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Let's Talk Lesson
Sketches
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Did you know your computer can talk?
Text-to-speech capability is built right in to every Windows
Operating System. That's what Let's Talk takes advantage of to great effect!
We've added characters who come out and speak what your kids are going to type.
Let's Talk gives you and your kids a tool to EXPRESS
themselves and discuss content.
The “lesson sketches” on this page below will help you understand
HOW to incorporate Let’s Talk into a lesson plan. With some
additional tailoring and tweaking they are ready for use.
Peter
Mary/Martha
Woman at Well
Doubting Thomas
John 1
The "Answer Man"
Job
Call of the Disciples
Resurrection 'Breakfast' with Jesus by the lake
Wedding at Cana
plus
additional quickie ideas below...
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LET'S TALK makes the computer SPEAK OUT
LOUD, whatever gets typed.
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Teachers can create spoken lessons & quizzes for
their students, with follow-up questions.
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Students can create spoken lessons and quizzes
for each other.
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Or... you can simply use the TALK NOW module to have
students respond out-loud through the computer
to your questions after a Bible study.
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Let's Talk is
a discussion tool. It gives kids a way to
respond that's fun for them, (and it's great for the
shy kids who don't usually want to speak up).
More words about
how I use it...
Sometimes I use
Let's Talk to follow-up on an idea or discussion AFTER
we have used another CD, such as, one of Life of
Christ's short presentations, or a Bible crossword
puzzle, or tour of one of the 3d maps in HolyLand 3d.
Other times, we do
the Bible study first, then go into Let's Talk to
rethink the story or reimagine some dialog.
And sometimes I use
Let's Talk's "Talk Now" module to quickly have students
respond to some questions I have. (example: what are the
Disciples thinking when they see Jesus on the shore
cooking fish?) We playback their answers, I point
something out, then we move on another question which
they type their answer into the the Talk Now module and
playback when prompted.
I've even used Let's
Talk to have the students create spoken prayers to close
the class with. |
Peter Sinks in the Water
1-- Start with Life of Christ CD
Lesson #20 -- Peter’s Walk on the Water. Skip the question
asked at the end of the LOF presentation. We’re going to
revise that in Let’s Talk. Take the LOF six question quiz,
then turn on the Let’s Talk program. Note: If you don’t
have Life of Christ CD, you can create your own talking
version of Lesson 20 using the Lesson Builder module in
Let’s Talk, or you can introduce the story by reading it
straight from the Bible.
2--
Go to the “Talk Now” module
in Let’s Talk menu. Have your students create an animated
character to speak aloud their responses to some of the
following questions. Mix and match. Follow-up some of their
responses with more discussion, perhaps creating a new
question to respond to in Talk Now -based on a student’s
comment.
Question to ask in Talk Now:
How do you think Peter felt when Jesus asked him to come out
of the boat? What would you have said to Jesus? What would
you have been thinking inside! What thoughts were going
through the minds of the other disciples? What was
going through Jesus' mind as he decided to walk across the
water to the boat? -What was he wanting to show? What was
going through the Disciple's minds about Jesus and Peter
when they saw Peter sink? Which meaning do
you think this story is about: We don’t have enough faith,
or Jesus is here to help us? What is the safe place in your
life? What are the stormy-wave-tossed places? What
difficult things does Jesus ask us to do? How would you
describe your faith: “ready to get out of the boat -or-
afraid to get out –or- sinking –or- feeling Jesus’ hand grab
yours.” How does Jesus reach out and save us? (Be ready to
provide life examples to the children. This would be a good
time to share some difficult/trying times in your life when
you felt Jesus reach out to you.).
3—After some discussion, conclude by
creating a computer-spoken prayer for Jesus’ hand to grab us
(something like that). Have each student create a line in
the prayer and play it through Talk Now when you point at
their computer. Give them some hints on what to pray for.
Example: for faith, or for Then have everyone type and play
“Amen” at the same time.
