Friday, August 24, 2012

Using facebook groups to engage students

Hi Guys,

Sorry I haven't posted for a while. I really need to get moving in building this site as a resource.

Have you ever found that your students engagement dwindles between meetings?

Well we can't really blame them can we, sometimes without any homework or project to do they forget even the subject of last lesson. What can we do then other than assigning projects and homework to do outside class time (which if we did it too often we'd probably have a mutiny on our hands ^_^)?

How about making a facebook group especially for one class or perhaps for all your classes to socialize together on? Have you tried it before? I have a friend who whenever he gets a new class the first thing he does is sets up a facebook group for them. He gets them to think of a name for the group, a mascot/logo and maybe even a slogan. Through the group it's a great way to get the students to practice their English together at their own pace as well as engage them with upcoming, ongoing or past themes to your lessons.

You can also assign discussion tasks, post up motivational material or maybe just build rapport with your students by posting jokes or getting to know them better.

So what have you got to loose?

Just some quick tips in starting a group for your students:

-Make sure to moderate it or assign one of your more responsible students as a moderator to ensure the students speak English, don't use foul language and don't engage in bullying in the group

-Make it a closed group so that unwanted visitors can not wreck the environment or gather students private information

-Finally don't forget to have fun with it. Even if your students aren't learning anything through the group or are making a bunch of mistakes in their posts. The main thing is that they have fun with it, are more excited about English classes and of course are closer and happier with their cool and techno-savvy teacher ^_^

Alright guys let me know what you think of this idea, share your experience using it on our CLT FB Group and let's Change Some Lives! ^_^


-Hugh

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for your visit to my blog.
    Your blog is surely a great resource for Indonesian English teachers. They should read it. Wonderful.
    I'll put a link on my Friends' Blog list to this blog, and look forward to working with you.
    Regards,
    Mister Guru

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I'll be waiting for your email so we can get started misterguru. ^_^

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