The POOLS-T project has now reached the end of its funded period. During the course of the project the basic concept of a tool that enables the checking of any unknown words in a text in an online dictionary has been developed substantially. The original “Webpage Textblender”, invented by Kent Andersen, is now complemented by Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle’s Wordlink and Multidict tools, and the range of languages supported has been massively expanded.

To mark the completion of the project Gordon Wells has placed all 40 texts from Series One of Island Voices (20 English and 20 Gaelic) on WordPress platforms linked to Wordlink/Multidict. Although the funded period of the project is now over further refinements of the tools will continue, as more languages are incorporated and in response to comments from users. Interested readers are invited to take a look at the Wordlinked Island Voices materials. Please note that, while the default display is “Split Screen”, there are alternative options, such as “New Tab” and “Pop-up”. A choice of dictionaries is also available, depending on the language in question.

Of course, dictionaries are by no means the answer to every language learning problem – and some dictionaries are better than others. But the facility to present online text with this added dictionary access function may be attractive to both teachers and learners. Comments are welcome here, and will be relayed to the developers.

Project developer Gordon Wells has been working over the summer on creating some sample English online exercises based on source material from Guthan nan Eilean/Island Voices. Using a combination of free “off the shelf” WordPress, Dropbox, and Hot Potatoes software he constructed an “Island Voices: English Exercises” platform, including linkage to the Wordlink and Multidict programs developed under the Leonardo POOLS-T project.

What can a language teacher do, using this approach?

1. Create a stock of separate online pages with different sets of teaching units on each.
2. Create individual teaching units that include embedded video (or audio), transcripts with optional linkage to online dictionaries, interactive self-test language exercises, and suggestions for writing or further discussion in class or online.

A sample unit for advanced students can be found here, based on the Am Pàipear interview with Norman Maclean for the Series Two Enterprise collection. (Some older units previously produced for Cothrom are also included for illustrative purposes on the Series One Page – though POOLS-T has seen significant development of the online dictionary access tool since their creation.)

This is developmental “work in progress”, and not an integral part of the current project, though it may point a way forward for more work in English and/or Gaelic that will add further educational value to the materials produced here.

As always, comments from language teachers and language learners are most welcome.

Island Voices project co-ordinator Gordon Wells is attending a transnational meeting September 29th-30th to discuss progress with the POOLS-T project. This project aims to develop learner-friendly access to online dictionaries across a range of different languages. Sample extension materials based on Island Voices videos are already available here. These use an early version of the Web Page Text Blender, developed by Kent Andersen in Denmark. There has since been further development of this program, as well as the online “Wordlink” program, developed by Caoimhín Ó Donnaíle at Sabhal Mòr Ostaig, which can now link over 50 different languages.