Posted by Raquel Ribeiro

One fact that motivated me to use this particular social network was the growing number of users. Instagram brings a visual engagement and dynamism that appeal to young people and adults.

First step

Create a unique account for your role as a teacher for educational purposes. I suggest leaving the profile open because the students can find us easily and interact even if they choose not to follow us. https://www.instagram.com/accounts/emailsignup/

This link shows data from the US but it certainly reflects the current trend of preference in many other countries. https://www.surveymonkey.com/business/intelligence/most-popular-apps-2016/ As the class is a lab to equip students for real life, I understand that educational apps are good but we need to go beyond that.

Below I share my experience on using the app Instagram to encourage students to research, interact and share content.

The inspiration to believe that inserting VR in my EFL classes was feasible came from watching this video: https://youtu.be/mlYJdZeA9w4

Cardboard + lenses = accessible VR
This is possible because of Google Cardboard Box. More info here http://goo.gl/ZbX5kM

I got fascinated by the possibilities shown :

Let’s understand realia within this context as: real-world articles from the internet, taken from websites.

Even though the availability of articles is huge, the main challenge to most students is the motivation to get started and go through a serie of tasks that usually follow the reading.

Disappointments and talking about unsuccessful attempts are topics which tend to be avoided in EFL classes, however, students definitely need this kind of language, expressions and vocabulary. A pint of humour from the sitcoms chosen add the element of fun so that the light, learning-promoting atmosphere of an English class can be there. Sitcoms are also a rich source of current colloquial expressions and slang, which should be noticed and highlighted every chance we can.

As teachers we now face a time when one of the main edtech issues is to make use of the current technology owned by the students or BYOD (which stands for Bring your own device).

This involves considering apps whose learning purposes are justified, free of charge and accessible via the three main operational systems: Apple iOS, Android, Windows phone. A trend that studies the benefits of using mobile devices in the classroom is MALL, short for Mobile Assisted Language Learning.

Social overview

Photo by Victoria Boobyer provided courtesy of ELTPics

Infographic. Such a recent word that it can barely be found in dictionaries!
It refers to a visual representation of information to make it easier to understand. There is such a variety of topics to choose from and mostly they can give you valuable information at a glance.

The idea