Head criticises use of emojis to teach Shakespeare

Educationalists dispute whether ‘modern hieroglyphics’ help or hinder pupils’ literacy

USING emojis to teach Shakespeare will lead to state-school children falling behind their privately-educated peers, a head teacher has warned.

A number of teachers are using the icons and cartoon faces as learning aids, believing that they can help pupils connect with English literature and other subjects.

Students at one college were asked to summarise scenes in A Midsummer Night’s Dream using emojis, the Times Education Supplement (TES) reported.

But Clare Sealy, head teacher of St Matthias School in Bethnal Green, East London, criticised the method. She said: “As educators, we have not a single minute to waste teaching trivia such as emojis.

“How can we help disadvantaged children gain the sorts of powerful knowledge that children in, say, the top public schools have? Not by devoting precious curriculum time to the detritus of youth subculture. That would be fiddling while Rome burns.”

Charlotte Hodgson, who teaches English at Avonbourne College in Bournemouth, said her department uses emojis to help students to engage with Shakespeare.

“I’ve just taught A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and when we’ve read a bit of the scene, they summarise it in two main emojis and then have to explain it,” she said.

“The emojis are not used by themselves – there is always some kind of verbal or written explanation that then allows you to check the pupils’ literacy, writing skills or speech skills. The emojis just give them a starting point that they understand.”

Luca Kuhlman, a modern foreign languages teacher at a secondary school in Stockton-on-tees, Co Durham, told the TES that emojis can be a useful aid. “Wherever possible, I take out the English words in a text and replace them with an emoji, so they associate the French with an image rather than with an English translation.

“If you can eliminate as much English as possible, they don’t need much explanation,” he said. He said the symbols “have to have a purpose” and he does not overuse them.

Cambridge University Press offers teachers an “emoji lesson plan” and advice from Lindsay Clandfield, an English language teacher trainer, who describes emojis as “the modern equivalent of hieroglyphics”. Mr Clandfield suggests that teachers use emojis as “writing prompts”, choosing four or five at random before asking students to write them up into a story.

The plan also advises teachers to “take out their phones and open their favourite messaging app” before telling the story of what they did at the weekend in emojis.

Recent research found that over a third of British adults believe that emojis are to blame for the deterioration of the English language. But almost threequarters of adults rely on emojis to communicate via text message or social media.

Chris Mcgovern, chairman of the Campaign for Real Education, has warned: “Emoji convey a message, but this breeds laziness.

“If people think, ‘All I need to do is send a picture,’ this dilutes language and expression.”