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10.4
Author(s)
Clair M.Yeo
Title
Supplementing ESL Classroom Activities With Social Media For Young Adult Learners
Language
English
Date
2015
Description
The classroom material   currently utilized in English as a second language (ESL) classrooms is often disconnected from the real world. Publishers of ESL instructional materials   often attempt to bridge this gap by including topics on popular news, films,   songs, and famous persons at the time of printing. However, these are often   outdated as quickly as they can be printed. As such, many ESL teachers face   the challenge of keeping ESL classroom material relevant to the real world   while seeking to maintain students’ interests in what they are learning.
The purpose of the   project is to make use of social networking sites, a readily available   technology that students are already familiar with, and adapt classroom   material to them as a way to increase students' motivation and learner autonomy. The project is intended to serve as a guide for teachers seeking to   enhance their lessons and engage their students through the means of authentic   and familiar mediums.The project focuses on four popular social networking sites, Facebook, Instagram, Snapchat, and Twitter, to demonstrate how social   networking sites can be incorporated into the classroom. For each type of   social networking site, five classroom activities are designed, targeting the   key language areas of grammar, vocabulary, listening, speaking, reading, and   writing. Each language area has two types of activities, an introduction   activity and a review activity. The introduction activity familiarizes   students with how the social networking site will be used to complete the   target language activity. The review activity can take the form of a game or   is an expansion of the introduction activity. There is a growing trend in   education towards the use of technology in the classroom. This project   highlights one way in which this can be done while using the same curriculum  and minimizing the need to introduce students to any new technology. In this   manner, students can become more motivated and enthusiastic about their   lessons, have the tools to take charge of their own learning, are exposed to more authentic texts and situations, and are provided with more learning   opportunities in which to expand their knowledge of English.
Format

Key words
ESL, adult education, social media
Web link
Other interesting information

Interest for the project
5/5
Contributor´s name +email
stephanie@unak.is
Co-funded by The Erasmus+ programme of the European Union.
This project has been funded with support from the European Commission.
This publication reflects the views only of the author, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.
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