Does anyone know about an electronic dictionary..........English - French.........for DS in year 7.....?

[RTKangaMummy]

Thank you

Helloooooooooooooooooooo

Is this the one impossible question for MNetters ??????

I've just Googled & found www.digitaldaffodil.co.uk which sells them for about £50, also www.yourdictionary.com/ectato for $400 dollars. Try Amazon as well? Good luck

Sorry to but in Kanga but as a French teacher I was wondering whether it was your DS's school that had suggested the dictionary?

Mumblechum thanks but £50 is a bit too expensive

Yes the SN teacher did cos DS has dyspraxia and slow processing especially with visual data

His french homework last week was to look up 10 words in the dictionary and it took sooooooo long

So the SN co-ordinator said this may be an option to help him

iyswim

I would just use a translator like Babbelfish then.
But use with caution - it doesn't translate sentences well, only single words and even then you need to be careful.
If you want to say "I can ..." for example, it will translate the word can as a drinks can so won't make sense.
I would also ask the French teacher at his school for advice, rather than go on the advice of the SN co-ordinator as they don't often have subject specific knowledge.
Also, can you ask the French teacher to differentiate homework for him? Perhaps he could only find 5 words for example? Or she could give him a list of French words and he only has to find the English?
(I am a French and German teacher BTW!)

don't know if this will be any help either

You beat me to it Rowlers!!! I would reiterate to use electronic dictionary with caution. TBH, I would never recommend using one & agree with Rowlers that it might be a good idea to speak to the French teacher & s/he could differentiate the work. It would probably be worth the SENCO researching a better dicyionary - I think there are some colour coded ones & also some picture ones on the market

oke doke thanks guys

We have a parent - teacher meeting next week

{DH is a Head of Chemistry at same school}

So we will ask her at the meeting

DS told the form teacher about the french and the french teacher wants to see DS tomorrow lunchtime

He was having to look up some French to English and some words back again

colour coded dict seems good idea

The prob with differenciation would mean he would get left behind wouldn't it?

The strange thing is he loves LATIN -- but he doesn't have to use a dictionary

The SN is an English teacher btw

Thanks for the online one too

Hope it all gets sorted
In any case, I wouldn't have thought this would be a weekly occurence as the teacher is unlikely to set this sort of homework too often (well I wouldn't anyway)

agree with rowlers. esp about the differentiating for homework. I am also curious on looking up words as a homework task. waste of home work time imho and speaking as a languages teacher. btw, lots of kids don't have any kind of dictionary at home if the school is anything less than middleclass.

He gets 3 French homeworks per week as they have french every day

So loads of french !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It is a private school and they were all given French/English dictionaries at start of term

bloomin heck. i am curious how s/he finds the time to mark the homework! still think looking up words is a waste of time. ask if that will be a typical hw task. i see the benefits of teaching kids to use dictionaries and bilingual dictionaries effectively but then leave them to it to use as a tool to aid their learning, not to 'give homework'.

Blimey! Well that partially explains the homework - if it is set 3 times a week, that's 3 sets of HW to mark. This may be less time consuming for the teacher?
I know what you mean Kiskidee about the homework.
I wouldn't discount this type of thing completely though as I do think children do need to learn how to be resourceful and not be spoonfed constantly. They should aslo be encouraged to think about how they learn and try different styles. This type of homework does kind of fit in to that approach.

Sorry might have been misleading there

He has 3 homeworks a week for french

but only 1 looking up in dictionary

The rest have been writing abou this family, his house

The family tree the royal family tree

About france and the cites and geog of the country etc rivers etc.

No no we understood!
I set one homework a week, not 3!!!!!

Oh ok

But he needs the dictionary for words for his other homework

like the french for river or garden or kitchen iyswim

hanks for all your help

It gives me some ideas on what to say next week

yep i understood too. i still feel that teaching dictionary skills is useful and in that context to have a looking up words kind of homework. for example know how to recognise when they need a the verb form of 'change' instead of one of the noun forms. but not to give 10 words to look up because they are related to a topic area.

i know what you mean about spoonfeeding. which is why i am keen on dictionary skills with my pupils. i want them to stop writing stupid things because they found 'encendido' for 'on' when they should have taken 'en' which also means 'on'.

Thanks for all your help guys

I will certainly ask about homework next week and what can be done to help him

I'm a French teacher, and I suggest this to my pupils, who are all 13-18 year old boys. I find that boys tend not to check their work at all, and if they have a dictionary open on the screen it increases slightly the possibility that they may give a glancing thought to accuracy.

I'd reiterate the concerns raised earlier about the electronic translators, as they are v. dodgy I use the sentences "Time flies like an arrow"/ "Fruit flies like a banana" to show them the perils of thinking that babel fish represents a solution to all those tedious essay questions! Wordreference is a proper dictionary, but an eleven year old would need help to develop the skills to make the most of it. The forums are fascinating!

Annner