Social media is a good teaching aid not only in the United States but in China, especially for my generation. For my current teaching job, the two main social networking sites I use for education are Youku, one of China’s popular YouTube copycats, and QQ, specifically Q Zone.

A couple of months ago, I decided I needed to do some public relations for myself as a teacher. After having problems motivating the students in one of my classes, my Chinese friends suggested that I make myself seem like more of a friend to the students. I signed up for the most popular instant messenger client in China, QQ, specifically to communicate with students at my university. I also think this is a nice contact information alternative to my phone number, which many students I meet at campus events ask for.

 

One of QQ’s main benefits that I did not know about when I made this decision is that it’s a more comprehensive social application than simply an IM program. Everyone with a QQ account has an account on QQ’s social network, Q Zone.
The two main aspects of Q Zone I use are link sharing and notes. I use the link sharing primarily to humanize myself, by linking to online videos I like, for example. I use notes to suggest fun ways for students to improve their English, such as my favorite, appropriate English-language movies.
Before I started using QQ, I had already begun compiling playlists of music videos I like on Youku. After I joined QQ, I compiled a playlist of English-language music videos by artists who are popular among Chinese university students, all of which have English subtitles and some of which have both Chinese and English subtitles. I frequently refer students to this list both via QQ messages and in-class, and if I teach a song in an oral English class, it’s usually from this list.

“Russian Roulette” video from my Youku playlist “学习英语的音乐 (Music for Studying English)”

QQ is in Chinese, but I only write in English on QQ as a way to help my students. If I want to write something in Chinese online, I use 人人网校内(RenRenWangXiaoNei), China’s Facebook copycat that I joined shortly after arriving to practice my Chinese reading and writing. I don’t write much on Youku, but my playlist titles are usually bilingual or only in Chinese to make them search friendly to strangers.
My Youku profile
My 人人网校内(RenRenWangXiaoNei) profile
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