Dvolver - An incredible moviemaker

What is Dvolver? What does Dvolver do?

Dvolver is a free and convenient Internet tool that enables you to produce your movies. What you need to do is to select characters , backgrounds, scenarios, and add your own dialogues in the bubble. It is very easy to use and also a great choice for language teaching, especially for younger learners.

How to use Dvolver?

    1. Link to www.dvolver.com and click "make a movie."

    2. Select one of the backgrounds and sky images for your movie.

    3. Click “next” and then select a plot scenario.

    4. Click “next” and then select the characters you want.

    5. Click “next” and type the dialogue text for each character.

    6. Click "next" and select a background music.

    7. Click "next" and add another scene to repeat this process, or 
        you can continue to finish the movie after entering the title and    
        the author.

    8. Preview your movie and send it to others. You can also embed 
        the movie in a blog or website and share it with the world.

The following is a self-made movie. I adapted the dialogue from the textbook in my context (Taiwan), which is for nine graders.

Why is Devolver relevant to language teaching?

    1. It makes teaching more interesting. Compared with the 

        texbook picture above, the movie is more vivid and attractive   

        to Ss. The learning environment will also become much  

        friendlier. 

    2. It is free, simple and quick to use, but gives very professional 

        looking results which can be shared. Movies / animations are  

        great at showing Ss the chronological order of the dialogue as 

        they actually do exist in time. The convenience is also an 
        advantage for Ts to use it in language class.

    3. Ts can use this tool to design various language teaching 

        activities which will be described in the following part.

How can Devolver be used in / outside class?

    1. T can use Dvolver as warm-up activity or as a tool to teach 

        dialogue / conversation. For example, T can make a movie 

        about today's topic and have Ss to guess what it is. Like 

        riddle-guessing, Ss will pay more attention and involvement 

        to what they are learning.

    2. It is a good way for T to ask Ss to give group presentations 

        via Dvolver. Ss will learn how to choose and organize the 

        most important concepts together to make a movie.

    3. It promotes Ss' creative thinking. For example, T can ask Ss to 

        'create conversation' based on specific ideas such as a word, a 

        place, a festival, and so on. Besides, Ss can practice telling 

        English jokes by using Dvolver. If Ss have their own blogs, 

        they can also embed the movie in their blog.

    4. It is also possible to do storytelling with Dvolver. Ss who are 

        interested in cartoons, animations, and movies will have more 

        motivation in language learning.

What limitations are there?

    1. Limited technical support:

        (1) The maximum of each sentence is 100 letters, the 

              maximum of scenes is 'three', and the maximum of 'movie 

              title' is 20 letters. Sometimes they are not sufficient when

              using. 

        (2) When playing the movie, the flow is a bit too fast and there 

              is no 'pause button'. This will be a disadvantage for mixed-

              ability class, especially for low achievers.

        (3) No audio. Listening is a significant factor when learning a 

              language. However, Dvolver can only provide 

              background music during the process.

        (4) You can not edit the movie afterwards. What you can do is 

              to repeat the whole process again. Sometimes the inability 

              to edit is inconvenient and time-consuming.

    2. Ethical considerations:

        (1) Some of the characters dress improperly, which may result 

              in negative influence for younger learners.

        (2) It is possible for naughty Ss to put inappropriate words or 
              sentences into the conversation if T does not remind them
              in advance.