Resource Number 23

URL http://worditout.com Keywords word processing, spelling, word formation, collaboration

WordItOut
Category 9 Funny Text-based Tasks Rationale

For effective language learning it is very important to maintain students motivation and attention. Involving students actively using their creativity also helps to raise attention. Improving writing skills is necessary for students future professional development. Using WordItOut enables teachers to put these two necessities together. By active approach and participation in a task students will widen their vocabulary, learn how to spell properly and also develop and improve their collaborative skills. Description WordItOut is a word cloud generator. A word cloud is an arrangement of randomly positioned words, where the most important words are bigger than the others. WordItOut is free to use and no sign up is required. It allows you to customise many settings: Create word clouds from sentences, whole documents, web addresses or tables Decide how to filter the text, which words to display or remove, and tweak their importance with ease Design your word cloud as you wish, find the perfect layout, choose your own colours, fonts and sizes, or let WordItOut find a random look of your cloud You can also keep control of your word clouds: Share your word cloud with the world or keep it secret Easily embed them on your own website Download your own copy as an image file Get any word cloud as a present or gift on a T-shirt, card or more You can embed your word cloud on your own website or blog, or save it as an image to your computer. To save the word cloud to your computer you need to save it on WordItOut first (this requires only your email address, no sign-up). After saving your cloud on WordItOut you click on Download button to save your own copy to your computer. WordItOut enables you to make multi-word phrases by using tilde "~" and/or underscore "_" to link the words. These symbols are replaced with a non-breaking space which will keep words together. Resources required There is no need to install any additional software to your computer. Obligatory resources: desktop computer or laptop reliable and stable Internet connection Cost Completely free

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Setup and Configuration To start using WordItOut, there is no need to set up an account or sign up. You only operate within your internet browser. All you have to do is to go to http://worditout.com and get started creating your own word clouds. You can enter a document, a web address, a simple sentence, or even a table (common formats are recognised). There is a gallery of already created word clouds which might help you to create your own cloud. Styling WordItOut offers many formatting features. You can either use Random settings and Redraw buttons above your created word cloud where you can also set target (the point where your words centre around), or there is a table with settings just below your word cloud where you can customize: word list settings colours of the cloud's background and the words font and size of the text layout of your word cloud

Navigation and operation To create your own word cloud you need to visit http://worditout.com. On the main very well-arranged page there is a Create your own button or Create bookmark. When you click on either of them you can start creating a word cloud. You can enter a document, a web address, a simple sentence, or a bunch of words in the application window that appears on the top of the page. After entering the text you wish to use, click on Word it out! button in the right top corner of the page and your cloud will be created in a few seconds. Then you can customize your cloud.

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Implementation methodology WordItOut can be used in the classroom as additional activity to maintain students motivation and attention. As it helps practise students writing skills and spelling, the teacher may give individual students or small groups of students a task to create a word cloud using different groups of words, or even a story or an article. Groups of words or an article can be related to different topics worked on within the class. Teaching/Learning ideas: collaboration on a task with fellow students practising spelling and writing skills foreign language learning through creative and active participation Example of implementation Type of lesson: General English course Level: B1 of CEFR Lesson Title: Creation of word clouds using Wordle Age group: upper secondary Number of students involved: 18 Duration: project work - 1 week deadline The aim of the lesson is to ask students to write a story related to a specific topic and use the text to create a word cloud. Students will be asked to work in pairs or small groups. Group work maintains collaboration among students. The lesson will be based on online collaborative writing. Warm-up: Present the topic of the lesson creating a word cloud using WordItOut; direct students to http://worditout.com and show them some of the created clouds in WordItOut gallery for inspiration. Lesson flow: Students are shown how to create their own word clouds and are shown the gallery of already created clouds. Each group of students is given a specific topic which they should use to write a story they will later use to create a word cloud. Writing, creating a word cloud: After deciding on a plot the group starts writing their story using a word processor to save the story on their computers first. Class management: Students will be divided into groups of three or four to work on the task. Students will have one week to work on their tasks online. During the week they will share their ideas and pass along the text document using social networks, blogs or email. Each student in the group will have his/her own task one part of the story (the beginning, main plot, solution, the end). They will take turns in writing the story so each student in the group will have the document for a day and will write his/her part. On the last day of the task week the group will make final editing of the story and will create a word cloud entering the story in WordItOut text window. All created word clouds can be placed on school websites or printed out and presented in the class. The students can then vote for the best one. Other issues The teacher might advise the students to write only a page long story in order not to slow down the process of entering the text in WordItOut application window too much and also to limit the amount of used words. Useful tips http://translate.google.com Students might need to translate some words into English or check correct spelling of words. www.blogger.com Student can create their own blogs to share their word clouds with friends.

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The project Autonomous Personal Learning Networks for Language Teachers has been funded with support from the European Commission. This document reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.