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Professional Reference Computers Posters Movies |
PICTURE DICTIONARIES
WORD BY WORD PICTURE DICTIONARY Steven Molinsky and Bill Bliss Longman, Pearson Education, Prentice Hall
With the 2th edition, the Word by Word Picture Dictionary has been completely revised and greatly improved. The vocabulary has been significantly expanded. The presentation is much better organized. The illustrations are much clearer. The colors are much more complimentary of each other. Most of the illustrations involving people are activity oriented with maximun effect. The table of contents has 17 categories and 140 subcategories. The scope and sequence / standards correlation lists over 500 skills. The thematic index lists over 200 themes. The glossary contains all the 4000 everyday vocabulary words in the book. So you shouldn't have any trouble finding the word you need or understanding what to do with it. The 181 verbs illustrated in the book are also explained through 4 forms of conjugation: act/acted, assemble/assembled, chop/chopped, apply/applied. In addition, 57 irregular verbs are conjugated. Many chapters are a series of 2 inch squares, completely eliminating clutter. Especially welcome are chapters on audio/visual equipment, telephones and cameras, and computer parts. Pictures in the chapter on forms of identification are much larger and easier to recognize than in other picture dictionaries. Ever tried to explain to ESL students the difference between an article, a report, an essay, and an editorial; the difference between a note, a letter, and a memo? If so, you019ll find the chapter on literature/writing useful. The only major flaw is the cover. The illustrations on the cover are faded, forcing buyers to squint to get a visual hint of what's in the book. From the letter to teachers: "The Word by Word Picture Dictionary is the centerpiece of the complete Word by Word Vocabulary Development Program, which offers a wide selection of print and media support materials for instruction at all levels. A unique choice of workbooks at Beginning and Intermediate levels offers flexible options to meet students019 needs. Vocabulary Workbooks feature motivating vocabulary, grammar, and listening practice, and standards based activities and reading tied to national, state, and local curriculum frameworks. A Literacy Workbook is also available. The Teachers Guide and Lesson Planner with CD ROM includes lesson planning suggestions, community tasks, Internet weblinks, and reproducible, masters to save teachers hours of lesson preparation. A Handbook of Vocabulary Teaching Strategies is included in the Teacher019s Guide. The Audio Program includes all words and conversations for interactive practice and - as bonus material - an expanded selection of WordSongs for entertaining musical practice with the vocabulary. Additional ancillary materials include Color Transparencies, Vocabulary Game Cards, a Testing Program, and ExamView CD Rom. Bilingual editions are also available."
The authors have written several other excellent ESL books, including the Word by Word Primary Phonics Picture Dictionary recommended and reviewed on this site. If you see their names on a book cover, you'll probably find quality work inside.
HEINLE PICTURE DICTIONARY Thomson/Heinle
Perhaps the most important feature of the Heinle Picture Dictionary is what they call 'word partnerships,' or collocations: a part time job, a well-paid job, a blue-collar job, a white-collar job; look for a job, apply for a job, get a job, lose a job; angry about, confused about, embarrassed about, happy about; afraid of, proud of, tired of; frustrated by, confused by. Another important feature is the distinction between countable / uncountable, a / an / the, and singular / plural: a shopping basket versus an aisle, popcorn versus pretzels; an email message versus a computer program versus the Internet versus software; money versus a money order. This technique can also help with verbs / nouns: withdraw versus a withdrawal. Each chapter has a Words in Context box with vocabulary highlighted. From the Words in Context box of the Food to Go chapter: "Do you eat at the food court? Health experts have some advice for you. Don019t order a hot dog and french fries. Order a salad instead. Don019t have a hamburger. Have beans and rice instead. And finally, don't order coffee or soda. Have water or juice." The difference between the city/an urban area, the suburbs, a small town, and the country/a rural area is much clearer than in other picture dictionaries. Documents are realistically illustrated. The chapter on fabrics and patterns gives examples of what type of clothes are made of what type of material. Desert, rain forest, grassland, woodland, polar, and sea have separate and well illustrated chapters. Indoor, outdoor, and winter sports have their own chapters. The Explore, Rule, Invent chapter has a historical timeline. The chapter on factory work displays industrial danger symbols prominently on the page. Cat lovers, check out one of the chapters on prepositions. Each word in the 4000 word index includes International Phonetic Alphabet spelling. Verbs in the index are highlighted. Accessories include a lesson planner with over 340 lessons marked according to 3 vocabulary levels. The lesson planner includes an activity CD-ROM. Norma Shapiro and Jayme Adelson-Goldstein One of my specialties is vocabulary. I have bought half the visual dictionaries I have found, and the other half are on my to-buy list. I have found that even bilingual people with excellent articulation skills and few pronunciation problems nevertheless suffer from a limited vocabulary, especially for daily activity. So I recommend ESL students and teachers start with a picture dictionary.
