Tech Edge, Mobile Learning In The Classroom - Episode 06, Vocabulary, Words & Dictionaries - Part 2

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03/23/2016 Added

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Technology Information: Vocabulary, Words & Dictionaries - Part 2

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[00:00:00.287]Coming up on "Mobile Learning in the Classroom",
[00:00:02.861]"Vocabulary, Words and Dictionaries. Part Two".
[00:00:06.332](upbeat electronic music)
[00:00:19.638]Hi, my name is Guy Trainin,
[00:00:21.158]and this is "Mobile Learning in the Classroom"
[00:00:23.282]from Tech Edge,
[00:00:24.200]and today we are doing part two
[00:00:25.779]of "Vocabulary, Words and Dictionaries",
[00:00:28.100]and what I want to start with is etymology.
[00:00:30.880]Etymology is really a powerful tool,
[00:00:32.896]because it helps kids and adults realize
[00:00:35.683]how words are connected and how the roots operate
[00:00:38.782]to create families of words that are related to each other.
[00:00:42.103]Now, there is a certain level of etymology
[00:00:44.727]that becomes just a point of interest,
[00:00:47.026]and that's great too,
[00:00:48.465]because kids can be really curious about words,
[00:00:51.170]where they come from,
[00:00:52.204]and if they get really interested in words,
[00:00:53.864]it's a win for everybody:
[00:00:55.083]they are learning, they are inquiring about new words,
[00:00:57.589]where they came from,
[00:00:58.868]and it becomes something they are interested in,
[00:01:02.687]and the culture of rich vocabulary,
[00:01:05.648]rich discussion around vocabulary
[00:01:07.424]can really propel the understanding of new words.
[00:01:10.988]So, the first tool I want to talk about
[00:01:13.229]is really, really simple.
[00:01:14.679]Inside your Google search, if you do a word,
[00:01:16.643]and after that you write "etymology",
[00:01:18.268]so I'm doing it right now,
[00:01:19.766]and I'm looking for the word "captain"
[00:01:21.263]and the etymology of "captain".
[00:01:22.807]And what you get is a very simple map
[00:01:24.561]of where the word came from.
[00:01:26.546]And so we've got the Latin into Late Latin and Old French,
[00:01:29.970]and then two words in Old French,
[00:01:31.805]one connected to it, and one that is a variant:
[00:01:35.787]"chieftain" versus "captain",
[00:01:38.248]and then in English the word "captain"
[00:01:40.628]is compared to the word "chief",
[00:01:42.068]which we borrowed from the French a little bit later.
[00:01:44.228]And look how elegant it is, it's really quick,
[00:01:47.107]you get the sense of where it came from,
[00:01:49.429]and then, if you want more, you can get more,
[00:01:52.470]and you can see immediately it gives you more definitions
[00:01:54.607]and all of that information, and even the graph
[00:01:57.880]of how much that word is being used over time.
[00:02:00.726]And this comes from the Google Ngram, which can track
[00:02:04.162]the amount of words is used in published sources,
[00:02:07.470]so you can see that it was used a lot until 1800,
[00:02:10.768]and then it's being used less.
[00:02:13.450]So you can have more information.
[00:02:16.271]So that's the easiest way to get word etymology,
[00:02:19.173]this is a fantastic service from Google,
[00:02:20.927]and I love that aspect of it.
[00:02:23.145]But if you want something a little bit different,
[00:02:25.049]there is an online etymology dictionary,
[00:02:29.611]and it's just etymology, etymonline.com,
[00:02:35.173]and you just type a word,
[00:02:36.655]let's type the same word, "captain",
[00:02:41.732]and now we are getting the sources
[00:02:45.145]when did it start, 1590s,
[00:02:47.962]what was it before, 14th century,
[00:02:50.041]so you can see this build over time
[00:02:52.340]and words that are related to it
[00:02:54.813]that show up there as well.
[00:02:58.075]So this is a really easy way to get etymology
[00:03:00.595]of words modern or not so modern,
[00:03:03.660]and what I love about this dictionary,
[00:03:05.981]it's very short, it gives you a quick answer,
[00:03:07.700]so it's another way to just get an answer.
[00:03:10.533]If you want something more complicated
[00:03:13.099]and in more breadth of where this word has been used,
[00:03:17.022]the Oxford English Dictionary is probably your best bet.
[00:03:20.239]This is traditionally the place that most people go
[00:03:23.292]to get the last word on these issues,
[00:03:27.797]and the OED has been really
[00:03:31.303]doing this for over a hundred years,
[00:03:34.553]and now they are online,
[00:03:36.221]and in many ways you can get a lot of results online.
[00:03:39.471]So if we look at a different word, but related,
[00:03:42.072]the word "capital",
[00:03:43.871]and we do a search,
[00:03:46.089]we'll obviously get some definitions.
[00:03:50.322]Right?
[00:03:51.062]So you can the definitions, time capsules,
[00:03:54.762]let's go to...
[00:04:01.746]Let's go home
[00:04:05.486]and search for the word again.
[00:04:07.963]So we are searching for the word "capital".
[00:04:14.789]And what you can see is that immediately you get
[00:04:17.982]a basic entry that you can expand,
[00:04:20.269]so let's view the full entry.
[00:04:23.392]And what I love is on the right-hand side you can see
[00:04:27.080]that words that are next to it in the dictionaries
[00:04:30.216]actually show up.
[00:04:32.038]And I love that feature, because the one thing we lose
[00:04:34.453]when we look for words online
[00:04:35.777]is we lose where they are in the sequence
[00:04:37.739]and what's just before them and what's just after them,
[00:04:40.015]which is one of the most fun things to do in the dictionary
[00:04:42.704]is to see what words are right around,
