JOURNAL ENTRY #13: SOCIAL MEDIA IN THE ENGLISH CLASSROOM

Social media has become such an elemental part of our lives that, beyond allowing us to communicate with our beloved ones and share a little bit about us with the world, it has transformed into a tool for so many other fields that enables us to become our own bosses to run the business of a lifetime or even our own teachers to learn how to cook, play an instrument or speak a language at the click of a button. As English educators, rather than ignore this reality, it is important for us to acknowledge it, embrace it, and use it in our favor to potentialize our students' linguistic skills in the second language. For that reason, in this entry, I want to share with you some ideas on how you can use Youtuber, Twitter and other social media platform in your classroom to help your students to practice a little bit the language:

1. Youtube: Have a (private) YouTube channel exclusively for the class and assign students to upload short-films including role-plays (interviews, talk shows, a story) where they use new grammar or vocabulary structures learned in class. Encourage them to be as creative as possible with the editing part.

2. Twitter: Ask students to tweet about what they've learned at the end of each session and let them reply to each other's tweets. As well, you can create different threads discussing a wide variety of topics as a warm-up before every class. Consider using this platform also as a way to stay in touch with students in case they have any sort of doubt after class so they can reach you through a tweet or DM. at home.

3. Instagram: Students can be assigned to make an Instagram story where they read a poem or short tale to practice their read-aloud and pronunciation skills. Also, let them summarize a grammar topic and exemplify it in a short 10-second video as a challenge. You can even hashtag it!

4. TiK ToK: Let students create Tik Toks where they mimic their favorite quotes from TV shows or movies in English. As they memorize the dialogue, they might learn one or two new words.

5. Blogger: Just as I'm doing it right now, ask students to write an entry about their experiences. You can assign this weekly or monthly, telling your students to use their blog as a diary to, not only share what grammar structures or vocabulary they've learned through the course, but also to reflect on life and even talk about something fun or interesting that is happening to them at the moment, of course, using English at all times.

Remember that it is very important to be careful with every single social media platform that you use for your class sessions as sometimes students may see it as a chance to contact you for personal reasons. Also, try to do a little research about every web site's privacy statements, so you know what you and your students are signing for once you are all registered, especially if you are teaching students below 13 years old. Finally, if possible, have an account only for professional purposes so you can safely use it without any risk of someone sneaking your profile info or vacation photos. Social media is an excellent tool to stay in touch with students and help them practice the language while doing it in a creative way. Use it and allow students to show you what they can do with just a phone and a little bit of imagination. It might surprise you.