Wordia--Online Visual Dictionary

What is this?

This is an online visual dictionary which aims to redefine the dictionary and asks members of the public and celebrity 'orators' to upload videos explaining what words mean to them. You can enter a word in the bar and click 'search'

 

 Then the following is the video about the definition of the word. Play it.

 The right side shows the definition on the dictionary

Also you can see some associated words

Why is the content good for language learning? 

• The video per se is an authentic listening material that can decrease the distance between language learners and native speakers.
• The speakers in the video are funny, hansome, attractive, they are at different ages and have different social background. The definition given by them is much more practical and functional in real-life use.
• It covers a large number of technical items and vocabularies that could be used in real world and the definition is easy to understand. It helps learners to increase their vocabulary volume and language comprehension.
• The definition showen in the right side can give students more detailed and specific explanation.
• The associated vocabularies provide a resouce to extend their understanding.
• Learners can record their own video and definite a word, then upload and share with others.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

• Teacher collects some new vocabularies first, and searches relevant videos before class. Then show the video to students and asks them to discuss the exact meaning of each word with their peers. Then they need to give their own definition about the words.
• After learning some new vocabularies, teacher can play some videos about some words as a supplement of teacher's explanation.
• Teacher sellects some useful words and distribute them to different students groups. Every student in a group is in charge of a particular word. Teacher asks every students to search relevant video about the definition of that word and then explain it in his/her word to the other group members.

Limitation

• Too advanced to young learners and language learning beginners.
• Some definitions are too narrow and subjective.
• Not all often-used words accompanied with a video.
• Some vacabularies are rarely used.

Useful Word Cloud Tools

What is this?

This is a useful website for creating word clouds. The word cloud can be created by entering whole sentences, whole documents, web addresses or tables. According to the frequency of key words in the text, the site will generates a word cloud. The most frequent or important words are bigger than the others. Click 'creat'

and then enter the text,

a word cloud can be created automatically in such an easy way.

Why is the content good for language learning? 

• It's easy to operate, only 2 steps: enter text and work it out! Both teacher and students can understand and apply it into real class easily.
• Free to use and no sign up required.
• No text length limited, text can be from coursebook, website, oral materials, even exam papers.
• The word clouds can be designed randomly according to personal preference, which increase students' interest and practicial ability.
• It's flexible for teacher to change the original text(add or delete some sentences or words) to a text that much more suitable for students' language proficiency.
• To present words by a visual picture is much more attractive and can stimulate students' visual capacity.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

• Teacher can creat a word cloud of a text and show it to students, then asks them to predict or guess the content or meaning of the text based on the word cloud. If they come across any new words in the word cloud, they can work in pair to check them , or teacher can explain the new words.
• Another way is opposite to the first one. After completing a unit, teacher creates word clouds based on some texts that they learned, and asks students to retell the texts.
• Teacher creats a word cloud of a text and teaches students some important and frequent vocabularies in details.
•  Teahcer asks students to creat a word cloud about themselves or anyone they are interested in. Then share the word clouds with their peers and see if they can identify the person in each other's cloud.

Limitation

• There isn't any word cloud games or quizes online.
• Not many examples or topics are available.
• Can't see others' word coulds on homepage.
• Simple website design and too many Google ads.

Other useful word cloud tools:

 Tagxedo http://www.tagxedo.com/

 Wordle  http://www.wordle.net/

 Wordsift http://www.wordsift.com/


Russell's training videos
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/wordCloud/index.html
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/wordSift/index.html
http://www.teachertrainingvideos.com/wordle/index.html

Visuwords ---- online graphical dictionary

What is this?
Visuwords is an online graphical dictionary which can be used to look up vocabulories, English explanations and other associated words and concepts. It is an useful online dictionnary for students to increase their motivation and autonomy in terms of vocabulary learning.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?
For example,
Enter a word you want to look up  into the search bar

The tree below shows various meaning and related words of the target word. . Besides, you can click and drag the node to zoom and clarify connections. The bar on the left side is to explain different colors and shapes indicate different relationship.

You can double-click a node to expand the word tree for more words and concepts or just put the cursor on one particular node for more specific word definition

Why is the content good for language learning?

• Visual word network stimulate learners to dig more associated words in depth.
• Clear words categories and definitions. Learners can search any new words on it by themselves rather than rely on teacher's explanation.
• Increase student's autonomy.

   Limitation

• Too much signs (colors and shapes) of indicating the words relationship to remember.

 

Wonderful Quizzes ~~Come on

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/quizzes/ 

What is this?

 

This is an online quizz website from BBC learning English. It contains a lot of interesting quizzes on various hot topics.

Why is the content good for language learning?

 

• Some questions in quizzes cover a lot of language points and daily use language that are easily confusable. For example:  The word pairs below

• 

 

• Learners can distinguish them through exercising and will be able to use it into real communication.
• Every question is followed by a relevant picture which can indicate the context of the question or give some clues. It is easy to understand and enables learners to make quick decision.
• Learners can take self-test and self-correction, in order to increase their autonomy and achieve self-improvement in language learning. After finishing the quizzes, just 'check the answer', you will get the feedback.
• Every feedback, both correct and wrong, will give learners an explanation or Synonyms of the answer, which motivates learners to learn more.
• 
  
• 

• 
• The topics are various and almost cover a lot of subjects in the world. Topic-based quizzes will give learners more  choice to do the quizzes according to their interests.
• 
• There are several types of quizzes, learners may never feel boring.
• 
• The quizzes are short (six questions per quizz) and it takes learners only few minutes to do it.
• The cloze test pattern is expecially good for those test-centered learners to do self-test.
• All the quizzes can be downloaded as PDF file.
• The resources will be updated weekly. Learners can do the latest quizzes and know the hottest topics as they want.

