Rethink before you type by Trisha Prabhu

Social Networking as a Tool for ELT

Advantages of Social Networking

found pic @ ATL&S

- Educational tool:  most students nowadays are fluent in Web and social networking technologies. Teachers must leverage this knowledge to enrich the learning experience. With social media, educators can foster collaboration and discussion, create meaningful dialogue, exchange ideas, and boost student interaction, especially when they are moving inside a new linguistic code.

- Enhance student engagement: students who rarely participate in class may feel more comfortable expressing themselves on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Social networking platforms enable teachers to establish “back channels” that foster discussion and surface ideas that students are too shy or intimidated to express themselves.

- Improve communication between students and teachers: Facebook and Twitter can enhance communication between students and teachers. Educators can answer students’ questions, post homework assignments or lesson plans, send messages and updates, schedule or announce upcoming events, and share interesting Web sites or multimedia content. Students can use Twitter to get help from instructors or other students. A great way for instructors to give participation points in addition to in class participation is by having students tweet about something that was discussed in class.

- Preparing students for active life: students entering the workforce can use social networking sites to network and find employment. With LinkedIn, students can establish a professional Web presence, post a resume, research a target company or school, and connect with other job seekers and employers. Students should follow professional organizations on Facebook and Twitter to be updated on new opportunities.

Disadvantages of Social Networking

- Social Media can be a distraction: tools like Facebook and Twitter may actually divert students' attention away from what's happening in class and may be disruptive to the learning process.

- Cyberbullying: While social networking sites provide a way for students and teachers to connect, they can be a weapon of malicious behavior. Teachers who use social networking tools as part of their activities must be aware of potential dangers and plan to intervene on minor incidents before they become more serious.

- Discouraging presencial communication: while real-time digital stream may create a safe harbour for students who are uncomfortable expressing themselves, students are missing valuable lessons in real-life social skills.

Now more than ever before the role of social media in education is under discussion. Advocates point out the benefits that social media provides for today's digital learners while critics call for regulation. Finding a middle ground has become a challenge. As an educational tool, social media enriches the learning experience by allowing students and teachers to connect and interact in new, exciting ways. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a platform where users can dialog, exchange ideas, and find answers to questions. These sites are designed to foster collaboration and discussion. Despite these benefits, critics argue that there are serious risks to using social media in the classroom. The main issue is: do these risks outweigh the potential for opportunity?

While the discussion goes on about the pros and cons of social networking in ELT, no one can argue the influence ICT has on our students. This new-millenium generation conducts much of their life through social media. They are already using YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as tools for learning. They expect their schools and their teachers do it, too! Let's not forget that a new reality should be faced with a whole new attitude.

How to Concentrate in the Age of Distraction

Dos and Don'ts when using social networks

Basic Rules of Social Media

Source: hypebot.com via Elizabeth on Pinterest

Project-based Learning: creating a viral video

The sharing and re-sharing of videos via email and through Facebook and Twitter have undoubtedly given rise to the phenomenon of ‘viral’ videos.

It goes without saying that shared video content is more popular than ever before, with more than 48 hours worth of video being uploaded to YouTube every single minute. Given that YouTube is the most popular video sharing website on the web, and only six years old, there is huge potential for virtually any video content to go viral.

What Is A Viral Video?

A viral video is quite simply a video that becomes popular through internet sharing. As a platform for sharing, social media lends itself and has certainly triggered the drastic increase that we have seen over the last few years. Two of the most viral YouTube videos last year were Kony 2012, which received more than 100 million views in six days, and Gangnam Style, which according to Unruly Media was shared 29 million times!

For businesses it has become a widely used marketing tool; viral marketing dates back to the mid-1990s when marketers wanted to create slogans or taglines that would be spread through word-of-mouth. The latest form of this ‘infectious’ marketing is viral video, which is commonly used as part of a campaign these days.

So what does it take for a video to go viral? We really don’t think there is an answer, there doesn’t appear to be any rhyme or reason if we look at some of the videos that have gone viral in previous years. It sounds obvious, but “shareability” is the most important element; the content needs to contain something that deals with topical subjects or characters of importance to people in a cultural context – someone or something that people would want to share and discuss. If the content relates to anything that people are already talking about then it’s bound to be a big hit. Additionally, it needs to be easy to share, so made in a format and tone that users would want to share.

