Thank you for your
e-mail, I was very
pleasantly surprised. I
am very glad you took
enough interest in our
website to write me. I
visited your site and
found it very
informative with a lot
of interesting projects.
Cooperation in this
matter sounds like an
excellent suggestion. I
would definitely be
interested in discussing
this further.
I would here like to
tell you a bit about the
web project and what is
behind it.
I have myself worked as
a Swedish and English
teacher here in Helsinki
during the last 9 years,
and in -99 I opened up
my own language training
school. As technology
has become more
important, the way of
finding material has
been more and more
concentrated to the web.
I have myself signed up
with many English sites
that offer material for
teachers, but as Swedish
is a very "small"
language, the recourses
found on the web are
quite limited. As I have
about 8 years worth of
both English and Swedish
material on my computer,
I decided to set up a
website for teachers
where they can download
material to use in
class. We started this
web page in the
beginning of February
this year, so it still
has a long way to go.
In the past I have found
that creating custom
made material for
students has always been
very much appreciated,
therefore I hired a
computer programmer to
make some tools as per
my requirements. At the
moment there are 15
tools, and I have
ordered another 15, so
in a few months we
should have 30 or more.
I myself think the tools
are quite straight
forward and easy to use,
but demos on how to use
all the applications and
options for the tools
will also be added in a
near future.
The pictures came into
the projects as I know a
Canadian artist who
happened to be looking
for freelance work and I
decided to give her a
go, and put in an order
of 2500-3000 pictures.
We are now up to about
1000, but I have had to
hire another artist to
help her out. The idea
behind the clipart is
that several of the
tools are supported the
clipart gallery and the
basic dictionary with
the words for the
pictures, therefore you
are able to make
bilingual material, to
and from any of the 11
languages I have had the
lists of the pictures
translated to until now.
It is going to be a
material bank with 3000
basic words and pictures
to be used in many
different ways for both
children and adults when
learning a foreign
language. We have
English, Swedish,
Finnish, German,
Icelandic, Danish,
French, Russian,
Estonian, Portuguese,
Spanish at the moment,
and a Rumanian
translator has been
hired to translate the
word categories during
the summer. My plan is
to have about 40
languages available on
the website (to start
with, the European
languages, moving into
other parts later on)
including some of the
Asian languages.
As this is an ongoing
project and all the
people working on the
different parts of this
are working on freelance
basis, including me
being able to only work
some hours in the
evening due to teaching
during the day, it will
probably take about 2
years until it is
finished. I received a
letter from Kulturfonden
Finland-Danmark and
Kuturfonden Finland-Norge
that they are accepted
our application and that
they are willing to
sponsor a small part of
the project: the Danish
and Norwegian language
translations. The Danish
wordlist material has
already been translated
and I have ordered the
grammar material to be
written during the
summer (for the tool
fill in the blank, as
well as the interactive
part fill in the blank).
The Norwegian will
probably be set up
during the summer.
I intend to write to the
ministry of education
here in Finland and
perhaps if I can find an
EU project this would be
suitable for as well,
just to find out if they
would take an interest
in this.
The aim this summer is
to add more ready
material into the
material bank, add more
grammar exercises for
teachers to custom make
through "fill in the
blank", more pictures
(the next category is
flags, and an
interactive game to name
the country and the
capital...should be up
and running in June) and
more tools.
I have not done much PR
for the site as it is
not ready yet, but we
have an average of about
100+ visitors per day,
but naturally I would
like to promote the
site, so just adding it
to your page under links
to be researched is
great.
I am looking forward to
hearing from you and
finding out more about
your projects and any
possible cooperation in
the future you would
suggest.
Board game
generator
Choose between 3 sizes,
add pictures from the
clipart gallery or write
your own texts,
questions or grammar
exercises, and let your
students work on their
grammar or vocabulary
through playing a game.
You can also make up
your own flash card
questions for the board
games with the
flash-card generator,
laminate and use
together.
The Bingo maker has 3
possibilities, make your
bingo boards with
pictures, mix pictures
and words or just use
words, and choose your
bingo board size
according to your own
needs. Our clipart
gallery gives you
hundreds of
possibilities for this
tool. Choose or
randomise. Just create,
generate a pdf-file and
print. With the refresh
button you can change
the pictures in seconds.
Crossword maker
Create two types of
crosswords in no time.
Crossword puzzles are an
easy way to practice
vocabulary. Use the
vocabulary from our
clipart gallery to
create bilingual
crosswords in a several
categories.
Word search
Just enter the words you
wish to have hidden,
with or without clues.
The tool creates a
worksheet with answers
quickly and ready to
print. Use it with the
multilingual clipart
gallery.
Fill in the blank
Create your own
worksheets. In a hurry?
Use our database with
hundreds of sentences to
choose from.
Make your own flashcards
Just add a sentence you
wish to have on the
flashcard, generate a
pdf document and print.
For longer lasting
material to be reused,
laminate the cards. Use
this tool to make up
discussion themes for
your class, bilingual
word drills or
informative cards. You
may also choose a
picture from the
clip-art card gallery
and add your own text
next to the picture, and
print.
Label the pictures
It works with pictures,
with or without hints
and/or answers. Perfect
for bilingual use as
well. Just choose the
native language and let
the students write the
vocabulary in the target
language.
Matching exercise
generator
Use the generator to
make up your own
worksheets with
pictures, add your own
text or just a word for
your students to match
the picture with the
text.
Multiple choice
Make your multiple
choices worksheet
quickly with the
worksheet generator.
Write your question and
give some alternatives
and create a pdf
document. It only takes
a minute. Use for
vocabulary drills,
bilingual exercises,
explanations, maths,
questions and answers
worksheets etc.
Missing words
Add a text to the
missing words generator,
choose the interval of
the words to be missing,
decide on the fontsize
and print your pdf file
and the worksheet is
ready to use. Now you
have a text with missing
words and a small word
bank to choose the right
word from.
Split words
Split the words in two,
let your students put
them together, with or
without hints. Excellent
to practice suffixes and
prefixes with, or just
to work on vocabulary.
Write the word in two
parts, add a hint if you
wish, and print your pdf
file. Easy to make.
Framework
Choose this tool when
you want your students
to fill in words in the
framework, pictures or
words chosen from our
clipart gallery write
the words yourself. Can
also be used for
bilingual students to
translate the "hint"
words. Choose between
the normal setting or
black background. You
may also print answers.
Scrambled sentences
Write a sentence and
print a pdf document.
The generator scrambles
the sentence and you
have a ready work sheet
for your students to
practice word order
with. Easy as one, two,
three.
Word spiral
The word spiral works in
the same way as the
crossword, but the
program generates the
squares in a spiral. You
may also make up a
spiral that has the
first and last letter
intertwined. A tool for
bilingual use as well.
Lined
A tool to make written
exercises for your
students. Use your own
words, choose words or
pictures from our
clipart gallery and ask
your students to explain
what these items are
used for, how to use
them, write a sentence
about the word, add
synonyms for the word.
Quick and easy for all
levels.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission. This publication [communication] reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
Unique visitors since
August 2002
combined
pools and BP-BLTM
Back
to Top
