We talked about this problem in the INSETT on integrating ICT into project work, so I thought you like to see what Herbert Puchta has to say on the issue. Anybody got any more tips that you can offer us?
Thursday 13 May 2010
Web tools for vocabulary building and help with pronunciation
There's now a whole series of online resources to help students to build up their vocabulary and improve their pronunciation. There's no end of the ways you can use them. I'll suggest a few but I'm sure you can come up with more. Why not add them as comments or in a new post?
So here goes:
lingro - thanks to Andrew M for finding this one. If you paste the URL (address) of a website into it, it will load the page and make all the words clickable. When you click on a word, it offers you the definition of it or a translation into the language you select. Many words also come with a sound file so that you can hear the way they are pronounced.
If you register (which is immediate) you can save your own word lists and play games with them to help you remember them. I've got my students, who are currently working on projects, to learn 10 new words related to their project topic per week using lingro as part of their homework.
Seeing is believing - so check it out!
wordnik - type in a word and it not only gives you a series of definitions but shows you how it has been used in context - offering you links to the sources plus examples of how it is currently being used on twitter! You can also click on"Pronunciations" to see how the word breaks down phonetically and to hear it being said.
forvo - type in a word to hear it pronounced by different people from all over the world. If you register with the site you can also request for people to upload the pronunciation of the word you want.
wordia - this is a site where people upload videos to illustrate a word (have a look at "filch" for a good example).
wordreference - a good place to quickly translate a word into a range of languages.
So here goes:
lingro - thanks to Andrew M for finding this one. If you paste the URL (address) of a website into it, it will load the page and make all the words clickable. When you click on a word, it offers you the definition of it or a translation into the language you select. Many words also come with a sound file so that you can hear the way they are pronounced.
If you register (which is immediate) you can save your own word lists and play games with them to help you remember them. I've got my students, who are currently working on projects, to learn 10 new words related to their project topic per week using lingro as part of their homework.
Seeing is believing - so check it out!
wordnik - type in a word and it not only gives you a series of definitions but shows you how it has been used in context - offering you links to the sources plus examples of how it is currently being used on twitter! You can also click on"Pronunciations" to see how the word breaks down phonetically and to hear it being said.
forvo - type in a word to hear it pronounced by different people from all over the world. If you register with the site you can also request for people to upload the pronunciation of the word you want.
wordia - this is a site where people upload videos to illustrate a word (have a look at "filch" for a good example).
wordreference - a good place to quickly translate a word into a range of languages.
Wednesday 5 May 2010
INSETT: Integrating ICT into project work
Some useful web tools:
Voki – great fun for creating animated characters that speak: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post.
VoiceThread – for creating online presentations: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post.
Animoto – for creating slick videos from photos, videos and text: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post in combination with Podomatic.
Podomatic – for creating podcasts: video tutorial
Glogster – for creating animated, online posters: 90 second video tutorial
A Primary 3 student's Glogster poster
EnglishCentral a great resource to help students to improve their speaking skills and confidence in them. The site contains a huge range of videos you can choose from and uses voice recognition. Students record themselves imitating what they hear (in small chunks) and are given a score. You can set up an account as a teacher and even set your students homework and check how they've done.
Who to talk to for project tips:
Guy has used EnglishCentral in conjunction with a very interesting ongoing radio project he has with one of his classes - so for more ideas talk to him!
Rebbecca has some really good ideas for using PowerPoint with students - so if you're thinking of using this as the end product for your students' projects talk to her!
Sonia worked last year on a successful magazine project with students and also has come up with a really cool idea for keeping students talking in English during class. She allocates each of her students a "persona" who lives in a different English-speaking countries and then gets them to flesh them out. Her students have even ended up creating relations between themselves and all she needs to do when they revert to Spanish is to say "Remember who you are!"
Andy worked on a Reality Show project with her Senior 4 class - see the girls' contribution on her class wiki. Sounds like a great project idea for either now or for Summer intensive course so get the details from her!
Linking with students from other countries
If you want to link up with other teachers and students across the world try elanguages. You can either join in on an existing project or start your own and get other schools to join in with yours. You have to register first.
More resources to download
Ideas and resources for web projects .pdf
Web tools for teachers .pdf
Voki – great fun for creating animated characters that speak: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post.
VoiceThread – for creating online presentations: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post.
Animoto – for creating slick videos from photos, videos and text: a blog post tutorial and an example of it used in a student's blog post in combination with Podomatic.
Podomatic – for creating podcasts: video tutorial
Glogster – for creating animated, online posters: 90 second video tutorial
A Primary 3 student's Glogster poster
EnglishCentral a great resource to help students to improve their speaking skills and confidence in them. The site contains a huge range of videos you can choose from and uses voice recognition. Students record themselves imitating what they hear (in small chunks) and are given a score. You can set up an account as a teacher and even set your students homework and check how they've done.
Who to talk to for project tips:
Guy has used EnglishCentral in conjunction with a very interesting ongoing radio project he has with one of his classes - so for more ideas talk to him!
Rebbecca has some really good ideas for using PowerPoint with students - so if you're thinking of using this as the end product for your students' projects talk to her!
Sonia worked last year on a successful magazine project with students and also has come up with a really cool idea for keeping students talking in English during class. She allocates each of her students a "persona" who lives in a different English-speaking countries and then gets them to flesh them out. Her students have even ended up creating relations between themselves and all she needs to do when they revert to Spanish is to say "Remember who you are!"
Andy worked on a Reality Show project with her Senior 4 class - see the girls' contribution on her class wiki. Sounds like a great project idea for either now or for Summer intensive course so get the details from her!
Linking with students from other countries
If you want to link up with other teachers and students across the world try elanguages. You can either join in on an existing project or start your own and get other schools to join in with yours. You have to register first.
More resources to download
Ideas and resources for web projects .pdf
Web tools for teachers .pdf
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