Younger children
adaptation: Lesson 20 is
ok for them. And they love to type in Let’s Talk, even if
they can’t spell. They just need someone to help them.
| TIP! --when
working with your students create their content, it
helps to have discussed possible ideas/responses
ahead of time and have these ideas written on a
whiteboard for all to see. |
Mary & Martha’s Argument
Their story only appears briefly in one
other program (Bibleland.com which I’m not going to use) but
can be re-created center-stage with the Lesson Builder
and/or Conversation Now modules in our new Let’s Talk CD.
Option 1: For my older
children, after studying and discussing the story with me
using their Bibles, they will create their own talking
version of the lesson, then switch computer and play back
each others lessons and quiz about story. When they add
their 3 Discussion questions to the end of their lesson,
I’ll give them this idea to work with: “Imagine the
conversation AFTER Jesus had left the house. --How would
MARY defend her actions to Martha? --What could Martha have
done differently so as not to miss the opportunity to learn
from Jesus?
Option 2: The teacher could
prepare the talking lesson in advance and copy it to each
computer for playback. Then when the kids got to the
discussion questions, they could type in their responses and
play them back for the entire class to hear. The teacher
points to each computer when it’s their turn to playback
their response. For younger children, help them type their
responses. They think typing is fun.
Option 3: After the Bible
Study, students are prompted to open up the Conversation Now
module in Let’s Talk. This looks like an INSTANT MESSAGING
screen. One student creates and names an onscreen character
–which can talk to a second onscreen character created by
the other student at the same computer. The teacher begins
the conversation with a “scenario” which the two onscreen
will create DIALOG about.
Scenario One: “Student #1
you are Martha. Student #2 you are Jesus. Martha, ask
Jesus to explain his answer to your complaint. If his
answer doesn’t make sense to you, tell him that and have
him explain it again.”
Scenario Two:
“Student #1
you are Mary. Student #2 you are Martha. After Jesus has
left your house, start an argument. Mary, you job is to
explain again why you chose learning and listening to
Jesus over doing your chores. Martha, your job is to
suggest how Mary might have helped you so you could BOTH
spend time with Jesus.”
The Woman’s Excuses at
the Well
1—Start with Life of Christ CD
Lesson #14 –Jesus tells his story to a Lonely Woman. It
ends with these two questions and a quiz: Do you reject
people who are loved by God? How do you introduce others to
God? However in the next lesson step, we’re going to get
personal just like Jesus did. He knew what the woman needed,
and she wanted to change the subject.
2—Go to the Conversation Now
module in Let’s Talk. One person (preferably the
teacher/assistant) will take on the role of Jesus. The other
responder in this “instant messaging” –like format will be
the students themselves. Students will type in EXCUSES they
(or other people) use for lack of faith, , not reading
scriptures, lack of prayer, lack of attendance, lack of
contributing to God’s work.
Younger children option: have a
teacher/older student play the role of Jesus –responding to
the student’s messages (“excuses”) by typing back challenges
their excuses. Help younger children type their responses.
Where were you Thomas?
Thomas'
story doesn’t appear in Life of Christ
CD. And he also isn’t present when the risen Jesus first
meets the disciples!
Where was he? Why wasn’t he with them?
Didn’t he expect Jesus? Had he lost heart? Was he too busy?
1--
Students will rewrite the
Doubting Thomas story in Let’s Talk Lesson Builder from the
point of view of Thomas. What was going through his mind?
Why wasn’t he there? What did he think of the Disciples’
reports about Jesus? After creating their lesson, they’ll
switch computers and listen to other’s groups/computers’
version of the Thomas story.
2--
After we’ve heard each
other’s versions of the story, the teacher will pose a
series of questions to the class. The students will respond
aloud to everyone in the classroom by having their onscreen
character voice their responses in Talk Now.
Possible Teacher Questions: A)
What would you ask Jesus if he appeared right now in our
room? B) Jesus can come to us anywhere in our lives. Name
3 places in your life where you think Jesus might come and
talk to you. C) In what ways does Jesus come to us and make
his voice heard to us today?
