ZimmerTwins

11/22/2011 12:11:00 pm Unknown 2 comments

Animation is made simple thanks to the Zimmer twins, Edgar and Eva, the animated young characters who star over and over again in the mini-movies on this site. Users can piece together clips of the twins interacting and speaking (through typed words in speech or thought bubbles) through whatever adventures their imaginations create. Choose a theme, create an ending to a “starter,” or simple create from scratch by piecing scenes together. Young animators can save their work for others to watch, rate, and comment on. This safe, satisfying romp into the world of animation lets kids exercise their creative muscles and hone their storytelling skills while offering enough limits to keep beginners from getting overwhelmed.

Zimmer twins is a site which targeted young learners (aged around 7-12 years old) who are learning language (not just english).It's a nice simple interface. The beginning video explains the process well. I think the easiest way for a child to begin after that would be to choose a little movie starter. This is just like a writing prompt, a way into a story to get kids going. Then they can build the rest of the story, using four tabs: text in speech bubbles, snippets of character movement, emotion and special effects. Once you click an option (from the four tabs), it appears in your timeline, and on your editing screen, where you can add text to it.

What I like about this website:-

One real strength is how user-friendly the editor is. You don't have to save as you go, things stay put in the timeline until you delete them. If you want to check how your story is developing, you drag the slider back to the start and click play. If you decide you want to insert something, you can drag and drop it to its new place on your timeline. Once you're happy with the result, you can save your movie (if you've registered on the site) and share the url with your friends. Here is one I made randomly which does not have any motive, storyline or whatsoever. I hope you'll be able to see the excitement that this site has to offer.

The site has an emphasis on courtesy and etiquette, which I like most. For instance, kids can only make comments on other movies from a group of options, so put-downs don't get a look-in. Children must have parental permission too, and it looks like the site is determined to keep it appropriate for a young audience.

What I dislike about this site:-

Too many restriction will limit children's creativity and provide less control of the site. For example, the comments column which allow children to only select comments from a group of options will only limit their platform to practice their language of giving opinions or criticising. It is a huge area which we can fully use to educate children about function of language even it is in comment section.