i was wondering if anyone had tried out Vocaborama (http://www.vocaborama.com) i've heard it's decent but they don't have a demo up for it and i wanted to know if anyone had tried it
A friend of mine at work, who is a Slovak, is currently reading Brave New World, and each morning we meet over coffee and discuss the words he was unfamiliar with, and how they are being used in the book, and what they mean. Fun for both of us.
That does sound like fun. Much to the dismay of many here (and to my daughter...because books are so important to them), in the back of my books I write a list of the words I don't know so that I can look them up later. I have tried keeping in small dictionary in my purse, but the small ones only have well-known words. I realize that books should be well-respected, but my theory is that keeping track of all the words I've learned from that new book is the highest of respect!
i tend to agree, but i have trouble keeping track of new words, so I was looking for some sort of aid...actually, what mainly interested me about that vocaborama program was that it says you can enter and save your own flashcards in it, so i felt like that might help me...then again, i really don't feel like dishing out 15 bucks for it...
Originally posted by bullfrog101: i tend to agree, but i have trouble keeping track of new words, so I was looking for some sort of aid...actually, what mainly interested me about that vocaborama program was that it says you can enter and save your own flashcards in it, so i felt like that might help me...then again, i really don't feel like dishing out 15 bucks for it...
I've just had a look at the screenshots. You could make blank paper copies of the "flashcards" and carry them around with you. That method would work extremely well with foreign languages, especially if you have to take long bus or train journeys or do a lot of waiting around.
Originally posted by zmjezhd: A friend of mine at work, who is a Slovak, is currently reading Brave New World, and each morning we meet over coffee and discuss the words he was unfamiliar with, and how they are being used in the book, and what they mean. Fun for both of us.
This stuff IS fun! I used to volunteer as a discussion leader in a Jr. Great Books program. It's fun to get kids thinking critically, expanding their vocabulary, and expanding their concepts regarding the world. Of course, it sometimes works with adults too.
Whether or not these sites work depends on who you are and what your goals are. I teach college freshmen, who generally have deplorable vocabs, and anything which can hold their interest by making vocabulary amusing or game-like will increase retention. This is also true of some adults. So we should not be so quick to write off some of this stuff just because we, the intellectuals, don't need it.
