Today I want to describe a webpage that I found to help your pupils to learn vocabulary. You can find this side at the address: http://www.vokker.net.
Unfortunately this page is in German so it is maybe not so helpful for those who do not understand German.
This vocabulary feature was published in 2005/2006 and you can register free of charge. The registration is quite easy and your pupils from 4th grade or higher should be able to do it. However I would create a handout for the pupils and their parents to describe how to register, what the homepage is about and how the children can use it. Also I would already print out the GTC (general standard terms and conditions) to make it easier for the parents and more trustful. I would introduce this to the parents at a parent’s evening because some parents could have problems with the fact that their children register at a homepage.
For the registration you just need to enter your name, E-mail address and a password. You also choose a nickname. The registration does not take longer than 3 minutes.
The features of this homepage:
Creating lessons and adding vocabulary
You can create a vocabulary list on your own (my example is named “Animals Class 3a”) and choose your first and target language. After that you can type in your vocabularies for this lesson and save it with enter. After that you are automatically asked to type in the word again twice (one time you have to fill in the word in the first language and one time in the target language). I think this feature is really good because you learn the vocabulary already when you just create the vocabulary list and this feature can also avoid spelling mistakes. If you followed this you automatically come to the window where you can add new vocabulary and it starts from the beginning.
The good thing here is that you can also add synonyms. Also I like that you can confirm input by using the enter key which makes it easy and quicker.
Publish your vocabulary
After creating a vocabulary list you have to publish it. You have to choose if you allow that other people can use it within vokker or without restrictions. After publishing, you and other people can use the vocabulary list for learning. Other people (for examples your pupils or classmates) can find the vocabulary by searching for the name of the list or the nickname of the user who created the list.
Practice vocabulary
When you practice the vocabulary you see some index cards and you have to match the vocabulary (first language to target language or other way around) by just clicking on one vocabulary card and put it to another. Here is the only disadvantage for me. It can be a bit boring and one-sided to just use this “game” to learn the vocabulary.
Go through the vocabulary
If you choose this feature the program shows you an index card in the target language. If you click on “Weiter” (Next) it shows you the word in your mother language and you have to click if you knew it or you did not knew it. As soon as you decided the next vocabulary will show up. After all the vocabularies the software tells you how many you got right or wrong. If you press “continue learning” it only shows you the words which you did not know and you can test them again. You can do this until you knew all vocabulary.
Now all your vocabulary come up to the next level (there are 5 steps but you can change this in your settings).
If you want to learn the vocabulary again the program do not allow it because it says that there should be a period of time between the learning periods.
Test vocabulary
There are two sorts of testing. If you go on "Alte Abfrage" it shows you a list where you have to fill in the blankets (see picture). The other is that the program shows you the word in the target language and you have to type in the word in your mother language.
Print the vocabulary
With this software you also can print a vocabulary list (download it as pdf or other formats) or you can print index cards. You can also download the vocabulary as excel file so that you can change it.
E-Mail option
If you wish the program sends you e-mail to remind you to learn the vocabulary or it sends you one of your words by e-mail on a daily basis.
Statistics
This program also shows you a statistic of your learning process and shows you on which days (3 weeks period) you were active and how you scored. If the teacher wants more control he can ask he pupils to print this statistics every 3 weeks and bring it into school.
By the way: I did some words wrong for purpose ;)
My ideas of working with this program
After every English lesson one pupil is responsible for creating a new vocabulary list and publishes it so that the classmates can work with it as well. It should be not more than 30 vocabularies each lesson (or week). It does not take a long time to type in the words but I think 20 till 30 vocabularies are enough. Your pupils know who is responsible for the vocabulary and can easily find the new list by searching for the nickname. They just have to import the new list and then they can work with it. At the end of the month you can test the vocabulary on the basis of this program in your classroom.
You, as a teacher, cannot check if your pupils really use this program so I suggest testing it in the classroom as well.
This way of handling the vocabulary demands more responsibility of your pupils. They have to organize their learning and they also have to print out their own vocabulary lists.
Advantages
What I really like about this webpage is that there are no commercials and advertisings on this homepage that could take the pupils mind off learning the vocabulary. Also it is good that there are no links. That makes the website a lot safer because often these links could lead to pages where you have to pay or where you download viruses. Also this homepage do not offer a premium-membership for which you have to pay. So you do not have to be afraid that it will happen something if you click on a wrong button. Also a big advantage is that the words are repeated and practiced many times until they come to the last category “Heldenwörter” (Hero words).
Disadvantages
As already described the page could be improved by offering more vocabulary games. Also it would be great for the teacher to have a feature with which you can see how active your pupils were. The program does not allow you to practice the vocabulary more than once a day which is on the one hand good because then you have to practice every day a little bit instead on one day a long time but it would be better to practice until you decide it is enough. A disadvantage is that the words are learned without meaning and context. Also pictures could be helpful to remember the vocabulary but I this is not possible for the program because you, the user, creates the vocabulary lists.
Best wishes,
Nina-Victoria Hess
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