A game-like tool you didn't know about improving students' motivation! 📚🤹‍♀️👩‍🏫

(source: https://www.58pic.com)

⇨Struggling to motivate your young students in your ESL class? 🧐

⇨Is it too hard to attract your young learners attention in your ESL class?🧐

It’s time to know an amazing tool to promote students’ attention because motivation in an ESL classroom takes on a main aspect of any lesson. 

     
                                                                      🔺Voki🔺


If we want our leaners to be engaged and focus on the knowledge which we deliver in lessons, we should design our materials and process to be more interesting. A tool called Voki may be considered as a special voice which can be showed in our language classes. In this post, I will introduce this interesting tool and show you the steps to create an avatar who can help you to express yourself. 😊


What is Voki?

Voki (https://www.voki.com) is a tool to help you to create avatars. In this tool, you can design it to become all kinds of characters, like a teacher, a football player, even a dog. At the same time, the character's voice and the color of clothes can be depended on you. The most important thing is that you can type the words and then your character will read your words and the video will be formed.


How do you use this website?

It is not complex to use Voki website. I will show you several steps about how to create a character in Voki.

1️⃣Step 1

You need enter the website https://www.voki.com/student/home and log in your account. Then this page will be showed.

2️⃣Step 2

Then the following page will be showed. Please click ‘GET STARTED’ if you don’t have any Voki in your library. ☺️
You can also click the button ‘CREATE NEW’ to create a new one.😊

3️⃣Step 3
Now it’s time to show your creation and ideas! 😎
You can choose all kinds of characters, clothes, hair color, or even background.

I take a cute panda for example. 🎋
I think a red jacket is very suitable for him!

4️⃣Step 4

After choosing various accessories for my panda, the most important thing is to add message for this character.

Entering message in this blank means the words this character is supposed to say. Language and accent are provided.

By the way, there are also other ways to add audios.
🎺You can record your own voice.

🎺You can make a call to record your voice.

🎺You can even uoload a audio file.

5️⃣Step 5
Please click ‘save’ and share your Voki! 
Last but not least, your Voki should have a name.

Everything is done! Is it vert easy to create a Voki?

There is my character! 

http://tinyurl.com/yytrs3ur

Judy's ideas about Voki

🔺Good points 

1. Voki can be a good presenter to help teachers present tasks or demonstrate teaching contents, which is useful and interesting for students. In this way, students can be motivated effectively.

2. Teachers can hide behind the Voki characters if they would not like to reveal themselves. Creating fictitious characters should be a great help for people who are really shy. 

(From my point of view, it is beneficial to fresh teachers, like me! 😁 If I present my face or voice in my blog, I will be uneasy. However, creating a character to substitute me in blog is a good choice. )

3. As I mentioned in steps of making a Voki, there are various accessories, backgrounds or colours. People can select and combine them to create a unique character. Don't worry about having a same one with others! 😎

4. By the way, various accent or dialects are included in this tool. Teachers can choose two accents for learners to realise the differences between these two accents. 

💁🏻For instance, students are supposed to learn American English in Chinese primary schools. Teachers need to make an American accent Voki for their students while a Voki who has British accent should also be showed for them to compare in order to know the language diversity. It is a reasonable and operable teaching tool in Chinese schools.

🔺Limitations 

1. The most important thing is that it cannot be download as a video file. 😭 We have to share our Voki characters as a link to our students, which means it must rely on the internet.

(😅 My peer-teaching experience was regard as a example for this point. When I wanted to play my Voki presentation, I found my computer could not connect the internet signal. You can imagine it is so embarrassed when your students are waiting for you but you cannot play your teaching materials. 😌 Please CHECK your computer before your classes! )

2. It is a pay website so you need to pay for the subscription fee if you want to use it. 💰 I recommend you should think about the frequency of using and if it is worthy of paying.




❤️ If you enjoy this website or find it useful to your language classes, please give me some comments or share your experience.
If you consider it has other drawbacks, please let me know. ❤️

Obviously, there are also other interesting functions in this website. Please navigate and explore by yourself. You must love it! ❤️

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💁🏻More websites or tools for improving students' motivation

Name –   Games can be used in your classes

Triptico – What’s the Question, Find Ten, Bingo
Kahoot - quizzes
Socrative – Space Race
Quizlet Live – vocab game
Dvolver – animation creation

Please search them on google! You will find more ideas to 'update' your classes!