WORDLE

====

WORDLE....
==is a toy for generating “word clouds” from text that you provide. The clouds give greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. You can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes. The images you create with Wordle are yours to use however you like. You can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. "==

http://www.wordle.net

Here are the directions for creating a Wordle: After you “Save to Gallery” make sure you copy and paste [|the code below the image]and send it to me at ilewis@lrhsd.org.
 * 1) Go to []
 * 2) Select “Create.”
 * 3) Type words or phrases into the box.
 * 4) Click “Go.”
 * 5) Select Font, Layout and Color.
 * 6) When you’re happy with your “Wordle,” click “Save to Gallery.”

Here are some advanced tips for Wordle creation: 1. Before you start, it's a good idea to save your words and phrases to a Word document, in case you need to start over. 2. To connect words within phrases, use the following format: Do~your~best. 3. You can limit the number of words 2 ways. a. First by going to the top menu bar under LAYOUT and in the pulldown menu click on maximum number of words. Type in the number you want there. b. Once you have created your wordle, right click on any extraneous words. A pop-up box saying "remove word" comes up. Click there to remove specific words. 4. The program doesn't allow you to embed your Wordle in another document directly. YOu may only print it out or save to the Wordle gallery. However, there is a work around for this issue. Once your Wordle is created the way you want it, do the following: a. Take a screen shot by holding down the control button and the"print screen" button. This copies your screeen. b. Open a word document and use the control + v buttons to paste your screen shot into the document. c. Double click in the middle of your screen shot. You should see PAGE TOOLS at the top of your document. Click on this. d. Look for crop.- click on it. e. Now pull in the corners until you have the wordle only part of the page showing..

Now type your document. The Wordle is already embedded.

media type="custom" key="5551209"Tutorial video about creating a basic wordle media type="custom" key="5549217" Below I have written a few ideas of how we can use Wordle in the **WL classroom**:
 * 1) Use to introduce a topic - encourage pupils to guess what they will be learning about (works for all levels).
 * 2) If you have an idea of what level of writing pupils want to be at by the end of a topic, you could use an example text in a word cloud as an introduction to the topic, but linking it back to the end activity or referring back to it as the lessons progress.
 * 3) Use to analyze the content and gist a longer written text, especially with exam or higher level groups
 * 4) To practice speed reading techniques for gist
 * 5) To introduce new vocabulary
 * 6) To memorize new vocabulary/vocabulary lists
 * 7) To encourage pupils to make sentences from the vocabulary learned, using the word cloud as a visual prompt
 * 8) Revision of key topics and vocabulary – pupils can create their own or can be given them
 * 9) Comparing two texts at different levels and discussing how the lower level one can be adapted to match the higher level
 * 10) To teach pupils how to do a presentation without reading from a sheet and just using prompts (useful for oral exams)
 * 11) Copy the RSS feed of a foreign news website and see what current affairs are (this idea came to me as there have been various tweets flying around regarding following FL newspapers on Twitter as a teaching tool)
 * 12) Encouraging creative writing from a selection of key words from a word cloud
 * 13) A way of noting down bullet points, but not in bullet point form eg. when commenting on pupils’ work
 * 14) Self-reflection on work – as Wordle makes a word larger the more frequently it is used, pupils will be able to see at a glance which words or phrases they are over-using. This would encourage variety in their work (‘range’ being a regular requirement in exams)
 * 15) Display posters on languages (eg most spoken) or commonly used phrases in the target language classroom or class rules/expectations
 * 16) Cross-curricular – literacy (words) and numeracy(frequency)
 * 17) See results of class survey visually
 * 18) Choose which words are relevant for a writing task eg. formal vs informal letter writing
 * 19) Prompt for word games eg. taboo, charades etc
 * 20) As Wordle doesn’t include many smaller words such as prepositions this could be a good way of practicing them eg.input sentences that focus on prepositions, such as “the table is next to the door”. Pupils then have to construct the correct sentence as the only words the word cloud will show will be the key nouns (and any other words you wish to remove you can by clicking on them).
 * 21) Input target language vocabulary and English words – pupils match the vocabulary
 * 22) Input vocabulary and screen capture the word cloud, copy into a PowerPoint or FlipChart page. Then add images for another vocabulary game or exercise or just to add variety to text only
 * 23) Collate individual’s responses to questions

I posed this question to my Spanish V students and lo, and behold, they figured out a way to do something the wordle people say can't be done. Here's the best solution with directions written by Tony VO.
 * How could we superimpose our wordles on a picture/background and still have the wordle stand out?**

1. After WORDLE is made, hit “print screen” button to take a screenshot, and paste into a word document. 2. Once word document is open, and WORDLE is pasted, click the picture and go to format>picture tools>crop. Crop the picture by moving the bars in so that only the white background can be seen with the words. 3. Once WORDLE is cropped, open internet tab and find the picture that will be the watermark. 4. Once the picture is found, save the picture as a “jpeg” (name of a file, such as tony.jpeg or isawesome.jpeg). 5. Go back to word document, go to “page layout” tab near the top, so it should be page layout>watermark>custom watermark>picture watermark>load picture>unfill the “washout” option. 6. The WORDLE should be right on top of the watermark, but cannot be seen because the WORDLE has a white background and not a transparent background. Give the WORDLE a transparent background by clicking on the WORDLE, then going to picture tools or format>recolor> set transparent color>click on the background with the little brush. If the background is a different fill, simply right click the picture>format picture>fill>check the “No Fill” option. 7. Just move your WORDLE so that the words are above the watermark. 8. “Print screen” or screenshot the word document with WORDLE with watermark, and open up paint. Start tab>programs>accessories>paint. 9. Paste the screenshot and then use the marquee tool (looks like a rectangle icon and marching ants), Put the WORDLE picture inside the marquee boundaries and cut (ctrl+x). 10. Open up new paint window and paste the new picture. Save as jpeg. 11. Go to internet tab, and visit the site [|www.photobucket.com] set up an account because this site will upload the WORDLE picture and give a code that will allow the WORDLE to be posted on sites such as wikispace. 12. After account is set up, click upload file, double click the picture. 13. After picture is uploaded, copy the html code. 14. Go to wikispace, click edit, the tv icon or widget icon, click other, and past html code. 15. The WORDLE with watermark should appear on the wikispace.