Internet Memes in the Classroom

Presented by Prof. Aguiar

There were many presentations at the Daejeon CC symposium and I decided to take a look at probably the most unique of the listing (as of this writing), Internet Memes in the Classroom. For the not internet-savvy, memes are snippets of communication that frequently use an image plus a short statement to make a point about a topic of interest. Prof. Aguiar covers the dual meanings of the word ‘meme’ but that’s not why we are here. We are here to figure out how to use memes in the classroom. 

In order to bring memes into the classroom, you need to know what tools your students will need to make them. At the very basic, no-tech level, he mentions that you can use printed pictures or parts of a newspaper and allow the students to write or draw on them. For classrooms with access to the internet, he mentions two popular websites, Know your meme and ImgFlip. Around 8:35 in the presentation, he discusses how to use them and how to avoid issues with them, namely NSFW content. Know your meme is a good place for the teacher to start to look up explanations of a particular meme. This will be helpful when deciding on which meme for students to analyze or copy. ImgFlip is easier to work with, has templates, and has an NSFW filter, but be forewarned that it won’t eliminate all edgy content. To be on the safe side, find the memes you want to use at home or wherever you make your lesson plans, store them offline, and show only those you think are appropriate for class. He also mentions that ImgFlip has a section of popular memes that you can use to get ideas or see what is proving popular in the internet stream of consciousness.

He came up with four approaches to using memes in the classroom. You will have to choose the approach that works best for your student audience. Obviously, some approaches will work better for your class than others. 

• 15:00 Using template to model language

  • In this approach, you find a meme that follows an easy to understand pattern, explain the pattern to the students, and they make their own memes with the image and pattern you gave them. He mentions this could work for children’s classes or grammar-focused classes. If you’re willing to use ImgFlip with students then they can create the memes themselves without printouts. 

• 21:00 Using templates to make critiques

  • In this approach you take something that’s going on in the students’ world and have them make a corresponding meme to express their feelings towards the event you are discussing in class. It’s good for a lesson on critiques. If you are using an online classroom program (Google Classroom) or LMS-style system like Blackboard, he suggests setting up a section where students can share and critique each other’s memes.

• 25:10 Visual literacy and critical thinking

  • His idea is to talk about the meme chosen in particular and why it elicits the feelings it does in people. 

  • You would choose a meme and ask students to analyse it, spotting the hidden biases and messages it is trying to convey. 

• 29:00 Research based approaches and translingual projects

  • His final approach involves students finding their own memes and explaining them to the class

  • Student explanations are to cover the meme origin, meaning, and how to use (comedy, political discussion, witty retort, etc)

  • Students are to make their own memes from their choices and share with the class

  • He had a secondary project that would also work well with Adult learners. For this class, students would have to translate and explain memes from their L1 into English, or vice versa. Finally they would have to make their own meme in English or an L1 meme using the English meme pattern. 

  • The idea in general is for students to use their language skills to make their own memes. 

To end his presentation, he recommended that teachers find new and innovative ways to use memes in the classroom that work best for their situation. After all, memes are a source of inspiration (remember the hanging cat office poster of the 80s?) and perhaps they can inspire our students to use English in more creative ways than filling out worksheets.