Xtranormal

Convert Text to Speech As I've shown you in class, you can make fun animated videos and audio files of your speaking questions and answers. If you're like me and need things explaining a couple of times, here is a mini step-by-step guide of how to do it.

I would recommend you do this if you can, because listening to your questions and answers is a great way to learn them **AND** this will **REALLY** help your pronunciation!

**PLUS** the work you put in just making the movies will naturally lead you to spend time with the speaking material, which is all part of the learning experience. Yay! ** First - make an Xtranormal movie ** Type
 * 1) Your first task is to open your own account at this free website [|www.xtranormal.com]. All you need to do is invent a **__SECURE__** username and password and have your e-mail address handy.
 * 2) //**Ignore**// xtranormal's pleas to get you to download their "State" software. It's no better than the free version on the site AND you have to pay (a lot) for all the fun extras.
 * 3) Go to **'Make Movies'** and choose your favourite set of characters, ensuring you click the **'2 Actors'** option.
 * 4) Go to the bottom of the page which appears. Here you can choose a set, soundtrack and actors for your movie.
 * 5) Do whatever you like as far as set and soundtrack go, **BUT** make **SURE ** you change your actors' voices for French/German/Spanish ones.
 * 6) If you don't change the voices, the whole thing is a waste of time, because the French/German/Spanish will come out all wrong!
 * 7) Have your (perfect, corrected) speaking test Q&A ready and simply type (or copy and paste) the questions and answers into the speech bubbles for the actors.
 * 8) Start a new script block for each change of actor.
 * 9) If one of your answers is long, make two script blocks out of it.
 * 10) I suggest you **EITHER** a) make a new movie for each speaking test topic **OR** b) break it down into a number of smaller movies to memorise in shorter chunks.
 * 11) To make your movie look better, click the 'Magicam' button, and Xtranormal will add in cool camera angle changes for you.
 * 12) If you choose, use the animations and sound effects to make your movie your own.
 * 13) Every now and then, click on the Action button to save your work. Be patient, sometimes it takes a few goes to get hooked up with Xtranormal's server.
 * 14) If you make a typing error, you will hear it when your actors fail to pronounce words properly. Make a note and put it right.
 * 15) If you find the animated actors are saying your script too fast, add lots of pauses in between their utterances. This helps a LOT.
 * 16) When you are satisfied with your movie, click on the 'It's a wrap' button. It takes a few minutes to finish off your movie.
 * 17) Name your file in an organised way with the topic/question, so you can find it again.
 * 18) If you have a [|www.youtube.com] channel, you can upload your movies to it easily.

You now have a finished movie with its own URL and embedding code. Here's a micro-mini French one I've just made. You will notice that the computerised French actor struggles to say "Joyce" correctly. Just like a real Frenchman would!

media type="custom" key="5929559"

** Now - Make an Audio File so you can revise by listening ** It's simple to take this and make an .mp3 out of it that you can listen to on your iPod or other mp3 player. ** Finally - add your sound file to your mp3 player and listen as often as you can. You will learn the content AND the pronunication brilliantly this way. **
 * 1) Go to the website [|www.zamzar.com].
 * 2) There is **no need** to set up an account.
 * 3) Ensure you are working in the __Convert Files__ tab.
 * 4) At Step 1, click on __URL__.
 * 5) Enter the URL code of your xtranormal movie here.
 * 6) At Step 2, choose a music format to convert your file
 * 7) At Step 3, enter your e-mail address.
 * 8) At Step 4, click on Convert (obviously!)
 * 9) Usually, within a few minutes, Zamzar will e-mail you a link to download your sound file.
 * 10) Easy.
 * 11) No really.
 * 12) Look, I can do it, so it can't be rocket-science!
 * 13) Have a listen to the audio file from my Xtranormal movie