bombaytv

http://www.grapheine.com/bombaytv/

zimmer twins

In the previous entry, I talked about the usage of DVolver in which helps learners especially in their writing skills. As compared to Dvolver there's not so much different can be found between these two tools but I will definitely explain how this ZIMMERTWINS can benefit ESL learners in their language classroom. The first thing to do is absolutely to create an account to have an access to the website. Once you're logged one, you can just simply click on the available buttons such as talk-bubble clips, action clips, close-up clips and star clips in order to create a simple cartoon strip of your choice!

First thing first, this tool allows you to be select a topic of the day in which gives you more options about what kind of movie you wanna create. For an example, various topics or titles are posted in the website everyday and all you can do is choose the one which you wanna deal with. Every topics or titles are usually halfway done by the designer of the tool therefore, your main job is to finish the cartoon strip by creating / predicting how the previous and the next strips should be like. Basically, this tool needs a higher creativity from language learners to intelligently become an amateur cartoon director. This tool is occupied with many interesting nuttons and various wonderful it can totally benefit the learner if a few identified drawbacks can be overcome. The downside of this tool will be discussed after this.

As stated above, Zimmertwins has a lot of functional buttons and selections which will help the learner to decide what should be there, particularly in their cartoon strip. You can always be creative in planning the sequence of your mini cartoon project as you are allowed to be exactly like a real cartoon director. In terms of pedagogical point of view, a few advantages have been identified so far.

The advantages:

1. This tool acts as a medium for student to exploit the new language that they are learning in a fun way. It is an undeniable fact to say that this website encourages the learner to be creative while dealing with the mini cartoon project.

2. By exposing learners to this kind of tool, they are actually becoming more autonomous learners in some senses. It is vital to say that more frequent exposure to the target language means better outcome for the learners.

3. This website also allow the learner to create authentic dialogue in the bubble provided, hence more practice of language among the learner will definitely turn them to better users of the language.

4. The teacher can also set up a homework task for learners just by using this tool. Since this activity might be a little bit time consuming so by giving a homework,  the learner can spend the necessary time.

5. Again, this is a free tool as long as you have a registered account to the website.

However, the drawbacks could be:

1. Limited platform to fully use the language since the bubble does not allow many words to be typed in thus might limit the learner creativity in playing with words.

2. This activity is definitely a time consuming and the teacher should know how to make sure that learners will never be carried away with these attractive cartoons.

3. This tool is only suitable for certain age group of  learners, as younger learners will be more attracted to the website rather than adult learners.

4.Some videos might also not able to published due to some technical reasons. If it is a homework which has been assigned to, the learner might have sent the cartoon movie through email but still the teacher might not be able to watch it!

bookr

http://www.pimpampum.net/bookr/

Hi all, this is another amazing tool for students to be creative in expressing their creativity while experimenting a new language. This pimpampum bookr is actually a tool in which allows learners to create and share their own photobook using Flickr photos. This tool is specifically designed for users to pick their own selection of pictures by typing in the tag box: for example if the learners wanna present about "The most beautiful place that I have ever been to", they might just need to type in the name of the place in the tag box and within seconds, those related pictures to the keyword will appear in the stripe below the main frame.

As you can see in the above picture, learners can start searching for images related to the given topic by typing in the keyword in the tag box, and after that you can just press the GO button. In order to begin creating a bookr, you are expected to find a suitable title or topic for your photobook,and yeah dont forget to put your name as the author as well. Its up to you whether you wanna use your real name or just your nickname, as long as people can have a look at it and be amazed of your masterpiece.

In my classroom, I have decided to present about the most beautiful place that I have ever been to and that place is Paris,France. As in the picture, I have typed in The City of Romance as the main title for my bookr and Kayla as the name of the author.  I have also selected a background image which portrays the central attraction of Paris which is the Eiffel Tower. Choosing the image is quite easy peasy lemon squeezy because you can just simply drag the picture to the photobook and it will just stay there.

The same draggy system is also applied to all of your slides in your photobook. You can simply drag the chosen image right into either right of left page of the bookr. As simple as that and you are now capable of presenting an attractive bookr with interesting images and explanations as well. As for the explanation part, you can write down a simple but precise explanation about the picture in the box provided below each of the pictures.

The pros of this tool:
1. This tool can definitely be a perfect platform for learners to combine the beauty of arts (images) and the use of language especially for the explanation section.
2. This tool also allows  learners to be familiar with descriptive sort of sentences while describing each of the picture in their photobook.
3. I would recommend most teachers to use this tool with students in the classroom as most of them are born with multiple intelligence, in which may related to VAK, visual, audio, and kinesthetic intelligence. In this case, learners with visual intelligence are totally at advantage since they can actually express their thoughts with the presence of beautiful images from Flickr.
4. Teachers can always manipulate this Bookr to be a medium for students to have an oral presentation scaffolded by the images and a few short explanation below each pictures. In the first place, Bookr may just be funky medium for learners to find pictures and simply describe them but if they need to stand on front of the class to present their photobook, this will absolutely boost learners' speaking confidence.
5. Since this activity should involve only individual effort to create a photobook, an autonomous way of learning can be developed in the classroom, hence learners can become an independent learner.
6. Free access, without having to sign up for the website is totally amazing for both teacher and learners.


The cons maybe:
1. Bookr only allows a limited number of words to be typed in the explanation box while learners need to specifically describe each picture unless the teacher can allocate some times for them to present their photobook orally.
2. While dealing with this tool, learners are expected to work individually therefore the teacher may not be able to monitor each of students' progression. This may lead them to be carried away with the task as they might also look for inappropriate images from the internet.
3. Be careful while creating the photobook as for some unexplained technical reasons, your photobook may disappear just like that! Once you have finished editing, be sure to click on the publish button so that your masterpiece can simply be accessed by other net users.