Installing and using the Google Translate extension

If you're dealing with online Hebrew texts and get stuck on a word, the Google Translate extension can help. It is far from perfect, and really can't deal with prefixes and suffixes well, but it can give you an idea of what the word means (at least its root if not its full form).

Go to the Chrome store and install the extension. (Click here for link.)

Once installed, go to your extensions

Then click the 3 dots next to Google Translate and click Options

And then choose Immediately display pop-up, and click Save.

When you double-click on a word now, Google Translate will try to detect the language (sometimes it thinks it's Yiddish) and translate. Verbs are almost never fully correct.

"Bring" is correct, but the proper translation is "that he should bring."

But here, Google Translate is more off-base.

In this context, הותרה means "loosened" or "untied" in the sense of being let off the leash to run wild.

And here it is waaaay off

The proper translation is "and take out" or "remove."

So beware. It can give you a sense of the word if you have no idea, but don't rely on it too much.

Organize Google Classroom Visually

 Three suggestions for keeping Google Classroom manageable.

1. Keep the Announcements page free of assignments.

I heard an Ed Tech guru describe the Announcement page of Classroom as the cyberspace equivalent of the first minutes before class starts, where conversations take place; the Classwork page is where the class takes place.

Click of the Settings gear in the upper right corner of your Classroom page.

Scroll down to Classwork on the Stream and change the setting to Hide Notifications

.

If you'd like to use the Stream for comments, student questions, and teacher announcements, on the Stream setting, choose Students can post and comment.

2. Always Use Topics

Whenever you add anything to your Classwork, ALWAYS assign a topic. Come up with a system that is logical and consistent and use it, consistently. For some classes, I chunk topics by units (Chapter or Subject units), or by type of work (Classwork/Homework/Reviews).

The student can find grouped assignments by topic on the left side of the page.

Don't go overboard with Topics. Keep them manageable, logical, and consistent.

3. Add simple emoji icons to the title of your post for visual cues

I have a stable of about 15 emojis that I use consistently, especially for my weaker classes with learning issues, to help them visually organize what is posted. I keep them in a Bookmarks folder in Chrome labeled Emojis. Whenever I am posting anything, I keep an open tab for emojis.

My source is the Emojipedia.

Here is my collection:

These are all bookmarks in the Emojipedia. After I search through it and find one that I think is appropriate,  I bookmark it and change its name to whatever function I intend for it.

Here are some in use in last year's class:

If you've never edited the name of a bookmark, it's very simple.

Let's say I want to add a symbol for an assignment while I'm out sick.

I search Emojipedia and find this.

I decide on the Face emoji, click it, and am brought to its page. I click the little star in the Address Bar.

Before clicking Done, delete the name of the Emoji and rename it whatever you want to use it for.

And then click Done.

When you open the bookmark in a separate tab, click on the Copy button and the emoji will be copied to your clipboard.

 Then paste it in the title of your Classroom post.

Link to Text Fragment extension

Google has a great new extension.

Did you ever have to direct students to a specific place within a long web document?

Link to Text Fragment is simple to use.

Highlight some text (more than a couple of words) and right-click. The extension will appear as one of your choices.

Click and it will copy a link to your clipboard that will direct students to the specific spot on the site.

Get Link to Text Fragment at the Chrome store 

Hebrew Vowels (Niqud) for Microsoft Windows and Word

This is very old news, but a few people asked me about it, so maybe it's worth a post.

To enter niqud in Word, for example:

1. Make sure you are in HEBREW language mode (Alt+Shift).
2. Engage Caps Lock
3. Place your cursor after the letter over/under/in which you want to inset niqud.
4. Hold down the Shift key and click the following:

If you need to use multiple nequdot on the same letter (Let's say, a Shin with a dagesh in it and a patach under it) the order is Dagesh, shin/Sin dot, vowel.

[The above chart is originally from the website http://www.qsm.co.il/Hebrew/wniqud.htm, which no longer exists.]

