''Have your head in the (word) clouds'':Wordle, Wordsift and Tagxedo

There are many tools for creating word (or tag) clouds out there but these three here drew my attention.The first one is simple, the second is fancier and the third is more artistic. Creating word clouds is quite simple as it require the basic skills in digital literacy of copying and pasting(you all know them). Copy any text and paste it to the necessary field. The application will automatically generate a beautiful word cloud for you.

http://www.wordsift.com/

Here is a word cloud created using Wordsift. Can you guess  what is the text about? Read the whole text here.

If you observe carefully the words are sorted alphabetically. You can chenge that and sorted them in different ways. The size of the words indicates the frequency in the text. I have a feeling that most of you guessed right!

Here is the same text using Wordle

Impressive layout and many options to change it and pick whatever you like.Change the colour, the font, sort the words vertically, horizontally or both! Print it and give it to your students! They would love a hand out like that.

Taratata!! The third dish in this three-course meal is Tagxeedo. As you realised it is my favourite and that's why:

Here you can shape your word cloud in any shape you want by just uploading a picture. I uploaded a picture of Parthenon. And I used a larger text from Wikipedia.

Use it in the language classroom. 

Wordcloud are ideal for warming up activities. Here are two examples having in mind intermediate and upper-intermediate learners.You can adapt this activities making them appropriate to the level you teach. If you have any good ideas don't forget to send them in the comment area!

• Pre-reading activity:

1.  Create a wordcloud with the help of one of the tools above using the text to be teached. 
2. Print it and distribute the handout to your learners.
3. Ask them what is the text about letting them discuss your question in pairs first.(Speaking/ communicative skills practice)
4. Explain some of the unknown words (not all of them!) -Pick the key words or those that are difficult to understand their meaning from the context.
5. Then let them skim the text and carry on with deeper comprehension questions. 
6. Keeping notes on the word cloud should be encouraged!

Tips: This could be a pairwork activity which in my opinion is better to promote collaboration and negotiation of meaning.

• Writing activity 

Wordclouds can be used for brainstorming. So if you want to brainstorm your learners about environmental issues

1. wordcloud an appropriate text.
2. Print and handout.
3. Discuss and add ideas.
4. Let the learners write short sentences using words from the cloud.
5. Expand this activity by letting them create a paragraph or an essay.

Limitations

The main drawback is that the word cloud is generate by a computer-programme and you might have words that you don't like them or don't need them. In Wordle you can delete them but still you need to be careful what words are in your cloud!

Enjoy teaching with the clouds !

"Let's meet in TodaysMeet''

What's this?
It is basically a site for creating meeting rooms.
How it works?
Very Simple. Go to TodaysMeet website:

1. Name your room(tip: pick a simple name so your students would be able to find it easily)
2. Choose the time you want your room to be active
3. Create your room
4. Write your name
5.   Join the meeting(or start the meeting if you are the creator)
6. Start asking questions.( Ok...What's your favourite animal is a daft example...)

 Using it in language learning
A very good activity to start with TodaysMeet is to  set a question and brainstorm answers from your students. Use it in pre-teaching writing. Learners can answer the question or questions from their home PC or their internet phones.

Benefits

•  The fact that is text-based communication may reduce anxiety of your learner in producing the written output.
• It is motivating because it works like the SMSs which is the most popular way of communication among young people. 
• 140 characters that is the limit for each entry  would make the students to form more concise opinions.
• Asynchronous text-based  peer communication promotes error notification and feedback. The errors in this environment are more easily observed and the possibilities to correct grammatical and syntax mistakes are higher.
•  The content could be saved and be adapted to a useful teaching material or it could help teachers observe classroom's progress.

There are of course many benefits that depend on how you use TodaysMeet. 

Limitations

Abbreviations(e.g. CU2morrow, me2, UnI2gether, 4ever etc) is a way of writing used in SMSs in order to write more in the limited space of 140 characters. Spelling skills decline by this kind of writing so be4 -oops!- before using TodaysMeet you'd better ask your learners use full spelling instead of abbreviations and telescopic text.