Autonomous Learning. Merriam Webster:Name that thing. Visual vocabulary test on line for advanced students

Name that Thing by Merriam Webster

Aim: identify the word you see in the picture/improve your reading speed and vocabulary
Level: advanced.Words range between middle advanced to advanced levels. See pictures to decide if this quizzes are within your reach!
Procedure:

• You have 15 seconds to answer each question.
• The faster you answer, the higher your score.
• The harder the question, the higher your score.
• At the end you can compare your score with other participants'  within your age range.

Access the quiz by clicking Here: Name that Thing

Pronunciation. How do you say...?

MORE WORDS ADDED TO THE LIST.
 IF YOU ARE A SPANISH NATIVE SPEAKER take a peek at the  list of words . New words have been added ! 

"How you say" is an on-line tool that will help you to learn how to pronounce words.
Aim: students introduce words they do not know how to pronounce in order to learn them with the sound Suggested procedure if you want to use this tool in your class

•  make a list of the words students mispronounce.
  
• group students in teams
• write the words on the board
• ask teams (in turns)  how a word is pronounced
• check the pronunciation by introducing the  in How j say
• give a point to the team that pronounces the word correctly

Access the HOWJSAY page by clicking HERE 

IF your students are Spanish speakers, you may start with some (or all) of these words:

• Problems with "I" or "AI" sound:  to determine, idea, opposite, to  examine, horizon, since, microphone,  to print, tiger, virus, compliance  /kəmˈplaɪəns/  
• Problems with stress pattern:  successful,  component (stress in "po"), foreigner, surface, insurance, hotel, interesting, incorregible (stree in KO), )
• Words with two stress patterns: to present/ a present, 
• The "able" words: vegetable, suitable (the "i" does not sound), able, comfortable, table, capable, removable, printable 
• Letter B  does not sound: debt, plumber, doubt
• Letter W does not sound:  sword,  answer, drawer. would, write, whiskey. awful, awesome 
• Other silent letters: mayor (no "y"), heir (no h), guard (no u), shepherd (no second h), sign (no g) , know (no k), listen (no t)
• The -es ending sounding as "iz"or "is". Most student ignore the ending: services, oranges, he fixes/watches, exercises, sizes
•  The ones they always get wrong:  biscuit (the "u" does not sound), receipt, recipe, architecture (the K), busy, , key, Pharaoh, choir, aisle,rare, archive (K), corps  /kɔː/ as in Peace Corps vs. corpse.
• The ones that are very similar to Spanish words and students pronounce in the Spanish: fashion: Jamaica, Arkansas, Zanzibar, Ottawa.Lancaster, Asia, South, Trafalgar  Square (stress on FAL)
• The ones with less syllables than we expect: chocolate, digital, restaurant,  basically
• Teasers (homophones or almost homophones): flour and flower,  guerrilla and gorilla, waist and  waste, pear and pair, heir and hair, write and right, four and for, hear and  here, no and know...  For more homophones in British English go to this page HERE
• -age words: beverages (also stress pattern), village, image, message, usage

One minute listening videos. Spice up your classes with the BBC Express English series

BBC offers the possibility of listening to a series of short texts on a wide range of topics.

The texts are about one minute long, that's the reason for the series name,  and the script is included. 

I think this can be a good starting point (prompt, warm-up)  for some of your classes as many of the topics are part of the curriculum. Some examples are:  trips, colours, relationships, food choices, shopping, phobias, honesty, new year resolutions... you name it.

The videos can be downloaded from the Express English site or be watched on line.
To access the Express English site click HERE

I have embedded some of the videos below with the link to the page where the script is, but please, browse around. There are  more than 30 choices for you at the Express series site. 

See these examples:Jealousy, Freedom and Fashion. 

 JEALOUSY: Download the scrip from the site HERE






When do you feel free? Download the script HERE


What's in fashion at the moment. Download the script   HERE 

Ello listening site. Listen, take the quiz and read the script (if needed)

Elllo stands for English Lesson Listening Library. It  is a short video site or slide share site  where students can listen to  and view short videos/presentations. There is a script for the texts you hear and the recordings are pretty clear. When you finish listening you can just do the listening quiz.