 How might you use it in a language teaching context?

 

• Teacher pre-select a topic-based quizz which is relevant to today's lesson and hand it out as a warm-up activity before the class.
• Or after the class, the quizz can be used as a review material.
• For oral English class,
• The quizz can be used as an oral material. Because some of the quizzes have a strong association with daily life communication.
• For example:
• 
•  
• Teacher can ask students to do a role play or make up a story or practice a dialogue according to the quizzes.
• 'Beat the keeper' is a flash game combined with language practice. Teacher can apply it into class and encourages students to work in pair or group to play it.

 

 Limitation

 

• The quizzes are not classified based on learners' different level. Some quizzes are not very suitable for young learners or beginners.
• No matched audio materials.
• No topic search bar.

 

 

Hotpotato

What is this?

This is a useful free software to create your own quiz. The quiz can be created in forms of multiple-choice, short-answer, jumbled-sentence,crossword,matching /ordering and gap-filling exercises.You can download the exercises that you have created or publish them in the web.

you can download the software here:   http://hotpot.uvic.ca/

Why is the content good for language learning? 

•        Good teaching materials for language learning.
•         Instant feedback.
•         The score calculation of the quiz can assist in evaluating students' learning. 
•         It is a kind of drills to enhance memorize. 
•         Fit to the theory of behaviorism. 

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

Teacher can adapt and supplement their teaching materials by adding quizzes

• Pre-task: use the quiz to hold warming-up activity to test students' background knowledge on the topic; 
• Pre-task: use the quiz to review the knowledge learned in  the last class. 
• while-task: teacher can supplement the teaching materials and add more exercises for students to improve their comprehension. 
• while-task: students can be divided into different groups and use this tool to evaluate their work after their presentation. 
• after task: for evaluating the outcome of the learning and for reviewing and reinforcing the knowledge. 

Limitation 

• Time-consuming for designing a quiz.
• Sometimes technical problems occur.
• The layout and format of the quiz is old and lack of interesting.
• Drills are not for students constructing knowledges.
• Lack of interaction and communication in the class.

How do you think the technology might change teaching and learning

 

Classroom Discussion:

 

Topic: How do you think the technology might change teaching and learning

Positive:

• Learning will be more autonomous
• It can be free life-long learning achieve distance language teaching or on-line learning
• offer more or less equal opportunities for education
• Modernizing language learning (up-to date)
• Much greater potential for a 'connected classroom' ie the learning doesn't stop at the classroom door enrich the learning style
• Learning for multiple intelligences applies to learners' different styles
• It can motivate the students by offering the update information.
• easier access to other learner or teaching communities
• We think it will be the basis and drive for changing pedagogical approaches and sprucing them up!
• Broadens the field of opportunities for language learning and its application
• Make the learning process more motivating
• No more boring lessons!!
• It enables students to communicate in English within the whole world.
• really learner-centered language teaching
• will enhance interdisciplinary studies
• Development of technology awareness and skills becomes available through language learning
• Ss are more exposed to authentic language environment.
• Technology helps language learners develop more efficient learning strategies.
• Learners can have access to any materials. Also, learners can listen to an English story while watching 3 dimentional play just in front of

Neutural:

• Learning might not take any in any one place
• May increase divide between haves and have nots
• No text books are needed There might not be traditional classrooms anymore as anyone would have access in the resources any time.
•  handouts and coursebooks may no longer be used
• If technology reaches the level of AI, maybe we won't have to learn any foreign languages anymore. For example, we can talk in any language

Negative:

• distract the students
• students may rely on the technologies too much
• Less face-to-face communication
• There might be the danger of how to utilise all this knowledge.
• Danger of adapting lesson to technologies than the other way round.
• harmful to physical heath eg. eyes, muscle
• too much overloaded input will add pressure on students' mind which distract students' selection of the valuable information
• Multi-tasking might not be appropriate for variable learning styles. The beginning of another digital gap?
• overload psycho- cognitive processes- might be too much
• Less teamwork

Slideshare

Halloween 6 (Planning A Party)

View more presentations from Anna Smith.

What is this?

This is an example slide about planning a halloween party from http://www.slideshare.net/.  It was created and shared by Anna from skype English school. Eight slides contain planning ideas, party tips and so on, which provide a lot of interesting activities and useful information. It can be used in English language learning classroom as a activity material and resource.
Slideshare is a website that allows everyone to share his/her slides, presentations and perspectives. Also, it provides rich resources for everybody to watch, download and share those slides.

Why is the content good for language learning?

• The content in this slide is interesting and creative, which provides rich information and cultural background for learners to learn the language as well as western culture, especially the traditional festival.
• Learners may be motivated to search and learn more relevant language and culture in order to implement a specific activity or step in this slide, in other words, it can increase learners' autonomy.
• The slides in this website is totally free and can be embedded.
• Slideshare contains a lot of authentic learning materials and resources which can be used in classroom.
• It allows learners to upload and share their own slides.

How might you use it in a language teaching context?

• Teacher asks students to work in group and prepare a real Halloween party based on given information and tips in this slide. This activity needs the students to understand the target language itself as well as western culture and to work collaboratively.
• Teahcer can play this slide as a demonstration of a task which asks students to design a party or a small gathering in group.  Then, teacher is responsable for explaining the language difficulties in the slide and giving specific instruction of the task.
• Students can select any topic they are interested in (or the topic introduced in class) and create their own slides and share it with teachers and peers.

 Limitation

• This website may not be accessed in China.
• Instructions in some slides are too complicated to understand.
• Teacher need to do some changes in order to make the material suitable for a specific class and teaching context.