The Role of Animation Creation as a Common Language in Aiding

Teaching and Learning

Jordan WEST ∗ Mikie HISATSUNE and Masahisa Mabo SUZUKI
UEC Student No. 0995007 Center for Int. Programs and Exchange
University of Queensland (UQ) The University of Electro-Communications
Brisbane, Australia Tokyo #182-8585. Japan
K. TAKENAKA
Sugimori Primary School
Tokyo, Japan
2 March, 2010

Abstract
Humans communicate in many different ways. Across cultures, verbal languages and body language differs -
however there are some commonalities between them, and foreigners to any country rely on any communication
methods possible to get by when they cannot speak the language. This research examines the role which
computers can play in aiding communication between foreign teachers and local students through the creation
of animations, despite the language barrier. This revolves around a long running project involving foreign
students studying under The University of Electro-Communications foreign exchange program JUSST and a
local primary school. This year the project was conducted with Sugimori Primary School in a special class
for fourth to sixth grade Japanese students who are especially interested in computers. The foreign students
gave classes which varied from cultural exchange presentations to computer based tasks for the children. The
classes are overviewed and the outcomes and impressions of the students and teachers as well as the successes
and failures are outlined in this report.
Overall the students enjoyed the classes and were able to keep up with the teachers, despite obvious
language barriers. Some technical difficulties also arose which were also solved between the children, exchange
students and teachers, since everybody had a common knowledge of the use of computers yet lacked in ability
to communicate due to language difficulties.

Keywords: proceeding, article, JUSST, presentation, Sugimori, primary school, communication, language,
computers

1 Introduction This means breaking down the barriers of communica-

Communication is the basis of mankind’s success.
Without the level of communication ability humans
possess, we would not be living in the world we do to-
day. However, we are not all able to communicate with
one another equally due to language barriers. Lan-
guage is not the only form of communication, but is the
most effective form for describing complex details. Yet
as humans – the naturally communicative beings that
we are – we generally strive to communicate through
any means possible when necessary; sometimes this
means that we rely upon other means of communica-
tion such as body language and imagery.
As we move to a more global culture, it is impor-
tant that we can communicate and live in harmony.
∗ the author is supported by UEC Scholarship.
tion and examining ways we can use advancements in
technology to assist.
This project examines communication between stu-
dents of the Sugimori Primary School Computer Club
and foreign exchange students with limited language
ability, the alternative means of communication used,
and finally the role of computers as a common interest
in assisting this communication.
2 Detail
The Sugimori Primary school project has been running
since 2003, with foreign students from the University
of Electro-Communications taking part each semester.
The original aim of the program was to foster rela-

1
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tionships between Japanese primary school students
and foreign students – to increase the childrens’ aware-
ness of other cultures and to introduce foreign students
to the Japanese school system. However the project
has become much more – from evaluations of English
teaching[1] to assessments into multiculturalism[2] all
while providing children an education in other cultures
as well as technical skills.
The project usually involves between two and
four foreign exchange students studying under the
JUSST exchange program at The University of Electro-
Communications. The project was revived in May 2009
after a one year break, so during the first semester the
focus was on building a relationship with the children,
many of whom had not participated in this program
before. During the first semester, only two foreign ex-
change students (the author and another student from
Australia) took part teaching in this project along with
an assistant with years of experience in the project.
The second semester welcomed two new foreign stu-
dents to the project, from America and Germany.
this communication. Since computers are well un-
derstood by the children in the computer club, and
also well understood by students from the University
of Electro-Communications, it was expected that com-
puters could provide a platform for communication, a
means of communicating regardless of language.
3.3 Teach children technical computer
skills
Teaching the children technical skills encompassed sev-
eral subgoals outlined below which were carried out
over the second semester. The overall objective was
to teach the children how animations work and how
to create their own, however this is a complex subject
and could be taught over years. In this context it was
simplified down to two lessons, covering a basic and su-
perficial overview of animation in an entertaining way.
It is also very important that the children enjoy this
task, otherwise this project could be considered a fail-
ure.

