1. Talk Now...

Example: What do you think Jesus was thinking when Peter sank in the water? Type it and play it back for us!  What would you have been thinking when you saw Peter get out of the boat? See more lesson examples here.

The teacher can also create an onscreen character, then type in some comments or questions ahead of time, and press "Say" at the appropriate time in the lesson to make their point.

Think of the Talk Now module as a sort of "Virtual Puppet".
In addition to lesson uses, you can have your onscreen character speak to the kids at many events.  Example:  Use an LCD projector to project the Talk Now character on a screen for a LARGE group event, such as VBS, Children's Church, or a lesson review gameshow. In one creative church, the pastor carried on a conversation with the onscreen puppet, who's responses were created by an assistant who was hiding on the side furiously typing responses to the pastor --which the "virtual puppet" spoke out loud, much to the delight of the audience!

Lesson Example: The teacher might ask two students at the computer to share their favorite part of the story, or ask each other about how they might have acted in the Bible story. "What would you have done," etc. You might ask one student to play the role of "teacher" (or "monk" as seen in this graphic at the right) and tell the other student about the story, answering their questions. You might have one student "play the devil's advocate" and seriously question what the other student is trying to teach them about the story.  View more lesson examples here.

This is the most frequently used module in Let's Talk.  The teacher or students open up the Lesson Builder, creates a Lesson Title and Introduction screen of text, then adds scripture text to another (and/or their own words and comments). Then they can add up to three multiple choice quiz question and up to three discussion questions --all of which get played back and spoken aloud by the onscreen "teacher" they created. They can then have others students use their lesson and answer their discussion questions by typing in responses which are also spoken aloud.

The teacher can created these presentation, but most of the time it is your students who create their own presentations FOR EACH OTHER. During playback, students are presented with the quiz questions, followed by the discussion questions. The students then create their own spoken answers to the spoken discussion questions. Kids love to see other kids taking their quiz and responding to their discussion questions. It's a powerful way to get invested in the content and to learn.

Here's how easy it is to create a talking lesson in Let's Talk:

1. Pick a teacher character, voice style and background picture for your lesson.

2. Create a title that will be spoken aloud.

3. Create Introductory remarks that will be spoken aloud.

4. Type Bible verses or story content that talks aloud when played.

5. Add a 3 question quiz that talks aloud when the lesson is played back.

6. Add 3 discussion questions which your students respond to by creating their own responses -which the lesson player will speak aloud for them. 

4. Select a Lesson... 

Click Select a Lesson on the Main Menu screen to select a lesson presentation to view and hear or edit.

All lessons can be saved and edited. You can start a presentation and have students complete it. You can update the language and questions in your presentation for different age groups.

Students can make a presentation to share with the entire class, or if you have multiple computers, they can make presentations for another computer group, then switch --invting another group to view the presentation and take their quiz.

Lesson approaches:

--Do your Bible study, then have the kids create a presentation about the study in Let's Talk.

--Or, have the kids read the Bible story by themselves, and create a Bible study presentation for each other.

--Or it can be used to follow-up another program (such as as the short lesson presentations in Life of Christ CD) to provide additional discussion time and content on the subject you are studying.

--Or, after your Bible study, have the kids respond to your questions using their Talk Now animated character.

--Finish up by having the students create a prayer about the lesson spoken by their Let's Talk character.

The teaching key is to guide the students to express themselves. Suggest concepts and vocabulary. Help them refine their ideas, and when they play them back for the class, discuss their content!

More variations of use....

You could start your lesson by playing back the teacher's Let's Talk presentation which introduces the story. Then after the study, the teacher could pose one question at a time to the students and have them type in their responses into the Talk Now screen, and play their response to the class. See our "more lesson ideas" page for more Talk Now suggestions.

Or you could study a story, then use Conversation Now to have students 'instant message' through Conversation Now to role play various points of view or characters in the story.  See our "more lesson ideas" page for Conversation Now module ideas.

Conversation Now is also a good way to get students practicing discussing the life application of the lesson. After students "Select a Lesson" and hear your content, they can hold a mock-conversation with someone who's never heard the story.  Let's Talk gets them practicing sharing their faith and knowledge in a format that's interesting to them --instant messaging (and it doesn't require an internet or network hookup, it happens all on the one screen).

How to use the Talk Now animated character as your "Virtual Puppet"...

In one church, they projected an animated character they created in the Talk Now module onto the wall for a large gathering of kids. The pastor spoke to the "Virtual Puppet".  Underneath a bedsheet next to the computer, a volunteer furiously typed responses to the pastor's comments and pressed the 'play' button to make the character talk. The kids LOVED IT.

