It is believed that language lessons can be supported easily with images and animations. Today, with the help of technology in educational settings, teachers and learners are provided with the opportunity to create animations and comic strips to make lessons more interactive and interesting. Zimmer Twins, is one of the websites that allows both teachers and students to engage in language learning. Therefore, get to know this website and use the tool in your classroom!
WHAT IS ZIMMER TWINS?
It is quite similar to a tool that I have introduced before-Dvolver. Zimmer Twins helps you to create an amazing movie maker by using animation.
HOW TO USE ZIMMER TWINS?
- This website allows you to create stories or animations based on flash. You can click on the item “Make a movie” on the main menu. Then, you will be directed to the page below where it(Screenshot 1)provides several story starters that allow you to create your own movie endings or create a movie from scratch.
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| Screenshot 1: Choose either to make a movie from scratch or make up an ending to an existed story. The website focuses on three main characters: Eva and Edgar, the 12-year-old twins, and their adopted black cat named 13. You can create animations using these three characters( Screenshot 2).Zimmer Twins also allows you to piece together clips of the twins interacting and speaking through thought bubbles. You may start your movie with call-outs, actions, emotions and finally with the transitions. |
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| Screenshot 2: Choose the character(s) |
- Start your animation after choosing the characters and the rest is based on your imagination. For more details,click here to listen to a video tutorial on how to get started with your movie.
- Watch the video below if you want to know how the Zimmer Twins' characters are produced.
HOW CAN TEACHERS USE ZIMMER TWINS?
Zimmer Twins is suitable for all levels of students especially for young learners. What is so speacial about Zimmer Twins is that it is restricted to certain vocabulary items only for free members. This is an advantage for beginners who have limited knowledge of vocabulary to maximally use all the easy and simple vocabulary items by contextualising them through animated movie-making. In this way, it will be helpful for the students to use language naturally in suitable contexts.
There are several other ways that teachers can use Zimmer Twins in classroom. First, teachers can ask students to watch a starter video and predicting the ending of the story by making a video. This activity will be great as students will be able to stimulate their brain and think imaginatively in creating their creative story.
There are several other ways that teachers can use Zimmer Twins in classroom. First, teachers can ask students to watch a starter video and predicting the ending of the story by making a video. This activity will be great as students will be able to stimulate their brain and think imaginatively in creating their creative story.
Considering the language learning and teaching activities, the possible use of Zimmer Twins is to focus on grammar practice activities in which learners try to come up with some stories using the newly learnt structures and lexical items. However, teachers should carefully conduct this activity by keeping in mind that language should be used naturally in order for one to acquire language easily. Instead of requiring the students to use a particular grammar structure or vocabulary items(e.g, sports) when writing the dialogue for the movie, teacher could ask the students to create a story of sports day on their own. This indirectly trigger students who have the background knowledge of sports before to automatically include the vocabulary items in the dialogue even not all but at least. This is more natural way of using a language as students are not restricted to use any form or lexical items. This in turn, will also help students to remember and know how to use the words better in longer term.
Teachers can also ask students to write dialogues for specific topics such as "my adorable cat" or "my twin". Although the teacher choose the topic for students, they still have freedom to write whatever they want. Another way is that teachers can use Zimmer twins for students' formative feedback. What can teachers do is asking the students create their own soap opera and add different scenes each week by the same learners or different learners and send them via email. Give them a constructive feedback on how they can improve their stories. Peer feedback may also be done sometimes to sparks a difference in giving feedback to the students.
ADVANTAGES
- Autonomous learning- In one sense, students are becoming more autonomous as they use this tool as they are the one who is going to decide what is the best for their movie.
- Fun and motivating- Students will enjoy use this tool as it is simple and easy to handle even if it were to be used for young learners. It uses many animation and pictures that helps students to visualise the verb(e.g, angry, yells, surprised and sings) provided in the website. Once the students engage in the activity, their affective filter will reduced and thus, ease them for language learning.
- Sense of ownership- Zimmer twins allows students to personalise their own movie as this site offers loads of actions and expressions that students can choose for their movie. This makes students to think creatively and feel that they are entitled to their own movie.
- Free lesson plans- This site includes free lesson plans that help you to use Zimmer twins with your students in classroom. However, you may need to sign for a VIP membership if you want to look for more lesson plans suggested in this site.
DISADVANTAGES
- Unsaved work- It does not save your work unless you sign up an account with Zimmer Twins.
- Irreversible- No changes can be made once the movie is saved, which means it could not altered anymore. There is also a limited number of words that can be typed in the bubbles which only allow students to write a short sentence.
- Time consuming- Using this tool for classroom activity will take up a long time, therefore, teachers should know how to make sure learners will never carried away with those attractive cartoons and animations.
- Cannot be embedded- the video produced cannot be embedded onto your blog or other websites which make it a bit difficult everytime you want to watch it directly from your blog.
- Subscription- Users have to purchase a VIP membership in order to share the completed movies or view other movies.
