Watch videos on Wimp

If you are looking for flashy, colourful and feature-laden sites, this is not for you. Because Wimp is plain, bare and colourless. But don't get discouraged by the first look. Explore the videos which have been grouped according to the date (it is the only organisation apparent).
The creators of the site say:

Wimp.com is a mainstream, user generated, family friendly video website...

We are not a funny video website; rather, we feature all kinds of videos: funny, educational, inspirational, cute, science, news, pretty much anything we think that might add 'value' to your life in some shape or form. We are anti-sensationalistic...

Once I had watched the first random video (which turned out to be totally entrancing - Tokyo timelapse by Samuel Cockedey), I delved deeper and found more and more fascinating films.
There is one disappointing drawback (deliberate?) - you cannot download the videos.

Some more captivating videos:
Nuit Blanche: Most beautiful four minutes ever
Why is the sky dark at night? (with a narrative)
Wingsuit proximity flying in Switzerland and Norway

Lingro - the coolest dictionary

Recently I discovered this amazing translation technology Lingro which the creators call a dictionary.

At first glance it does not look like a dictionary because it is more than a dictionary! You can paste the URL of a website and then click on any word - Lingo will give you the translation. It translates words from / into 11 languages! And what's more - it will save the words that were translated for you in your history (to save the list you have to register). You can go back later to review the words and learn them. What an easy way to get the meaning of an unknown word instantly!
Lingro does it with a simple text file too! Just upload the file and start translating!

If you think you'd like to use Lingro services constantly, you can download the browser plugin (it offers Firefox extension) and you will be able to translate ANY word on ANY page you are viewing.

Great tool for learners of languages!

A tool for creating simple polls

If you need a quick response to some question, create an interactive online poll using http://answergarden.ch.  Great feedback tool!
Test it now by typing your answer in the box.

You can limit the answers to one per day or allow multiple answers. Be careful - mistakes cannot be corrected after you submit the answer!

 
Which web tool do you like best?... at AnswerGarden.ch.

Classroom timer

A really simple but useful tool - classroom timer - can be found here.
You will have to open it on the screen or whiteboard.

A fantastic tool if you want to limit the time for some lesson task, e.g. a short vocabulary check. Tell the students they have got 5 minutes, start the clock and leave it on the screen for the students to see it.





The best thing is you can make the timer count up or down depending on your needs.







See more fabulous classroom tools on http://www.triptico.co.uk/.

A letter from the college

Something to make you smile while you are getting ready to recommence your work in September.

                       

A student's view on the school budget (click to zoom)

Teaching topic - Banksy

When the curriculum says "next topic - contemporary British art", you certainly cannot bypass Banksy, a notorious figure in British and world art.
Here is a video that will help you to present this artist to your students.



There is a nice online exercise based on this video at
http://www.esolcourses.com/content/lifeintheuk/britart/banksy-videoquiz.html

I have prepared a worksheet about Banksy with 3 reading tasks which you can see in the preview.
You can download it here.

A new tool Iconscrabble

Despite of looking plain and even boring, this new web tool Iconscrabble makes wonders. You have to enter a word or a short phrase and the tool presents your word in a special way - it composes your word of icons/ logos which in turn are linked to their respective websites. Amazing!

You get a picture like this but its links are active only on the Iconscrabble website. A pity you cannot embed it anywhere.

You can use this tool at the lesson - ask your students to type their names and discover what websites each letter in their name represents.
Ask them to find out a website for each letter of the alphabet. There are many icons for one letter so students will have different websites for one and the same letter. A whole lesson of fun!

Typography

What once was a simple selection of letter forms to be organized into words and sentences and then printed, now is the art and technique of arranging type, type design, and modifying type glyphs.
Typography has evolved as both a science and art for one main purpose: to make words easier to understand and more meaningful to read.

Typography is also what you get when you use word cloud generators mentioned in my post Web tools for making word clouds.

Example of typography (click to enlarge):

An awesome example of creative typography

Further reading on typography:
http://free-web-design.co.cc/the-art-of-modern-typography-design.html
http://sixrevisions.com/design-showcase-inspiration/30-creative-typography-art/

Infographics

Browsing the net lately, I have come across the term infographic on many occasions. What is it?
Infographics is the mixture of text and images to tell stories, explain concepts, describe processes, or provide instructions.

This is how Dave Gray defines it:
1. It's a visual explanation that helps you more easily understand, find or do something.
2. It's visual, and when necessary, integrates words and pictures in a fluid, dynamic way.
3. It stands alone and is completely self-explanatory.
4. It reveals information that was formerly hidden or submerged.
5. It makes possible faster, more consistent understanding.
6. It's universally understandable.

Look at some examples (click and zoom to enlarge):
                                                                    

Further reading about infographics:
http://www.readwriteweb.com/start/2010/07/tips-for-a-startup-infographic.php
http://spyrestudios.com/an-inspirational-showcase-thatll-change-how-you-display-data/
http://sixrevisions.com/graphics-design/40-useful-and-creative-infographics/

Web tools for making word clouds

Word clouds or clusters of words are a fun way to sum up the lexis used in a particular text. There are quite a lot of tools for creating them, here I have exploited four of them. I have already mentioned TAGUL and WORDLE before.
I have used the same poem The Little Boy and the Old Man by Shel Silverstein for making all clouds. You may try to predict the content of the poem while looking at these word clouds, and then read the full poem at the end of the post.

Further reading about the ways how you can use word clouds in the lessons:

http://kjtechresources.blogspot.com/2010/03/ways-to-use-word-clouds-in-classroom.html
http://www.web2teachingtools.com/wordle.html
http://nikpeachey.blogspot.com/2008/09/using-word-clouds-in-efl-esl.html
http://iteslj.org/Techniques/Stockdale-TextCloud/
http://oupeltglobalblog.com/2010/06/16/what-is-a-word-cloud/

WORDLE is probably the most popular tool. I have not researched its history but I believe it may also be the oldest of all tools of the kind. I developed my love for the word clouds thanks to Wordle.

WORD IT OUT is a tool I discovered recently and liked it at once for its simplicity.

















Word clouds made with ABCya are amazingly similar to Wordle products and as lovely!

Finally, TAGXEDO which is popular because of its versatility. You can even create a cloud in the shape of a star or an animal. But then Tagul also makes shapes if you wish.








Here is the poem I used to make the word clouds.

Said the little boy, "Sometimes I drop my spoon."
Said the old man, "I do that too."
The little boy whispered, "I wet my pants."
"I do that too," laughed the little old man.
Said the little boy, "I often cry."
The old man nodded, "So do I."
"But worst of all," said the boy, "it seems
Grown-ups don't pay attention to me."
And he felt the warmth of a wrinkled old hand.
"I know what you mean," said the little old man.