The Project-Based Learning Idea

As a project for your pupils, why not get them to create their very own viral video or viral marketing campaign using video editing software such as iMovie, MoviePlus, YouTube’s built-in movie editor, or Vine? You could have students build out their ideas on a notepad, share with their group, and then start mapping out what each scene might look like. After that, the filming can begin using any camera you have handy! From an iPod Touch to a DSLR, the camera quality is not the important part. While it’s great to have a fancy camera, any camera is better than no camera.

After you film your scenes, you can use the above mentioned video editing tools to start forming your viral video. For a few quick ideas on what makes a video go viral, check out the below videos as they each have a different take on what a film should do to go viral.

Source: Edudemic (sligtly abridged)

St. Valentine's Day & Animoto

And so this is what St. Valentine's Day was like, February 14th, at our school...

Make your Facebook a safebook

Poster credits: FUZION MEDIA

Whether you are new to Facebook or a long time user, you must be diligent in protecting yourself, your family, and your friends.  Let's make your Facebook time a safe experience!

1. Do not place your personal information on your Facebook profile.  Items as residential address, phone number, date of birth will all become public information instantly.

2. Be careful when placing photographs on Facebook.  Please ensure that you have all your privacy settings set to maximum. 

3. Do not think that your Facebook page is private amongst only your friends and family.  

4. Do not accept all Friend Requests. 

5. Be sure to watch what you place on your Wall. 

6. Do not leave your computer on with your Facebook account open.  Be sure to sign out.

7. Spend time checking your spelling and grammar. You can mistakenly type a word that is offensive or leads to a direct contradiction in your intended message.

8. Be careful not to provide too much information. People do like details but only in an appropriate environment.

Tips for building a community on Facebook

image credits: Business2Community

Here are some authentic and practical ideas that can assist you in using Facebook to engage your students.
Facebook is extremely popular and leads off the list of most used social networks. For teachers who are looking to add a social media aspect to their classroom or even a single lesson, Facebook is nowadays one of the top choices. Engaging your audience by offering them dynamic content can help you to create an engaged community both in and out of the classroom.

Be Short and Precise

When using social media, being precise brings success. Short messages tend to be more useful and will generate more response compared to the longer ones. This is because longer messages tend to lack focus and readers may not find them interesting. A concise message can grab your audience’s attention more easily.The quicker you are able to get your point across, the more likely it is that you will generate a useful reaction from your community.

Question, Question, Question

You can easily spark a discussion by asking your community about their opinions, experiences, and suggestions. You can ask about a particular assignment, suggestions for future work (ie, of the following three books, which would you like to work on next) if your curriculum allows that, or give some sort of incentive for interacting on your page.

Include Media

Whether a still image, video, or music, sharing multimedia content with your community via Facebook is a great way to encourage them to become more engaged. Whether you’re sharing a cool video news story about something cool happening in the math world or a popular foreign language song to your language students, showing your community that all the information they’re learning in school exists in the ‘real world’, too can be an interesting way to get them more interested.

Upload At Appropriate Times

Unless it is part of a class assignment, most teachers don’t want their students spending class time twiddling around on Facebook.  Scheduling or posting content during the ‘after school’ hours is a great way to ‘re-engage’ your community when they might not otherwise be.

By Haword Roze @ Edudemic (slightly abridged)

Happy Valentine's Day!

Happy Valentine's Day, to all our Friends and Readers!

Don't forget to celebrate the day by visiting our Facebook page, and posting your message.

But most of all, and most importantly, have fun and enjoy this lovely season!

GR 330 editing powered by Photoscape

Have you visited our FB page yet?

You have seen this poster at the entrances of our school main buildings today, havent't you?

This is simply a reminder so that you don't forget Saint Valentine's is only ONE week ahead and this year we're going to celebrate the venue on FACEBOOK! So, what are you waiting for? Visit us, like us, but most of all, enjoy the LOVE and FRIENDSHIP season!

GR 330 editing powered by Photoscape

Saint Valentine's @ Pine Tree

GR 330 editing powered by Photoscape

Saint Valentine's calling!

Get ready for St. Valentine's: it's only 13 days ahead! 
Celebrate this day at your school with your teachers of English and mates!
Visit our Facebook page, hit a like and post your message/ image/ video in English. Express your love and friendship to your beloved one(s) or to the school community. Have fun and enjoy the love season!

    On behalf of your

Teachers of English

GR 330

Have you already followed us on Facebook?

Teaching & Learning on Facebook

Social Networks

Here is a map of several social networks and their main targets. Which one do you prefer?

