Linguee on-line dictionary. Find words in context

Linguee is an on-line dictionary that contains a search engine that enables users to look for bilingual texts.

The available languages are English to/from: Spanish, German, French and Portuguese.

Click HERE to access Linguee

•  How does it work?

Capaz de = Able to = Capable of

Let's  say that, as a Spanish speaker, you want to know  the  preposition that   follows the expression "ser capaz" , which in Spanish is followed by the preposition "de".

You enter the text "capaz de" in the engine  and Linguee offers many parallel texts with that expression. As you can see in the displayed image, the English preposition is "to"  after "able"( not "of")  and "of" after "capable". 

• Advantages

The parallel texts have been checked by Linguee editors. If the translation of the word has not been verified the parallel texts is preceded by a warining sign (a triangle). 
Linguee is NOT an automatic translator. Use your head and in the long run you will see this as an advantage.

Click HERE to access Linguee 

Pronunciation: How do you pronounce...?

How you say is an on-line tool that will help you to learn how to pronounce words.

Aim: students introduce words they do not know how to pronounce in order to learn them with the sound

Suggested procedure if you want to use this tool in your class

•  make a list of the words students mispronounce.
  
• group students in teams
• write the words on the board
• ask teams (in turns)  how a word is pronunced
• check the pronunciation by introducing the  in How j say
• give a point to the team that pronounces the word correctly

Access the HOWJSAY page by clicking HERE

IF your students are Spanish speakers, you may start with some (or all) of these words:
since, to determine, idea,  successful, vegetable, suitable (the "i" does not sound), debt (the "b" does not sound), plumber (the "b" does not sound), sword  (the "w" does not sound), answer (the "w" does not sound), biscuit (the "u" does not sound), receipt, recipe, words that end in -es (services, oranges, he fixes), component (stress in "po"), architecture (the K), busy, opposite, key.

Bombay TV - (short) written or spoken texts

Bombay TV  offers the possibility of  creating  short written or spoken texts by subtitling short segments of Indian movies.

Aim: students write or record their voices creating a short text.
Level: any
Procedure.  Students:

• enter the  provided Bombay TV link
• choose a segment of a film
• prepare a dialogue
• record or write their dialogue 
• send the video segment to your e-mail
• open e-mail and share your video with the class  

Click HERE to access BOMBAY TV

 See an  example below

Personalize funny videos at Bombay TV by Graphéine - Graphiste independant
 

Thanks to Ricard Garcia, speaker at the April 2013 teacher training sessions at the British Council, for providing me with this link.

Crumpled up questions

These are some of the questions on the handout (3 our of 17)

Aim: Students practice asking and answering a variety of questions in past, present perfect, present simple and future.
Procedure: Teacher cuts questions and students take turns asking and answering the questions. Students pass the questions around or, if you want to risk it, throw the crumpled up questions to their classmates.
Extension: Students can take notes of their classmate's answers and write a report about that student.

Download the materials from this site HERE

Materials:

• Print the questions on the handout (once or twice, depending on how many students you have). The same handout contains the instructions to carry out the task.

Download the materials from this site HERE

Source of the task: http://eslsite.com/rd/Speaking/crumpled_up_questions.html, adapted by myself, María Zabala Peña

Who wants to be a millionaire? Reading practice

Most of you know the game Who wants to be a millionaire? Are you ready to play?

Aim: practice your reading skills
Level: you may get  general knowledge questions as well as language questions. Therefore this game aims at students with higher levels of English.

Click HERE to access the game online.

Verb tenses external links. Autonomous Practice

This is a link to a post  written by  Ingrid Chavarria
Click HERE to go to Ingrid's Post

Ingrid has grouped links to a variety of verbal tenses so that you can practice autonomously.
The links include, among other items.

• Present simple
• Present continuous
• Past simple
• Past continuous      
• Present perfect
• Past perfect
• Future (will/ to be going to)
• Modal verbs
• Conditional
• Passive voice
• Reported speech
• and more!

Click HERE to go to Ingrid's Post

Many thanks to Ingrid Chavarria for having put together all of these links for us :-) 

Biligual dictionaries. Why on line translators don't work

Aim: Understand that word for word translation does not work.

Learn how to use a dictionary by observing the information that a dictionary provides.

Level: Students need to be able to produce sentences in the past simple to carry out this task.

Warning! This task is has been designed for Spanish speakers. 

If you are not teaching Spanish students, don't bother to download the task!

Download the materials HERE

Sample task

Materials:

• Power Point Presentations 


• Teacher's Key 

Download the materials HERE

See other bilingual dictionary tasks for Spanish  speakers under the LABEL bilingual dictionaries

Bilingual Dictionaries. Choose the right word. Intermediate to advanced.

This task has been designed to suit the needs of Spanish speakers.  Due to the complexity of the examples  that I provide this task caters for intermediate or advanced students. For easier examples, check the label BILINGUAL DICTIONARY in this blog.  

Aim: by carrying out this task students should understand that grammar class and general meaning of a sentence are crucial before looking for a word up.

Sample task. From English to Spanish

Materials:

• English/Spanish dictionary. Ideally students  should do the following exercise in the computer room using the dictionary in www.wordreference.com Students may also use a traditional paper bilingual dictionary.   
• Power point with examples of sentences to translate 

You can download the related Power Point by clicking HERE

Procedure: The teacher gives the students three types of exercises. Examples and solutions  are provided in the Power point. These are the 3 types of tasks the Power Point includes:

•  Translate from Spanish to English. Students become aware of the many different meanings of Spanish words before translating into English.
• Translate from English to Spanish. Students become aware of the many different meanings of English words.
• The third ones are challenging and the worst part is that they are real! Students try to figure out what bad users of dictionaries really meant!!