Sketchengine part II

Salam everyone, 

                                                                        (Salam: Peace in Arabic, used for greetings)

                                          👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥

  

                                              Do you like using games in your class?  

I mean who doesn't? but we need to make it beneficial so I'm here for the rescue :)

This week I'm back with another activity/game based on corpus data, but it's more fun than last week's 😈

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        note: this activity was part of an assignment I wrote, If you plan to create something similar please share it with me :)

Activity #2: Synonyms bingo

How to create a synonyms bingo? 

1. go to Sketchengine and choose the "thesaurus" button where you'll find synonyms of any word you choose. (for the corpus I choose BAWE)

                                                                

thesaurus button in sketchengine 

2. type the word you want to find a synonym for, just bare in mind that this option will also give you words that are related to your word so you need to double check with a dictionary for your synonyms.

3. pick 5 words of the list for 5 different words you want to teach the synonyms of for your students.

4. go to a bingo maker website and here's what I used make your own bingo cards, and press the following 

                                    

5. then this because we will have our own list of items

6. then this 

7. then fill each box of these with your 5 synonyms 

8. and finally press submit  

9. you'll then have your 10 generated bingo cards which you can use with 10 students or play it in pairs (of 20 students). 

                                    

                                                        An example of a bingo card that I created 

                                

10. create your own list of how'll you say each item in class, but for me I choose 5 random synonyms and told students whoever scratch off a horizontal or vertical line, wins.

Relevance to teaching and learning English 

1. using games in class can make dry classes more fun.

2. depends on how you approach it, but if played in pairs which goes under "collaborative learning" which is an important skill to learn as we don't work alone most of the time.

3. learning synonyms can help students better express themselves as their wording will be more precise. 

4. if played individually, it can help students learn to focus as they need to be fast in finding the words they need which won't happen if they are not focused.

limitations:

1. It takes a lot of time to find synonyms in Sketchengine as the button "thesaurus" offers not only synonyms.

2. It can get chiatoc if not planned correctly.

3. Some students might not memorize the synonyms from the activity so as a teacher a good pre-teaching should come before it to help with memorizing the synonyms.

                        So, will you play synonyms bingo in your next class ? 😇

This is my last blog for this term, thank you for reading all my 8 blogs, let me know what you liked best :)

meet your new helper

Salam everyone, 

                                                                        (Salam: Peace in Arabic, used for greetings)

                                          👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥

This week I'll post two different blogs about activities you can implement using Sketchengine, in other words, Corpus driven data. link to Sketchengine

**note: 1. I wrote about these activities for one of my assignments, if you plan to implement it please let me know :)

2. the quality of my screenshots is not good and I tried everything to fix it, apologies. 

                                           👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾💥👾

Activity 1:   Fill in the gap with the right linking word. 

Rationale: This activity can be used for your students learning about linking words,  but for my activity I assumed that they are of grade 12 so I used BAWE corpus because it would suit their level.

How to create the activity ? 

1. After you picked your linking words from any website of reference, go to concordance button in Sketch engine as shown here: 

             

2. Type the word you are doing the activity about, and this button will show you how the word appears in its real context.

                                                

                          

                                                    Example of concordance for the word "moreover"

3. For my activity, since it's fill in the gap, I picked only one of these concordances and repeated the same process for each word I had.

4. After collecting let's say 8 concordances of 8 different linking words, I press on it as shown below and go to a blank word document where I clean unnecessary information so my students don't get confused.

                                                

The word "moreover" in its real context 

5. After cleaning the concordance and removing things like "</s><s> " in blue, I start creating the activity by putting the concordance and leaving a blank where the linking word suppose to be as shown below.

    Fill in the gap with a linking word (as, because, furthermore, moreover, not only but only)

    1. studia humanitatis stressed text-based studies, thereby aiming to gain powerful and valuable insights of Christian religion brought back to a purer interpretation of the biblical text. Their slogan ad fontes signified, most importantly, an attempt to get closer to the true intention of the scriptures. ________ , the via moderna, as this new interpretation of religion came to be called, also challenged the minutely derived rationalist viewpoints of medieval theologians (known as the via antiqua) by stressing the value of human experience and interpretation. For example, the German philologist and

6. I didn't give a lot of structure for the activity because you can design it the way you want, for me I picked linking words because it's an important point I wanted to teach my students, you can also use it for other things.

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Relevance to teaching and learning English

1. Using corpus driven data encourages discovery and active learning, that is if you will be teaching your students how to use the website but other than that those types of learning will be there on a lower level.

2. Using corpus driven data is useful for students because students are able to see the word they are learning about in its real context.

3. For teachers, doing such an activity you get the best of both worlds of traditional and modern learning, traditional as in fill in the gap and modern from using Sketch engine.

4. As a teacher you can create plenty of activities similar to this one and you will rest assure that it will be relevant for a while and it's supported by essays and textbooks.

