Learning English with MovieStarPlanet
MovieStarPlanet is a funny and secure place on the web where children can have fun while learning English. MovieStarPlanet challenges children to be creative while using the English language, so that they improve their spoken and written English skills in fun and innovative ways
'Research has shown that children learn English when they communicate and play online games in their spare time.
MovieStarPlanet is a new and promising online universe that gives children the opportunity to play, communicate and create while their English skills are improved.'
Bente Meyer, Associate Professor, PhD, Department of Curriculum Research at the Danish School of Education.
'MovieStarPlanet is motivating and inspiring for children between 10-14 years. MovieStarPlanet provides good possibilities of differentiating education and it is a
super tool for improving the children’s skills in written and spoken English.'
Gitte Tjellesen, English teacher, Maglegaardsskolen in Gentofte, Denmark.
MovieStarPlanet is a social website where children and teenagers work together with their friends to create cartoons. The speech of the cartoons are written and recorded in English so that the children practice their spoken and written English skills. MovieStarPlanet is a blend of Facebook and YouTube with a learning dimension added.
In MovieStarPlanet each child creates a virtual MovieStar figure which is used in cartoons together with the figures created by their friends. The children can share and review each other's cartoons.
Depending on the popularity of the cartoons, the virtual movie star figure will be awarded with virtual fame and money, giving new possibilities in the next movies.
The ongoing progress of the virtual movie star figure gives MovieStarPlanet a substantial element of play and competition appealing to children.
MovieStarPlanet is developed with financial support from the Danish Ministry of Science Technology and Innovation in cooperation with The Danish University of Education, and a number of elementary school teachers.
In 2009-11 the development of MovieStarPlanet is part of the research and development project about the use of games in education called Serious Games on a Global Market Place
Educational objectives
The cartoons in MovieStarPlanet are small and very simple focusing on using English in new and motivating ways. The cartoon media is used to practice the written and spoken English skills of the children having them to:
- read and write screenplays
- speak or sing in English when the cartoons are made
- watch their own and other children’s Movies so that they practice listening to and understanding spoken English
For children aged 10-12 MovieStarPlanet is ideal to enable them to:
- participate in ”language games” and role-plays
- use digital media to create simple texts
- communicate with children in other grades, other schools and other countries
- understand and do simple language actions
- have the courage to write in English
- use digital media for simple tasks and games
And additionally for children aged 12-15:
- use English in the communication with pupils and school classes in foreign countries
- use spoken and written English in digital medias in simple educational courses
Suggestions for educational courses using MovieStarPlanet
- After a joint review of MovieStarPlanet, the pupils start by creating their MovieStar figure and play around for a while
- Create cartoons using specific words, aimed at vocabulary acquisition – e.g. house – clothes – sports – Christmas etc.
The teacher may choose different scenes and themes. If for instance words about “clothes” is a current topic in the education, the cartoons should be about clothes and clothing:
‘Oh what a nice T-shirt’
‘Thanks, and you are wearing smart jeans’
Etc. - Themes or texts the class has worked with or read could be used as starting points in cartoons; 4 friends are arranging a party, make a ghost story, a love story, sports, girls practicing a dance, classroom talk, etc
It is important that the teacher defines the framework for the cartoons, when MovieStarPlanet is used for learning English. In this way the quality of the produced cartoons will be better and the pupils will be more motivated to do their best.
MovieStarPlanet makes it easy for everyone to participate. The teacher may agree on the contents and the educational objects in cooperation with the individual pupil.
For children aged 12-15 one could use the following requirements:
- each cartoon must have 4-5 scenes
- a storyboard/screenplay must be made before the cartoon is created, so that the composition of the history is in focus
- a specific semantic field is used
- the speech is written in a specific grammatical tense
- there must be a certain number of adjectives in the speech
- the speech must be written as well as recorded
- at least three MovieStars in each cartoon
Working with MovieStarPlanet will be a varied and inspiring media, where many different competences will be practiced.
Depending on the number of available PCs, the pupils can work on their own or in groups. To record speech, a headset with microphone can be used. MovieStarPlanet can also be used without recording speech.
Get Started
www.MovieStarPlanet.com is freely available on the internet and can be freely used in education or privately by anyone.
Contact information
If you have any questions regarding MovieStarPlanet, please write to
The MovieStarPlanet user guide is available here.