Intermediate | Thomas' Work Space

Eva English Word Lookup against Wordnet

2012/03/22 plagwitz Leave a comment

Eva Word Lookup – not listed under the extensions, but run against Wordnet, the lexical database for English – enables you to study your English words in depth. This lookup gives you information organized by the following aspects of your word, linked from an overview of each word type your search term can belong to:

2012/02/21 plagwitz 1 comment

Furigana uses Kana (usually Hiragana) to phonetically transcribe Kanji, above (for horizontally written Kanji) or to the right (if in vertical writing mode), for special characters or audiences (children and second language learners).
In MS-Office, if you have a Japanese Input Method Editor selected in MS-Windows, select some Kanji and in the ribbon, under tab: home, section: font; click on the Phonetic guide, to bring up a dialogue that attempts to auto detect the furigana.
You can make adjustments there, click “OK “to insert. Like so:

2012/02/16 plagwitz Leave a comment

Go to Google translate and do like so. Useful for learning, as well as typing when teaching.

2012/02/10 plagwitz Leave a comment

Wish my Latin teacher at home would have had such a nice tool when he analyzed the “Ante mare et terras et quod tegit omnia caelum / unus erat toto naturae vultus in orbe / quem dixere chaos”, he had only me:
Now how could such exercise creation made more automated by having it accept the output of NLP tools like Treetagger?

2012/02/04 plagwitz 2 comments

Our small group work spaces each now have a Wacom Bamboo drawing tablet installed.
You can use these tablets in conjunction with the Windows XP writing pad IME to input Mandarin/Kanji character strokes and receive autosuggest options you can pick you character from which make not only writing faster, but also reward you for remembering your characters, expose you to more and help you identify the correct one from a list of options.
Here is what the Windows XP writing pad IME and Wacom tablet looks like in action: (behind the pen: our Japanese tutor).
Here is how to access Windows XP Japanese IME keyboard and handwriting:
1. Open the application you want to write in, e.g. MS Word (the language input option is specific to the current window and defaults to”English-US international” in the LRC if you open a new window).
2. In the taskbar, in the language toolbar section, select Japanese or Chinese or Korean.
3. If only the language identifier is showing in the language toolbar, right-click on it and choose “Show additional icons”
4. Select as input method for the chosen language from icon “Options” or “Tools”” , the “IME pad” / “Handwriting”
5. Prerequisites

2012/01/13 plagwitz Leave a comment

Comparative recordings are one of the best-established practices in SLA with technology. We can implement them here using:
1. The Sanako Study 1200 language lab software installed in LRCRoomCoed434 facilitates comparative recordings by students, based on a teacher-provided model audio, with its student dual track recorder software.
2. Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment aids in managing the workflow,
  1. from delivering the audio file with the model recording to the student
  2. to organizing, assessing and grading the student input.
For the teacher
1. to create such an exercise, she
  1. creates an audio recording that serves as a model for the student pronunciation – a special application of our Audacity recording introduction. It is advised, however, to insert clear cues for the student to start his repetition.
  2. creates a Moodle’s Simple file upload assignment to which she attaches the audio recording
2. continue with How a teacher grades a Moodle simple file upload assignment
For the students to take such an exercise: