Tuesday, 25 January 2011

Vocaroo

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Tag Cloud 2




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Comments frmo todays talk on Wordsift

wordsift.
Great for pre-reading. Get the students to look at sift and guess what text is about

Russell at 12:36 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

award, academy, drama, expected, oscar, nomination, nominated, concievably

gifty at 12:38 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

We can help students to skim the texts

Angela & Joyce at 12:39 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

it can be used to get the gist of the text.

Sarah at 12:40 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Students can reconstruct the text according to their imagination

Farah at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

to help students to grasp the main idea and key words in an authentic text or a reading material

Jessie&Jenny at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

- words into context - having the meaning words all together, Ss can choose the ones they don't understand and look them up in a dictionary

Maria-Costas at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

It is a good way to teach and learn vocabulary. It is also helpful in listening for students to get general information.

Doreen at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

With key words, Ss can try guessing the main idea of the text. Then, Ss can discuss and form meaningful sentences

Vanessa and Ray at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

thriller, comedienne, boosted, considered, bale, ballet, nod, globe, reveal, support

gifty at 12:41 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Yo this is Gifty & Sam

gifty at 12:42 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Students can see how words work in different sentences

Farah at 12:42 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

We can use the squish cloud as brainstomer

Angela & Joyce at 12:42 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

highlighting the key words in a text enable students to discover the link between differen words and use them into practice

Jessie&Jenny at 12:42 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Wonderful to practice reading skills such as scanning the key words and guessing the main idea.

Leah at 12:43 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

bale,swan, actress, likely. This is ~Gifty again!

gifty at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

It is a good way to develop Ss' thinking and increase their vocabulary.

Echo&.Tiantian at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

before clicking on a word, students could try and find the word in the text and then check it with their partner by actually clicking on it

Maria-Costas at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Some useful words might be missed as synonyms may be used & important info may only be mentioned once

Mustafa at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

We can instruct Ss to draw tree typology

Angela & Joyce at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

wordsift shows the word frequency which is the most effective way to get the gist of a text.

Carina at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Good to guess what the main text is about before students read the article Vent

Good to guess what the main text is about before students read the article at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

A great way to get the gist of the text.As an activity we could ask students to write a text using these words & compare it to the original

George at 12:44 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Some words are accompanied by pictures or videos to demonstrate the meaning of it.

Farah at 12:45 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

we can do this as a wrap up exercise to ask students what they have learnt for the day.

gifty at 12:45 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

The Ss can learn vocabulary in different meaningful context

Angela & Joyce at 12:46 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

It could help learners to know exactly what kind of words they can use in different contexts.

Jill & Khadiga at 12:46 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

students can have a look at the text guessing the most common words. Then, with the teacher they use wordsift to compare their answers

Maria-Costas at 12:46 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

We think it is a good way to learn new words especially how words are used in context. It is also very useful for sharing ideas with visual

gifty at 12:46 PM, 25 Jan 2011 via web

Enable students to understand how the main idea of the text is orgainzed and developed based on the key words

Example of Word Cloud




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Thursday, 20 January 2011

Using youTube


What is this?
This is an example of a video from youtube that we can use in our langauge teaching. It shows a presenter doing a really bad but funny presentation. It is in English and could be used in many different ways

Why is the content good for language learning?

  • The video is funny and it brings a bit of humour to the class. It can make the lesson more motivating and interesting.
  • Video is useful because for comprehension it includes all the paralinguistic clues that help students to understand language.
  • The context of the situation can also really help comprehension. This has an impact on the anxiety levels of students. Some research suggests that anxiety is reduced when students have the context and visual clues to help them.
  • There are very valid points about presentations being made ( through all the mistakes that the presenter makes)
  • Example of authentic material, not made for language comsumption but made actually for native speakers.
How might you use it in a language teaching context?

  • One way might be start by asking the students to work in pairs and think of all the things they need to think about to make a good presentation.
  • Get some of the pairs to share their ideas with the class
  • The teacher quickly introduces the idea of the video to the class.
  • The teacher then puts the students into pairs. One student looks at the video and the other one faces away from the screen.
  • The teacher then plays the video but with no sound and the student who can see the video describes it to the student who can't see it. This makes this into a speaking activity.
  • After the teacher asks some of the  students who were listening and could not see the board to describe what they could see.
  • The whole class then watches the video with the sound.
Limitations

  • Might be hard to do in very big classes
  • The teacher might find it hard to "track" all the students
  • Need internet ( some countries don't have access to youTube)
  • Activity is quite high level as students need to speak quite quickly