My first #Twitterchat

Tonight I had the opportunity to attend my very first Twitterchat. I won't lie, I was very nervous. This is because I attended the #fslchat, which is for those who teach French as a second language. Unfortunately, I know nearly nothing about French and missed out on opportunities to attend other foreign language chats earlier in the week. However, I decided to give it a go and I'm so glad I did!

The theme of this week's #fslchat was Oral Communication and Fluency. After everyone introduced themselves, we spent the hour talking about the following questions:

• Q1: Share an “Eduwin” from the past 2 weeks.
• Q2: How do you define oral fluency?
• Q3: What strategies and routines do you use in your classes to develop oral fluency with your students?
• Q4: How do you help your students to take risks when speaking French in class?
• Q5: In what ways do you assess the *oral fluency skills* of your students?
• Q6: Share a strategy for developing spontaneous use of French in class.

Although I couldn't answer these questions from the perspective of a French teacher, I believe that many of the answers to these questions apply to second language learning in general. The feedback I received from the participants was wonderful! I learned so much from them, and I didn't feel lost or uncomfortable. I felt very welcomed and privileged to interact with such intelligent, passionate people. 

I believe chats like this can serve as a great resource for professional development. Not only do you learn new tips and tricks from others, but it gives you a chance to reflect on your own teaching and learning experiences. Twitterchats can be used as an outlet, whether you want another perspective on an in-classroom issue or you want to share your excitement for an idea that worked out really well. These chats can be whatever you want them to be! I definitely recommend giving one a try, because this will certainly not be my last Twitterchat!

Twitter and Teaching?

Yes, you heard that correctly. Twitter no longer has to be that thing your student is inconspicuously browsing during class while you're trying to present a lesson on reflexives. Imagine a classroom where students are using Twitter to communicate with others in a target language. This can become a reality for both you and me! Below are a few ways that I plan on using Twitter in my future ESL classroom.

1. Create a discussion using a #ClassHashtag
Using a hashtag is a great way to filter your Twitter feed by topic. Strike up a class debate and have students posts answers using the hashtag you created. This also makes it easier for students to find what their peers had to say about the subject.

2. Correct grammar and spelling
Rather than just correcting all grammar and spelling errors, give your students a chance to play "detective." There are many instances of incorrect grammar and spelling on Twitter, even among native speakers. Students can identify tweets with noticable mistakes, "re-tweet" them, and share the mistake with their classmates!

3. Create a Twitter Poll
Twitter has a feature that allows you to create a poll, and anyone who sees the poll is allowed to cast a vote. A poll can be about anything you want: what students want to learn about, which sentence is grammatically incorrect, class activity ideas, etc. There are so many things that can be done with polls, and it is a great way to get quick feedback from your students!

4. Share language-related Gifs and Memes

Show your students that you are "hip," and that language learning can be as well! Gifs and Memes can serve as great, often witty, visualizations of almost any situation or concept. Is your student having a hard time remembering where to insert the comma? Maybe a funny image will help them remember.

5. Post homework assignments and due dates
Let's face it; your students are going to browse social media for at some point during the day anyways. Why not "tweet" a friendly reminder to complete an assignment? Even better, this can be an opportunity to quickly address any last-minute questions a student may have. I don't know about you, but I am much more likely to view a notification from my Twitter feed than my e-mail!

There are SO many more ways that Twitter can be implemented in the classroom (not just language classrooms either), which can be found here and here. As long as it's being used safely and efficiently, Twitter is a great resource to help promote a more interconnected, tech-savvy classroom!