I think that Flickr has some promising capabilities for the language classroom. It is a primarily a social networking site that focuses on searching for and sharing photos. However, it also has a map organizer where the user can choose a map to work with and then upload pictures for the different locations on the map. So, when learning directions or studying culturally significant places in the the classroom, students could create their own maps and present them to the class. Also, if previous students are studying abroad, they could create photo maps detailing where they have already visited and embed their photo map into a blog or even post comments on their photo map to share with the current students who may be planning to study abroad in the future.
2 comments:
I also think that it may be very useful in ESL classroom. Especially, if to take into consideration that very often students are not fully aware of the geography of the country whose language they are studying. Therefore, Flickr will be very helpful in tracking the places they are talking about in classes or tha they are visiting during exchange programs.
Hey! Thanks for your comment on my blog! I clicked through to your blog after reading your comment, and I'm sure glad I did. I hadn't considered using Flickr in the way you mentioned, but I think it's an EXCELLENT idea, especially in regards to students who have studied abroad. Study abroad is such a personal experience for students, and giving them something like the Flickr mapping capability could really allow them to extend the knowledge they acquired abroad to their classmates. I think it's a very interesting idea, and I concede over-generalizing about the social software ;). Thanks for your critical comments and for your thoughtful post...it's gotten me thinking and I'm sure it will get other people thinking too!!
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