Text Message and Chat Abbreviations

[josephus]

I didn't use any worksheets in case anyone likes that kind of thing in class. My idea was fairly basic. You're welcome to obviously change anything you want or make additions.
 
1. In the class beforehand I gave my students homework to find any English text message and chat abbreviations - suggested the Internet to search. I gave a couple examples after explaining what I'd meant like l8r = later; cya = see ya; c u = see you, just to see if they understood.
 
The following class I asked if they'd done homework, as I normally do and check it. Then continued with the PowerPoint slides. After asking them what 'abbreviation' meant and showing examples again, I asked students to come to the board and write 2 or 3 of their own homework abbreviations and meanings on the board to compile a class list. Then in my PowerPoint I showed my examples and I made sure my kids wrote down my abbreviations that they didn't have already. Afterwards, I explained to them that I wanted them to use their notebooks to write out small chat messages back and forth as if they were text messaging or chatting with their friend. It was tough to explain so I re-explained in their pairs for students who misunderstood and even tried to show them with their notebooks, gesturing, etc.
After giving them time to write out their messages I had them present with their partners in front of the class.
 
Below is the link I had with a crapload of different abbreviations.
 
http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp
 
Hope the PowerPoint and lesson work out. Have fun!

[tazzibear]

thanks..this is the perfect lesson that iv been lookin for the whole day..just after midterms my students have to have class
but i dont want to give them anytiing too stressful!this is perfect for them

[mxyu]

This lesson worked really well for my students! They had a lot of fun with it. I also taught them about smiley icons because some are different in Korea.

http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations_02.asp

[CellarDoor]

Do any of the people who made up the 235 downloads by chance still have access to this ppt file?   It seems to have gone missing from Waygook, and it was just the topic I've been thinking for several weeks about teaching.  Seems interesting and culturally relevant.  I know I should probably just design my own lesson about it, but I'll check the alternative option's way out.  Many thanks to the people who post their materials (and thus, their time) so generously!

If no one has the original, did anyone else have a similar lesson?  I'll try to gather some ideas on my own too. (And maybe I can check the middle school or multi-level boards too)

Edit: No, I guess Firefox was just acting up, since I was able to DL it from IE just fine (yay abbreviations).  Weird!

[acekoom]

now this is a modern and relative lesson plan that can be used in everyday activity

[CellarDoor]

The lesson has gone fairly well so far.  I have used it with all three proficiency levels with my boys and girls' 1st grade HS students.  I did end up adding a file that I borrowed (and modified) from ESL Printables... It's a cell phone template (2 blank phones per page, so I could print, cut, and give half sheets).  The students did a little more coloring and decorating than actual writing in some classes, but it still was well-received.

The problem is, even my higher level students still didn't get very far with actually reading their text messages to the class since we frequently ran out of time.  I didn't manage the time as well as I wanted to since I had to take a little longer explaining some of the abbreviations in the PPT.  What surprised me were the blank looks when I asked the students if they liked text messaging (I reworded it SMS and they still stared).  I found that by telling the students (especially the boys) that these were useful terms for online gaming, they got a  lot more interested.

The presentation and practice went well, but for production they mainly accomplished written instead of spoken production.  Still, I'm glad for the materials and they helped me out a lot this week!  Sometimes my co-teachers are rather inactive in class, but for this unit, they got caught up in the spirit of things and helped give hints and translation to the students to speed up the pace a little.  Almost none of my students knew "LOL"!  Wow...  Thanks for the lesson idea!

[m.corless]

This worked well to keep my high school students (all 3 grades) interested! Thanks for the idea They didn't speak much English during the process but afterwards in the hallways they started saying "see you"  & "see you later" while giggling profusely.