Hebrew Vowels (Niqud) for Google Docs on Chromebooks

I have figured out how to insert vowels into Google Docs on a Chromebook. If this is documented fully anywhere, I haven't found it. Wikipedia is blank on this.

This is for Chromebooks and some newer PCs. It does not work on older PCs. (For Niqud in Windows, see this post.)

If you need a refresher on setting up Hebrew in Google Docs / on a Chromebook, see my post here.

The key (pun fully intended) to doing this is the Alt Graph key, often abbreviated AltGr. Don't panic. You do so have one. It's the Alt Key to the right of the spacebar.

When you are in Hebrew on a Chromebook (Ctrl + Spacebar to switch back and forth), position the cursor after the letter under/over which you wish to insert a vowel. Hold the AltGr (again, the Alt Key to the right of the spacebar) plus the following keys to insert niqqud.

(There's kind of a mnemonic to it - for many of the basic vowels, the key is the Hebrew letter that begins the name of the vowel. So [AltGR +] the ח'‏ key (J) for חירק; the צ'‏ (M) for צירה, the ד'‏ for דגש; the ש'‏ for שוא. The תנועות חטופות are immediately to the right of their counterparts. So פ'‏ (P) for פתח and the [ key for חטף פתח; the ק'‏ (E) for קמץ and the ר'‏ (R) for חטף קמץ; and the ס'‏ (X) for סגול and the ב'‏ (C) for חטף סגול.  The ו'‏‏ (U) is also the dot for the חולם. The backslash \ looks like a קבוץ, I guess.
Since the A is the ש'‏ key, the key to its upper right (W) puts the dot for the shin, and the  key to its upper left (Q) puts the dot for the sin.)

Key Combo	Vowel / Symbol
AltGr + E (ק)	קמץ
AltGr + R (רׂׂ)	חטף קמץ
AltGr + P (פ)	פתח
AltGr + [	חטף פתח
AltGr + X (ס)	סגול
AltGr + C (ב)	חטף סגול
AltGr + U (ו)	חולם dot
AltGr + J (ח)	חירק
AltGr + M (צ)	צירה
AltGr + S (ד)	דגש (also the dot for שורק)
AltGr + A (ש)	שוא
AltGr + \	קבוץ
AltGr + W	dot for שִׁין
AltGr + Q	dot for שִׂין
AltGr + 7	מתג
AltGr + -	מקף
AltGr + ‘/”	גרשים a/k/a tzupchik -  רש״י
AltGr + `/~	ר׳ - גרש
AltGr + ;	Bottom of the line quote mark - „
AltGr +	Quote mark proper direction - ”
AltGr + 4	₪ New Israeli Shekel NIS
AltGr + ]	רפה mark - רֿ
Niqqud for Chromebooks  © Jeff Kuperman 2020

Downloadable copy can  be accessed here.

For Students: How to upload work to Classroom

Since there are still students who do not know how to do this (How is this possible?!), here is a tutorial.

Click on the assignment in your Due list

Under Your work, click on Add or Create

Attach your Google Doc and submit.

PDFs vs the Color Yellow (and Light Blue)

I don't understand why, but whenever I convert a Google Slide, Power Point, Word file with graphics, Mind Map etc. to pdf, anything with a yellow or light blue background comes out with no color. If the text is colored, then that too disappears.

This is the original Mind Map on mindmup.com

But this is what happened when I downloaded it as a pdf. Notice the light blue squares are now without color.

The solution is to download the file as a jpeg or png and then upload the graphic into Adobe Acrobat (best professional purchase of my career) or an online graphic-to-pdf converter like smallpdf, and convert it to a pdf. This way, the original colors are preserved.

The same thing happened when I tried downloading a Google Slide as a pdf, and it was crucial that the colors be preserved. I tried downloading it as a PowerPoint, but regardless of what I did (I even tried changing the shades slightly, using gradients, etc.) the pdf was missing the yellow on the yellow slide. I had to download the problematic slide as a jpeg and convert it to a pdf and delete the problematic page from the pdf presentation and insert the jpeg to pdf slide in its place.