View more about this idea in our
Let's Talk Lesson Ideas and Teacher Tips webpage

Let's Talk enhances your other software's content and extends your students' time spent at the computer. I originally came up with the idea as a way to FOLLOW UP the use of other good software which was short on multimedia content to interact with. Thus, Let's Talk is a good program to use AFTER you have used another program.

Take Life of Christ CD for example. If you're like most of us, you cherry-pick maybe 10 minutes worth of content out of this excellent CD. But then what?  Let's Talk to the rescue!  Follow up a Life of Christ CD presentation with Talk Now module.

Pose a series of life application questions -one at a time, about the Peter Walks on Water story, and have students answer your question using the Talk Now module. Example: "What can you do to reach out to Jesus when you feel like you're sinking?"

Or, have the kids create a short presentation titled "Faith Tips for Peter So He Won't Sink Next Time." (What could he/you do to strengthen his/your faith?"

Or, have the kids create a talking "Prayer about Things that make My Faith Sink" (Dear Lord, I need help to...) and play them back for the whole class as a closing prayer.

In each of these examples, you should talk about them, give examples, write some ideas on the board, then send the kids to work on them in Let's Talk. Don't just turn them loose with a vague idea. Then... go around to each computer station and work with them.

See our Let's Talk lesson plans and lesson ideas.

This screenshot shows part of the Lesson Builder template.)

Let's Talk is good for older children and youth to use as a follow-up for more "study-like" programs, such as Sandals Bible Atlas, Ilumina Bible, and Holyland 3D (all in our catalog). You can do a presentation with these Bible study tools to prepare your students to create their own related content in Let's Talk. 

See more Let's Talk Lesson Ideas here!

Three Lesson Plans:

1)  "How Few Can You Do?"  ...the Philippians 2:5-11 Game

We were studying the Cross and using Paul's explanation of Christ's mission from Philippians 2:5-11 (...humbled himself... even to death on a cross). After doing it as a memory verse in Cal and Marty's Scripture Memory Game CD, we popped into Let's Talk's "Talk Now" module, create a talking character, and CONDENSE DOWN the verses into 20 words or less, then 10, and playback their version for the class. This forced them to identify the key words and concepts, and created some debate too.
 

Read more about the "How Few Can You Do?" game here.

2)  We were studying John 1 in my class...

John 1..."In the Beginning was the Word..." is FULL of heavy language and imagery which we needed the kids to  "decode" to understand.

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 1. They wrote quiz questions about these verses knowing that other students in the class were going to be taking their quiz (so they tried to stump them!).  Then they created several discussion questions and put those into the final part of the lesson presentation.  After everyone was done, we traveled to each computer to see & hear each presentation, answer the questions, and respond to their reflection questions. Class ended at 10:15 and it took us til 10:25 to shoo them away from Let's Talk.

3)  We were studying Matthew 14 -Peter and Jesus walking on the Water.

After reading and viewing the presentation in Life of Christ CD, we discussed the "unwritten" thoughts going through the heads of those in the story. What was Jesus thinking as he came walking toward the boat? What was Peter thinking as he was rescued and put in the boat? What were the Disciples thinking as Jesus got in with them? Each computer in our lab took a different point of view and created it in Let's Talk Lesson Builder. After the presentations were over, we turned to the Talk Now Module, and had each workstation create a three-sentence prayer of intercession using the starter phrases: "Lord, when my faith is sinking, help me by ...." etc.

Kids' Verdict: 
This program is cool!

View more Lesson Ideas
for Let's Talk
including:
Doubting Thomas
Mary & Martha
Jesus Temptation
Wedding at Cana
Call of the Disciples
...and more!

Let's Talk Reflection Quickies:

Create onscreen characters and conversations who...

» Imagine the conversation between Paul and his Philippi Jailer after the earthquake. What helped the man believe?

» 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?

» Imagine what the other officers said about Cornelius behind his back when Cornelius asked to be baptized. And how did he respond?

» Imagine you're at the cross... create an onscreen rebuttal to those who are hurling insults at Jesus. Defend him.

» You're Nicodemus asking Jesus to explain what he means by saying "born from above...water and spirit."

» What did the Disciples think and say when they saw Jesus on the seashore cooking a fish?

» Rewrite the Psalm!

» Have each student ask a question about the story to the entire class through their onscreen character.

View more Lesson Ideas for Let's Talk

View more SCREENSHOTS from Let's Talk

View more Lesson Ideas for Let's Talk

View the Let's Talk Tech Page