Javascript Call Activities

This page contains links to a number of exercises that I have written that demonstrate how JavaScript can be used to make interactive learning materials for the internet.

A couple of the exercises use code that has been written by other people which I have tweaked, altered or generally messed up, to produce the functionality that I required. I have included a link to the originator’s sites. The rest of the materials use code that I have written from scratch.

The exercise types cover a range of areas which I have found to be useful. If you have an idea for an exercise that is not here and is not available elsewhere, please send me an e-mail.

Feedback on these materials would be greatly appreciated. I am very interested in comments about the methodology that these materials use. What are their shortcomings? How could they be improved? What did you particularly like? I am also interested in technical feedback – different web browsers have different peculiarities (as do even the same web browser using different operating systems). How did the materials display in your browser? Did you encounter any bugs? What could be improved? Please use the feedback form for the specific application – this will give me useful information about your browser and operating system and will help me find the source of the bugs.

As I am a language teacher, not a computer programmer, and there are probably more elegant ways to achieve the functionality that I am seeking. But my immediate goal has been to develop functioning prototypes rather than beautiful code.

Finally a word about browsers and display settings. These pages should work fine in standards compliant browsers such as Firefox, IE7, Netscape 6+, Mozilla, Konqueror, etc. The pages have been designed to display on a standard 17″ monitor set at 800 x 600. Obviously if you are using a higher resolution or larger monitor you may need to adjust the font settings in your browser (Ctrl + or Ctrl – in Firefox).

Phonemic Typewriter.

This is a utility I wrote to help me when I wanted to use phonetic symbols in documents I was typing. It is a simple keypad that allows you to type phonemic symbols that can then be pasted into a word processor. It can also be used to create code so that phonemic symbols can be used in a web page.

And here is a version for transcribing US English.

Phonemic Script Test – Text.

This is a simple exercise that asks the user to transcribe words into phonemic script. The user is given a text prompt.

Phonemic Script Test – Audio.

Similar to the Text exercise above, except the user is given an audio prompt.

Phonemic Hangman.

This is a familiar game – except that you have to ’spell’ the word using phonemic symbols. Not as easy as regular hangman. (I have decide to use a simple countdown, rather than the traditional gallows which I don’t like.
The code has been updated so that it now modular – each different puzzle uses the same html and javascript – php is used to to link them to a specific dataset.

An Error Correction exercise.

This puzzle was written to practice the extra word type of exercise that is found in Paper 3 (English in Use) of the CAE examination. A similar approach could be used for the exercise type which focusses on spelling and punctuation.

Collocation.

This puzzle aims to help with collocation. In the first stage of the exercise the learner chooses adjectives that collocate with a particular noun. This is then practiced further with some gapped sentences.

A Hangman puzzle.

This puzzle was written to practice some adjectives used to describe personality. The puzzle provides gapped sentences which act as clues. The learner plays the hangman game to guess the missing word. The gapped sentences could easily be replaced by pictures or sound clips. This puzzle makes use of a script written by Jan Mulder – http://www.englishcafe.co.uk/

A WordSearch puzzle.

This puzzle was written to practice words relating to crime. The puzzle has a list of definitions which act as clues, but these definitions could easily be replaced by pictures or sound clips. This puzzle makes use of code written by Cliff Leitch – http://www.twopaths.com/