Visual Literacy (course 3-blog 2)

A picture is worth a thousand word.

Using images to illustrate new vocabulary is not something new to modern language educators. We use visuals to catch students' attention and the image help them construct meaning.

However, finding relevant and interesting images to get a message across in the target language is much more powerful. Until recently, and before I knew any better, I have always been a fervent user of clip-arts (top left image) to help support a lesson presented in the target language.

Today, the web 2.0 is giving us access to unlimited resources of images with tools like creative commons. We can now use richer images, but we must not forget to give credit for those who took the pictures. Wondering how to use creative commons? Check out the cc help form I created for my class. (I would welcome your feedback)

This year, my goal is for myself and students to find more relevant pictures to use in the context of French classes. I used this picture to record descriptions of the weather in a French A project on voicethread. The image doesn't limit itself to weather expressions "il pleut" ou " il y a de la pluie".
Students can get much more creative with their description of the image.

Photo: : http://www.flickr.com/photos/nhussein/3564634131/