More Digital Storytelling: Animoto

Digital storytelling is a great way to incorporate meaningful learning in the classroom. It would also be a great tool for teaching, and there are a lot of free options online. For my digital story, I used a website called Animoto. Here, the user is able to upload video with text, and the website will create a cool slideshow for you with audio. Here is a video I made that would be appropriate for classroom use. It is geared toward using vocabulary relating to clothing items, as well as reinforcing the verb llevar (to wear) in Spanish. It's basically made from photos I had on my computer of random family events in which I describe their clothing. I made sure to use different subject pronouns in the captions to draw the students' attention to the different verb forms.


I think this would be a great tool to reinforce as well as introduce new concepts. It was very simple to use, and I could see myself giving the students a project to make their own digital story. They would incorporate chapter vocabulary and any grammar concepts used as well. One idea in which they could use digital storytelling is for household chores (cleaning, vacuuming, etc.) The students can take pictures on their phones of themselves doing household chores and then upload the pictures to their computer. From the Animoto website, they then can create a short video by uploading these photos with captions for each one (in the target language of course.) The only downside with Animoto is that the free version only lets you create a 30 second video, otherwise you can upgrade to the pay option to create a longer video. The user has to register with their email and create a password, but it would definitely be worth a free 30 second video. Especially if it's a mini-project that is being graded, it's a lot easier to assess (and less time-consuming) than a 5 minute video!