The Oxford Picture Dictionary: Monolingual

I used this with a group of adult students from West Africa. They were the ones who decided to purchase the book out of their own pockets because they found it so helpful. They speak French and very little English. I do not speak French. The book was quite valuable.

This is an excellent volume. It covers words, translations and pictures for each defined term. A typical term is "Declaracion de Direchos " which stands for a Bill of Merchandise. This work would be extremely valuable for students of the Spanish language . The book is geared to primary school and high school students. It would be valuable for anyone studying the language for the first time. The presentation is easy to read and understand in both English and Spanish.

The Oxford Picture Dictionary is one of the best books I have ever seen. The authors classify their book to be based on beginning and lower intermediate level English. If you have studied English as a foreign language for several years, and put a mentionable number of words and verbs in your vocabulary in the fields that are related with your job and hobbies, you might at first think that this book will be too easy for you. However, I believe this is not the real case. Imagine yourself in a hairdresser in America. How would you describe the way you want your hair to be cut or arranged. Or suppose you need to stay in America for sometime and you have some household problems, for example the roof is leaking, or the wall is cracked, or the faucet is dripping... How will you describe the problem on the phone to the related companies? You will find the way in the corresponding topics.Some of the topics might be really very easy. But they just collect the related nouns and verbs together and give you a good chance to refresh your mind by seeing them all together. Especially the verbs, for each topic, are generally organised in a very logical manner and they describe most actions you might need to take in such a situation. Do this, and that, and then those...As the easiest example, of which we are all familiar, I will give the topic 'A classrom'. On a very nice colorful picture which illustrates everything exeptionally well, you will see a number of 'numbers', which number the nouns, and below the picture you will see the corresponding names including: chalkboard, screen, student, overhead projector, teacher, desk, chair/seat, bookcase, globe, clock, cassette player, map, pencil sharpener, bulletin board, computer, chalk, pen, marker, pencil, textbook, workbook, binder/notebook, ruler, dictionary. On other pictures you will find the illustration of a list of verbs which are 'lettered' instead of numbered. And the corresponding explanations, with the verb in bold typeface, raise your hand, talk to the teacher, listen to a cassette, stand up, sit down/take a seat, point to the picture, write on the board, erase the board, open your book, close your book, take out your pencil, put away your pencil. This is only topic one, and there are 139 more topics.Another topic which is about shoes and accessories, lists a number of words that might sound less familiar to a foreigner, for example sole, pumps, loafers, oxfords. But a picture is worth a thousand words! Now, I know what they mean.Yet another topic, 'Symptoms and Injuries', besides many words which I already knew, like headache, toothache, etc, contains some others that I heard for the first time. For example: chills, bruise, blister. The related verbs were the things I learned once, but since I have not used them at all, I just forgot. I had the chance to see them all together and refresh my mind very easily. I can not find any words to explain how much I like the graphical illustrations in this book!In m

There was a time when I wasn't very impressed by the Oxford Picture Dictionary, especially compared to the WORD BY WORD Picture Dictionary. As an English teacher I used to get free copies of it, but I'd actually go out and buy other versions because it wasn't as topical as Word By Word. Suddenly however, they seem to have caught on. My students LOVE this latest version (which has a black not blue cover and is much thicker.) In smaller less structured classes, I'll actually let them pick out chapters then base the grammar lesson I was going to teach on that theme and topic, that way insuring personal relevence. It also helps keep the classes in English... dictionaries can be valuable tools, but often they keep students from communicating with each other - - they sort of burry their heads in the dictionaries and the safety of their own langauge, but with the latest version of the Oxford Picture Dictionary, I'll find students of different nationalities hudling over the book, trying to get the point across. The pictures serve as a universal langauge that induces communication across cultures.For this reason, I have to rank the latest version of the OPD as one of the greatest learning sources as an English teacher I've ever encountered. Its popular among the students, activity friendly and you can transfer the lesson objectives over from almost any book to meet the needs of your students. As a word of advice, be sure to get the MONOLINGUAL version regardless of where you're teaching. This is a PICTURE dictionary. Have your student's native language in the book sabotages the purpose of getting them to think in English !

The book has wonderful illustrative pictures and is very good for teachers of English as a foreign language. I have used it in my class and the students were very interested and have enjoyed their vocabulary lessons ever since.