[00:04:44.708]and sometimes you find fantastic words that way.
[00:04:46.647]So we haven't lost that feature in this set up.
[00:04:49.748]And what you can see is you get a definition,
[00:04:52.615]you get an etymology, where did it come from,
[00:04:55.948]Anglo-Norman and Middle French "capital",
[00:04:58.931]and then you get specific dates and specific quotes
[00:05:03.524]from a historical document,
[00:05:05.719]so you can actually start tracking
[00:05:07.344]how it was used over time,
[00:05:09.225]which is a fantastic, rich resource
[00:05:12.720]if you are exploring a specific word.
[00:05:14.623]So if you are looking for the short answer,
[00:05:16.385]I would go with the Etymology Online or with Google,
[00:05:19.581]but if you want something with depth and multiple sources,
[00:05:22.762]the OED, the Oxford English Dictionary, is probably
[00:05:27.081]where you want to go.
[00:05:29.484]The next resource is a different resource,
[00:05:32.155]it's a resource I talked about a long time ago.
[00:05:34.244]It's available on the iPads, I love it actually on the iPad,
[00:05:37.123]but also on the computer.
[00:05:38.761]It's the Visual Thesaurus, and in the Visual Thesaurus
[00:05:43.182]you can get a few things for free, and then you have to pay.
[00:05:45.959]I still think it's a fantastic instrument
[00:05:47.991]to explore the connections between words
[00:05:50.290]and to really see how things relate to each other.
[00:05:52.670]So if we are looking for a word like "run",
[00:05:55.177]you can see the connections.
[00:05:56.477]So I just type the word, and it shows me
[00:05:57.922]which words are connected to it.
[00:06:00.465]And you see on the side that you can see
[00:06:02.741]which ones are nouns, which ones are connected
[00:06:05.004]to the meaning of the word "run" as a verb,
[00:06:08.046]and different meanings,
[00:06:11.762]and that's how the network is connected.
[00:06:13.921]And what I love about this in the visual format
[00:06:18.119]is that clicking on any of the words opens up
[00:06:21.173]a new network of words that allows you to see
[00:06:25.619]how these specific features are connected to each other
[00:06:28.673]and not just to the original word.
[00:06:31.494]And so there is a way to go back and forth
[00:06:35.291]within those networks to discover lots of words
[00:06:38.158]and to find out how these words are connected to each other.
[00:06:41.630]And the powerful thing here is
[00:06:43.278]that it allows kids, just like with etymology,
[00:06:45.437]to explore, to enjoy themselves, to be curious about words
[00:06:49.490]and how they are connected,
[00:06:50.616]without roaming through a huge dictionary
[00:06:52.659]and also in a way that promotes those connections,
[00:06:56.200]how are things, how are words and concepts
[00:06:58.475]linked to each other,
[00:06:59.833]and that's a powerful way to learn lots about words.
[00:07:02.899]So this is Visual Thesaurus,
[00:07:05.081]available at visualthesaurus.com or on an app,
[00:07:09.074]so, both will work, it'll run on Chrome,
[00:07:11.625]it'll run anywhere else,
[00:07:12.656]and you can get a 40-day trial if you want to try it.
[00:07:15.220]I find it powerful when I use it with students
[00:07:18.321]and show them the capacity as future teachers.
[00:07:21.943]There are different subscriptions available,
[00:07:25.056]so that's something to explore,
[00:07:26.460]but even as a free resource
[00:07:28.004]a few times, I think, it's worth it.
[00:07:31.081]The last thing that I want to talk about
[00:07:33.073]is an app called Grammarly.
[00:07:35.240]There is a free version and a paid version in Grammarly,
[00:07:37.600]and it allows you to edit anything you write,
[00:07:39.481]so it's a different take on vocabulary and words
[00:07:42.396]from my perspective.
[00:07:43.520]And what it does is it helps go through anything you wrote
[00:07:47.724]and analyze it for repetitive patterns, for grammar
[00:07:52.020]and for spelling, word meaning.
[00:07:54.620]So, Grammarly will point out any problems you have.
[00:07:57.431]For example, if you are using a lot of passive voice,
[00:07:59.718]it will tell you;
[00:08:00.716]overuse, it's saying, "Well, 'extremely' is fine,
[00:08:02.980]"but that's one of those common words.
[00:08:04.478]"Can you use a different word that will be more specific,
[00:08:07.821]"more precise, and will enhance your writing?"
[00:08:10.573]So, it's a way to get that review.
[00:08:14.195]I use Grammarly on a daily basis,
[00:08:16.679]and I highly recommend it,
[00:08:18.851]but there is a paid subscription beyond
[00:08:21.231]the basic analysis of words,
[00:08:22.613]so you do want to consider whether that's worth doing
[00:08:26.118]for the amount of work you are doing.
[00:08:29.203]But even at the free version there are features
[00:08:31.757]that really help you understand what you are doing
[00:08:33.696]and what you are not doing.
[00:08:35.415]You get weekly summary of what errors you're making,
[00:08:38.162]how much you've been writing, things like that,
[00:08:39.810]which is really, really great.
[00:08:41.622]So, it's a great way to enhance vocabulary
[00:08:46.088]and word choice from the writing perspective,
[00:08:48.658]not just from reading and discovering new words.
[00:08:51.681]So, today on "Mobile Learning in the Classroom"
[00:08:53.700]we finished part two of talking
[00:08:56.592]about vocabulary, words and dictionaries,
[00:08:59.355]and I'll see you next time
[00:09:00.678]on "Mobile Learning in the Classroom".
[00:09:02.699](upbeat electronic music)

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Tech Edge, Mobile Learning In The Classroom - Episode 06, Vocabulary, Words & Dictionaries - Part 2

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