Today on Spanish Teachers in the US, a teacher asked about using students’ interest in Snapchat to encourage using Spanish outside the classroom. She wondered if others thought it appropriate to snap chat with current students. I thought the answer would be an overwhelming ‘no’ but some really excellent points were made about the unique situations that we teachers have. For example, if you are in a small town and part of the fabric of the community, using social media to stay connected can be appropriate. Ditto if you have children in the community the same age as your own children. Personally, I am on Facebook with my former students only after they are old enough to have attended a high school reunion. I do hear from students in college but they contact me through the school’s email.
I am leary of Snapchat being the social media of choice because from my understanding, false accusations can be made about its contents and be difficult to disprove. But I do understand about wanting to use Snapchat to interest the students. I have included it two of my transition videos – one about questions and one about introducing a new student to the class. The former teaches them to use question words by asking one another how long their snapchat streak it and the latter shows two students inviting the new student to eat with them and start a Snapchat streak.
