MySpace in foreign languages due out this summer
Is this a good thing or not for you foreign language teachers (learners) here in the States?
It is a rich, yet highly criticized, social networking service. It can provide a great deal of access to the L2, but, at the same time the same concerns will likely follow it into these languages.
Wednesday, June 21, 2006
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I think that use of MySpace would have to be highly supervised for safety concerns. There have been quite a few complaints and I would imagine that parents would not feel comfortable with students freely using it.
ReplyDeleteI do think that access to other languages is a great resource not just for foreign language teachers, but also as validation for native speakers of the language. Their own language is not forgotten or devalued. Perhaps a way to make it work would be in a supervised setting or by printing out interesting articles.
Oh boy, as the mother of a 16 year old daughter who has my-space on her computer I can see the good aspects and the negative ones. My daughter has used myspace for two years with few problems because we as her parents set up the rules! She can only talk with her friends and is never allowed to give out any information about herself, family or school. This can be a good source but I think epals is better. The reason I state this is because there are many children in the netherspace who have little direction from their parents or any parental figure. Epals has filters to block predators. Myspace in foreign languages whould prove very interesting. If there are controls I would think it would be a great source. It is free which epals is not. But at what price is "free"?
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