Have you heard of Flipgrid? On a scale from never heard of it to I could teach a class on it, I’m probably right in the middle. I definitely know what it is, but there is definitely much more for me to learn. Regardless, I wanted to share a little bit about the program and a few prompt ideas that I’ve used with it in my ESL classroom. Flipgrid is a wonderful teaching tool that aims to empower every voice in the classroom. It is an online video discussion platform (think Snapchat meets BlackBoard) that “helps educators see and hear from every student in class and foster fun and supportive social learning“. With Flipgrid, teachers can post a short video prompt and students can respond to it individually with short videos of their own. This is great because, I don’t know about your classrooms – but this is definitely the case in mine, there is always one or two students who looooove to talk and will respond to every question, but there are always a few students who you would likely never hear speak if you didn’t directly call on them. Flipgrid makes it easy to hear all of your students which is important in any classroom, but especially in an ESL class where speaking is a major component of the course and student success. Best of all, it’s free and it gives instructors the option of allowing students to interact with each other’s posts or to simply respond privately to yours. If you are interested in using Flipgrid click here to sign up, and if you are interested in ideas for using Flipgrid in your ESL classroom here are ten Flipgrid prompts or ideas that I’ve used in my class.
- All about me: This topic is a classic and a great way to get to know your students and get them talking about themselves.
- What’s in your bag or wallet?: Have students describe the contents of their purse, bag, or wallet.
- Show me something ….: This is a simple exercise, but I really love it. I will ask my students to show me something and they have to produce it and tell me about it in their video. I often use this activity when I go over adjectives like: show me something heavy or show me something blue.
- Pronunciation practice: Because Flipgrid gives you the opportunity to hear each of your students individually it is a great space to practice pronunciation. I have used Flipgrid to have students practice minimal pair sounds, repeat vocabulary, guess the common sound from a short word list, or even do silly things like try tongue twisters.
- Opinion shorts: This kind of prompt can be used in many different ways. You simply ask your students to give you an opinion on something. It could be as simple as: “I love coffee what about you?” for low beginners to “What do you think about the mask mandate?” for intermediate or advanced students.
- Reactions: This prompt idea is related to the opinion short kind, and another one of my favorites. Here you have students react to an article, story, or video from class.
- Something cool about my country is … I absolutely love this prompt. I always learn something new about where my students are from and my students usually love sharing about their countries and their cultures.
- Scavenger hunts: These are fun prompts that get your students moving. I like to give my students a list of common household items, or descriptions that they could match easily with something in their homes and they have to gather their items and show them to me on camera. For example, you could use a list of common kitchen items, or descriptions like: find something you can use to cut things.
- If scenarios: These are really popular in my intermediate classes. I give my students scenarios and ask them to describe what they would do in that situation. Some are far out like: What would you do if you won the lottery? and some are more realistic like: What would you do if you were sick but you were scheduled to work?
- Tell me about ___________________.: This is probably the most flexible of all the prompts I have listed. It can be adjusted for almost any level or topic and is a great way to get students talking. Some examples of “tell me about” prompts that I’ve used in class include: Tell me about: what you did last weekend; what you ate for dinner last night; your dream job; your best friend; your favorite thing in your house; something you hate to do; the last thing you bought from the grocery store; something you can’t live without; what you do when you feel ___________. The list could honestly go on forever.
For more Flipgrid prompt ideas you can check out their website here. They have over 25,000 prompts to browse in their library. If you use Flipgrid in your classroom, let us know some of the prompts that you’ve used in your class in the comments. Happy Teaching!
by Taynim Johnson