POPtalk

We’re about to welcome a brand new feature to BrainPOP UK: The FYI.

FYIs contain astonishing facts, figures and information, to be used as extension material to the BrainPOP UK movies. Every movie will soon have its very own FYI.

And, just for fun, we’re putting together a little viral movie that we want YOU to star in called “How many ways are there to say “For Your Information“?

It’s very simple.

1. Video yourself or create an image saying/displaying the phrase “For Your Information“.
2. Say it, shout it, whisper it, sing it, sign it, synthesise it. Write it on a blackboard. Create it in alphabetti spaghetti. Ask your parrot to repeat it. Any way you like (be creative but no naughtiness please).
3. Submit your video or image using the form below or by email to info@brainpop.co.uk

Some last things:

• It has to be your own original work. Don’t include any commercial music or anything as we won’t be able to use it.
• The final edit will be going on our Youtube channel as an embeddable, sharable movie.
• The best/most creative/funniest “For Your Information” will win a 6 month subscription to BrainPOP UK. Editor’s decision is final. Everyone who submits an entry will have a sneak peak at some of the FYIs in advance.
• The cut off date for submissions is 5pm 9th September 2010, so you’ve only got about a week to join in. Its premiere will be 13th September, alongside the FYIs.

So go for it! Tim, Moby & The BrainPOP UK team cannot wait to see what you can do.

Related Posts:

• And…action! Make a Tim & Moby movie competition
• How many ways are there to say “For Your Information”?
• FYIs are almost here
• Tim & Moby’s guide to the World Cup
• West Lothian winners

Some of the keener eyed amongst you may have noticed that there’s a little football tournament happening in South Africa next week.

It’s Brazil vs England and during half time Tim and Moby give you their guide to the World Cup – the history, the fans and a couple of famous World Cup moments.

Thank you to all the BrainPOP UK fans who contributed their ideas to the movie – we couldn’t include them all although they will probably appear in the supplementary material coming in September. It’s clear that the beautiful game brings out your passion!

Here are the suggestions in full (minus re-tweets and general banter) from our wonderful @BrainPOP_UK Twitter followers when we asked them…

@teachology: Gazza blubbing; baggio pen miss; beckham late goal v greece; Zidane sending off; my dad falling off chair after 1966 winner!

@The_Recommender: Mexican Wave being invented Mexico 86. Nessun Dorma song by 3 Tenors Italy 90. Gazzas tears 90. Zidanes France 98. Pele scoring in 58 final age 17. Geoff Hurst hatrick in 66. Pele’s Brazil thrashing Italy in 70. Maradonna’s 2 goals vs Eng 86.

@dknights: You could have Moby crying reenacting Gazza’s 1990 moment.

@deerwood: Beckenbauer playing while wearing a sling and Andreas Escobar (example of football being taken too seriously?)

@Joga5: The addition of the word WAG into footballing lexicon, Hand of God, Pele and Moore hugging, Roger Milla’s dance when scoring for Cameroon, Lineker getting golden boot

@chrisleach78: Beckham’s red card, Gazza’s tears, Platt’s goal against Belgium

@Mark_C: Archie Gemmill’s goal vs Holland, Marco Tardelli’s goal and celebrations, Diego Maradona’s legit goal vs Eng and NOTHING 1966! OR Zidanes goals France 98, France vs WG semi final 1982, Italy vs Brazil 1982, Cameroon vs Arg 1990

@ianaddison: The hand of god/when they cheated?

@kenny73: Dave Narey ‘toe poke’ v Brazil. You can ignore the four that then flew past a stationary Alan Rough

@shalmaneser: When Lineker scored, Bobby belting the ball, and Nobby dancing

@dawnhalleybone: 66 bobby Moore, hand of god, 3 lions, Brazilian genius and Cameroon

@digitalmaverick you MUST put Archie Gemmel’s goal against Holland in there and Garincha’s dog

Related Posts:

• Turn your evaluation into a learning opportunity
• Tim & Moby’s guide to making a movie
• For Your Information – The Movie
• Ask Tim and Moby
• Let’s get quizzical

How do we decide what movies to make? Well, thanks for asking, Chris. Believe it or not, all our movies are sourced from inquisitive people like you.

