From Bard to worse as emojis take new role in classrooms

WHILE you might not expect a yellow smiley face to appear in Macbeth, teachers are now using emojis to help pupils learn Shakespeare.

Some believe adopting the images – mobile phone icons which reflect emotions, from grinning to sad faces – helps improve children’s learning.

But other educators argue their use is a ‘moral failing’ and could harm pupils’ chances of long-term success.

Charlotte Hodgson, an English teacher in Bournemouth, Dorset, told the Times Educational Supplement: ‘I’ve had classes plot the entire summary of a scene in emojis, then they put them on to a graph to show the tension the characters are feeling, and they find quotations to illustrate this, so it builds to become higher-level learning as well.’

Miss Hodgson said emojis had particularly helped her Year 7 class, with pupils aged 11 to 12, engage with Shakespeare.

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

‘Emojis are not used by themselves – there is always some kind of verbal or written explanation that allows you to check the pupils’ literacy, writing skills or speech skills.’

Others use them to help pupils who have English as a second language. At a school in Stockton-on-Tees, French teacher Luca Kuhlman told the TES: ‘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 an English translation.’

But Jon Brunskill, a teacher in West London, said: ‘If a teacher said, “I know how to use standard spoken English, of course I do – I’ve got a degree, it’s how I got this lovely job... but I’m not going to give it to you guys because I think it will be fun to use emojis for a few years”, that’s a moral failing.’

And Clare Sealy, a headteacher in East London, said: ‘We have not a single minute to waste teaching trivia such as emojis.’

‘Emoji use is a moral failing’