Visualize sentences with video clips

A while back (well actually about 3 years ago) I wrote an article about Phrasr, a service that helps to visualize sentences by linking them to Flickr images, well now Vizlingo has taken this a step further.

Vizlingo enables you to type sentences and see them recreated as a linked sequence of video clips. Here's an example: This is a very smart way to visualize words and sentences. You like it?

These are easy to create, you just type your sentence into the field below the video and click on 'Create'. You may have to wait a few moments while the video is assembled and then it will play with the words that are represented underneath each clip.

If you don't like one of the clips in your sentence you can select it in the 'Lingo Breakdown' and you will see a number of alternative clips you can insert to replace it.

If you want to save or share your clips you will need to register and log in. Once you have done this you get a number of sharing options, including Twitter, Facebook and YouTube as well as getting a direct link to the video clip.

This is a great tool for students who are visual learners as it helps to connect the concepts in the sentence to visual reminders.

Some suggestions for activities

• When learning vocabulary get students to create example sentences using the word (or better still two words) they want to remember in the sentence.
• Try to assemble short dialogues using a number of clips.
• Explore the relationship between the images and the words (The link can be a bit abstract sometimes).
• Show students the clips and see if they can guess the sentence (cover the words)
• Give students a list of ten sentences and see if the can link them to the videos you have created (again cover the words)
• Get students to create a clip from a line or the title of a song in English and try to guess each others' song.  
• Get students to create clips of idioms, for example

To some extent I think the value of getting students to create sentence visualizations like this and think about and select appropriate clips to represent different words has more value than the actual finished videos. It can really help the to explore the concepts of words.

Vizlingo is still in development at the moment and is likely to get better as more clips are added and more features (it looks like there will be a mobile version) so this is a simple tool that is well worth keeping an eye on.

 I hope you enjoy it.

Related links:

• Create Image Books
• Great Time Line Tool
• Interactive presentations
• A Picture's worth
• Picture phrases
• Personalised flashcards
• Animating vocabulary
• Exploiting Image Sequences

Best

Nik Peachey

A Tool for Helping Students Develop More Complex Sentences

A couple of years ago I wrote an activity for students called Extending a Sentence which used a Flash animated website to show how a simple sentence could be elaborated to become rich in detail. The site called Telescopictext had a marvelous sentence which started with 'I made tea' and developed into a full paragraph, just click on the grey words.
I'm glad to say that this site has now been developed so that everyone can create and save their own sentences. Here's my first one and it starts,"Telescopic text is great."

Creating your own text is really easy and if you register you can save the text and get a hyperlink to it. The first thing to do is to go to http://www.telescopictext.org/ and register. Then once you have logged in, click on 'Write'.


You can then start by adding a very short sentence. Then click the 'Start' button.
You can then add more words by slicking on a word, adding more detail and then clicking 'Insert'.
You can keep clicking on words and adding more parts to the sentence. If you click on the small magnifying icon at the bottom right of the screen you will also be able to see the structure of the sentence as it has been developed.


If you click on 'Fold' you'll be able to close the phrase up and then try it out by clicking on the word to expand it again.
When you think the sentence is finished, you just need to click on 'Publish' and after a few quick checks you'll be able to get a URL to share with your students.
Here's the one I just made: I went to class.

I think this is a great tool to use with students.

• You can put students in pairs with a starter sentence and get them to keep taking it in turns to add parts.
• You can see which students can create the longest single sentence without any grammar mistakes.
• You can put in short texts your students have created then get them to edit and make them more interesting.
• You can create a text with mistakes in and the corrections hidden, then just click to show what the mistakes are. Students can try to predict what the correction will be before you show it.
• You could create also a create a version with some errors hidden and some visible and students have to decide which one are genuine errors and which are actually correct.
• You can give students a starter sentence and get them to create short story around it by gradually building up the sentences.
• You can use 'View Structure' feature to highlight the way the sentence is formed and the different parts of speech etc.

I think Telescopictext is a wonderful tool to use with students either on a data projector / IWB in class or to get them creating sentences at home. I hope you find it useful.

Related links:

• More than 120 web based activities for students
• Technology in the classroom
• 5 Tasks to Teach Yourself to Teach with Technology
• Revising Short Texts and Syntax on IWB

Best

Nik Peachey

Creating Video Sentences

Twist Our Words is a great site I spotted while watching TV in the UK. It enables you to create video sentences that are 'mashed up' from a collection of clips of UK TV celebrities saying each word. If you don't understand that then look at this example I created. Click the white arrow to play it.



Making a video like this is very simple, just go to: http://twist.channel4.com/words and you'll see a page full of words. Click on the words you want to put in your sentence.

Then click on the words will appear along the bottom. When your sentence is complete, click on the white arrow at the and to watch it.


If you like the video, then just click on submit and you'll be able to get a URL link for the video or and embed code to add it to your site or blog.


If you don't want to create your own sentence you can just click on 'Lucky Dip' and you'll get an automatically generated sentence.


I think Twist Our Words is a great tool to use with students to get them creating and listening to language.

• They could try to make poems or haiku
• They can produce a lucky dip sentence and then see how many word they can add to it without it loosing sense.
• You could produce sentences that have errors in and get the students to try to spot the errors and correct them.
• You can produce a collection of sentences and get students to decide which are correct and which are not.
• You could have a competition to see which students can produce the longest grammatically correct sentence.
• They could collect together all the words they can find that include a particular phoneme or all the word which rhyme.
• They could try to make a video with all the words that contain 3 syllables and the same stress pattern.

I hope you can try a few of these ideas and they work for you and your students.

Related links:

• Flickr in 3D
• Create Spelling Games and Tests
• Get Students Checking Grammar and Collocation
• A Collaborative English Grammar
• Using Word Clouds in EFL ESL
• Revising Short Texts and Syntax on IWB

Best

Nik Peachey