corpus concordance

.

CORPUS CONCORDANCE

corpus can be defined as a large sample of written or spoken language, used for studying the language.

this week, my lecturer Duncan Hunter introduced us to a useful website which is called BRITISH NATIONAL CORPUS. Here is the LINK to the website.

As a language teacher, I really think this website is very useful for both teacher and students. The reasons are:

• both teachers and students will get to know other(native speakers') real language used in terms of collocation of words. This is also a valid evidence because the samples are taken from newspaper and everyday conversation language (authentic language use)
• help to expand students' lexical items/ vocabulary items in a way that they can know what words can go together and what words cannot
• help students to increase their communicative strategy and intercultural skills because if students are trained to use this websites, they will be more alert with the real language use. This is because spoken words can have more than one meaning that usually connote other meanings and commonly associated with the culture of the language users

However,

• Teacher should remind students to be selective because not all of the sentences use are suitable to use in academic or classroom context
• sometimes, the words are used very widely and it may cause confusion and misunderstand

.

lyrics training

~Lyrics Training~

another website that i knew from my lecture is LYRICS TRAINING. this is a website where you can learn english through English songs. While the song is being played, you have to type the lyrics of the songs or filling up the blanks with missing words from the song. 

lyrics training. Click HERE to go to the page.

the activity

so, i think this website is suitable to be used by students as a tool to improve their English, because:

• it's FREE and FUN! because students will dealing and working with songs, that i believe most of people enjoy songs, so this will make them happy and exciting doing this activity
• it has three different levels where students can choose the levels that are suitable to them (the levels are beginners, intermediate and expert)
• students are free to choose the song that they favour the most, or they can choose new song that they like
• students can enjoy and learning at the same time. Not only that, they can also memorise the song lyrics
• students can view their score and they could also view the vocabulary items in the song if they sign up
• students can enhance their vocabulary level because they will be exposed with broad themes of songs that contain many words
• students can develop their listening skill 

what i don't like about this website are:

• there are a few songs which contain inappropriate music, music videos and lyrics, so they are not quite suitable for students to learn. (they might use that kind of language in their written exercise)
• there are time limit to type the lyrics so it's quite annoying for me because we are not testing students in terms of speed, but listening and vocabulary, so students should be given some time/their own time to finish typing
• some words that are missing are not actually words, but the other kinds of sound which follow the melody of the song such as ooooo, yeahhhhh, ahhhhh..... <-- these are not really helpful in developing students' vocabulary, students might get confuse as well
• the sentences used are not formal because it is a song, so it won't contribute in helping students' writing skills as much

inappropriate music videos for students in my culture

and that's it! =))

happy singing and learning!

.

Listen and Write

~Listen and Write~

DICTATION

this week, my lecturer, Russel Stannard showed us a new website that can help students learn English better. this is the LINK to the website. The website is called LISTEN and WRITE or in other words, people call it DICTATION. dictation can be defined as sentences that teacher reads out to test students' ability to hear and write the words correctly. So, to conclude, this website works by reading a passage out loud and then students have to write the words read/played. it has 26 different levels which are arranged according to titles and difficulty order, and each level has three types of tasks;

1) full mode (students have to write the whole letter of the word)

2) quick mode (students have to type the first letter only of the word)

3) blank mode (students have to fill the missing words in the boxes)

In my opinion, the full mode is the most difficult task, followed by the blank mode and the  easiest one is the quick mode. This website is suitable for students in the age of 13 and above.

Students can use this website to improve their english as it has a lot of benefits. the benefits include:

• AGAIN, it free!! Students don't have to pay for learning =)
• it can encourage autonomous learning since students can learn by themselves without teacher's help/guidance
• students can do it at home if they have their own computers and internet access
• there are many levels provided where students can choose the levels that are suitable for themselves
• by doing the tasks, students can enhance their own vocabulary because they will be exposed to a lot of new vocabulary items
• students can develop their listening skill as well as spelling skills (or maybe their typing skill??) because they will listen to many words repeatedly and this will make them familiar with the sound of the word (may include the correct pronunciation of the word as well)
• the tasks are fun because it involves sound, in which a real person is speaking!
• students can evaluate or assess themselves in terms of listening skills and spelling skills
• the topics used are good and are up to date which can help students to increase their general knowledge

However, there are certain things i dislike about this website, which are:

• the speakers speak/use different kind of English and accents and this can make students confused of how certain words are pronounced by speakers from different parts of the world
• the website can be shared via facebook, so, if the students share it, they might get distracted with facebook
• students have to sign up to view their score
• last but not least, students with no access to internet cannot do this activity

that's all.happy trying!! =))

.

dvolver

~DVOLVER~

this short video is created using Dvolver movie maker. It's a quite fun websites where people can create their own short videos by using their own dialogues, music, setting, and characters.

These are the way to do it:


you can choose your own background and sky, according to your idea and interest


then choose your plot, depending on what story line you want to create


then select your own characters who are suitable with your background and plot


then create your own dialogues. not more than 100 words.


choose your background music which can lighten up your story


lastly, choose your title design that you are interested in. Don't forget to put your title of the video and your name in the boxes (like i did ~_^)


and now your video is finish! you can send it to whoever you want

and you can copy the code then embed it onto your blog/facebook

xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

This website can be a good tool for students to learn English. The reasons include:

• it's free so people or students especially don't have to pay for it
• it's fun because it involves sounds and visuals and tend to make students really engaged to the work
• it involves real life communication where students can choose their own context then use their own dialogues to make a story
• students will have freedom of choice in terms of creativity and language use, thus it motivates students to express themselves by using authentic language
• it also has a variety focus where students can enhance their vocabulary items, improve their spelling, having freer communication and might be changing their view on learning english from boring to fun 

However, there might be some problems with using this website as a tool of learning english:

• the words can be used to write a dialogue is only limited to 100 words, so students can't write as much as they want
• students might use inappropriate language because they are given too much freedom 
• not all students will have access to internet at their home
• unsuitable graphics for students eg:the characters' attire
• the video can't be edited after you've closed the browser, so if there's any mistake happened, students have to create the new one
• there are limited plot available, so students can't really create their story in a various ways

I forgot to put the title and the producer for the short video above.If you are interested, click HERE and try it!!. Have fun learning! =))

.