ICT Tip: French and English Visual Dictionaries

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: An on-line “visual dictionary” that defines everyday objects with the aid of beautifully detailed pictures. Available both in English and French. Highly recommended!

How can it be used in the classroom: Students can look up words and see the actual objects. Visual Dictionary definitions can be also browsed by categories (i.e – house, animals, sports, etc.) An added bonus is that that images are often broken down into their related components. For example, if a student looks up a “tree” they will not only see an image of a tree but they will discover the images and vocabulary for bark, leaves, roots, etc. Great sites for visual learners! These sites be used by fluent mother tongue speakers or second language students alike. (Source: Tina La Rosa, Galileo Adult Centre, EMSB)

Links: Please note that this ICT Blog posting features two separate websites. The first visual dictionary website is in French (www.ledictionnairevisuel.com) and the other visual dictionary is in English (visual.merriam-webster.com).

SMARTBoard: How to group images or text in your SMART Notebook presentations

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: How to group (i.e – combine together) multiple objects in your SMART Notebook presentations.  Intermediate technique.

How can it be used in the classroom? Let’s say you insert a picture of a house and then write the word “house” underneath it on the SMARTBoard. By default, the SMART Notebook software considers the word “house” and the image of a house as two separate objects. Why could this be problematic? Well, if you or a student tries to tap and move the image of the house on the SMARTBoard, the word “house” underneath it will NOT follow along. By grouping multiple objects together, you can move, resize or rotate them as one single object. (Note: Grouping is a little tricky to explain without actually seeing it in action. If you’re still not still not sure why you’d want to group objects, please watch my video tutorial below!)

Video Tutorial: How do you group objects? To see an on-line video overview of how to group objects in your SMART Notebook presentations, click the large play button below:

ICT Tip: A huge collection of easy-to-follow interactive math and science examples

This ICT tip could be applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A huge collection of visually interactive on-line math and physical science concepts. Concise and to the point, each example can be used to illustrate potentially complicated topics to your students in the classroom. The content on Daniel Mentrard’s website (http://tinyurl.com/6odcbl) is well organized, interactive, straightforward, and great for visual learners.

What does it do? Daniel Mentrard’s website contains over a thousand interactive math and physical science examples that he created with the Geogebra software and then placed on-line to share with others. However, this amazing web resource does not require you to install any special software to use with your students – it can be accessed just like any other web page! Most of the interactive examples on his site contain “sliders” that can be moved into different positions (representing different values) to dynamically change the equations on the computer screen. Below is an animated sample of a teacher demonstrating a “Slope and Intercepts” example using this type of technique:

How can it be used in the classroom: Instead of using a traditional blackboard to teach your students, you would use a computer connected to a digital projector (or Interactive White Board) in your classroom. Specific examples can also be shared with students who are weak in one area and need extra curricular study aids.

Important Notes: The math and science examples on this site were created by Daniel Mentrard, a teacher from France. As this is the case, all the examples on the site are written only in French. However, most of the math and science concepts can easily translate to an English language math or science classroom. On a technical note, if you happen to receive a “Java error” when opening examples on the site, please contact me by e-mail for assistance. The above animated sample image has been linked from the Math 247 PB Wiki site.

ICT Tip: A list of easily confused English words (i.e. – sea, see, incite, insight) spoken out loud and explained in context

This ICT tip could be best applied to the following subjects:

Quick overview: A comprehensive list of easily confused English words. Students can click on a “confusing word pair” to obtain a definition, read an example of how both words can be used in the context of a sentence, and in certain cases – hear a recording of how each word is pronounced!

How can it be used in the classroom: This on-line resource (www.tinyurl.com/755ynn) can be used to help students improve their English writing skills. Good for beginner and intermediate English learners. If you intend to use the audio portion (i.e – the recordings of pronunciations) of this website in a class with multiple students, headphones are recommended. At the time this article was written, some word pairs on this site did not yet have sound recordings associated with them. (Source: Lise Demers, Place Cartier Adult Education Centre, Lester B. Pearson School Board)