Bookr

What is Bookr?

Bookr is a website that allows people to make slideshows presentation or a photobook using pictures grabbed from Flickr. All they need to do is type in the keyword of the pictures they would like to search for and the results will be displayed. Students just need to clicked on the image and dragged it into the slide page. Students may then click on the edge of the book to move on to the next page. The pages can also be added.

How can teachers use Bookr?


This website is suitable for students in secondary school students in which around the age of 13-17 and it may also be useful for adult learners. Bookr is also suitable for students who have low level of English to advanced students. 


Bookr can be used as a classroom activity or as a homework to practice students' writing. Teachers may ask students to make photobooks by giving them a topic, for example, favourite food, favourite place, thir hometown, their idols, or their favourite actors. If the facilities in the classroom is adequate, students may be asked to work individually during the lesson and write their caption in the box. Students may then be asked to present their photobooks to the rest of the class. This may also allow students to practice speaking as they will be required to speak to describe their pictures despite having captions in each of the slide. If the activity were to be set as a homework, teachers can get the students to email their end product to teachers and teachers may reply to them by giving feedback on their work and language.


Another idea on using Bookr in a writing lesson is teachers may prepare the photobook, but only with pictures and without the caption. Teacher will then show the pictures to the students one by one and get the students to a sentence that best describe the pictures that they see. Teachers may then collect the students' sentences and give them feedback on their language.


Below is the example of a slide presentation created using Bookr.

The instructions on using Bookr can be found in the website by Russell Stannard.

What I like about Bookr... 

1. It is ABSOLUTELY FREE.
2. We do not break copyright.
3. It encourages the sense of personalisation in terms of the pictures chosen and the captions.
4. It is also good for communicative activities as the students may write the description of the pictures in their slides.
5. It develops creative writing among students.
6. Students may write according to their own level of English
7. Improves multiple skills (writing, speaking)
8. Do not have to set up an account (saves time).
9. User-friendly, easy to use. Just click on the pictures and type in the words in the caption box.
10. The pages can be added.
11. Can be embedded.

What I dislike about Bookr... 

1. Some of the pictures do not match with the keywords, hence it is difficult to find suitable pictures.
2. Students may not write as much as the teacher expects them to, therefore teachers need to probably set how long the students are required to write.
3. It can be time-consuming because there are a lot of images to choose.
4. Facilities (computers, the internet) may refrain teachers and students from using the website.
5. The slides can no longer be edited once they are published.
6. The published slides cannot be made private.
7. The caption box cannot be moved to position that we like.
8. The font and the font size cannot be edited. 

Posted in: presentation, Speaking, visual, writing