GoogleDocs in Ning to collect vocabulary

This is another ELTAS Tech Tools Day task.

Pre-task thinking:

• Does it make sense to keep a vocabulary list for the entire class?
• Or does each individual have his/her own list that can not be generalized?
• How do you collect vocabulary in your classes?
• Have you tried other systems?
• What are the pros and cons of each?
• How does collecting vocabulary in digital form differ from having it in a notebook?
  

What I'm doing:
One of my company courses now has a Ning. We use this collaborative learning environment primarily to get organized, as the participants have rather demanding jobs that make them have to miss quite a few lessons. The Ning lets them check things neatly in our course log. I can embed any media we used, so that means fewer copies of handouts to pass on to those who didn't show up. We also organize our extra-curricular events there.

One thing they've asked me for over the years is a vocabulary list that they could fill in. We've used handwritten sheets and copied them, but that doesn't work well, especially when they are coming irregularly. So what I've done is to make a Google Docs Form using the questions:

• English word
• sample phrase/ sentence
• sample phrase/ sentence
• Definiton
• German equivalent

Any user with the link to the live form can enter information into that form. They don't need a Google acount.
And any user can read (but not edit!) a Google Spreadsheet that has been published as a web page. When new content is added through the form, this web page is updated automatically. On the spreadsheet select the settings: Publish + Automatically republish when changes are made.

So all I had to do is get my students to sign up for Ning. Then I created a text box in Ning and added two links:

• to the live form to enter new words
• to the output spreadsheet to view our list.

The text box also contains some reference links:

Macmillan dictionary
Oxford collocations
Corpus Concordance English
American Corpus
Linguee
Leo


Now they'll just have to start filling it up!

The limits of Google Docs in Ning:
Unfortunately, you can't embed a Google Form or Spreadsheet in Ning the way you can in a blog or in Moodle. This is connected to internal formatting in Ning. Pity! It would be nice to have everything under our Ning URL. Adding a link is only second-best.

Task:
Create a vocabulary list template using Google Doc Form.
Create categories like:

• word
• sample phrase
• explanation
  
• translation

Give it a focus that other EFL teachers can relate to (e.g. words in the local dialect)
Link to it so we can add vocabulary.

Electronic dictionaries

Do you sometimes think your students think you are a walking dictionary and can translate all the words they need from German to English and vice versa?

Yes, you must have the same kind of students as I do, but I've now bought an electronic dictionary which is a lot lighter than a decent paper dictionary, in fact, the manufacturer claims the number of entries it contains are from paper dictionaries weighing about seven kilos.

I bought myself an upmarket model because I teach a lot of ESP courses and am often confronted with words that my students ask me for, but I've never heard of, e.g. entgraten (deburr) or Ducker (inverted siphon).

I've got a Hexaglot Attaché which costs around €200 (if you shop around for it). It is probably one of the most expensive electronic dictionaries on the market, but it does let me put my own 'dictionary' onto an SD card and I can also download other dictionaries. e.g. English - Portuguese, Portuguese - English onto the SD card which I've found useful for holidays.

If you're a freelance English teacher and running from one company to the next with bags full of heavy books, you might find you can reduce your 'workload' without having to cut down on the number of courses you teach.

Have a look at whether there's a good or free electronic dictionary out there for you.

Btw, I'm happy with my dictionary, but I wouldn't recommend/buy it unless you really do need to translate fairly specialised terms and on a regular basis. There are some really good electronic dictionaries out there that cost a third of what I paid.