At the start of every movie Tim reads out a letter that has come to us from a child or teacher somewhere in the world. We get 1000′s of these emails and letters every year.

Some geniune real life examples:

• “Dear Tim & Moby, I think you should show a video on myspace. A lot of people use it and it is sometimes dangerous. Can you teach me a little bit more about it please?”
• “Dear Tim & Moby, How do you make and design toys and remote control cars?”
• “Dear Tim & Moby, Why do alligator mums and dads eat their babies when they’re little?”
• “Dear Tim & Moby, Hi there, I’m going to be teaching year 2 children about making an emergency call to 999. Can I suggest that you make a video clip about what the procedure would be, what questions they would be asked when they call and what constitutes an emergency? Your site is great and I will be signing up when my trial is up. Thanks!”
• “Dear Tim & Moby, Can you make a film about polymer?”
• “Dear Tim and Moby, what is anime or manga? I have heard its some kind of Japanese art form.”
• “Dear Tim & Moby, Cheese: I love cheese, I can’t get enough of the stuff, so how do you make it and where does it come from?”

What happens to my suggestion after I send it in?

Tim and Moby write back to everyone who writes in to request a movie (assuming you include your contact details).

All movie suggestions go into a queue where they are regularly discussed and, if we think it’s a topic we want to explore or enough people ask for it (or someone really goes the extra mile to suggest a movie) then we’ll likely go ahead and do it.

What movies we do is up to Tim and Moby, so there’s no guarantees. But you never know if you don’t try, right?

We LOVE getting suggestions from BrainPOPpers. So why not get your class to submit Tim and Moby letters on topics that interest them?

Wouldn’t you like to claim “that’s me!” in a Tim and Moby movie?

So if you have a topic you’d like to see BrainPOP UK explaining then you could send us “Dear_Tim_and_Moby”_letter and email it to timandmoby@brainpop.co.uk or post it into us:

BrainPOP UK
Office 47, 3rd Floor Prama House
267 Banbury Road
Oxford
OX2 7HT

We’d especially like to see UK specific movie ideas – history, geography, famous British figures, culture and so on.

Remember, the foundation of BrainPOP UK is YOU. So keep your movie ideas coming!

Related Posts:

• BrainPOP and Pupil Support
• For Your Information – The Movie
• Tim & Moby’s guide to the World Cup
• Let’s get quizzical

We talk about our Tim and Moby movies a lot. Of course we do. They’re what makes BrainPOP UK what it is. And our users tend to like them too.

But did you know each movie also comes with an interactive multiple choice quiz? We call them POP Quizzes. You can find them in the bottom left of each movie page.

You can take a POPquiz right away if you like but you will be offered the option to take it at the end of the movie too.

Each POPquiz is 10 questions long and can be taken in one of three ways.

POPquiz questions are directly related to events in the movie and do two things very well:

• enable the teacher to assess the learning that happened during the movie (which is often shown front of class).
• to provide extension activities to reflect on the learning.

The Graded Quiz

This is taken directly on the screen.

The results are aggregated and you can choose to:

1. Print your score.
2. Email your score to any email address you like (this is particularly useful for the teacher as they can nominate their address so they get all results sent to them).
3. View your mark out of ten on screen.

If you choose the third option you will be able to go back and review all your responses and to reveal the correct answers.

The Review Quiz

The review quiz will not let the student move to the following question until they have provided the correct answer to the one they are attempting.

Upon choosing an answer Moby pops up and tells them if they are right or wrong before taking them back to the question to try again or moving to the next. This provides immediate feedback. Plus kids love seeing Moby pop up (you can’t see it here but Moby’s head shakes from side to side if they get a “Try again”. Take a POPquiz and see for yourself).

The Printed Quiz

I guess this is pretty self explanatory and still a pretty popular option. It allows you to print as many copies of the POPquiz you like and then distribute out to the class to collect later for marking.

I’d like to thank Olivia Newton John’s “Let get physical” 80′s lycra clad exercise hit for inspiration for my title pun so in homage you might want to take an actual 80′s music POP quiz.

Related Posts:

• Moby makes me feel happy – inspiring a reluctant writer
• BrainPOP at BETT through the eyes of Twitter
• Literacies for Life at Shireland Collegiate Academy
• Why you need to go mobile with BrainPOP
• It’s news, Moby, but not as we know it