3.3.1 Introduce the concepts of animation

3 Goals
As with teaching any new concept, some basic theory
3.1 Develop a connection with the chil- needs to be introduced to begin with. The intention
was to teach the children the main concepts of anima-
dren
tion – frames and animation cels (NB: The terminology
Although technical skills are important, the main focus ‘layers’ was used exclusively in the classes instead of
of this project is fostering relationships between for- cels for simplicity and to be consistent with the Smile
eign exchange students, and Japanese primary school Paint application) – and to give them some more ap-
children. As a result, before any technical skills are in- preciation for the animations they watch.
troduced it is important that the children respect and
feel comfortable with the foreign exchange students. 3.3.2 Bring concepts of animation to the com-
The first semester focussed heavily on communication puter (Layers)
with the children through games – and provided an
opportunity to get to know the children on a light The next step was to teach the children how to use
and fun note. In education circles this is termed ‘ice- the ‘Smile Paint’ software to implement the concept of
breaking’, and provides leverage for communication in Layers. The goal here was for the children to produce
future. It is much easier to communicate with some- an image by sourcing several other images from the
body you feel comfortable with, and these activities internet and editing them into their own picture. They
helped assist that. would place each of the images on a separate layer then
edit out the backgrounds of the images and rearrange
them how they like. The images would then be saved
3.2 Build communication without de- with all their layer information stored for use during
pendance on language the next class.

Communication consists of many elements outside lan-

guage. Body language, emotions, tone of voice and
several other methods are used subconsciously by hu-
mans to communicate more than language can. It
is when a language barrier is introduced that these
sub-communication elements become more prominent.
It was hoped that these classes will provide some in-
sight into such communication between foreign ex-
change students and Japanese primary school chil-
dren and the role that computer play in assisting
3.3.3 Have the children create their own ani-
mation
The final goal of the technical part of this project was
for the children to bring together all of their knowledge
so far and create an animation. It was hoped that
all the children could achieve this, however due to the
limited time available, varying year levels and levels
of experience of the children with computers, it may
not be possible for every child to complete the task.

