Emojis can be useful visuals to use in the language classroom. They are also appealing to kids because they use them themselves. Here are some of the ways I use emojis in my classroom.
LOTO
Back in 2021, I blogged about My Free Bingo Cards, a site which allows you to make virtual bingo boards for students to play on their computers. Since I don’t like to use English translations with bingo and I prefer to use images instead, I use emojis. Unfortunately, My Free Bingo Cards does not allow you to upload images to use, so these emojis were a great way to get images onto the card.
Other Places Where Images Are Not Allowed
Just as how image uploads are not allowed on My Free Bingo Cards, there are other apps and programs I use where they are not allowed, and emojis help me accomplish that task. Above is a Nearpod poll, where emojis are used to help students understand the text. There is no way to embed images into the answer choices on Nearpod.
Pictionary
While they have their purpose, in general, I try to avoid translation activities. Using emojis is an easy way to create a “Pictionary” type activity for students, where they look at a series of emojis and try to make a sentence from it. At this time, students are studying singular subject pronouns and various activities. I made a Kahoot game with these emoji groupings (and students select which sentence is correct), as well as a game called “Je l’ai” (I have it). For “Je l’ai,” the class is divided into two groups. Each student gets a sentence on a piece of cardstock. The same sentences are handed out to each team, so there are two of each sentence. Then, I display a series of emojis on the board, and the first student to hold up the sentence that corresponds to those emojis and say “Je l’ai !” gets a point for their team. Below are some example sentences. Email subscribers, click here to see the sentences.
The Emoji Interview Project
Back in 2022, I shared a project where students used emojis to create a dialog in PowerPoint. The use of emojis allowed the finished products to easily be shared online without violating copyright and they were quick and easy for the students to find. Click here to read more about the project and watch the video below to see some examples. Email subscribers, click here to watch the video.
“Tu es qui” Guessing Game
I made this simple speaking task this year to help students practice asking for and talking about where they are from and how they are doing. They take turns being the interviewer and the interviewee. The interviewer asks the interviewee their nationality, city of origin, and mood, and based on the answers, determines who the interviewee is. I used emojis because it was easy to find different facial expressions. I first blogged about this in the post, “9 Activities or Resources I Tried or Brought Back in 2024.”
Greetings
This year I started doing something very similar to reinforce basic vocabulary and build classroom rapport: I started asking students how they were doing at the beginning of class and gave them time to answer in French. Every class, I project this slide (which starts out simple and has more vocabulary added to it as the year progresses) and students take turns answering. The use of emojis helps them understand the different moods and expressions.
Emojis Are Free, Legal, and Easy
TL;DR: Emojis offer a free, legal, and easy way to add a visual component to your lessons. They are also relatable to students because they use them every day. How do you use emojis in your classroom?
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