CambridgeEnglishOnline Cartoon Maker - easy for teachers, engaging for young learners

Introduction

    I have been looking for an animation tool that can be used in the classroom, which not only get learners (under 16) motivated but will not distract their attention from language learning or waste time on the tool itself (normally the biggest concern). Now I have found one, it is Cambridge English Online Cartoon Maker that can be used to make cartoon-like teaching materials. Its top advantage is that you can use it easily in many different ways for different language teaching purposes, especially for meaning focused speaking activities ('speech-like' written communication). I will show you how it can be effectively applied to classroom teaching by showing materials I have made later on. 

Link to the tool website: http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Cartoon_Maker/

Rationale - motivation and task-based learning

    As Deci and Ryan (2000: 55) pointed out, most tasks students perform in class are less inherently interesting, thus making them lose the intrinsic motivation. Cartoon related tasks, if well implemented, can be interesting for young learners. More importantly, according to Self-determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2000: 59), engaging learners into more autonomy supporting activities, such as making their own good-looking cartoon dialogues and stories from their personal experiences and interests, being responsible for their own learning can greatly satisfy their need for autonomy, thus improving their motivation. 

Focusing on negotiating meaning, task-based approach has drawn growing attention in recent years and research studies have shown its advantages (e.g. Beretta and Davies, 1985). The cartoon maker affords opportunities for learners to make their own cartoon stories to keep or share with others, a real engaging task which will make learners focus on the expressions they produce in the dialogues, the logic of their stories, etc., thus highly motivated to get language improved. As stories are often made by a pair or group of students, collaboration skills can be practiced during the process.

My demo and ideas for implementations

1. As mentioned previously, there are quite a few ways to use it. Let us start from the most exciting one - making cartoon stories. Importantly NOTING that it's absolutely not necessary to have students themselves go to the website creating cartoons in class. Instead, you can make quite various types with different characters and scenes, leaving the bubbles blank (see my example below), and print them out bring to class (or show on big screen), you can give them promise to make the complete cartoons for everyone of them who can write beautiful dialogs or stories on it. By doing this, you motivate them and save most of the time in class doing language related tasks.

2. You can also fill in only one or two bubbles to have your students make rest of the stories relating to similar topic by using some focused grammar forms or expressions required. Like in my example there is only a caption and a sentence in the first one (below), it can be used for practicing greeting.

3. Using already completed cartoon works is also a good idea. It can be a work created by you (see my example) or by students from previous tasks, depending on your teaching purposes.

4. Posting some good works on the walls in the classroom seems not a bad idea.

Limitations

    The biggest drawback of using technologies being time-consuming can be maximally weakened and its effect on learner motivation can be well explored if teachers can handle it properly in class (appears not difficult by using this one). It is easy to use, good-looking, but one problem is that the size of the bubble is not editable, meaning it may not be able to include a bit longer texts. I will keep looking for other similar tools that have more flexible choices. As noted in No. 4, currently you can print them out (blank bubbles) and have students write on them (no matter how long the sentences) and post them on the wall.

References:

Beretta, A. and Davies, A. (1985). Evaluation of Bangalore Project. ELT Journal 39: 121-

    127.

Deci, E. L. & Ryan, R.M. (2000). Intrinsic and extrinsic motivations: classic definitions and  

    new directions. Contemporary Educational Psychology 25, 54-67.

This animation tool is from Cambridge English Online Cartoon Maker. Link: 
http://cambridgeenglishonline.com/Cartoon_Maker/