RE: english training

catherine_laroche — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 13:57:22 GMT

Videos made with CrazyTalk make great introductions to grammar topics. I have used this successfully with my ESL classes.

I am now using WidgetCast to combine many of them into "Grammar Widgets" in which students find a series of important presentations. This works if you have your own Web page. It adds your own audiovisual input to the Web page.

I also intend to add iClone animations to my Widgets and my in-class presentations.

But I have never asked students to use Crazy Talk because computer skills are not what I'm supposed to teach.

CrazyTalk animations are also useful to give instructions for exams, reminders of what to do, etc. They can be either projected onto a big screen in class, or shown on students' computer screens (teacher-controlled) in the language labs.

At the beginning, college students are excited to see something new. Consequently, the animations work very well. After a couple of times, they may become a bit bored by the repetition of the same type of video. Therefore, the animations have to be very short (without too many introductory comments, jokes, or idle motion.) This actually also produces the best widget files.

The idle motion works great at the end of videos. I leave it on for a long time at the end of the videos, and students always find it funny to watch the character move while I'm talking about something else. (I figure if students have to be distracted by something, it might as well be a character from a video I've created, and a character that just taught them something.) Then, if it is too distracting, I just close the video file or end the projection.

The special effects highlight some of the messages with text SFX in speech bubbles or caption or with image overlay.

In order to produce the best material, it is useful to get a large quantity of different models and voices. There are too few good CrazyTalk models available. Fortunately, it is easy to produce many different characters with iClone, using different hair and features on the same few basic actors and avatars. Paint or any other software will allow you to edit the image which can then be uploaded to CrazyTalk. Later on, if you want to make widgets with a transparent background, you'll have to edit the background mask. If anyone could teach me how to avoid this step, I'd be sooooo grateful! Because that's the long part. The rest is rather fun.

Good luck!

english training

mikepoplawski — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 03:59:30 GMT

i am starting a NPO in japan as a community effort for the japanese people to learn English. For whatever reason, English is mandatory in the public schools for 6 years but less than 10% of the 18-22 age group can speak conversation English.

In Japan, there are entrance examinations to pass from one grade level/school to the next. In America, we have no concept of this form of education but it is common in parts of Europe and Asia. English grammar is stressed, not conversation.

I think animation, using crazy talk 6, would get the kids excited and make learning a fun, enthusiastic activity.

I think Crazy talk 6 is the perfect solution but there are a plethora of Reallusion products to consider.

Can any of you provide recommendations or suggestions about which products would best be suited for this type of activity. The groups of children will participate in the activity by creating sketches or drawings that will eventually become characters in the animation.

All ideas and suggestions are welcome.

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RE: english training

english training