Category: Language

iKnow grew out of a project at Cerego, a company here in Japan that made English language learning software. They moved the content online, made it free, and “socialized” it, made it have more Web 2.0 features.

After that they expanded the content to include more than English, to other languages, and then beyond langauges. All with a simple interface and a few great tools for language learners. The best part, however, is the interaction between learners. Watch the introductory video to get a quick overview. My students like this site as well.

LiveMocha is a social web site, like Mixi or Facebook, or MySpace, but better.  This social web site is all about language learning and language exchange. People teach each other or simply interact in foreign languages. The New York Times has taken notice (look at the quote on their home page). I ask my students to sign up and use LiveMocha as part of my Computer Literacy Class. They seem to really like it. You can get points by teaching other people, or helping to create materials in your own language, and use those points for learning. A whole new economics of teaching is being created here.

Lexxica’s Word Engine is built on research done by Charles Browne and others. He has been into Showa to speak to teachers and students about learning vocabulary. The main idea is that most books in high school teach the wrong words, words that are of very low frequency (they aren’t used much).

Here at the Word Engine, you can get your vocabulary checked in a few minutes and then study words that are most necessary to understand most reading passages.  Thre are 3 or 4 vocabulary activities you can do, and the program remembers which ones you know or don’t know. You can even do some activities with your cell phone.

Google Reader is a way to collect and read all those RSS feeds. You can see in my reader a few of the categories I have created to put all those feeds into groups according to topic. The great thing about the reader is that I can click on a “star” in the corner to save it, or one click on a “share” button to automatically send it to my “fans” or students. It’s just a great way to collect information and organize it. Much better than surfing the web.

Check out my earlier psots on RSS and Google Desktop for more information on this topic.

iTunes is a great piece of free software. It is designed to work with iPods, but you can use it to organize your music or other audio files.

You can also use it to access thousands of audio files that are free. Podcasts of all types and qualities are available, and they even have a section for educational podcasts.