Oxford Dictionary Online

On the 21st February we had a look at the check list for dictionaries and chose one activity offered by Oxford http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/page/englishresources/free-english-resources, we decidedto work on activity 11 called "How to use this word?". We worked with http://www.yourdictionary.com/ and looked up the meaning of the words according to the category we wanted, for example:
barrage (noun)
chunky (adjective)
yummy (adjective)
bedraggled (adjective)
afterwards (adverb)
Then we completed the gap filling with the correct word and according to the context. We also completed the table according to the example and the definition.
It was great work and Well done!

Two other dictionaries

YourDictionary
We forgot to talk about the two other dictionaries, so we'll make a short review of them.
The second one is http://www.yourdictionary.com/. It's a free dictionary and on its homepage, at the top it has four folders: Home, Language Articles, Other Dictionaries, Word Games.
On the left we see information that is always moving and changing which refers to: games, dictionary awards, google search...
Then we have Grammar and Reference Articles to give you answers related to grammar, spelling, language...
On the right we find different sections:
Follow your Dictionary on Twitter
Free English lessons
Train to teach English
ESL Certificated courses
Spanish Courses in Spain
Browse Words
At the bottom of all this information we have YourDictionary.com Resources and if you click on a picture of the seven different dictionaries we have access to its information. These dictionaries are related to:
Online Dictionaty Definitions
Synonyms Dictionary
Legal Definitions
Medical Dictionary Definitions
Science Dictionary Definitions
Invest Dictionary Definitions
Computer, Hacker, Telecom Dictionary Definitions.
Here we may browse words or search topics.
When we look at a word we can hear it and pronounce it correctly even if we don't know phonetics. It gives us information about reading, listening and pronunciation There are six folders that give us a complete explanation of the word. The folders are: Dictionary Definitions, Thesaurus Synonyms, Sentence Examples, Acronyms, Phrase Idioms, Quote Examples.
Evaluation of an example:
The information is complete, it has five entries or more ( the word "ground" has 12 entries), the origin of the word, related words and the meaning according to different contexts.
In our opinion this dictionary is very useful and good for students and teachers. It's complete and varied in
what concerns the kind of information and perspective.

 VisualThesaurus
The third Dictionary is http://www.visualthesaurus.com/index.jsp and it requires subscription. You only have access to a trial Version of the Visual Thesaurus, you are only allowed to a limited number of searches and the free trial is for 14 days.
On its homepage we find seven folders: Home, How it works, Buy/Subscribe, Praise, Institutional Sales, Education, Support.
On the right you may sign in  and at the top of the page on the left you write the word you want to look up. Then you have sections related to:
- A Contest- Fresh Ink: a crossword puzzle for this month;
- Word routes and vocabgrabber;
- Behind the dictionary and spelling Bee;
- Dog Eared , books we love and Blog Experts.
- A reference to all departments.
On the right you have topic such as.
- Word of the day
- Featured word lists, whre you can have alook at some activities but you can't use them.
- Recent comments from subscribers
- Popular topics
- Lesson plans
- Announcements and self-promotion
- Webmasters.
We tried a "lesson plan" but we need to subscribe to use the material that supports the lesson.
We consider it's a different approach to a normal dicyionary, you have access to different languages and it gives you many words related to the one you wrote. You can listen to the word in Englis from US and UK, it informs about semantics and families, but it doesn't give you sentence examples or synonyms.
In our opinion it's not very good for students as it's not complete and needs subscription.

Dictionaries and encyclopediaes

On 14th February we started our formation introducing ourselves and talking about the contents  we were going to learn along the other sessions and established our timetable.
During the two first sessions we went through some dictionaries and encyclopediaes.
The one we chose to talk about is http://www.thefreedictionary.com/.
On the left you have "what's inside" and there are 8 free different types ofdictionaries related to Topic Areas, such as medicine, financial, Acronyms, idioms.... Then you have one which needs subscription: Hutchinson Encyclopedia.
Then you find links to other dictionaties in 13 different languages, including Portuguese, and the corresponding flags. This allows you to access the homepage in the language you want and create your own personal homepage in your language.
Then you have a folder for surfers, another one for webmasters and one about the weather.
In the middle of the homepage you have six options:
Customise your Homepage
Word of the day
Article of the day
In the News
This Day in History
Today's birthday
On your right you have access to different fields: English Language forum, My word list, Games (Spelling, writing, listening), Quotation of the day and Horoscope.
When you click on one of the different type of dictionaries, you have 8 folders ( all dictionries) and if you choose one word you may listen to British and American pronunciation, you have information about synonyms, words related, antonyms, important quotations, the origin of the word , translations.....
In my opinion it's a very good tool for students and teachers because they can get lots of varied information and improve their skills. It' s appealing and very complete.
See you next session!

Welcome!

March 21st 2011
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Enjoy Spring and don't forget to smile.