Picture dictionary — teacher's guide

The student clicks on objects in a large illustrated scene to see the word, get an explanation in their native language, and hear the pronunciation read aloud. You can find it under Picture Dictionary. There are over 120 scenes across 23 categories—from The Kitchen and The Classroom to Symptoms, Crafts and Construction, and Internal Organs.

How it works

Each scene is a single image with numbered points. The student clicks on a point and gets:

• the word in Norwegian, with audio
• a translation into their native language
• level buttons A0–B2, allowing the explanation to be adjusted to the student’s proficiency level
• Add to word list, and Open in dictionary for the full dictionary entry

The last two are worth noting. The Picture Dictionary provides the word on its own, but in the dictionary, it appears in example sentences—one more click, and the student sees the word in context. Tell them once, and they will use it going forward.

The images contain no embedded text—the words are layered as data on top of the image. This means the same scene works for a student learning Norwegian and one learning English. The translation automatically matches the native language the student selected under Account, so there is nothing you need to configure per student.

The exercises

The Test yourself button inside a scene offers three variations:

• Click the object—the student hears the word and clicks the correct object in the image
• What is this?—the student sees the object and chooses the correct word
• Mixed—a combination of both

From a category page, the student can instead choose Play all: a single round across all scenes in that category.

The search bar searches within the words themselves, not just the topic titles. If you type "car", you will get the category that actually teaches the word. The Work button goes straight to the vocational scenes—the occupational groups, Job Hunting, At Work, and HSE and Safety—which have their own URL at /pictures/c/yrker and are located under Work. Nine professions also have their own dedicated scenes, four per profession: the workplace, the equipment, the tasks, and the workwear, each shown separately. These are Healthcare Worker, Cleaner, Kitchen Assistant, Shop Assistant, Kindergarten Assistant, Warehouse Worker, Carpenter, Painter, and Plumber. More are on the way.

Printing the scene on paper

Next to Test yourself, there is a Print button visible only to you. It offers three worksheets:

• With words—the image with numbers and the word list underneath. For handouts, review, and as an answer key for the other two.
• Quiz—the numbered image with blank lines to write in the words.
• Quiz with word bank—the same, but with the words shuffled in a box at the bottom. Matching is easier than recalling from scratch, so start there.

The quiz sheets include lines for name and date, and the word bank is shuffled with each printout.

You can also choose the sheet's language from among the languages the scene supports. This is your choice as a teacher, independent of your own learning language: you can print Norwegian worksheets even if your account is set to English. On the word list, you can check a box to include the translation.

Who it is for

The core target group is A0 and A1. Concrete nouns, with no reading required to benefit from them—the image and audio carry the load entirely. This makes the Picture Dictionary one of the few places in Språki that works for students with little to no prior schooling.

Some categories are at a higher level and suit A2–B1: Symptoms, Internal Organs, Crafts and Construction, Tools, Opposites, and Emotions. The vocational scenes Job Hunting, At Work, and HSE and Safety also belong here—they are designed for adults in workplace-oriented Norwegian, featuring words like application, shift schedule, protective equipment, and emergency exit. The profession-specific scenes are slightly lower in difficulty again: most words there are concrete objects students can point to in their daily work, so they work from A1 upwards.

The image teaches words, not sentences. If the student wants to see the word in context, example sentences are just a click away in the dictionary—the rest of the context comes from Reading, Conversation, or your teaching.

Suggestions for working with the Picture Dictionary

1. On screen in class. Project a scene on the board, point, and have the students say the word in unison. Finish with Test yourself as a group activity, with one student at a time coming up to the screen.
2. As preparation for a topic. Have students go through the scene independently before you begin—At the Doctor's before practicing a doctor's appointment, At the Store before a shopping dialogue. That way, they know the words before they need them.
3. In pairs. One student says a word, the other clicks on it in the image. Switch after ten words. Requires zero preparation on your part.
4. As homework. Assign a category and ask them to run Play all until they get everything right. They don't need to hand anything in—just check their time spent under the student's progress.
5. From word to sentence. Pick five words from the scene, have students open them in the dictionary, and copy down one example sentence for each. This ensures they have seen the word used in context, not just pointed at it.
6. Collect words along the way. Ask students to click Add to word list for the five words they found most difficult in the scene. The words will then be included in the review exercises in Practice, which is where they stick over time.
7. Screen first, paper after. Go through the scene on the board, then hand out the Quiz with word bank for that same scene.
8. Before a vocational internship. If a student has an internship placement, go through the relevant profession's scenes first—the workplace, equipment, tasks, and workwear. That way, they encounter the words on paper before they encounter them on the job.

Good to know

• Words can be saved right away. The Add to word list option is located directly inside the popup in the image—the student does not need to navigate to the dictionary page. You can also build the list yourself in advance under Word Lists and share it with the group.
• The translation follows the student's native language. If a student sees the explanation in a different language than expected, their native language is missing from their settings. This is set under Account and applies to all of Språki, not just the Picture Dictionary.
• On screen, the Picture Dictionary is for practice, not assessment. Time spent counts as study time under Practice, but in-game answers are not saved or reported to you. If you want to assess students, use the printable worksheets—they are graded by hand, using the With words sheet as an answer key.

See also

• What is the Picture Dictionary?—the brief overview shown to students
• How do I learn new words?—the connection between the Dictionary, Word Lists, and Practice