Speaking online avatars

www.voki.com
Students create their own online avatars. Students register, then create their avatar, customising their chosen character with different facial features and colours, clothing, ‘bling’, voice and background. Students can type in text and then select Accent/Language to have their text generated into spoken language, or students may record their own voices using Audacity and then upload the sound files. Great fun and quick and easy to use! Creations may be published and/or emailed.
Languages available include: Chinese, French, German, Greek, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Spanish.

Stage 4 classes connect with each other

In May 2011, my colleague Leanne Smith and I ran a full-day workshop for teachers wishing to link their 100 hours students with another class, using connected classroom technologies. Providing students with a real audience for their learning is a huge motivator and a vital component in Quality Teaching. Blogs, video conferencing, Bridgit, email, even old-fashioned letter exchanges - linking is now easier than ever before! Teachers of Japanese from four high schools (Armidale HS, Braidwood CS, Camden Haven HS and Glen Innes HS) are linking their students in this way, with students enjoying creating online avatars and speaking in Japanese to each other via video conferences. Why not try it...?
photo credit: Florian SEROUSSI via photopin cc