Word CloudsHTTP://WWW.ELTNEWS.COM/COLUMNS/BARBS_BITS_AND_BYTES/TEACHING_VILLAGE_WORDLE.PNG

What?

Dictionary definition An image composed of words used in a particular text or

subject, in which the size of each word indicates its frequency or importance:

Louise generated a word cloud of lyrics from the new album. Taken from:

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/word-cloud

What?

Word cloud creators: www.tagxedo.com www.tagul.com www.worditout.com

Word clouds for kids http://www.abcya.com/word_clouds.htm

Other word cloud creators (lists) http://www.edudemic.com/word-cloud-generators/ http://www.edudemic.com/9-word-cloud-generators-that-arent-wordle/

Why?

Visualising word frequencies / synonyms / word fields English language teaching

Reading skills Writing skills Vocabulary

Group dynamics Culture, politics, history

Example

Compare Hillary Clinton’s and Donald Trump’s acceptance speeches at their party conventions

https://mgtvwbay.files.wordpress.com/2016/07/trump-rnc-word-cloud-07212016.png

How?

General teaching ideas Guess/brainstorm a topic Words they know / don’t know concerning a topic (to start) Summary/revision of a topic using key words Presentations/group work: one aspect of a larger topic per group (e.g. one

country, politician, time period per group) create a word cloud Finding certain words in the word cloud Compare and contrast: 2 articles in the newspaper, 2 speeches by politicians,

2 lyrics… Using it as a cover for a project booklet, a class book, etc.

How?

English language teaching Synonym word clouds Collocation word clouds Students’ texts: show them which words they use often (e.g. nice, go, say

improve text) Words that are often misspelled Poems: can they guess the poem? Or the topic of the poem? Quotes: can they put the words into the correct order

How?

Group dynamics: Class clouds (names, characteristics [classmates write characteristics for each

student], certain topics [eg holidays] Class poll (favourite…) To introduce the students: each student makes their own word cloud End of the year activity: each student creates a word cloud representing their version

of the past year

Some ideas adapted from: http://blog.tagxedo.com/101-ways-to-use-tagxedo-completed

Any challenges?

Technology Internet connection Software More sophisticated layout not free anymore Adapting texts from websites

Does it display what you want to focus on

Now, let’s create our course word cloud…WWW.WORDITOUT.COM