http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/index.php
As a computer literacy teacher, I have the honor of working with all students in the building. This gives me some insight on the triumphs and challenges that the regular classroom teacher faces as he/she services English Language Learners (ELLs). Vocabulary or lack thereof has been a major concern for the teachers in the building of upper elementary students. These students are labeled as being in transition. That transition has proven to be quite the task because words and phrase are presented in black and white. There is the notion that there isn’t a need for the picture that is associated with the word. This is a fallacy. A student may be in the 5th grade, but if that child has never seen a pier, can he or she really get the full meaning of a story or poem?
The Web 2.0 application Phrasr works through Flickr as a component that puts a picture with a word. You type a sentence, select a picture from the gallery provided by Flickr and then a virtual presentation is given as the words are highlighted under the prospective picture. Sentences come alive. A strong suggestion would be for the teacher to make picture selections prior to the presentation to the whole group.
This is the link to a sentence made to illustrate what a pier looks like.
http://www.pimpampum.net/phrasr/?id=22062
Phrasr is a wonderful tool for the classroom teacher from PreK – 12th grade. The integration in the lesson can be modified to fit any level. For computer literacy teachers, it would be an excellent tool to integrate with the Smartboard.
Wow. This is a great tool for associting words and images into phrases. I see the educational potential indeed. Combine this tool with your students using Visual Thesaurus and you will provide one tool for building syntax via visual images and one tool for increasing your learner's vocabulary.
ReplyDeleteThis is nice for our English as a Second Language Students (ESL). You can also add Visuwords, an online graphical dictionary much like the Visual Thesaurus. The only difference is that Visuwords (www.visuwords.com) is still free right now.
ReplyDeleteThis tool was very cool. I'm going to pass it along to my English teachers and those in the middle school. What a great tool for word/image association, and I totally agree that with ESL/ELL students, it could augment curriculum.
ReplyDelete