Inducing Communication:
Strategies and Assessment
The Use of Voki
in The Chinese Classroom
李麗君 Caroline Lee-Thompson, Ph.D.
Park Tudor School (K-12 Independent School)
[email protected]
Overview
What is Voki?
How to use Voki
Student productions
What is Voki?
 A Voki is a talking voice character, a
computer-generated version of oneself.
 The more generic term for a Voki is a
speaking avatar, a digital
representation of a person or being.
 These animated characters or avatars
enable users to express themselves on
the web with a voice but as a talking
character.
How to Use Voki in My Classes
Chinese I class – Self introduction
Chinese III class – Food
Chinese I
Oral Project: self introduction
Lesson 1: countries, nationalities
Lesson 2: self introduction (names,
students); languages
* Practice in the lab the day or
two days before doing the
project in the lab
1. Hi, ______________ (your pen pal’s Chinese name).
2.My last name is ________ (English last name), is called
______________(English first name).
3.My Chinese name is called __________________
(Chinese full name).
4.I am not _________, also is not ____________. I am
________________. [nationality]
5.______________ (Chinese name of a classmate from our
class) is my good friend.
6.My Chinese language teacher is surnamed Lǐ, is called
Lìjǖn.
7.Teacher Lǐ is from Taiwan.
8.What is your English language teacher’s name?
9.Thank you. Good bye.
Instructions for the oral Project
• You will create a Voki message in the
language lab this Friday. Then you will send
it to your pen pal, your parents and me.
• You will be graded based on the tones,
pronunciation, the use of the vocabulary, the
accuracy of your sentences and speed. You
will have a handout (next page) as a guide to
create a Voki message.
中文一 Oral Project: Creating a Voki
Message (a short self introduction)
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Greeting to your pen pal
You English name (family name & first name)
Your Chinese name
Your nationality
Your good friend
Your Chinese language teacher’s name and nationality
Ask your pen pal a question about her English language
teacher’s name
• Thank you. Good bye.
Grading Criteria
(Voki Message: self-intro)
I. Tones
15 points
II. Pronunciation
15 points
III. Use of the vocabulary
30 points
IV. Accuracy of sentences
30 points
V. Speed
10 points
Total
100 points
Chinese III
Oral Project: Food
Lesson 10:
*Chinese food/dishes
*American food
*utensils
*desserts
*drinks
*common expressions used in
restaurants
Instructions: Oral Project -- Food
Topic: Food
Requirements:
* You will use Voki to create an avatar and record
your talk about food next Tuesday. Then you
need to email the Voki message to your pen
pal and me.
* You need to incorporate at least 35 words (51
words in L10) in your talk. Five sentence
patterns (L9 and L10) need to be incorporated.
All of the sentences must be coherent, NOT
random sentences.
* You can record up to 90 seconds.
* On the day of recording, you can only have
the outline of your talk in English or the
list of the words and sentence patterns in
Pinyin. No drafts are allowed.
* You need to turn in the list of the words
and sentence patterns you use in your talk.
They must be listed based on the sequence
of their appearance in your talk. If you fail
to do, 30 points will be taken off.
Preparation:
Step 1:
You will create an outline and type the draft
in Pinyin at home and save it as a Word
document (Tuesday)
Step 2:
You and one of your classmates will edit/
proofread each other’s draft in the
language lab. Then you will practice
recording your talk. (Thursday)
Preparation
Step 3 (Optional):
You may email me your final draft to me
by this Friday afternoon.
Step 4:
You will create your Voki message about
your talk on food in the language lab
next Tuesday.
Grading Criteria:
I.
II.
III.
IV.
Pronunciation
Tones
Vocabulary (at least 35 words)
Grammar (i.e., accuracy of the
word order, sentence structures,
and sentence patterns)
10 points
10 points
20 points
25 points
V.
VI.
Content & Organization
Fluency (i.e., speed)
25 points
10 points
Total
100 points