5. learning about linking words for both students and teachers teaches the importance of cohesive and coherent ideas to accurately represent what you want to say 

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Limitations:

1. Your school/university needs to have access to Sketchengine to create this activity.

2. The concordance can still be confusing even after cleaning it from irrelevant parts.

3.  It takes a lot of time to create a good activity that is relevant to your context.

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                       So, do you like your new assistant for all your activities ? 

Scavenger Hunt, but make it fun.

Salam everyone, 

                                                                        (Salam: Peace in Arabic, used for greetings)

This week I have a more simple blog, for the days when you feel like lecturing would send your students to misery, try Internet Scavenger Hunt. 😹💗

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What is the internet Scavenger Hunt?

It is an activity that teachers can use to practice students' internet searching skills for the information they would need.

                                                -----------------------------------------------------

      For anything in the world, you can adjust things to make them more suitable for your class.

Research Internet Scavenger Hunt

            How to do it?

1. Decide the focus you want your students to work on.

2. Find websites relevant to your intended topic (choose at least 5 topics and you can increase the more advanced your students are)

3. Create a set of questions relevant to your topic, which students can find answers for on the websites you provided.

4. You can choose to do this in groups or with each student on their own.

    * I think in groups wouldn't help students learn the skill of searching the internet because at the end one student will be controlling the computer.

Example of the activity: 

link to photo

We are learning about robin birds, and here are some websites to start your search

List of websites to search for information 

1. https://www.discoverwildlife.com/animal-facts/birds/facts-about-robins/

2. https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Robin/overview

Questions

1. Do robins migrate?

2. What is the age of the oldest  American Robin?

3. What type of food do robins usually eat?

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Relevance to learning and teaching English

- This activity is part of the discovery and active learning, students will learn how to become more independent when searching for information they need, and they will also learn to be more critical of what they see on the internet.

- Teachers can apply this in classes teaching writing research essays, to teach how to look for credible sources.

limitations

- Might be dangerous to let students go unsupervised when looking for online information.

- Teachers can't monitor all students all the time.

                                        Would you use it in your class? let me know :)

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ChatGPT - a curse or a blessing ?

Salam everyone, 

                                                                        (Salam: Peace in Arabic, used for greetings)

This week I will talk about the one and only ChatGPT 

Source: https://seeklogo.com/vector-logo/465219/chatgpt

Is ChatGPT a curse or a blessing that entered our educational world? let's see :)

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What is ChatGPT?

 An artificial intelligence chatbot that has a powerful ability to analyze and generate information.

 

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How to use it 

              because it is relatively new, it is really simple.

1. To create an account, creating an account would be easier if you have a google account, just press "try ChatGPT" and create an account from there 

2. Type anything you want to ask it and get fascinated by how detailed it can be.

                                        

3. A tip I would give is to be clear about your request because it can "lag" or give you an error message if it doesn't understand your request.

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Relevance to teaching and learning English 

I think this tool would help with the skill of writing, and reading whereas for speaking and listening the help is there but much less and I'll explain why.

    1. Students can use it to brainstorm ideas about a topic they are writing about in detail.

    2. Students can use it to get tips on how to plan their writing/speaking/listening/reading.

For speaking and listening, we know that for this students need to practice either by speaking themselves or by listening to someone speaking which is not something that ChatGPT provides, instead, teachers can use it to ask for tips and methods on how to approach listening and speaking tasks.

                    

           

 3.  Teachers can use it for guidance on creating exercises/activities/tasks.

                                            Advice: always double-check anything you find on ChatGPT

                    

 4. Students can use it for further explanation on any topic they want to learn about.

 5. I really liked this blog about how we can use ChatGPT in education, please check it out :)

blog about ChatGPT and education

 6. Many principles of learning and teaching can be applied with ChatGPT, it depends on the teacher, for instance, for teachers that believe that learning happens best when students themselves do the research (active learning), then ChatGPT will be their best friend.

            - ChatGPT is also suitable for those that believe learning happens when exploring happens because it's all about what the student writes in the chat box. 

7. It's quite fast, so this will help you when you are in need of some information and you don't have a lot of time. 

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Answering the question 

To answer my first question, I believe that like any new technology, it's a double-edged sword that we get to decide what we get out of it. I believe that with careful use, we can benefit a lot from ChatGPT. 

Limitations 

1. you don't know the source of information given to you by it.

2. using it without awareness can make you dependent on it.

3. it makes mistakes, which can give you false information. 

4. it will create exercises that are generative and not based on your students' needs.

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So, do you think ChatGPT is a curse or a blessing? let me know in the comments :)

A colorful classroom

Salam everyone, 

                                                          (Salam: Peace in arabic, used for greetings)

This week I am back but this time not only with a tool that can help not only educators, but also every person that often has to discuss topics, plan or even showcase something. 

                        I got what can make every point of these much easier and faster. 

Want to find out what it is ? continue reading :) 

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What is Padlet ?

                            

Padlet is a website that offers you a digital "wall" to post your information on as notes. 

