Cramberry

Yesterday I discovered a Web 2.0 tool I had never heard of and thought I would share with you, because I consider it quite useful and entertaining. The tool is called Cramberry, you can check it here:

Cramberry

Apparently, it is something very simple, as it consists of a way to create cards with information and thus, organize the information you are studying at the moment. The reason why I think it is interesting in this specific case is because, as a future English teacher, I know that some things must be learned by heart, and vocabulary is one of them. By being granted the possibility of creating cards in such a funny, easy way, we will be motivating our students, as they will find out that studying does not have to be something boring. Apart from the fact that these cards allow you to put all the information you want, as one must not learn only the form of a word, but also its meaning, context of use, translation, maybe pronunciation and so on.

Even though there is only a 14 day-free-trial, I think it would be worth paying for a service like this, as it is not only about designing cards: the tool can even translate the content you write at the back of the card if you select that specific feature when creating one set (that would be a pro feature, meaning you have to pay). Another useful aspect is the fact that you can also add pictures to the cards, so if you are studying vocabulary, you might add an image related to the word so as to quickly grasp the meaning (and we know an image is worth 1000 thousands). To be able to do this, you must know html language, and this could bring an interesting opportunity: to use Cramberry in CLIL classes (computer technology in English, for example).

I don’t think this tool limits the age of their users, as no matter how old you are to start learning whatever you want to study. In this specific case, I would focus the use of the tool for students between 12 and 18 years old, but I’m almost 25 and now that I know this tool exists, I’m going to use it too. I think it can be used in pretty different contexts, but the best for me is the one I’m suggesting: vocabulary cards, especially in CLIL lessons. I have created one myself to encourage you all to start using it too:

My vocabulary card

Hope you liked it!

Do not hesitate to post here your own contributions if you want, I would be very happy to see that you find this tool useful.

Myriam.