Job Discussion Forums

[johnslat]

Has anyone used memes in class? Not only are there scads of them on the Net that deal with language (a sample)

https://www.google.com/search?q=funny+memes+about+grammar&espv=2&biw=1680&bih=925&source=lnms&tbm=isch&sa=X&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAWoVChMIo-KskoT_xwIVCIoNCh1MRQXr&dpr=1

but there are sites where you can make up your own memes

https://imgflip.com/memegenerator

I recently wrote a Reading/Writing Workshop textbook (for our ESL Levels 3, 4 and 5 classes - what could be called Low Intermediate to Low Advanced) and used mostly memes as the graphics,

Regards,
John

[buravirgil]

I've yet to use them in classes, but I've seen younger teachers use them in place of the "inspirational" posters they parody so popular with a generation of teachers before. Another term for them is a macro. Their use first surged among forums enabled to post graphics (such as the dubious 4chan and the more benign lolcats subcultures hosted by icanhascheezburger?) before wide adoption on FaceBook. Terming them memes comes from Richard Dawkins' coining of the Greek work mimeme and

...act as a unit for carrying cultural ideas, symbols, or practices that can be transmitted from one mind to another through writing, speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena with a mimicked theme. Supporters of the concept regard memes as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate, mutate, and respond to selective pressures. (Wikipedia)

I think using them to illustrate and emphasize text is quite hip and will engage and entertain a wide audience.

[johnslat]

Dear buravirgil,

Thanks - but the only way hip relates to me would be a possible replacement surgery in about another ten years.

The students seem to like them, though, characters from "The Matrix," the guy in "The Most Interesting Man in the World" beer commercials, etc.

https://digitechliteracies.files.wordpress.com/2013/10/morpheus-meme.jpg

http://blog.mainstreethost.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Dos-Equis-Most-Interesting-Man-Meme.png


Regards,
John

[buravirgil]