Friday, September 14, 2012

Teacher tools - WordChanger

This is a simple program which changes words in a list in various ways. It can:

  • Remove all vowels
  • Remove all consonants except y
  • Remove every second letter from each word
  • Make anagrams
  • Show the first letter of each word and jumble up the rest
  • Show the first letter of each word and spaces for the rest
  • Show the shapes of the letters - good for children and beginners
The treated words can be shown with definitions or on their own. You can use this program to generate an exercise, or simply to treat words to be used in a Word document etc.

To see what it does, press then scroll down the page to see an example. Then cycle through the various options using the 'Select action' drop-down.
1. Enter a title (optional)
2. Enter instructions If none entered, default instructions will be given
3. Enter a list of words
4. Add definitions, separated from the words with a backslash (optional)

Instructions

  • Use 'Select action' (below) to select the type of exercise you want, then click on 'Generate'
  • Adjust font type, size and line-height to suit. Word shapes will need a bigger line-height and perhaps larger font. These can be changed without changing the exercise (eg anagrams)
  • You can show or hide definitions by checking or unchecking the 'Definitions' box (default is checked). You might want to turn them off for anagrams or word shapes, for example. You can toggle them on and off without affecting the exercise
  • Update Check to see that the program has randomised anagrams properly. If a word hasn't been randomised or looks too easy, click on the word till it is.
  • On the two anagram options there is a dotted section of the line to write in answers. This can be turned on and off by checking or unchecking the 'Dots' box. This can also be used to add them to other options.
  • Choose how many columns you want, using the 'Columns' selector. For longer lines, one column will be enough. But if you are not showing definitions, you might want two or even three columns. It might look ma bit cramped on the blog, but should be OK when you open it in a new tab.
  • You can have the text on the left or centred. Use the 'Centre' check box to togle centering on and off.
  • When you're happy, click on 'Open in a new tab'.
Font: size Line height Columns
Number questions Border Dots Definitions Centre text
Select action
After you've generated the exercise, opening it in a new tab makes it easier to save, print or copy and paste into a Word doc (or similar).
Your exercise will appear here

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