LEETSPEAK
LEVEL: Intermediate and above
AGE: 15 and above
TIME: 20 minutes in class, 40 minutes online
AIMS: To familiarize students with language they might come across when surfing the net and thus enable them to interact in a broader spectrum of environments. Language: Online expressions, typing symbols, language transformations.
MATERIALS: Internet-able computers.
PREPARATION: Short pop quiz on punctuation the class before and assigning a presentation about it.
IN CLASS
1. A group of students starts by having a fifteen minute presentation on typing symbols, their names and how to hotkey them. Their visual aids should remain visible through the complete lesson.
2. After the presentation, carry out a speed exercise giving the students combinations of symbols and having them type them and ask them to imagine new combinations that may resemble the existing letters of the alphabet.
3. Assign an online quest on Leetspeak: history, usage, frequency, social environment, function and practice. They can use speech translators in order to analyze the structure of the typing and the new vocabulary they will use.
4. Have students find “words” that are used in Leetspeak that are not used in common parlance and understand when/why they are used.
5. Find a clean comic strip template (such as the one at www.quanza.net) and create a story based on and using Leetspeak.
VARIATION 1: As homework, assign to have a conversation with a partner using Leetspeak on an instant messenger environment and share the script with the rest of the class via e-mail.
VARIATION 2: E-mail students random forum posts where Leetspeak is used and ask them to substitute the expression for proper words and see if the meaning of the text has changed somehow.
FOLLOW-UP: Students can report their daily activities by e-mail using Leetspeak as fillers or exclamations.
COMMENTS: Internet is the most common and friendliest resource for young people out there, and around the world, and although it is regarded as a geek tool only, Leetspeak plays a large part in the communication process happening in English language nowadays. It is beneficial for students to get to know and understand this phenomenon that may either bring about a linguistic revolution or damage the sanctity of language.
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