Word Clouds and Voki

                                                     

                                

Last Monday, in the Eco lesson my classmates worked with "word clouds" and "vokis". Since I was absent I wanted to know what was it about, so I decided to make some search on the net.

According to the Oxford Dictionary a word cloud is an image composed of words used in a particular text or subject, in which the size of each word indicates its frequency or importance.

I found on the net different ideas in which we can use word clouds in our lesson.  I chose some of them that I consider interesting to implement in the English lesson, depending on the activity we are developing:

• Have students create word clouds that generate understanding of a concept, standards or vocabulary word.
• Create a class word cloud that highlights class expectation. This can be done by students. Have students use phases to enter needs to know for upcoming learning, or reflections on what they have learned. 
• Create a word cloud and have students create a story from what they see in the cloud. They can then make a word cloud of their own story.
• Create a word cloud of introductory words for discussion by students in class.
• Have students write a biography of a famous person from the country studied and include a word cloud of that person.

For more ideas on how to use a word cloud in a lesson visit this page.

In short, word clouds can be used for anything you want in your lesson, and I think it is very interesting because it put our students to think since they have to express their ideas in certain words, so they have to choose which words are the ones that express what they want to say, which means selecting the words that  function as key points. On the other hand, as bullet point number three suggest, we can provide our students with a word cloud and from it make them create a story or whatever we want. Thus, in this wa they are going to make connections between words, put their imagination to work and enhance writing practice.

                                                                    VOKI

This  webpage explains that voki is an educational tool used for creating a talking character and give it the appeareance you want ( historical figures, animals, cartoons, among others). You can make your voki talk by recording your voice with a microphone or uploading an audio file. Finally, you can share your voki by e- mail, on social media or embedding it on a website.

I consider that Voki is also an interesting and useful tool to apply in the English lessons because, since students are able to record their voice, they can improve their pronunciation and how they communicate what they want to say. It is also a good tool for teenagers who might feel ashamed of talking in front of their classmates. Since they will express by means of an Avatar. 

In Practical work number 3, my classmates and I decided to include vokis for the final task. Our topic was "present continuous and clothes," so we  thought of a task in which students  will have to create a voki and  make it speak as if it were in a red carpet. The voki will say how he/she is doing and what  he/she is wearing.