Culture with Cooliris

Inspired by the Cogdogblog to use cooliris as a presentation tool and by Muza-chan to explain the story of 'Manekineko", I searched Flickr for "Maneki neko" and created the wall below, with help from Cooliris for developers (not that I've ever imagined myself as a developer).

"Maneki neko" are often seen as you enter shops, businesses or even homes. The Japanese verb 'maneku' (招く・まねく) means to invite and that is what the cat is doing; inviting good luck or customers into the business or home. If the right paw is raised, the cat is inviting in luck, if the left paw is raised, then the cat is trying to draw money (customers) into the business. Each of the two types of cat has a different kanji character on its chest. One is the character for luck and the other for money. Have a look at the photos in the cooliris wall below and look for the difference (click on a picture and then the icon at the bottom of the wall, in the middle, to start the slideshow).

For the story behind the "maneki neko", read Old Japanese Stories - the real Maneki Neko.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Need stories or images to help teach Japanese language & culture?

When I first began learning a language, teachers rarely used "realia" to liven up the classroom or make the learning more relevant. I will forgive this as back then it was not that easy to get your hands on up to the date items that enhanced the teaching of language and culture. However, the days of faded newspapers is long gone. The internet has provided an avenue for classroom teachers to access real life and up to the minute articles, images, videos and more that can help bring the target language and culture into our students' lives. But, if you're after images of the 'Tanabata festival' in Japan or of a particular Japanese food, you can get so much more if you know where to look...

Searching on Flickr will reap rewards, especially if you search particular groups (related to the target language). Try these ones for Japanese:

• Japanese Culture
• JapanSoc
• Nihongo Daisuki

To further enhance viewing these images (or any images / video), use Cooliris

Beyond Flickr: Over the past few months I have discovered bloggers and photographers in Japan who can bring Japan to you via their images and stories. Most can also be found on flickr, but you should really check out their sites...

• Kalandrakas
• Kimonobox
• Nihongo Notes
• Shibuya246
• The Nihon Sun
• TokyoTopia

Further to this, yesterday (July 11 2009) two photographers set out to capture 100 smiles in a day, somewhere in Tokyo. A great concept. Have a look at A Hundred Smiles.

Posted via web from Js Nihongo

Language Poster Mosaic

Language Mosaic
Originally uploaded by acjeppo

Ok... been playing with Big Huge Labs again.

I wanted to create a poster for the hallway to replace the mangy old map we had hanging up (I'm still keen on putting another map up), so I went back to the trusty mosaic creator. Using images found through Creative commons search, as well as the newly created Flickr group - Images to teach Language (thanks to Alice Ayel), the mosaic creator was kind enough to produce the image seen in this post. But that's not all...

I then went to Block Posters. This is a site which will enlarge your image; the poster we created ended up 2ft by 2ft but it could have been larger. The quality of the original images will determine how clear it turns out and the end product can be downloaded as a pdf file. Ours turned up as 12 A4 sheets (this can also be adjusted). We then printed each page in colour, trimmed the edges and laminated each page before putting them up on the wall as a large collage. Even though it does not appear as one large image (more like a jigsaw puzzle), it is still quite effective. So, if you're looking for decorative ideas for your classroom or departmental area I recommend Block Posters to create eye-catching posters.

Make a comic strip with bubblr

I have just discovered bubblr (see above) which comes to us from the people who brought us bookr They have a number of flickr toys that enable you to create with flickr photos. For those who can't read Japanese (or see it as it's way too small), the dog is simply saying - "I want my dinner. What are you looking at. Hurry up!"

It is a very easy way to create simple comic strips - using flickr images. Simply type a flickr user name or tag in the search box and it will provide a series of images for you to choose from. The trick to this is finding images that actually relate to each other. I did find a whole heap of images of one particular dog, which I could have used to create an interesting comic strip - but my students are far more creative than me and so I shall see what they can do in the not too distant future. The comic strips or single images will of course be in Japanese or French (depending on the class) and I think a prize will be on offer for the most creative and most popular (they'll vote on this ... hmmm, could use some sort of online poll for this ...). Anyway, ideas are developing in my head and so will put together a plan and see how it goes ...

Been thinking about ... Flickr

One holiday job I created for myself was to organise my digital photos a little more effectively - beyond uploading them to my computer, and a few of those onto Flickr. I have made progress but this all got me to thinking a little about the possibilities of using flickr more effectively in the classroom.

I have found flickr and applications like FlickrStorm & the Creative commons search really useful in finding images for the various slideshows and videos I have created for use in the classroom. A couple of flickr users in particular stood out for me in providing relevant and insightful images of Japan. jpellgen has literally hundreds of photos of Japan and for many of them he has used the ability to add descriptions / captions to your photos to include informative descriptions of the places he has captured. Descriptions could include important historical or cultural information or an explanation of signs in the target language. This and the ability to add notes to photos is surely something that we could utilise more in the classroom. Anyone can add a 'note' to a photo; to add meaning to the photo, explain something or translate something in the target language. But wait, there's more ... Adding comments to images could also help engage students in meaningful discussion of photos and their cultural or historical significance.

This could all be done in the confines of your own private group or it could be done in the public domain. I have already started to add some English descriptions to my photos and aim to write some in Japanese (for higher level students) and maybe even some in both languages.

So, in summary:

• Use captions to provide background information on the image and its location

• Use notes to explain details

• Use comments to create discussion and engage
  

For language teachers, this could be all done in English (to emphasis culture) or in the target language. For teachers of History, Geography, English, ... the possibilities perhaps go further.

Have I missed anything? Is anyone out there already using flickr successfullly? I would love to hear of any ventures into using flickr in the classroom.