LEVEL:  Lower intermediate or upper 

Warning:  It might be difficult to find the audios  you like as the web is a bit chaotic and you seem to need either the number of the video or the name of the  series to which it belongs. 

This is the link to the site: HERE

See the links to the videos I have chosen  for you below but feel free to browse around

These are some of the examples you may like:

a. Trip to Cambodia:  Julia tells us about a memorable trip in Cambodia to raise money for a charity. .It includes the audio and a slide presentation of her trip as well as the script, vocabulary and quiz. There are 4 presentation on the same subject.



Click HERE



Thanks to my colleagues at the Training British Council Course 2013 for recommending this site.

Linguee on-line dictionary. Find words in context.

Linguee is an on-line dictionary that contains a search engine that enables users to look for bilingual texts.
The available languages are English to/from: Spanish, German, French and Portuguese.

Click HERE to access Linguee

•  How does it work?

Capaz de = Able to = Capable of

Let's  say that, as a Spanish speaker, you want to know  the  preposition that   follows the expression "ser capaz" , which in Spanish is followed by the preposition "de".

You enter the text "capaz de" in the engine  and Linguee offers many parallel texts with that expression. As you can see in the displayed image, the English preposition is "to"  after "able"( not "of")  and "of" after "capable". 

• Advantages

The parallel texts have been checked by Linguee editors. If the translation of the word has not been verified the parallel texts is preceded by a warining sign (a triangle). 

Linguee is NOT an automatic translator. Use your head and in the long run you will see this as an advantage.

Click HERE to access Linguee 

Bombay TV- (short) written or spoken texts

Bombay TV offers the possibility of  creating  short written or spoken texts by subtitling short segments of Indian movies.
Aim: students write or record their voices creating a short text.
Level: any

Procedure.  Students:

• enter the  provided Bombay TV link
• choose a segment of a film
• prepare a dialogue
• record or write their dialogue 
• send the video segment to your e-mail
• open e-mail and share your video with the class  

NOTE: you may give your students a subject for their movies. 

Click HERE to access BOMBAY TV

 See an  example below
Subject:  Dealing with problems

Personalize funny videos at Bombay TV by Graphéine - Designer graphiste

Thanks to Ricard Garcia, speaker at the British Council April 2013 training workshop, for providing me with this link.

ESL teacher toolbox. Glogster

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.

• Use Glogster to create digital posters. Apart from photos and texts, students can upload videos, sound and images from their computer.
• The service is free although you must create an account. 
• The range of styles is pretty wide. This tool can be useful for both children and adults. 
• If Internet is slow ask your students to produce their poster at home and present it in class. 
•  See my very simple glogster underneath. It took me 10 minutes. 

 
Thanks to Xavi Gumà for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

ESL teacher toolbox. Teleprompter

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.



A teleprompter is a device used in television and moviemaking to project a speaker's script out of sight of the audience.



Procedure:

Teleprompter

• Open the teleprompter (see link underneath)
• Copy and paste a text
• Choose speed, font size, etc.

 Use a teleprompter for;

• Speed reading 
• Speed note-taking
• Lyric learning 
• Poetry reading 
• Guess what comes next

Access the teleprompter HERE



Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.

ESL teacher toolbox. Find the script of a film

The label ESL teacher toolbox contains a list of on-line tools that facilitate the teachers' task.

Do you need  the script of a film? 

• Go to the script-o-rama page and find out if the script is available (see link underneath).
• Once you have found the script,  look for the except you need by going to EDIT (top tool bar) or by using the shortcut Ctrl +F. This will open a small window at the bottom of your page. Type a word/sentence that you know that appears in the except you need. 
• Copy and paste the excerpt in Word (or similar).

Access the link HERE

Thanks to our teacher trainer Mike O'Neill for providing us with the link to this resource. Course 77 at the British Council Summer 2012.