Reflections on TELL ( Week 3)

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 Third week of  TELL has been just as interesting as the previous two weeks. I have been introduced to many more tools and this week has been more practical and hands-on compared to the previous two. This week I've learnt how to use certain educational tools for language learning.



 

Tricider as A Language Learning Tool

There is a tool called Tricider. It's a brainstorming tool. What you do is that you first choose a topic on which you need to gather ideas then you post it and share the link with your classmates, colleagues or friends. Next, the people with whom you've shared the link can add their ideas on it. People can add the pros and cons of their ideas about the topic. You can even argue over ideas with other people. This way you can get a range of ideas and opinions. The post can stay up for 14 days for people to add their ideas to it. How is it connected to language learning? Well, it can enhance your writing skills if you frequently share your ideas, discuss the pros and cons of ideas and debate with other people over ideas. It can also hone your communication skills when you debate with other people. 

Various other Educational Tools 

I have also been introduced to various other Educational tools like IPA typewriter, Phonotizer and PhoTransEdit. These tools are concerned with pronunciation. You can learn about the correct transcription and pronunciation of words and these are especially helpful for students learning linguistics. IPA typewriter allows you to type the phonetic symbols of words. To crosscheck, whether the transcription is correct, you can paste the transcription in PhoTransEdit, where it shows you what the symbols translate to. You can choose to translate the symbols to Received pronunciation; the standard pronunciation or general English. Phonotizer is another tool for this purpose. 

Another very useful tool I've been introduced to is BreakingNews English. This tool is synced with English e-newspapers. This tool can pitch the syntax and lexicon to the level of the readers. There are levels from 1 to 7, 1 being the elementary level. 

Another tool, which i believe is the most useful one I have learnt about so far, is Lingro. It's like a dictionary, a translation tool. You copy a link of an article you want to read, you post it on Lingro and the article opens up on Lingro. Lingro provides meanings of every word you click on. It makes it easier for you to read an article if you come across unfamiliar words as you don't have to open up your mobile dictionary. You can also add words to your wordlist. 

Here is how it looks like


Cloze test creator is another tool which can generate a cloze test; a kind of fill in the blanks test. You choose a paragraph and then you use the cloze test creator to decide the nth word which is going to be missing and what kind of word; preposition, noun, verb etc.

Overall, this week has been interesting. I have learnt about some tools which I can use in my daily life. Looking forward to what the next week lectures will unfold.

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