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JOHN 1-1-18 In the beginning was the
Word...
It's full of heavy language and imagery which we
needed to "decode" for the older
elementary class.
After a Bible study, we set them to work in
Let's Talk's Lesson Builder module.
Working in pairs they each recreated in their
own words the first several verses of John. They wrote quiz questions about these verses and
created a discussion question. After everyone
was done, we traveled to each computer to see &
hear each presentation, answer the questions and
respond to their reflection question. Class
ended at 10:15 and it took us til 10:25 to shoo
them away from Let's Talk.
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The Answer Man
Don't know how this is going
to go yet, but a Let's Talk Customer has plans this summer
during VBS to project a Let's Talk Character on the wall
using a data projector, then hide behind a screen with the
computer and type words to make the character talk to kids
as they walk up to him. He said he was going to "cover up"
the portions of the screen which show the text appearing,
plus the Say and Clear buttons. Sounds fun.
Job
The book of Job is
essentially a series of conversations or monologues, each
trying to explain the nature of evil ("why bad things
happen"). As the teacher, you could pose a series of
questions to your students after study, which the students
would respond to using the TALK NOW module. Or, after study,
you could invite each computer workgroup to compose their
OWN lesson/explanation in the Lesson Builder summarizing
Job's story and the answer God gives him.
For older students, you
should also go ahead and have them try their hand at ARGUING
(convincingly) using the CONVERSATION NOW instant messenger
module. Have them "practice" their explanation about evil in
the world with another student (who plays the "devil's
advocate" or "provocateur" if you wish). As the teacher, pay
close attention to the student's answers and talk with them
about how they might better respond to the provocateur who
says things like "if there was a God, how could God allow
bad things, like genocide." Help your students learn the
vocabulary of arguing their beliefs. Soon enough, if not
already, they will encounter people who say things that
require a response. Help them learn how to EXPRESS THEIR
BELIEFS !
Call of the Disciples
Did this last year in my
lab... Imagine the disciples were NOT fisherman.
Imagine contemporary jobs, imagine if they were ELEMENTARY
students too! Where would Jesus have approached them?
And what would Jesus have said to them? Create that
story. Then... put some realistic responses in the
mouths of those contemporary disciples. Jesus walks into a
schoolyard and calls you. How does he talk to students in
"student" language -as opposed to fishermen metaphors? What are your reservations? How to
you answer him? What do you say to your parents and
teachers?
You can create the 'new'
story using the Lesson Builder. Alternately, you can use the
'Conversation Now' module to have kids take on different
roles (you be Jesus, I'll be the elementary student).
Alternately, you can use the 'Talk Now' option and have the
teacher invite kids at two computers to respond to each
other. This would work best if you have older
helpers/assistant teachers helping kids to think through
their responses before typing them. Alternately, the teacher
could be a one computer and pose questions to the kids at
another computer who use 'Talk Now' to respond to the
teacher out loud. Lots of options here depending on your age
group, number of computers, and number of helpers.
Karen at St. James United in
Toronto liked this lesson idea so much that she expanded the
"Let's Talk" concept out onto their walls. They had the kids
outline themselves on big sheets of kraft paper, cut them
out, decorate them, and add talking points to each
"disciple". It's a great example of combining computers and
artwork in a lesson to great effect!
Resurrection 'Breakfast'
with Jesus by the lake
If I was on a boat fishing and saw the
resurrected Jesus on the seashore cooking a fish, I'd have a
million questions, wouldn't you? That's the premise
behind this quick lesson outline, a version of which I did
two years ago in my own lab. Using the "Talk Now" feature in
Let's Talk (which allows kids to create quick spoken
responses to playback), each computer station creates a
talking character then composes responses to the question I
pose to them while standing in the middle of the lab. Then
we playback their answers and discuss them. Then I pose
another question. With some questions, I pose as Jesus
talking to them -asking my disciples (the kids) questions.
