Image challenge - MEMES IN THE CLASS!!!

Image Challenge - week nine

For those who have just joined our challenge, I would just like to remind the idea. There are 52 weeks this year and I have decided to present 52 ways of using images in the class. Because images are not only photos from the coursebook. Images simply surround us, we 'live and breathe' images nowadays. They are everywhere and our students also know it. So the challenge for you, the teacher, would be to try a new way of using images with your students and share this expercience.

 Memes - how to check your students creativity?

To stay for a moment in the topic of ART, as my last post was devoted to it fully. I would like to encourage you to use art and memes together. How? It's simple. There is a site devoted to it and it's called Classical Art Memes (you can find it easily on facebook). But don't worry, the Internet is full of such memes.

MEMES?

But what are memes in the first place? If this term in unfamiliar for you, here is a brief definition:

'An Internet meme is a cultural phenomenon that spreads from one person to another online. In general, a meme is an idea that is passed from one person and possibly one generation to another throughout a culture. Online, a meme is a prime example of viral content.

A meme spread online could be just about anything that is voluntarily shared, including phrases, images, rumors and audio or video files. In most cases, meme content is brief. In the case of an image, it's usually just a picture with a line or two of text. An Internet meme might originate and stay online. However, frequently memes cross over and may spread from the offline world to online or vice-versa.' (source: whatis.com)

HOW TO USE THEM?

All you do now, is to show one or two examples and give them the idea what the memes are and how we can use them with famous paintings. I would start with what Socrates once said:))

SPEECH BUBBLES

Now when your students know what the memes are just google in 'google images' the word speech bubbles and you will quickly find all kinds, shapes and sizes. Cut out various speech bubbles and give away to your students. Here are examples:

Now print out some classical paintings. You can use the website Google Arts & Culture I recommended in my previous post to find great paintings. Try to choose the ones with two or more people in it and then your students will be able to create funny dialogues. You will be surprised how creative they can be.  It is also some kind of a challenge since students need to choose suitable words and expressions that are funny and witty at the same time. They also have to be concise, sticking to the picture!

But memes are not only dialogues. Sometimes it's just a sentence or a phrase that points out something. So you can choose some painting or any other kind of photo showing emotions (animals can often come in handy) and ask them to write what the people or animals are thinking about at the moment. Here is the example:

I've tried it a number of times and it always worked. Hope you enjoyed it and you will try it in your class soon. Fun is guaranteed!!!