                                       Here's a link to the website: padlet 

Why Padlet ?

1. You can create different teams, for instance a team for each class you teach where everything post on it is related only to that team.

                                        

 

                                                                    My teams on Padlet

- You can control what is posted on the padlet which can also be a limitation.

2. There is different templates you can use 

                                            

Tip: use timeline for projects, or wall for student feedback

3. There is gallery of already made padlets that you can use and edit if you want.

                                        

                                    To copy you'll press on the right side the button below

and you'll see these options to choose from 

4. You can create a slideshow of your padlet 

Photo from: Padlet Gallery 

5. it creates a sense of community because of the teams.

Relevance to teaching and learning English 

1. I think this app can be part of the socioconstructivism theory of learning, where learning is a collaborative process.

                                *Students can post and take feedback from others about their post.

                                *Teachers can use this feature as an assessment tool ( I would ).

                                

2. Teachers can use the tool for planning work and teach students to use it as a planning tool.

3. Teachers can you use it to create a discussions using any template they want.

4. Teachers can use it for an exit ticket.

5. Teachers can use to ask students to post a new word they learn every week 

6. Teachers can use it as an icebreaker on the first day where people post something about themselves.

7. Teachers use the slide show the show students comments or feedback about a topic.

8. Students can use it for group projects. 

Using Padlet 

      Share with me your favorite cuisine/ dish on This padlet 🍲

 1. Create a Padlet using this button 

                                                

2. Then choose your template from these options, I choose "wall".

                                                

3. Then on the right side modify your Padlet the way you want

                                               

These are my modifications 

you can even create your own icon 

                                                                or modify the wallpaper 

4. Add reaction option on posts if you want.

Limitations

 1. Students can have the option of checking for teacher's approval before posting which can take time if teachers don't check their padlet that often,

2. If you use it as an assessment for after class, there's no way to check if the students themselves wrote the answers.

3. If you use it in class, you need to have access to computers or phones.

 Will you be using Padelt in your next class to make it much more fun ?, let me know in the comments 💕

How can I pronounce this word?

Salam everyone, 

                                                          (Salam: Peace in arabic, used for greetings)

Has any of your students ever asked you  "how can I pronounce this word ?" the only right answer for this question is "DUH!", 

We both know that we are not a walking dictionary that knows how to pronounce every word, so how can we help our students learn how to pronounce a certain word? 

       Youglish, is here for the rescue 😁💪

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What is Youglish ?

Youglish is an online tool that can assist you in pronouncing words different languages*

        * I'll be only reviewing English because this is my area of interest.

Why Youglish ?

1. You have plenty of English dialects to choose from 

                            

2. There a section that offers tips to enhance your pronunciation 

                                

3) it's mostly free

4) You get to use and engage your listening and visual skills using the videos and transcriptions.

5) You can find your word in different sentences/usages.

                                            

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Relevance to teaching and learning English 

1) Why would this be relevant to your teaching or learning English? because our main purpose of learning & teaching is to communicate our needs better whatever they may be. Knowing the right way to pronounce a word will assist that. 

2) Students can use the phonetics section to learn more about their words which helps them say them better.

3) Youglish encourages active learning because you have to find everything on your own.

4) Students can use it to learn about the usual context of a word.

5) Students can learn about different topics and cultures and can discuss them eventually.

6) Using videos in teaching speaking helps students develop fluency levels, according to this article

    - I would use this in my classroom to show my students a source that they can go to, to check their pronunciation. 

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Using Youglish 

Try Youglish with this link  using my steps :)

- Go to the home page, then type whatever word or phrase you'd like to learn how to pronounce in the "search for" section, then choose what dialect you want.

                                    

                This is what you'll get once you press "say it", here I typed the word "happy"

        

- The search will give you all the YouTube videos that have the word happy in them (128664 videos in this case) & will take you immediately to the where the word is exactly mentioned in.

- Starting from the left, you can go back, go back 5 seconds, replay, play, move to the next video as shown below 

                           

- You can change the speed of the video, increase or decrease the size of the video screen, choose a light or dark screen as shown below 

                                            

- You will have a transcription of the video under it like this

                                    

           
- If you press the blue box on the right side of your transcription, you'll see that you can search for  whatever part you want from the video and you can replay it: 

                                        

- If you press on any word from the transcription, it will turn red and will give you tons of info about your word: (translation, synonym, usages, and definitions)

                                  

- Under your transcription, you'll see options to share the video, save it, record yourself talking or go straight to the original video on YouTube.

                                            

 - Under the video,  there's a phonetics section, which teaches you about the phonetics of your word.

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Limitations 

👎 The "record" option is not really user friendly, I think a whole section for recording would make it more practical.

👎 Students will not get a feedback about their pronunciation, so they'll self assist. 

👎 Teachers can't control the content that shows up to their students.

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So, will you add this to your resources section for your class ?, let me know in the comments 😇💕