With other questions, I pretend that I'm the disciple and
they craft responses as if THEY were Jesus. If you
have younger kids, they like to come up with responses,
-just need an older child to help them type.
Sample
Questions:
Jesus to his Disciples: What was going through your mind before you saw me?
When you saw me on the shore, what did you think to
yourself? Why were you out fishing instead of telling people about
me? How come Peter is the only one to jump out and run to
me? How are you going to stay faithful to me after I'm gone?
The Disciples to Jesus: Where have you been since your resurrection? Why are you cooking us a fish? Why not just stand there
and yell to us? Why did you want to meet us here in Galilee? How are we supposed to Feed your Sheep? We can't even
catch fish for ourselves! How can we do this without
you?
Wedding at Cana
We did a fun
Let's-Talk lesson writing "Letters About the Wedding" that was
quite fun. The idea: Jehosaphat was at the wedding and is
writing to his friend Betty. They discuss what it means, who
Jesus might be, and what to do NEXT with this information. Betty
is a bit of a skeptic.
"Dear Betty, I
was at this wedding over the weekend and you'll never guess
what happened."
"Dear Jehosaphat,
I don't believe you! Who can turn water into wine and
what do you think it means?"
Dear Betty,
Here's what the people there were saying to each other about
Jesus. What do you think I should do next? How will I
know he's The One?"
You can do this a
number of ways:
1) Have the TEACHER pose as "Betty the skeptic," and pose
questions to the kids at the computers who respond with the "Say
It" module Ex: "Okay Jehosphat, you're pulling my leg. WHO can
turn water into wine and WHY would anyone do that? What are they
trying to prove?"
2) You can have
older kids use the "Conversation Now" chat module to take a role
and respond to each other at their workstations. Give each
workstation a list of suggested questions to go through. You can
also use this module in a small group and have everyone gather
around, assigning some to be "believers" and some to be "skeptics
in the the crowd" debating what happened and then coming up with
a plan to "figure out who this Jesus is"... what they can do to
investigate him and his message more closely.
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This
screenshot shows part of the Lesson Builder
template.)
Let's Talk Lesson Idea
Quickies:
Create
onscreen characters and conversations who...
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Imagine the conversation
between Paul and his Philippi Jailer after the
earthquake. What helped the man believe?
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Imagine what Peter
was thinking as he sank. What part of YOUR life is
sinking? And what does Jesus have to say to him/you
about that?
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Imagine what the
other officers said about Cornelius behind his back when
Cornelius asked to be baptized. And how did he respond?
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Imagine you're at
the cross... create an onscreen rebuttal to those who
are hurling insults at Jesus. Defend him.
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You're Nicodemus
asking Jesus to explain what he means by saying "born
from above...water and spirit."
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Rewrite the Psalm!
»
Have each student
ask a question to the class about the story through their onscreen character.
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View more SCREENSHOTS
from Let's Talk
Order Let's Talk Now Online
System Minimum:
Windows* 98se, ME, XP, Vista
300mhz, 64mb Ram, 6 mb videoram minimum. Will run faster on better
computers.
*Requires the installation of the Sapi4.0 Microsoft Speech
Engine and the Microsoft "Spchapi" runtime program. Depending on
your Windows system and setup, you may need to install one or
both of these programs. They are both provided at our Let's Talk
Tech Page ...www.sundaysoftware.com/lets-talk/trial.htm
Age
Range is 5 to 80.
Non-readers can use this program because it can speak to them, and you
can help them type their responses.
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Tech Note
for Let's Talk... Let's Talk uses the Microsoft
text-to-speech application "Sapi 4.0". You may need to install it
on your computer to get Let's Talk working. We have included the install
files in a folder on the CD (install both sapi4 and sapi5 files). Visit our tech support page for more details if you need them.
www.sundaysoftware.com/support
Questions?
Email me. <>< Neil
MacQueen, Sunday Software
Go to our Let's Talk Tech Support Page
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