Dvolver

What is Dvolver?

Dvolver is a movie maker which allows us to make our own animated movies online. More than 8 million movies have been made here! Dvolver is a very handy tool. It is easy to use and free of charge! We do not even have to sign up, too!

Using this tool, we can put forwards our message through a series of conversations between two characters. 'People have a lot to say, and they like to say it with animated characters' said the Dvolver moviemaker site. In fact, Dvolver provides more than 30 animated characters, over 10 styles (backgrounds and skies) and four scenarios/ plots for us to choose while setting up an animation. Each character comes with a fun written profile. Characters include normal looking people, celebrities lookalikes, animals, aliens and etc. Likewise, each style has fun descriptions of the climate and culture.

After choosing them, we can type in our own short dialogue texts and choose preferred soundtrack to put into the short clip, too. The animation that we produce can be a short single scene animated movie or a longer one by adding more scenes. Once we finish customising it, we may share it with people through email or copy link/ code and embed it into a blog post or a website.

The youtube video below provides a clear explanation on how to use Dvolver for movie making: 

Here is an example of animation that I have made:

How can we use Dvolver in the classroom?

We can use this for a number of things:

1. To present new language points
   eg. Teacher can demonstrate how past tense can be used to show past event through a conversation between two characters. Students, on the other hands, can create movie, which incorporates the use of past tense,  as a practice. 
2. To teach new vocabulary
   eg. Teacher can present a dialogue, which contextualises a list of new vocabulary, as a pre-reading activity. Teacher may then elicit and pre-teach the set of vocabulary before getting the students into a reading text. 
3. To learn about certain topics
   e.g. Teacher may ask students to talk about topics, like holiday, pet, family, hobby, festival, food, dream etc through a discussion between two characters.  
4. To create story
   eg. Teacher may allow students to explore on their creativity by making up stories with themes, like 'A lesson to be learnt', 'An unforgettable experience', etc. 
5. To give example of social English/ To demonstrate social expressions, i.e to teach students how certain language forms, phrases or expressions are being used in a real social context.
   eg. Teacher may ask students to create movies that display situations like 'making polite request', 'rejecting someone's invitation', 'giving instruction', 'making introduction', etc. 
6. To tell jokes
   eg. Teacher and students may create jokes through the conversation between two characters in order to make English language learning more fun and interesting. 
7. To exhibit an interview session
   eg. Teacher may ask students to work in pair, whereby one acts as an interviewer while another as an interviewee. Students need to role play as a doctor, reporter, sportsman, president, minister, teacher, etc. 
8. To provide feedback/ To give a review eg. Teacher may ask students to give their opinion of a book, play, film, etc through a dialogue between two characters.

Why would we use Dvolver in the classroom?

1. It is simple, quick and easy to use. 
2. It gives a professional looking outcome. We can give the digital movie we create a title, some 'credits' and a background design for the cover page.  
3. It is useful for the contextualisation of new grammar and new vocabulary. It displays the functions of the language forms or how language forms are used in discourse level.
4. It acts as a medium for an international cultural exchange. Students can include cultural aspects into their movies and share to a wider audience. 
5. It is interesting and engaging. Students may enjoy incorporating animations into their language learning. 
6. It is an alternative to a speaking activity. Instead of putting students into a face-to-face conversational situation, students can practise the meaningful use of the language forms through a conversation between two animated characters. 
7. It is motivating for second language learners of English to learn the language. The tool helps to reduce students' anxiety and affective filter of doing a face-to-face conversations with peers. 
8. It allows students to build up their creativity and imaginative ability. The wide selection of characters, backgrounds and plots allow students to have the freedom of creating whatever possible stories they like.
9. It gives students the sense of ownership for the movies created. Students can give themselves a credit after creating the animation. 

What are the limitations of Dvolver?

1. The animation characters cannot speak aloud and do not display any facial expressions and body gestures. 
2. Some characters may inappropriate for younger learners. 
3. Movies cannot be be edited once completed. Students will need to redo the movie if there is any mistake.
4. Not every language can be applied to the dialogue. 
5. It needs internet access to operate. 
6. There is no censoring; therefore, students can write anything in the dialogue.