Also available: dictionary cassettes, dictionary audio CDs, interactive CD-ROM, overhead transparencies, focused listening cassettes, focused listening CDs, teachers book, workbooks, classic classroom activities.
LONGMAN PHOTO DICTIONARY Marilyn, Rosenthal and Daniel Freeman Longman, Pearson Education The Longman Photo Dictionary is the best basic ESL everyday vocabulary book I've found. It also has the advantage of photos, which are more vivid than the drawings many of the other visual dictionaries use. There is also a Longman Photo Dictionary of American English, more on that soon. THE BASIC Margot Gramer Whereas the Oxford Picture Dictionary borders encyclopedic at 3,700 words, the Basic Oxford Picture Dictionary has 1200 of the most common everyday words. The font is straight and large, layout is simple and uncluttered, and the illustrations are easy to understand. Dorothy Kauffman, Gary Apple The content areas being social studies, history, science, and math. As with the Oxford Basic Picture Dictionary, the design is simple and uncluttered. On the left page are the words, accompanied by individual, small but colorful illustrations. On the right page is a large, full illustration containing all the illustrations from the left page. In other words, the right page is the left page in context. Rather like understanding where the pieces of a jigsaw puzzle go by looking at the box cover. A user friendly and effective strategy. EXPRESS PICTURE DICTIONARY FOR YOUNG LEARNERS Elizabeth Gray Express Publishing The Express Picture Dictionary for Young Learners uses the same format as the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas: a large illustration containing vocabulary in situation context, small illustrations accompanied by words, the small illustrations all taken from the large illustration. Each chapter is a two page spread, with the small illustrations and the words wrapped around the large illustration, horseshoe shape. With the Oxford Picture Dictionary for the Content Areas, the large illustration is an entire page opposite the page for the small illustrations and the words. With the Express Picture Dictionary for Young Learners, the large illustrations are top and center. This means the book's binding goes through the middle of the large illustrations. It's a bit awkward, but it works. Most of the illustrations are action oriented. The illustrations in many visual dictionaries are loose and blurry. These illustrations are tight and clear. More verbs than the average visual dictionary. Plenty of rhymes. Several chapters have subcategories, always an effective strategy with vocabulary books. The activity book is large, colorful, inviting, and fun. Both the picture dictionary and the activity book have a vocabulary index. The vocabulary index for the picture dictionary includes the International Phonetic Alphabet pronunciation for each word. WORD BY WORD BASIC PICTURE DICTIONARY Steven Molinsky and Bill Bliss Longman, Pearson Education NEW E.C. Parnwell I like the original better, but the New Oxford Picture Dictionary is a good resource and is on my list of recommended visual dictionaries.
MY FIRST WORD BOOK Dorling Kindersley
The photos are such good quality you feel as if you can reach into the book and touch them. Most of the people in the pictures are children, who are sharply dressed and in action demonstrations.
PRE-SCHOOL PICTURE WORD BOOKS MY BIG BOOK SERIES Dreamland Publications The first series is 10 books, the second is 15. Large, colorful pictures. Exceptionally vivid. ENRICH YOUR GENERAL KNOWLEDGE Dreamland Publications One sentence definitions for lower levels, paragraphs and tables for advanced levels. ENGLISH FOR EVERYDAY ACTIVITIES: A PICTURE PROCESS DICTIONARY New Readers Press ENGLISH FOR WORK ACTIVITIES: A PICTURE PROCESS DICTIONARY Lynn Stafford-Yilmaz and New Readers Press THE ENGLISH YOU NEED FOR BUSINESS: A PICTURE PROCESS DICTIONARY Mark Cunningham and Asia-Pacific Press THE ENGLISH YOU NEED FOR THE OFFICE: A PICTURE PROCESS DICTIONARY Susan Dean and Asia-Pacific Press
ENGLISH EVERYDAY FOR YOUNG PEOPLE Lawrence Zwier Asia-Pacific Press Impressive! An impressive concept and an impressive presentation. The vocabulary is simple and accurate. The layout is uncluttered. The process is supplemented by conversation. The ultimate step by step, everyday activity, verb based, ESL vocabulary book. This series is in my top 5 list of highly recommended ESL books.
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