Creating fun word cloud with WORDLE

Hye to all!

In this post I would like to introduce another new website (which I just figured it out recently) which called Wordle. As fun as it sounds (isn't the sound is cute?..:)..), the tool itself is very interesting and can be very helpful in teaching language as it allow you to create a word cloud from any text. And the best thing is that you can edit the shape, colour and size of your word cloud. Isn't its interesting?...

the logo looks quite normal,right?
wait until you see what the tool can do.:p

WHAT IS IT?

Wordle is a tool which can generate “word clouds” from any text that we like. This is how it works. When you paste your chosen text into Wordle, it will make a words cloud The cloud gives greater prominence to words that appear more frequently in the source text. Then, you can tweak your clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes.Lastly, you can print them out, or save them to the Wordle gallery to share with your friends. Its so simple, right?:-)

WHO CAN USE IT?

The tool is suitable for students who:

• beginner, intermediate and advance level of English. The difficulty of the word cloud produced depends on the difficulty of the text and how the teacher use it in the activity.

HOW CAN IT BE USED IN LANGUAGE LEARNING

• pre-reading activity

Teacher choose a suitable text for reading activity and make a word cloud of the text using Wordle. Make copies of both the text and the word cloud. In the classroom, the teacher can give the copies of the word cloud first before given the reading text. Teacher can ask student to study the word cloud and guess what the text is all about. During this activity, teacher can also discuss the difficult word that appeared in the word cloud.

• writing activity

Teacher choose an interesting essay and make a word cloud of the text using Wordle. Make copies of the word cloud. In the classroom, the teacher can give each student a copy of the word cloud and ask them to study it and write an essay using all the words in the word cloud. allow them to continue their essay at home. In the next lesson, give them the real essay (the one you used to make word cloud). Ask them to compare their essay with the real one. Elicit the differences and the similarities. Collect their essay to mark.

THEORY OF LEARNING USING THE TOOL

• The tool can be increase students motivation to learn as the tool is interesting and fun to use. students might find themselves happy doing the activity. 
• It helps students with visual intelligence as there words are presented in different form. 

THINGS I LIKE ABOUT IT

• It engages students with text analysis by looking at language and vocabulary in details
• It helps students in getting the gist if the text
•  The power is in our hand- we can create the clouds with different fonts, layouts, and color schemes that suit us well
• It is completely FREE!

THINGS I HATE ABOUT IT

• It needs JAVA Player to sift the text into word cloud. If not, you cannot make one. (I'm quite pissed of with this requirement as it made me unable to create my own cutiey word cloud...hmmph..)

STEP BY STEP USING WORDLE

Step 1: Go to Wordle

Step 2: Click 'Create' at the top of the website

Step 3: Paste your text in the box provided and click GO

Step 4: The tool will sift the text into a word cloud

Step 5: Edit the word cloud the way you like it and you are 
            ready to use it!

colourful word cloud

black and white word cloud

green word cloud?

WOW!..There are so many things to try with this tool! So, What are you waiting for? Try use the tool in your classroom. You can also share your ideas on how you use it in your classroom at the comment below. I'm sure there will be tons of interesting ideas!:-)