Forvo - Any Word, Pronounced

Forvo is a site that bills itself as "Any word in the world, Pronounced!"  When I first started navigating the site, I instantly realized what a fantastic tool it would be for your English Language ELL and English as a Second Language ESL Learners.  The site is simple, you enter any word in the search box and can hear it pronounced by simply clicking the play button. You are not limited to a single pronunciation cause there can be dozens for a specific word. 

What is even more interesting, users from around the world can record their pronunciations and upload them to Forvo.  This is awesome to hear a word such as "Castle" pronounced with different accents, from males and females.  Currently, you can hear people from the United States, Australia, United Kingdom, and Canada all pronounce the same word.  This gives you a chance to discuss different regions of the world and how their accents may sound when pronouncing English words.  It also serves as a great example of how their are multiple ways to pronounce a word correctly.  Just because YOUR pronunciation doesn't sound exactly like someone else's, doesn't make it incorrect.

You can check out Forvo at:
http://www.forvo.com/

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Wordia - "Bringing Words to Life"

Wordia is a very interesting "visual dictionary."  The site works as a dictionary, with parts of speech & definition, but each word also contains a video of the definition.  That's right, you get a user submitted and reviewed video where everyday people simply say or read the definition, act it out, dress up like the definition, etc.

It is a great tool for students just learning the English language, students strengthening their vocabulary, or even as a cool idea for a classroom project.  A collegue of mine had her students make videos of important ISTEP Testing Words and Terms.  The ISTEP is our statewide standardized annual test in Indiana.

Check out Wordia today, or get out and have your students start creating their own visual dictionaries.
http://www.wordia.com/ 

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