Thursday 13 October 2011

Dvolver - Creating interesting comic!

LINK - http://www.dvolver.com/moviemaker/make.html


WHAT
Dvolver is a fantastic website for English teachers who look for variety in their language teaching. It is a video making website that include a cartoon comic strip where we choose from few themes, characters, and backgrounds given. In brief, learners could create their own dialogue and present it in the form of movie, depending on their own creativity.

Rather than asking the students to create dialogue on paper, in pairs or group, Dvolver promote a more interesting and fun way of creating dialogue. Due to its colourful and animated nature, students will have more interest and feel excited to create a dialogue. If they are excited about it, it is more likely that they will remember what is being taught and language is processed effectively.

The activity of creating comic strip also contribute to cognitive development, especially when students have to create a scene that suit their intended dialogue.


HOW
  • Select background and sky
 

  • Select the plot. It has four plots. 

  • Choose the character.

  • Type in the character line. 

  • Choose the background music. You may want to add a new scene, depending on your story line. 
 

  • Select the movie title and include your name too. 

  • You can preview the movie, and send it to anyone through email. You could also choose 'back' button to make some changes. 
 

EXAMPLE

Title: Teach me dvolver
Author: myself





ADVANTAGES
  1. No sign up - It is easily accessible where you could start right away without signing in. 
  2. Choices - There are choices of background and theme as well as characters, which are interesting and able to encourage dialogue making. 
  3. Free - This website is totally free. 
  4. It is simple - You just follow the instruction and you could always go back to the previous step if you made some mistakes. 
  5. Allow creativity - It is a good practice of English because learners will come out with their own idea while performing the task. 

DISADVANTAGES
  1. Choice - The limited choice of theme or plot. It means, learners may not possibly come out with a broader theme aside from what is given.
  2. Speakers - The maximum speakers are two, which is also limited. 

CONCLUSION


The fact that multimedia is always an interesting tool for anyone regardless age and gender make Dvolver a powerful website. Everyone would favour a comic dialogue, especially when it is simple and easy to make. Language teachers will not escape any opportunity to create another classroom activity that apply this concept. For that reason, I do not fine any limitation not to use this in classroom or as homework or project. Though they might be issue of technical problem (lack of computers / no internet access), it can still be done with careful plan. Good Luck

       

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