Voki Lesson Plan (for English speaking/listening task)

See 'Changes made' for this assignment

https://saripark1.wixsite.com/website/post/changes-made-3-voki-task

Voki Lesson Plan

1. Student’s age, grade level, and proficiency level

- Student’s age : 17

- Grade level : 10th grade (High School 1st year)

- Proficiency level : Intermediate-low level

(Students are able to make full sentences in English if the key expressions are given)

2. Goal of speaking / listening task

1) Students can illustrate the role of a job, hardships, and give advice to others.

2) Students can ask appropriate questions and respond correctly.

3) Students can express what job to take in the future and why he/she choose a particular job

3. Activity instructions

4 students should be of 1 group each. These students are assigned to all different roles. 3 of them are workers who have certain jobs(ex. firefighter, doctor, teacher, hair designer) and 1 of them is a kid who has not decided what to do in the future. The student assigned a role of a kid should ask at least three questions about that particular jobs to three other students, and the rest of them who took roles as workers should persuade the kid, insisting to take a job as he/she is doing right now. Finally, when the kid decides on a particular job, he/she has to explain why.

* You need to set the Voki character that matches with the characteristics of a job.

* You need to record your own voice rather than using the preset.

* Target Expression : Can you introduce yourself? Any advice or comments for ~?

My job is~. I like my job because~. I advise you to ~.

4. Worksheet for students

5. Example (Check it out in the video, I edited myself!)

Kid: Hi, nice to meet you. Can you give a brief introduction about your job?

Firefighter: Hi, nice to meet you. My name is Bob Caufield. I am working as a firefighter. My main role is to drive fire trucks or other emergency vehicles. Also, I put out fires using water holes. I like my job because I feel awesome when I find and rescue people in need.

Kid: Wow, it sounds great. But I guess there might be some hardships as well.

Firefighter: Hmm.. Well I have to work 24-hour shifts and am always in risk of danger.

Kid: That’s interesting. Any advice or comments you would like to give for those who want to become a firefighter in the future?

Firefighter: If you want to be a firefighter, it has to be in your heart.

6. Examples of Jobs

Police Officer

Construction Worker

U.S. President

7. Reflection

I deigned this Voki task for intermediate-low level students who are able to make full sentences in English if the key expressions are given. I intended those language learners to illustrate the role of a job, express the strengths/weaknesses of the job, and be able to give advice to others. Therefore, I designed this task to have two different roles - an interviewer and interviewee so that they can ask questions and respond appropriately. Since the learner's English proficiency is not fluent enough to improvise English sentences right away, they needed enough scaffolding to be able to produce English sentences out loud. Therefore, I intended to give enough key expressions and examples beforehand so that the learners can easily follow my task.

I found the great potential of Voki and thought it can make so many creative classroom activities for speaking/listening skills. Basically, Voki provides an experience of immersing oneself in a given circumstance and play an assigned role. While designing this lesson, I was able to find three strengths this learning aid(Voki) has. First of all, students are being more responsible and find fun out of this activity. They would regard this activity not just as one classroom activity, but actually immerse oneself into the role, feeling responsible. Because the student has to decorate the character that matches the role assigned (ex. firefighter), they can actually feel as if they really are the characters themselves. Therefore, they will focus better. Consequently, they will try to listen carefully to others and in this regard feel the need to speak clearly at an appropriate pace, and use intonation and stress to sound interesting. Second, even shy students can participate equally as others. Usually, shy students in the class do not participate in class activities actively because they are not used to express themselves when they are with others. However, Voki plays in a virtual space where you do not have to face directly. Also, the character substitutes yourself instead so it removes the stress from producing language. Furthermore, even those students who are not confident with their English can participate since Voki offers ‘voice manual/presets’ before recording their real voice. They can listen to different accents* (ex. UK, US, Australian) and find a proper way to pronounce a word that they were uncertain with. Thirdly, because the teacher provides ‘key expressions’ in advance, students will be supported without struggles. Despite these three advantages, I would like to point out one critical point about a Voki task. Students will have delay time between each conversation in the cyberspace. Of course, this can play as a comfort time to those students who are not comfortable with their English expression and offer time to check their sentences, but it is quite different from the real-life setting. Therefore, a gap between the structured conversation and real conversation is inevitable in this Voki task.