Social Media

Social media sites are very popular and there are many different ways to use them for classroom activities, or just for maintaining students and/or students informed.  One former student set up and maintains a site to share and have students share things they are learning, announce Spanish club meetings and activities, share videos and music, as a place for questions and answers.

Professionally, there are also benefits to using these sites as ways to keep up with what is going on in different professions and areas of interest.

Facebook and Twitter

Obviously, two of the most popular uses of social media are Facebook and Twitter.  Many people shy away from these types of tools because they are used to them for personal uses and see them tracking famous celebrities and other types of things.  There are actually many uses for them.  Facebook probably goes without introduction, so we are providing information on what to do on Twitter here.

Hint: when using either Facebook or Twitter with students - please check the privacy settings to maintain confidentiality.  Also, consider personal contacts and information that are shared with these types of accounts and whether you want to share certain types of information with your students or receive certain types of information from your students.  Many people maintain a separate account for personal use and another for professional use.

Here are some articles of interest:

#Hashtags

This is one of the best ways to search for current/recent information covering MANY different subjects. After creating your Twitter account, use different #Hashtags to find out information using your own interests... or dealing with cultural elements of different countries, for example: 

​#argentina
#bolivia
#costarica
#españa
#spain
#México

Here are a couple of articles about using #hashtags in education:
Setting up a Twitter account
Using Twitter for professional development
Samples of Facebook/Twitter pages and activities

SnapChat, Tik-Tok, and MORE!

There are a number of apps that let you and your students upload pictures and videos dealing with things cultural items, or language learning situations or more:
How to use Instagram
How to use Tik-Tok
Sample sites and activities