Speaking & Writing Diagnostic Activities

One of my biggest concerns with the diagnostic activities format (as with most activities in general) is how I might make the practice of speaking/writing accessible and familiar to my students so that they would recognize it as something they do, not merely an artificial exercise deployed in order to perform well in class. So I thought of creating an informal social network page through which students could communicate with me and with each other in a comfortable, quick-and-easy medium. The board seems too impersonal and “academic” for my purposes, so I'll use an imaginary page that each student will have to fill in and then present to class. 

My plan is to incorporate class discussion during those presentations, even though I assume most students won't feel comfortable enough to start their own topics...

This type of activity can be used in almost all proficiency levels with variable approaches, for example, for low intermediate/ intermediate students, I will start by showing a similar page of an imaginary student so that they can grasp for some examples and feel more confident about what they are doing.

I am convinced that creating links between course material and students' social space promotes the demystification of writing, speaking and studying the language in general. If we are facing digital natives, why not explore their natural skills?

However, I'm totally aware that this type of activity does not replace a grammar diagnostic, which tests students on their grammar knowledge and skills and informs the teacher of what aspects of grammar their students are already familiar with and what they still need to learn. Most of the times, grammar diagnostics only allow one right answer per question, are easy to mark and can be tailored to cover any level, from elementary school to the 12th form. But these assessments can be misleading: sometimes students with formal grammar training will excel on these kinds of tests, but their actual writing will be rife with grammatical errors. This is because they can recognize grammatical errors in closed situations such as a test, but when they try and construct more complex sentences on their own, they struggle to express themselves within the rigid grammar rules they know; additionally, the nature of multiple choice questions engenders the possibility of students guessing right answers by chance. This is why I prefer to engage students in a different way during the first classes: they get to know each other and they practise the four skills without even noticing it!

Social Networking in ELT

Advantages of Social Networking

found pic @ ATL&S

- Educational tool:  most students nowadays are fluent in Web and social networking technologies. Teachers must leverage this knowledge to enrich the learning experience. With social media, educators can foster collaboration and discussion, create meaningful dialogue, exchange ideas, and boost student interaction, especially when they are moving inside a new linguistic code.

- Enhance student engagement: students who rarely participate in class may feel more comfortable expressing themselves on Facebook, Twitter, or YouTube. Social networking platforms enable teachers to establish “back channels” that foster discussion and surface ideas that students are too shy or intimidated to express themselves.

- Improve communication between students and teachers: Facebook and Twitter can enhance communication between students and teachers. Educators can answer students’ questions, post homework assignments or lesson plans, send messages and updates, schedule or announce upcoming events, and share interesting Web sites or multimedia content. Students can use Twitter to get help from instructors or other students. A great way for instructors to give participation points in addition to in class participation is by having students tweet about something that was discussed in class.

- Preparing students for active life: students entering the workforce can use social networking sites to network and find employment. With LinkedIn, students can establish a professional Web presence, post a resume, research a target company or school, and connect with other job seekers and employers. Students should follow professional organizations on Facebook and Twitter to be updated on new opportunities.

Disadvantages of Social Networking

- Social Media can be a distraction: tools like Facebook and Twitter may actually divert students' attention away from what's happening in class and may be disruptive to the learning process.

- Cyberbullying: While social networking sites provide a way for students and teachers to connect, they can be a weapon of malicious behavior. Teachers who use social networking tools as part of their activities must be aware of potential dangers and plan to intervene on minor incidents before they become more serious.

- Discouraging presencial communication: while real-time digital stream may create a safe harbour for students who are uncomfortable expressing themselves, students are missing valuable lessons in real-life social skills.

Now more than ever before the role of social media in education is under discussion. Advocates point out the benefits that social media provides for today's digital learners while critics call for regulation. Finding a middle ground has become a challenge. As an educational tool, social media enriches the learning experience by allowing students and teachers to connect and interact in new, exciting ways. Websites such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn provide a platform where users can dialog, exchange ideas, and find answers to questions. These sites are designed to foster collaboration and discussion. Despite these benefits, critics argue that there are serious risks to using social media in the classroom. The main issue is: do these risks outweigh the potential for opportunity?

While the discussion goes on about the pros and cons of social networking in ELT, no one can argue the influence ICT has on our students. This new-millenium generation conducts much of their life through social media. They are already using YouTube, Facebook, and Twitter as tools for learning. They expect their schools and their teachers do it, too! Let's not forget that a new reality should be faced with a whole new attitude.