Figure 1: The layers feature in smile paint
It was expected though that most children would be
successful.
4 Resources
4.1 Computer Club Classroom
The computer classroom at Sugimori primary school
runs a custom setup designed for simplicity and for
students’ own protection. The computer systems pro-
vide an interface to easily access applications and re-
sources based on the child’s grade level and Japanese
reading ability. These systems are slightly different to
a standard computer system, however are completely
compatible with standard PC software. To keep in-
stallation difficulties to a minimum, no software was
added to the computers – only existing software and
online based web applications were used.
4.2 Just Smile
Just Smile is a suite of Japanese language based ap-
plications which provide students with easy to use cre-
ativity tools with simple to intermediate level features.
The ‘Smile Paint’ application was almost exclusively
used in this project for creating drawings and assem-
bling animations frames. The application features a
’Layer’ function which is normally only found in ad-
vanced design applications. This function was used
extensively in the animation classes after the concept
3
Figure 2: Password entry screen
Figure 3: Adding a frame to the animation
of layers was introduced. Layers are also an impor-
tant concept to understand when using software such
as Photoshop. Smile Paint introduces this concept in
a simple and fun way for the children.
4.3 Sugimori Animation Website
For the purposes of simplifying the process of com-
piling the animation, the author created a website
for the children. The website can be viewed at
http://sugimori.hareta.net/. The website is designed
to be used specifically for this one class, however it
could be adapted in the future. Currently the web-
site allows children to register their name and upload
frames they have created. The website then automati-
cally compiles these single images they have uploaded
into a moving animation. These files are also stored
on the server to allow the administrator to access the
childrens’ images.
The website is written entirely in Japanese, with a
very simple interface and a single purpose to avoid con-
fusion. The entry screen requires the user to enter a
password, as shown in figure 2. Once the student clicks
the ’Next’ button, they are taken to a screen to enter
their name. Following this, a screen as shown in figure
3 appears to allow the student to upload their previ-
ously drawn frames.
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5 Class Outline all for the children to complete, and many challenges
arose. This is discussed in detail in the results section.
Although the author participated in classes taught by
other foreign exchange students, this research focuses
on the individual goals of the classes given by the au- 6 Results
thor. Overall, there were ten classes attended over a
one year period - four of which were taught by the 6.1 Develop a connection with the chil-
author. These four classes are outlined below. dren
Throughout the first semester, some dramatic changes
5.1 Questions Game were experienced. The first time meeting with the
children, it appeared they were very shy. However
The first class taught by the author was the second
throughout the course of the first semester, their shy-
time meeting the children. During a short time of 10
ness quickly disappeared and they became less afraid
minutes, a short game was played. The questions game
to ask questions and chat. By the end of the first
is a classic communication game, which is designed to
semester, some of the children were giving the foreign
encourage people to answer questions. The aim of the
exchange students free massages.
game is not to answer correctly, but rather to give any
comprehensible answer as quickly as possible. This
game is quite fast paced and encourages the children to 6.2 Build communication without de-
communicate without thinking too much. The children pendance on language
were separated into teams for this game which also gave
a competitive element to the game. Many barriers with communication arose due to the au-
thor’s lack of Japanese language skills, however these
were quickly broken through many means. The chil-
5.2 My Favourite Places Presentation dren and foreign exchange students both shared an in-
terest in computers, and the foreign exchange student
The second class was a short powerpoint presentation
helpers were able to provide the children with assis-
about the author’s favourite places in Australia. This
tance with very minimal use of language, or use of only
allowed the author to share some personal experiences
simple phrases such as ‘click here, then here’.
with the children, however unfortunately did not offer
Despite not being able to read much of what was on
many opportunities for communication with the chil-
the screen, the helpers could understand the flow of the
dren. The presentation was ended with a short quiz on
application thanks to their experience with computer
the english words presented.
software, and rely on the children to read what was on
the screen. This powerful combination meant that a
5.3 Introduction to Animation Japanese student and a foreign exchange student were
able to achieve together what they probably could not
The third class was an opportunity to teach a full 40
achieve alone.
minute class to the children, introducing animation
During the final class, a guest foreigner – with no
concepts and some technical skills. During this class,
experience in the Japanese language at all – attended
a 10 minute presentation about animation was given
the class and was able to solve many technical prob-
and the concept of frames and layers was introduced,
lems, despite not speaking or reading a single word of
followed by a task involving layers for the children to
Japanese. This is a good example of the use of commu-
complete. This class provided many opportunities to
nication without language, and it is through computers
communicate with the children, as it was a relatively
that he was able to communicate with the children.
challenging task which forced the students to ask many
Overall this goal is considered to have been success-
questions.
ful. With the foreign exchange students and Japanese
children both learning methods to communicate with
5.4 Create an Animation each other, by the end of the semester everybody gen-
erally felt comfortable together.
The fourth and final class was a wrap-up to the anima-
tion section, and allowed the children to finally compile
their image into an animation. The children began by 6.3 Teach children technical computer
using the image they created from the previous class, skills
moving the images around and saving each as a sepa-
6.3.1 Introduce the concepts of animation
rate frame. The Sugimori animation website (see Re-
sources) was then used to compile these images into a The children very quickly picked up the concepts of an-
moving animation. This was the most difficult task of imation. From the first animation presentation, chil-

