARY:

2) Teaching ideas

PRIMARY:

Use Voki to add a speaking and listening dimension to any writing activity. For example, if your pupils are writing about their likes and dislikes (as in the example below from Bugs World 3), they can record or key the sentences into Voki and hear them spoken. They can watch and listen to each other’s avatars.

Taken from Bugs World 3 by Elisenda Papiol and Maria Toth (Macmillan ELT)

Here’s an example we made:

Get a Voki now!

SECONDARY:

Make dictations more student centred by getting them to record their own voices then transcribe what each other’s avatar is saying. Or extend a letter or email-writing activity by bringing it to life through an avatar! Here’s an example from Voices 1.  Students are given the following writing task:

Taken from Voices 1 by Catherine McBeth (Macmillan ELT)

Here’s our example:

Get a Voki now!

Everything has a history. Virtually every topic that might appear in a coursebook units can be tied in with some kind of chronology of events. Creating a timeline is a good way of visualising how the history has evolved of anything from your favourite pop group to the World Cup or the mobile phone.  Here’s a tutorial which takes you through the stages of creating a timeline with Xtimeline:

Click here to see our full World Cup timeline, or here to see the one we created as an extension activity for the Olympic Games reading text in Voices 1.

Glogster is a great way to bring projects to life. You can create a poster with text, images and even sound files. The tutorials below show how to create a ‘glog’:

PRIMARY:
Here’s an example of how a project task in a Primary coursebook can be presented using Glogster. This is the task…

Taken from Bugs World 3 by Elisenda Papiol and Maria Toth (Macmillan ELT)

…and here’s the glog we made:

Watch how we did it in the PowerPoint tutorial below:

Glogster PowerPoint tutorial

SECONDARY:
Here’s an example of how a project task in a Secondary coursebook can be presented using Glogster.

The following tutorial shows students can create their project poster through Glogster, using mind maps to help plan the contents:

Mind maps have many uses. They can be used to work on a reading text, with students asked to analyse the text to work on structure, which they can then apply to their own writing work.

Watch this tutorial to find out how to use Bubbl, then go to www.bubbl.us

Toondoo is a great tool which allows you to create your own cartoons, complete with speech bubbles and captions. It can be found at www.toondoo.com

Students can either create their own cartoons (possible around a certain grammar point) or fill in captions / speech bubbles in cartoons created by the teacher or their classmates.