In the process of learning English, many students forget that the language is not only rules and exercises. This is a huge ecosystem that is based on the daily culture and lifestyle of ordinary English speakers.
The spoken English that many of us learn in courses or with a teacher is different from the actual spoken language spoken in Britain and the US. And when a person first enters the English-speaking environment, he will experience a culture shock, because instead of the literary βWhat's happening?β he hears "Wassup?".
On the other hand, cultural stress cannot be avoided. Linguists say that language is a living organism that is constantly changing and improving. Every year the language is replenished with neologisms and new slang words, and part of the vocabulary becomes obsolete and forgotten.
In addition, in each social group, the features of the language are different. It is impossible to trace them all. The maximum that can be done is to watch the hype topics that blow up the Internet. These are the topics that create memes.
From a scientific point of view, memes show changes in the sociocultural perception of people from 15 to 35 years old - the most active Internet users.
Despite the fact that memes are created to entertain, they reveal sociocultural changes in society, show current issues and trends.
Memes act like litmus paper in the context of daily culture. After all, only those messages that seem relevant and interesting to the majority become really popular.
At the same time, it is customary to consider memes not only pictures, but also gifs, short videos and even songs - any materials that are well remembered and receive separate semantic meanings.
Learn English with memes! Is it relevant?
An integrated approach to learning a foreign language is needed in any case. Without exercises and speech development, no memes will help you master English. But as an additional tool they are simply wonderful. And that's why:
Memes are remembered on their own
Interest and humor are the main benefits of memes. They are remarkably memorable and do not require effort to study.
Memes always evoke emotions: laughter, sadness, surprise, curiosity, nostalgia. To watch memes, additional motivation is not needed, because they are perceived by the brain as entertainment, and not as a teaching aid.
Even if memes contain unknown words or phrases, they are perceived as a whole. But even if the context does not allow you to recognize a specific word or expression, then you just need to look at its meaning in the dictionary once - and it is remembered instantly.
The reason is simple - memes create the most stable chains of associations in memory. This is especially true for short memes.
Let's understand how this mechanism works, using the example of one of the most popular memes on the web for the whole of 2019.
Keanu Reeves - You're breathtaking.
It exists in two forms: picture and video. Let's consider both options.
Picture:
Video:
Actually, the original meme is Keanu's speech at the presentation of the computer game Cyberpunk 2077. And the actor's reaction to the cry from the audience instantly went to the people.Actually, even once watching the video, you can roughly understand what βbreathtakingβ means - βexciting, amazing, amazing.β The word immediately becomes part of the active vocabulary.
It is this memorability of memes that makes them ideal tools for memorizing individual words. For example, in the form of exercise cards.
Take the same word "breathtaking". What would be better to visually explain it: a stock image with a surprised girl or Keanu Reeves in a recognizable image? Let's say more, we have already conducted such an experiment. The picture with Keanu improved the memorability of the word by 4 times compared to the stock picture. This means that students began to make 4 times fewer mistakes when the word "breathtaking" comes across in the exercise.
Therefore, when creating training programs, we try, if possible, to select well-known memes for visualizing words. Moreover, this works great not only for individual words, but also for phraseological units and individual phrases.
Memes diversify routine training
Rules and exercises are important for learning English, but if you use only them, the learning process will get boring very quickly. And then it will be extremely difficult to maintain motivation to continue the lessons.
Memes are one of the many tools that can diversify the learning process, making it interesting and unusual.
An informal topic allows you to effortlessly concentrate the student's attention in English. And so you can study at least grammatical constructions, at least vocabulary, at least slang.
Most students are happy to independently select interesting memes: pictures, gifs and videos. The only condition is that they must be in English. Captions, subtitles and audio in English - this is what we are working on. The student learns a living language that is actually used by English speakers.
What is important, memes only work well with a young audience that is actively surfing the Internet and following the trends of humor. This is especially true for regulars. Reddit ΠΈ Buzzfeed - it is there that most popular memes are born, which are then translated and published on Russian-language resources.
Memes Help Build a Comprehensive English Learning Ecosystem
English is very multifaceted, and academic study is not able to reveal all these facets to the fullest. The ecosystem of language learning is needed precisely to diversify the sources of knowledge as much as possible, creating practical skills in using the language, and not just studying theory.
Slang expressions, phraseological units and neologisms are often used in memes. Moreover, memes often create neologisms themselves, which quickly go to the people. Understanding the principles, why and how they are created helps to understand the language as a whole.
John Gates, an EnglishDom teacher from the USA, likes to give students one simple task: come up with 5 funny captions for a Chuck Norris meme. Do not find, but invent yourself. Like these:
How many pushups can Chuck Norris do? All".These exercises help to use the language with humor. Moreover, vocabulary, grammar, and humor are also trained at the same time. And creating such jokes is more difficult than it seems at first glance.
As John himself says, in his collection there are now about 200 unique jokes about Chuck Norris that no one except him has seen. In the future, he is going to create a whole collection of them.
The bottom line is that memes can really help you learn English if you use them correctly. They are able to diversify the exercises and help in memorizing individual words and expressions, but an integrated approach is still needed. You wonβt get an IELTS certificate on some memes.
Popular Memes Today: Practice
As proof that memes really help in learning English, we have prepared some memes and explanations for them.
So to speak, we will conduct a practical lesson in memology.
Me explaining to my mom
A great example of everyday language with a bit of absurdity. And the more absurd, the funnier.
βA 10-year-old me explaining to my mom why I need 5 chocolate-scented erasers from the school book fair. My mom:".
book fair - book fair, exhibition
Area 51
Preparing to storm Area 51 and rescuing the aliens being held there really blew up the internet. Over 2 million Facebook users have registered for this event. Naturally, a lot of area 51 related memes have popped up.
βIt annoys me that every year they try to do the same thing.
What are you speaking about? We're storming Area 51 for the first time!
Area 51 guards:"
annoying - irritating, bothersome, intrusive
The only pity is that literally a handful of people showed up for a real assault. Yes, and it can not be called an assault - so, we looked at the fence of the base. So the preparation was much more epic.
30-50 feral hogs
An example of a killer argument that resolves any dispute. Or it does not solve, but simply completes it, because it is impossible to find a counterargument to it. An approximate equivalent in Russian can be called the phrase "Because gladiolus."
Original tweet:
βIf you are discussing the definition of βassault weaponβ, then you are part of the problem. You know what an assault weapon is and you don't need it.
A legal question for American farmers - How can I kill 30-50 wild boars that will run into the yard where my children play in 3-5 minutes?
feral animal - a wild or feral animal;
hog - pig, wild boar, boar; ram before first shearing.
The tweet has been retweeted tens of thousands of times. The phrase about 30-50 wild boars was so relished by the Americans that there were many jokes on this topic. Of course, we will not show them. Except just one.
You can find any number of such examples. And according to the newest memes, and legendary ones like Chuck Norris. The main thing is that the memes should be with words. And then the vocabulary will be replenished. So watch memes, get inspired, have fun, but don't forget about classic activities.
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