Laura Williamson – Modern Languages Teacher

During my last week at Teacher Training College we were shown how to use an online cartoon movie maker called ‘Go Animate!’.  It is an animated cartoon maker with a range of characters, backgrounds and props to suit any subject area.  Most importantly it is really easy to use!

Once you have chosen your characters and backgrounds you can give your characters voices and even movements and expressions. This is a really useful tool for creating fun and interesting listening exercises for Modern Languages because not only can you change the voice from male to female but you can choose the language and accent. This means that when you type French or Spanish, for example, the person speaking actually has a French or Spanish accent.  This gives pupils more challenge as they have the opportunity to experience other voices apart from the teacher’s.

Importantly, the listening exercise can also be differentiated to include speech bubbles, so that pupils have the choice to read what is being said as well as listen. The speech bubbles give learners confidence that they can understand what is being said. It can be as complicated or as simple as you please because you control the content.

I have used ‘Go Animate!’ several times now and the pupils always welcome it with great enthusiasm. Here is an example of a listening activity based around future plans that I used with an S3 class.

‘Go Animate!’ could be used in any subject. For example, in Geography it could be used to talk about weather systems and pupils could answer questions or make notes. It is an effective learning tool as pupils see something that is visually attractive which makes them more focused on the task. Since you can make the characters say whatever you want, it can fit in with any topic.

Furthermore, ‘Go Animate!’ not only allows the teacher to be more creative with listening activities but it can also be used to give pupils the opportunity to be more creative with their outcomes to consolidate learning.