The Top 10 ZOHO Links – According to Greg

NOTE: Unfortunately, I recently discovered that ZOHO is no longer free, at least for the purposes that The CALL Facility used it for. I still have access as an Admin, but I am researching how I might be able to continue to provide the same resources in perhaps a slightly different format. Options such as a website, pdf, Word, Excel or other kind of document, but so far, they are not as easy to use, create, support and maintain. But I am hopeful and optimistic!

MANY THANKS to everyone who supported The CALL Facility (& me!) in offering this very unique resource over the past many years, probably dating back about 15 years or more! ZOHO came about as a response to needing a quick way to access Language bookmarks in CALL! Way back when, and this is BEFORE GOOGLE, I would email an attached bookmark file for specific browsers such as Explorer (Mac!), Safari and even Netscape Navigator! Good times, good times!

ALL the bookmarks are still ‘at’ ZOHO, and I can access them, and export them into a simple .pdf document if anyone wants them. I can subsort, or include them all in one document. Please let me know! But for now, I won’t be updating ZOHO on a regular basis while I research other, if any, similar resources for Instructors and students.

In the meantime, probably the best strategy, for Instructors, would be to Copy/Paste website inks directly into Brightspace for students. Yeah, cludgy and inelegant, but … sometimes old school works! The first shift I had in the CALL Facility – was bulk erasing and then making copies of Spanish lessons .. on cassette tapes! Good times, good times!

AND, if you DO CLICK HERE or on the icon of a PDF to the left, then you can view and download a .PDF version of ALL of The CALL Facility ZOHO Bookmarks in alphabetical order. Yeah, not ideal, but … at least they are all in one document.

And many thanks to Mark vH who helped me set it up so very long ago!

As of this morning, there are 896 language related links at ZOHO! WHOA! So many!

So I will be editing them one day in the future, removing and/or updating many of them. Often, the links disappear, they become commercial, have too many pop-ups, are re-routed elsewhere, so they need to be attended to.

So I bring to you, the Hall of Fame ZOHO bookmarks that are the Top Ten of All Time! At least, in my opinion!

You turn to Youtube! I have had to update some of the videos as they have disappeared from Youtube for some reason! But found a few more! Needed an update anyways, from way back in about 2014!

#10 – Klingon Language Institute
Just for fun and I have been kidding about including Klingon as a language in The CALL Facility for … years! And there IS a connection to UVIC too! Just click … here!

#9 – Tex’s French Grammar
Who would know that one of the best French websites is … deep in the heart of … TEXAS! And true love springs between Tex & Tammy – ARMADILLOS!

#8 – I’m Yan (Yan and the Japanese People)
THE most popular video series in CALL HISTORY! An original resource on VHS, no less, follow the adventures of Yan, a foreigner living and working in Japan! VHS? So not available anymore in CALL? Say it ain’t so … well … IT AIN’T SO! I have all 26 episodes digitized on a single DL-DVD! There is even a Wikipedia Page!

#7 – News and Media Sites such as CBC, BBC and CNN. There is also a single link for World Newspapers too! Many offer transcripts on a daily basis too.

#6 – CBC Digital Archives are an excellent source for Canadian History with articles, texts, videos, etc.

#5 – DICTIONARY sites – all kinds of them! Merriam-Webster and Cambridge and even more here.

#4 – ThoughtCo. Lifelong Learning – once known as About, all kinds of language links and others too!

#3 – Utilities – Another Filter where you can discover keyboard layouts, fonts, foreign characters, graphics, media conversions, Google Translate and even World CALL Language Links! One stop shopping for that hard to find font for the designer who has everything!

#2 – TED Talks! Bet you didn’t know there were Language based Ted Talks! Now …. you do!

#1 – UVIC SITES! Each Department has their own website with resources, links, tests, Instructor contacts and more! You might not need ZOHO for any of these, but they will be your single best resource for all the languages you are studying! Oh, and you can also download my CALL Orientation .pdf there too – which has all the Department links in it too!

TTFN!

Throwback Thursday – Language Learning Videos!

Welcome to Throwback Thursday here at Bog Blog!

What happens if you can’t find anyone to speak to you in …. German?

You turn to Youtube! I have had to update some of the videos as they have disappeared from Youtube for some reason! But found a few more! Needed an update anyways, from way back in about 2014!

How German Sounds to Other Languages

How to Speak Canadian

A bit of Fry and Laurie

How to Speak with an Irish Accent (Complete)

Top 10 Oldest Languages in the World

What is the Funniest Language? Stephen Fry’s Planet Word – BBC

Working From Home

Most, if not all of us at CHD are now working from home or will be soon.

And that likely means everyone who also works at or attends UVIC.

Hopefully, EVERYONE will be at home soon to stay safe with social distancing and/or self-isolation. Take all the necessary precautions and keep checking back at the UVIC site and with colleagues! We are all in this together.

Many thanks to EVERYONE at CHD for setting us up with UVic laptops and resources so we can do the best possible work, from home, given the circumstances. Clicking on the banner above takes you to the UVic home page where everyone will get the most recent updates. I would hope everyone is doing that on a regular basis.

One always neglected interest for me is expanding my knowledge of blogging using OAC or The Online Academic Community at UVic. I will try to do one blog each weekday, language related, (or maybe not) either with links, information or interesting topics, just to keep the resources that might be out there, available. I believe that OAC is one of THE MOST UNDERUTILZED RESOURCES on campus, especially so for language learning, so … here goes!

One of the best CALL Facility resources over the years has been ZOHO, or also known as CALL Facility Bookmarks!

Many years ago, I added/collected the best language sites to each browser in The CALL Facility – both Mac and WIN. It rapidly grew and grew in size and time requirements, yet students wanted all the links that I was finding, or had been requested by Instructors. So I attached the bookmarks file in an email. That quickly proved too time consuming as well!

So … to make a long story short, I now use ZOHO to add new websites, either from me, Instructors or students that hopefully prove useful to students! Big shoutout to Mark vH for helping me back then! THANKS MARK!

Available anywhere, any platform, 24/7, I have literally added a new website sent to me from an Instructor, even IN PERSON as their class arrived in CALL ….. and had it posted at ZOHO before the students even logged in at their computers! Then they searched for the key word(s) given to me by the Instructor and they had the link instantly in seconds for their homework, assigment or group project.

Yes, Google could probably find it too, but … just where is it ranked? Way down low? Middle? How many different ads might pop up? Located somewhere else in the Multiverse? Good luck getting ahold of Doctor Strange or even .. The Doctor!

At ZOHO, it is right there, with the keywords and titles that the Instructor wants, not just now …. but … RIGHT NOW! Oh yeah, and it is free too! Easy to maintain as well, which is what I will task myself with in the next few days – cleaning up old websites and maybe bumping into a few new ones!

To see for yourself, you can click on either graphic above to instantly go there, or you could search at Google for the keywords “CALL Facility ZOHO Bookmarks” and … Google is your friend!

Do a search for Klingon at CALL Facility Bookmarks and see what you find – you might be surprised to even find Hobbits once roamed UVIC! And everyone knows about the Vampires at UVic, right?

Greg