Entries from December 2005 ↓

Provoc is a free Mac OS X application for vocabulary study. I’ve tested it myself recently and found it to be very useful. It is something that we might want to consider using on the eMacs in the FLSC. If you want to try it yourself, You can download some sets of vocabulary to practice with from the Provoc developer’s sharing website under the tab Vocabulary and practice your irregular French verbs.

Another way to try it might be to use a Provoc file I created from a provisional vocabulary spreadsheet. Download and import the files to allow flashcard and multiple choice vocabulary drills.

One very nice feature of Provoc is that it will print beautifully formatted flashcards in a variety of sizes. Here is a sample of small flashcards in pdf format to use for games or drilling. If you install Provoc yourself, you can make cards as large or as small as you like.

Maybe we can set this up in the FLSC, so students will be able to do it themselves?

I have entered the vocabulary for Totally True 3: Chapters 1-4 into an Excel spreadsheet with definitions which differ slightly from those in the textbook. This spreadsheet should make it easy to manage word lists, create simple quizzes, generate flashcards, and make other study materials. If we are all working from the same set of vocabulary, teaching and testing should be more consistent without forcing everyone to do exactly the same thing.

Download the Totally True 3: Chapters 1-4 vocabulary list (in progress).

The current fields in the spreadsheet are:

• ID
• UNIT
• WORD
• POS
• 日本語
• ENGLISH
• SYNONYM
• ANTONYM
• RELATED WORDS

If you think these need to be changed, go right ahead and make any changes you like to the spreadsheet and attach your version in a comment at the end of this post. I would suggest adding rather than deleting fields. If some information is not needed or wanted, those columns can be hidden as needed.

Obviously, this spreadsheet is not yet complete. The Japanese meaning of the target words is still missing for some vocabulary. I’ve added synonyms and antonyms just off the top of my head. Please add more as they come to you. Proofreading would be much appreciated!

This is meant to be an example of what can be done to organize materials for teachers and students.

This is a worksheet to guide students how to write the introduction (and to a lesser extent, the conclusion) of the Compare and Contrast essay.

How to write the C&C introduction

Please click the link to download the file.