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I’ve recently discovered 2 Google search functions that work really well and that practically nobody uses.  The first is known as “site search” and the other is “file search.”

Site search allows you to look for something on a website without actually going to the site. This is especially powerful when applied to education sites since so many of them are massive link farms.  There’s good stuff available, but you have to work hard to find it and it can be sloooow.

Here’s a likely scenario: you need resources to teach a unit about counting money.  You seem to remember seeing something good on superteacherworksheets.com, but you’re not sure.  Rather than going to the site and nosing round, type the following formula into the Google search bar:

[subject] [site:] [website address]

Press “search” and you’ll get a list of all of the materials that exist on the site for money.  If they have something, you’ll see what they’ve got and if they don’t have anything, you won’t waste time hunting for a dead end.

Regardless of how inefficient or unorganized the navigation of some sites may be, this technique will cut right through and deliver the goods.  How cool is that!

The second search function you may want to try is “filetype” search. With this search option, you type in the subject, “filetype:” and then the type of file you want.  For example, if you want to find a PowerPoint presentation about simple machines you’d use this formula:

[subject] [filetype:] [type of file you want]

Press “search” and you’ll see every PowerPoint presentation that exists on the web.  (This works equally well for PDF files and Word docs).

I could see this being a powerful tool when you need to find a new way to approach a subject.  Pick your subject, use the “filetype:” function and investigate how other people have approached the topic.  Get creative!

I am absolutely giddy.  I recently discovered a cool new project developed by Google that essentially allows anybody to instantly translate text from one language to another.  It’s called Google Translate and it has the potential to revolutionize  teaching resources.

As an experiment, I copied the lyrics from the most popular song on this site, 50 States, and pasted them into Google Translate.  Then I hit “translate” and the entire lyric popped up in Spanish (the language I chose) so quickly that I didn’t realize at first that it was already finished.  No kidding, I hadn’t even taken my finger off the mouse before my Spanish translation was complete.

I immediately added the Spanish translation to the 50 states activities menu and am now asking for opinions about how well this thing works.  The Spanish version of the lyrics can be viewed by clicking here.

As cool as that is, there is one  feature that will be life-changing for a substantial number of students and teachers.  Instead of simply pasting text into the translator, you can also paste the URL of any website.  When you use the translator this way,  the entire website will automatically  be translated into your language of choice.  This is a real time-saver and it encourages additional reading exploration.

Imagine these 3 scenarios:

1. You discover that a particular website in India offers something relevant that your class would enjoy reading.  Simply enter their URL, select the language in which you’d prefer to read and start reading your translated version instantly.

2. You want to better help ESL students in your classroom so you, when necessary,  provide instructions  in their native language.

3. You could also use the tool to communicate in writing with non-English speaking  parents.  The potential is staggering.

If you’re personally web-savvy, Google also provides widget code so that you can make your own websites fully translatable.  I added the widget to this site right under the big pointing finger graphic.  Go give it a try.

What do you think; is this the coolest thing since sliced chleba or what?  (Chleba means bread in Czechoslovakian.  Go try it!)