Using word clouds (wordle.net)

in teaching English

Mustafa Polat, SLATNovember 13, 2013

Overview of the LessonO The topic of the Lesson:

O CrimeO Level of the students:

O Upper-IntermediateO Skills focused:

O Reading, Vocabulary & Writing

O Materials /Instruments:

O Computers (Wordle.net), Projector, (Note)Books,

VocabularyO (1) T, putting a reading text about ‘crime-cybercrime’

through the Wordle.net and omitting function words and other common things from the word cloud prior to the lesson, presents some potential target vocabulary to the Ss at the beginning of the lesson; the world cloud might look like this:

O (2) Then, Ss are expected to come up with their meanings if they are familiar with them and T makes sure that everybody understands every word, then T asks Ss to elaborate on the size of some specific words and predict possible reasons. Afterwards, Ss are introduced to word clouds and the related procedures, and steps are explained,

Vocabulary (cont’d)

ReadingO (3) Then, T asks Ss to put the whole text through

wordle.net and one of their products is reflected on the board; Ss discuss what each word on the word cloud might mean, and referring to their specific size, Ss are expected to come up with the overall topic, main ideas and other supporting ideas of the reading text.

O (4) After all, comprehension questions related to the reading text are answered and Ss study the text in detail.

WritingO (5) When Ss finish exploiting the text, they are introduced to a

sample essay about ‘crime’,O (6) Now familiar with word clouds, they read the sample essay and

predict what words will come in bigger size and they are expected to come up with a back-outline of the essay.

O (7) Then, Ss analyze the text through worldle.net and compare their predictions and discuss what is (not) important looking at the word cloud.

Writing (cont’d)O (8) Finally, Ss are given a new topic and they are expected

to write an essay after creating their outlines and deciding on their main/supporting ideas.

O (9) When they finish their writing, as part of assessment phase, all Ss are expected to work in pairs and analyze their works through Wordle.net and predict their pair’s main/supporting ideas.

O (10) At the end, they share their outlines as well, and compare their word clouds to/with their outlines.