Bring Words to Life!

Wordia

The authorative online textual dictionary, 

where you bring words to life through video!

What is it?

Wordia is a like an online dictionary where you can bring words to life through videos. There are mainly three ways that words are expressed through videos: video on YouTube, Games and Blogs. Here, the first two ways will be discussed.

Good features of this tool

1. It is a creative way that vocabularies are explained by people through videos. On one hand, it shows that how people understand the vocabulary from their own understanding. On the other hand, the video also helps learners to notice that how the vocabulary is used by people in real life.
2. In addition to videos, games which can be design by anyone, are also available on this site. While playing the game, learners are provided with various assistance, so that they can not only know the spelling, but also learn about the meaning or context of the word used.
3. People talk about their own understanding about the word they chose through video, which make the material authentic.

How can this tool be used?

• As each video is not that long, so in my opinion, having explained the word to Ss, the teacher can choose one video which also talks about the same vocabulary, to make a comparison between the word's meaning on dictionary and real life.
• As for the games, teacher can spend some minutes demonstrating how to play with it. And then leave it for Ss as optional homework or just entertainment.

Limitations

1. Not all words are commonly used in daily life. Some are very rare and too difficult for Ss with low level of proficiency.
2. Compared with dictionaries, people's opinions are not that reliable, as different people have different ideas on the same word.
3. Games are a little difficult as well, Ss with large vocabularies and high level of language proficiency are required.