Hey guys, I am so excited because the LLC just showed me the best language site I have ever seen!
Its called WordChamp, and can be found here or through links on the LLC website. Take a few seconds to get a free account, I promise that it will be worth it! Here are just some of the great resources it offers:
Digital flashcards
You can browse lists that other people have made or enter your own. If you arrange a study group with your class, one class member can enter the vocab list and then save it so that the whole class can practice online from any computer connected to the internet. This is a fast way to practice and the computer-interactive element makes it much less boring than traditional studying techniques. The site also offers audio flashcards, so that you can hear the word and then type in the meaning, from French to English and vice versa. Using this tool will help you learn your vocab much faster!
WebReader
This may be the best feature of the entire site. All you have to do is click on the link, enter a website address, and it will take you to the website. Then, when you don’t understand a word, mouse over it and the definition will appear!!! This will help those of you who want to read French news and websites (see last weeks blog) but are intimidated by the vocabulary aspect. WebReader also has build in links to French newspapers so that you can just browse if you don’t know what site you want to go to.
Progress Reports
WordChamp allows you to track how you are doing. It keeps an online record of how many vocab words (for example) you miss during each session and then lets you know your accuracy, your time, and your overall progress is graph form. These may seem intimidating, but at the end of the year, it is fun to see how far you have come.
I also want to give you a heads up about a new program that is available for you all to use in the LLC. It is called Tell Me More and you can access it in the LLC by clicking on the icon on the desktop and then asking the LLC worker on shift for the CD Rom. What makes this program unique is that it is interactive. It charts your progress and gives you new material based on what errors you made and what you did well on. As you get advanced, you can actually interact orally with the program. If you are interested come in and set up an account and look around the program. It has far too many capabilities (numbers, verbal work, cultural elements, for example) for me to list and explain them all here but I want to let you know that you may be hearing and seeing a lot more about this in the future!
Okay, last resource of the week, but maybe the one you will find the coolest, is French Radio online! If you go to the LLC French website and click on media you will find a list of six radio sources online, one of which is the Lille Campus radio station so that you can listen to exactly the same music that French college students are listening to! Some of the songs are in English, but commentary, adds, and all that are in French. This is a great way to improve your listening comprehension. It will sound fast at first but stick with it and you will eventually understand! Also, the culture link off the French LLC website has several other more conventional radio sources for news, etc. Just put one of these on in your room while you are hanging out and feel French.
