My Languages Online (MYLO)

MYLO is designed to engage young people in learning languages, to raise their competence, and to encourage them to continue studying languages. It is available in German, French, Spanish and Chinese. Why not explore for free? If you like it, you can sign up (also free!!). It includes league tables, for students who like to compete.

Tagxedo: Create word shapes

A little like Wordle (see earlier post), Tagxedo enables you to create beautiful displays of text. The advantages of Tagxedo include:
1. You can chose a shape for your text.
2. There is more interactivity when online (words 'pop out' when you scroll over them, and link to a Google search - try it below).
3. It accepts and recognises script.



For both Tagxedo and Wordle:
1. You can enter phrases (e.g. watching~tv) by joining words with a tilde (top left on your keyboard).
2. The more times you enter a word/phrase, the larger it appears in the final images (acting as a 'heading').

Sample activities for both:
- vocabulary posters for each chapter/topic/function (e.g. verb charts, preposition charts). Text can be copied from the internet or existing documents.
- pre-testing - ask students what they know at the start of a unit of work, and then again at the end of the unit. Create a poster each time, and then compare - this is an excellent way for students to visualise their progress.
- summaries of an article, chapter, film scene, poem or book (good for Extension/Heritage/Background Speakers courses).
- self-descriptions (students could enter a list of words to describe themselves) - see 'Alice' example below.