dren surprised the author with answers to questions
many university students could not answer immedi-
ately, such as “How many frames in a 30 minute anima-
tion?”. The children also understood layers and frames
very easily, and with the software available to get a
hands on idea of the concept along with many helpers
in the classroom – the learning process was sped up
immensly. More importantly, the children seemed to
have fun doing it.
6.3.2 Bring concepts of animation to the com-
puter (Layers)
The majority of the children immediately grasped the
concept of layers, and were eager to get started putting
images together to design their own scenes. The chil-
dren showed creativity and designed a variety of im-
ages. Every child in the class completed the task, so
this goal was considered an overall success.
However there were some technical problems. Prior
to the class, the author and other foreign exchange
students were not very familiar with the software the
children were using and as a result had difficulties help-
ing some children with the task. On the flip side, this
encouraged the foreign exchange students and children
to work together to solve the problem, and stimulated
communication between them.
6.3.3 Have the children create their own ani-
mation
The children were very excited to take their image and
make it move. Many of the children were eager to get
started immediately and were asking many questions.
Fortunately during this class many helpers were avail-
able, as the task was the most challenging yet.
Unfortunately there were technical problems with
the Sugimori animation website which prevented many
children from compiling their animation. Despite this,
many children persevered and eventually viewed their
animation. The design of the website however ensured
that the images uploaded were not lost. They were
easily retrieved and compiled manually by the author,
then presented at the beginning of the following class
taught by another foreign exchange student.
Once these remaining animations were compiled, it
became apparant that many more children completed
the task than originally thought.
7 Conclusion and Future Plans
On the whole, there were no major breakdowns in com-
munication between the foreign exchange students and
primary school children. Everybody learned to com-
municate with each other, even with limited knowledge
5
of the other person’s language. Foreign exchange stu-
dents made attempts to learn important vocabulary for
the classes to teach the children, however the real com-
munication occurred during the students’ tasks. When
students had difficulties, foreign students were able to
help by showing them how to carry out basic tasks with
little or no knowledge of the relevant Japanese. The
computer environment provided a powerful foundation
on which to build communication with the children
with something they are familiar with and enjoy.
Although the project was quite successful, there is
much room for improvement. From communication
techniques to education techniques and the content of
the classes, many aspects could be improved for effi-
cient learning and better communication between for-
eign exchange students and Japanese children.
In the future, it would be better to prepare for classes
by learning in more depth how to use the software in-
stalled on the childrens computers.
The website could also benefit from several improve-
ments. First and foremost, the bugs will need to be re-
moved and the site will need to be thouroughly tested.
The original aim of the website was to be fast, easy-
to-use and simple for children to understand. The site
already achieves this, however the bugs negate this.
Another improvement to the website would be to
provide some interactive learning modules about ani-
mation. This would allow a much more fun and in-
teractive replacement for the presentation introduc-
ing the concepts of animation. The system could also
track and test the students’ knowledge of the concepts
taught, and get feedback on their opinions of the class.
This would provide some more concrete figures on the
successes and failures of the project, and allow the
teacher to track each student’s progress.
8 Acknowledgements
The author wishes to thank all those who made this
project possible. From its humble beginnings at Ishi-
wara and Sugimori Primary School, Mr. K. Takenaka
has given foreign students an opportunity to take part
as teachers in his classes and without him this project
would never be what it is today. Thankyou also to
the staff of Sugimori Primary School – particularly the
school principal Mr. A. Hasobe for his hospitality and
words of encouragement and for providing the chance
to take part in this project.
I would also like to express sincere gratitude to Mrs.
M. Hisatsune for the hours of her own time she has
invested into this project and for her feedback as a
mentor.
Finally, I would like to thank Dr. M. Suzuki for
not only his guidance and for imparting his wealth of
knowledge about education and communication, but
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also for his hard work to make these programs possible;

that is the Sugimori Primary School project and the
JUSST program.

A Sample Images
Shown here are some sample pictures created by the
children in the third class. The animations were then
created from these images in the following class.

References
[1] Matthew J. Donlon ”Trial, Design and Evalu-
ation of English Programs in Japan’s Primary
Education System”, The University of Electro-
Communications, 2006

[2] Jesse Jennings ”Creating a Multicultural Technical

Learning Environment”, The University of Electro-
Communications, 2007