ELT
AND SOCIAL NETWORKS
A social network service
is an online service that focuses on facilitating social networks or social
relations among people who share among themselves interests, activities,
background or real life connections. Almost all social network services are
web-based and provide means for the users to interact over the internet. Some
social networks act as platforms for language learning. They provide
instructional materials and practice resources for the improvement of English
among the learners. The most prominent social networks that offer English
learning courses are Live Mocha, Facebook and Twitter.
1.
LIVE MOCHA:
Live Mocha is the world’s
largest online language learning network. It fuses the traditional
teaching-learning methods with online practices. Live Mocha at presents 38
languages and provides instructional materials to the learning of all these 38
languages. It is a platform for learners to interact with each other and help
mutually in learning new languages. The site has nearly twelve million
registered members across 196 countries with approximately 4 lakh visitors
visiting it daily.
Live Mocha offers active
learning courses in English. These courses are designed to help the learners
communicate effectively with ease in a new language like English. It develops
real conversational skills on the part of the learners. The lessons offered by
Live Mocha are of such standard that the users learn English quite fast and
gain confidence to converse in English with the native speakers.
2.
FACEBOOK:
Like Live Mocha Fcebook
also is an online social networking service. The number of users visiting
Facebook has recently reached to one million. Whoever has an internet
connection uses the Facebook invariably. There are fourteen pages available on
the Facebook which deal with the improvement of English language teaching-learning.
Advantages
of Facebook
Facebook has many
advantages for the youth, the adults and the aged. Of those the most important
ones are:
1.
Sharing
of information: The facebook allows us to share
information with other users. One can share one’s information, interests and
experiences with others and vice versa.
2.
Chatting:
One
can chat with friends or relatives who are registered users of the Facebook.
3.
Entertainment:
Facebook
provides tons of entertainment opportunities. Besides a large number of games,
there are other applications which contribute to the ebjoyment of the users.
4.
Find
old friends or colleagues: By using the Facebook we can come
into contact with our friends, classmates or colleagues with whom you have lost
contact for quite some time. You can get connected with them once again online.
There are instance of people finding their real parents after two or three
decades with the help of the Facebook.
5.
Saves
from Boredom: It saves the retired people from
boredom for using the Facebook is such an entertainment. Even youth and
students find solace from boredom especially during the vacations.
3.
TWITTER
Twitter
is a micro blogging service that enables us to send and receive tweets which
are text messages limited to 140 characters. It is at present one of the top
ten websites visited by the maximum number of users. The speed with which it
gained popularity is enormous. There are more than 50 million registered users
who post 340 millions tweets a day. Registered users alone can post tweets on
the twitter, but unregistered users can only read the tweets posted in the
twitter. Twitter has been described as the SMS of the internet.
Review Questions
Paragraph
Questions
1.
What roles do the different websites
play in the teaching-learning of English?
2.
How can you us online resourses for
English Language Teaching?
3.
How can you us Social Networking for
English Language Teaching?
4.
How can you us Multi-media for English Language
Teaching?
Essay
Questions
1.
Write a Lesson Plan for a Topic of your
choices from 8th class Prose?
2.
Write a Lesson Plan for a Topic of your
choices from 8th class Poetry?
