Some educational professionals believe that emojis can be used in the classroom, as in the case of a group of teachers in the United Kingdom who use the ideograms to teach Shakespeare.

Educators Bring Emojis Into The Classroom To Teach Shakespeare

English teachers at Avonbourne College in Bournemouth are using popular emojis as part of their lesson plans for Shakespeare. The teachers say that the emojis can help students understand certain ideas, and it can improve engagement in the classroom.

Charlotte Hodgson, one of the teachers, recently used emojis to help students summarize the scenes in A Midsummer Night's Dream.

"The emojis are not used by themselves — there is always some kind of verbal or written explanation that then allows you to check the pupils' literacy, writing skills or speech skills," Hodgson said. "The emojis just give them a starting point that they understand."

The teachers at Avonbourne College weren't the first people to recognize the educational connections between Shakespeare and emojis. In 2015, graphic designer Jamie Rector produced a series of Shakespearian plays in an emoji format. Rector said he created the series as a tool to get students more interested in Shakespeare. He decided to use emojis because of their appeal to a young audience.

Some Teachers Are Opposed To Using Emojis

Some teachers are not supportive of using emojis in a classroom. Clare Sealy, a headteacher of St. Matthias School in east London, opposes the emojis because she fears that students will fall behind their peers.

"As educators, we have not a single minute to waste teaching trivia, such as emojis," she said. "How will such learning help bridge the word gap? How can we help disadvantaged children gain the sorts of powerful knowledge that children in, say, the top public schools have?"

Sealy added that time in the classroom should not be devoted to the "detritus of youth sub-culture."

Emojis As An Educational Resource

As teachers debate the merits of emojis, students are embracing them.

Some students today are visual learners. Thirty-six percent of millennials say that visual expressions, such as emojis, communicate their thoughts better than words. As are result, some educational professionals are on the emoji bandwagon.

Cambridge University Press has responded to the demand for emojis by publishing an emoji lesson plan, such as writing prompts.

Luca Kuhlman, a foreign languages teacher at Stockton secondary school, incorporates emojis into his lessons so that the students don't have to translate every word into English.