Web 2.0 Tool Wordle

My second 2.0 web tool is Wordle.  Wordle creates “word clouds” from texts that one provides.  There are numerous ways to edit the design of the Wordles, from color schemes to font style to how the words are displayed by size and direction.  I have seen world clouds for a few years now and over the summer I even created a few with another program, but I have not used word clouds in my classroom. I plan on doing a few Wordle driven activities this year.  There is a lot to like about “word clouds” especially for foreign language class.  Students can turn those boring lists of nouns, adjectives, and verbs into something creative and pleasing to look at!  Students could also personalize their Wordle by using adjectives that describe him or her.   There is a cool feature on Wordle that allows certain words to to stand out more in the word cloud the more it is typed in the text box.  I made a sample below by typing my name 10 times and other words I feel describe me, numerous times.  It is so inspiring to look at a picture created by words!

I did have a  few small glitches when creating a Wordle.  I had to download Java which took a few minute and I was not able to pdf my Wordle.  I did a bit of research but nothing seemed to work so I just ended up taking a screen shot of my Wordles.  I feel students could use Wordle easily, the only reminders I would make when creating a Wordle are not to have a black background if you print so as to not waste ink and also double checking spelling. I rate it a 9 out of 10 for being user friendly.

I can see my students creating Wordles in the target language about:

• Foods they like
• Adjectives that do or don’t describe them
• Regions of Italy as a review project
• ARE, ERE, IRE verbs
• Irregular past participles 
• Articles of clothing that go with each season
• Items that go in each room of the house 

Web 2.0 Tool Blabberize

I love the idea behind Blabberize and I could see it being used in the foreign language classroom in countless ways.  Blabberize takes a picture and let's you add a moving mouth and voice to the picture. I chose to try it out using the face of Venus from the Birth of Venus painting by Sandro Botticelli.  I have to be honest and say it took me over 2 hours to get this done from beginning to end. At first I was excited to find out that my foreign language department already had a Blabberize account so I thought GREAT I won’t have to waste time setting up an account.  I quickly located a picture, did some research on the painting and wrote up a script. I uploaded and cropped the picture, pressed the crop mouth button and put the pink oval over Venus’s mouth.  I then hit the record button.  I found the record button difficult to navigate and I really could not tell if I was recording or not because the mouth keeps moving either way ?!?

I also noticed I could not get Venus to open her mouth realistically, after trying a few times I left well enough alone.  I ran in to difficulty after I completed the recording.  The website said it's main server had crashed that day but was back up and running, unfortunately it was running very slow and not allowing me to save my recording.  I must have tried over 10 times and each time I tried I had to re download the picture and re record the script!  I then closed down my computer, walked away, and had dinner.  An hour later I tried the website through Firefox.  I reread my script and in the end I was able to save it!  Since I know my students are tech savvy I am sure they can figure out how to maneuver the mouth cropping and then go on to show me.  I also did not figure out how to embed the video on to my blog so the link will have to do.  I give this 2.0 tool a 6 out of 10 for being user friendly.

I can see my students using Blabberize for Introducing:

• Famous Italian Designers
• Animal projects
• Family members
• Famous historical figure
• Famous Italian Artists
• Famous Italian painting

  

  Venus from the Birth of Venus painted by Sandro Botticelli

My Blabberize