Flickr is not just a website for the storage of photos online. Flickr is a wonderful web tool for teachers to locate pictures for instructional purposes. In the ESL classroom, visual aides play a large role in building students' comprehension and activating background knowledge. Through the search engine, teachers can browse pictures that other people have taken and decided to share pubically. Pictures that are licensed through Creative Commons can be used by teachers (and students) without being in violation of copyright. Through the use of different perspectives and topics, a slide show of various pictures on a single topic can encourage creative thinking, which can be displayed orally or in writing. A slide show of pictures related to the season of fall can provoke different thoughts and ideas in each student.
Flickr is also applicable student use. As a class, students can take pictures related to a topic that they are learning about and create a visual representation of their knowledge as a whole. Similarly, students can also search for their own pictures to be include in various online projects.
Lindsay,
ReplyDeleteI'm glad that you have now discovered all the great photos available with Creative Commons licensing. So many photos, so little time!
Dr. Burgos