Gooooood Morning from Literacy Connexus. We hope that this blog post finds you happy, healthy, and in good faith. Today, I simply wanted to share a few activity ideas for those of you who may be teaching with, or considering teaching with WhatsApp.
If you’re not familiar with WhatsApp, it’s a messaging app that allows people to text and call friends and family, despite country codes – a feature which makes it extremely popular with many immigrants, refugees, and in turn ESL students.
If the past few years have taught us anything, it’s that sometimes students can’t come to you, and you have to meet them where they are. In fact, that is the entire premise behind our Ready for School program in which we go to refugee communities and teach preschool classes preparing children for school in America.
Nevertheless, if many of our students are already using WhatsApp, why not meet them there and use it to extend a little English language learning? Today, I want to share 28 activities that can help you do just that!
Before I do that, here is a short tutorial on WhatsApp, for those not as familiar with the platform.
And, here’s a tutorial on using WhatsApp to teach English:
Now, without further ado here are 5 activities to use to teach English with WhatsApp.
From Literacy Minnesota:
- Distance Interviews:
Prepare 3-5 questions that you want the learner to practice answering. Record each of the questions as individual voice messages to the learner. The learner will record their answers as voice messages and send them back to you.
2. What Do You See?
Take a picture of something in your house or neighborhood, or find a fun picture online. Send it as a picture message to the learner. The learner will write back naming what they see in the picture. Lower level learners may send individual words, while higher level learners can write complete sentences. The learner can write their responses on a piece of paper and send a picture of their work, or type them out as a text message.
3. Incorrect Sentences
Send the learner a 3-5 sentences with one error in each sentence. The learner will correct the sentences and send them back to you. The learner can write the corrected sentences on a piece of paper and send a picture of their work, or type them out as a text message.
Check out the full article from Literacy Minnesota here.
And from Oxford University Press, here are 25 more activity ideas!
Check out the full Oxford Press Blog post here.
With so many activity ideas, it’ll be impossible to keep your students from learning. The best part is, that your class doesn’t have to be completely on WhatsApp for these activities to be useful. These are all great activities to extend learning beyond the classroom, with the added benefit of many students already being comfortable with the platform.
Let us know what you think about these activities, and don’t forget to subscribe.
Until next time, blessings and happy teaching.