Using Text messaging in the ESL classrrom

[Jennifer Verschoor]

After reading Chapter 1 of From Blogs to Bombs I thought it was a good idea to test my digital native students to see if they were able to understand the txtspk in the book.
To my surprise most of them found this activity quite challenging. Out of 25 students not only one was able to understand the whole text.
They couldn`t believe that this was an essay a student sent to their teacher. We had a very interesting debate on text messaging.

I would like to test you this time. Have you ever read Romeo and Juliet in Text messaging? Let´s see how much you understand.

Romeo and Juliet - Text Messaging Version

Act 1

Login: Romeo : R u awake? Want 2 chat?
Juliet: O Rom. Where4 art thou?
Romeo: Outside yr window.
Juliet: Stalker!
Romeo: Had 2 come. feeling jiggy.
Juliet: B careful. My family h8 u.
Romeo: Tell me about it. What about u?
Juliet: 'm up for marriage f u are.. Is tht a bit fwd?
Romeo: No. Yes. No. Oh, dsnt mat-r, 2moro @ 9?
Juliet: Luv U xxxx
Romeo: CU then xxxx

Act 2

Friar: Do u?
Juliet: I do
Romeo: I do

Act 3

Juliet: Come bck 2 bed. It's the nightingale not the lark.
Romeo: OK
Juliet: !!! I ws wrong !!!. It's the lark. U gotta go. Or die.
Romeo: Damn. I shouldn't hv wasted Tybalt & gt banished.
Juliet: When CU again?
Romeo: Soon. Promise. Dry sorrow drinks our blood. Adieu.
Juliet: Miss u big time.

Act 4

Nurse: Yr mum says u have 2 marry Paris!!
Juliet: No way. Yuk yuk yuk. n-e-way, am mard 2 Rom.

Act 5

Friar: Really? O no. U wl have 2 take potion that makes u look ded.
Juliet: Gr8

Act 6

Romeo: J-why r u not returning my texts?
Romeo: RUOK? Am abroad but phone still works.
Romeo: TEXT ME!
Batty: Bad news. J dead. Sorry l8

Act 7

Romeo: J-wish u wr able 2 read this...am now poisoning & and climbing in yr grave. LUV U Ju xxxx

Act 8

Juliet: R-got yr text! Am alive! Ws faking it! Whr RU? Oh...
Friar: Vry bad situation.
Juliet: Nightmare. LUVU2. Always. Dagger. Ow!!! Logout


by cartoonist Roz Chast, first published in the New Yorker

How would you use text messaging in your classroom? Would you use this activity? Would you allow your students to submit this kind of text?

Warm regards
Jennifer

[Maria Bossa]

This is awesome! How about "Little Red Riding Hood and the wolf"??? It would be interesting to know it! :)

[Yelena Popkova]

Thank you, Jennifer!I've read it with pleasure and I'd like my students to beat their brains too. Unfortunately we're on holidays now but I will use txtspk later by all means!

[Mariel Amez]

I loved it! It would be great to get sts to write sth similar on another work. I did ask sts to get two characters from two works to tweet each other: you can see one realisation at http://twitter.com/daisybuch and http://twitter.com/mayanlou.

Always the teacher: it's interesting to note how the popular misreading of wherefore as where (instead of why, which is the correct meaning) has crept into IM as well!

[Maria Bossa]

Jennifer, will there be an online version of the book? I'm not able to buy it! So I cannot keep up with the reading! Can you help? Maria :)

[Nina Liakos]

Jennifer, your students may be digital natives but they are not native English speakers, so how could they understand that txtspk passage?

I'd love to see an example of txtspk in Spanish.

[Maria Bossa]

@Nina, I guess it's a bit difficult to do txtspk in Spanish as it's not as sound language as English, I hope you can get my idea. I'm not saying we cannot do it, I'm saying it's a bit more complicated! :)

[Nina Liakos]

So when Spanish speakers use text messaging, do they usually spell out all the words? I wonder how this plays out in other languages as well. In English, the consonants are paramount, the vowels not so much; we can often omit the vowels and still get the drift from the consonants + context. Hawaiian would be impossible (I think it has only 8 consonants sprinkled amidst myriads of vowels). Spanish has more consonants but I think they carry somewhat less meaning than English consonants do. Am I making this up?

Maybe there is another way to abbreviate written language that does not involve the omission of vowels.

[Jennifer Verschoor]

@Nina None of my students were able to understand the whole text message.
I found this interesting list of Text messaging and chat abbreviations http://www.webopedia.com/quick_ref/textmessageabbreviations.asp
Check this list of Spanish Cell Phone Abbreviations.
Cell phone abbreviations are far from standardized, but here are some of them you may come across or want to try using yourself:

100pre — siempre — always
a10 — adiós — goodbye
a2 — adiós — goodbye
ac — hace — (form of hacer)
aki — aquí — here
amr — amor — love
aora — ahora — now
asdc — al salir de clase — after class
asias — gracias — thanks
b — bien — well, good
bb — bebé — baby
bbr — bbr — to drink
bs, bss — besos — kisses
bye — adiós — goodbye
b7s — besitos — kisses
c — sé, se — I know; (reflexive pronoun)
cam — cámara — camera
chao, chau — adiós — goodbye
d — de — from, of
d2 — dedos — fingers
dcr — decir — to say
dew, dw — adiós — goodbye
dfcl — difícil — difficult
dim — dime — tell me
dnd — dónde — where
exo — hecho — act
ems — hemos — We have
ers — eres tú — you are, are you
ers2 — eres tú — are you
eys — ellos — they, you (plural)
grrr — enfadado — angry
finde — fin de semana — weekend
fsta — fiesta — party
hl — hasta luego — see you later
hla — hola — hello
iwal — igual — equal
k — que, qué — that, what
kbza — cabeza — head
kls — clase — class
kntm — cuéntame — tell me
kyat — cállate — Shut up.
KO — estoy muerto — I'm in big trouble.
km — como — as, like
m1ml — mándame un mensaje luego — Send me a message later.
mim — misión imposible — mission impossible
msj — msnsaje — message
mxo — mucho — a lot
nph — no puedo hablar — I can't talk now.
npn — no pasa nada — nothing's happening
pa — para, padre — for, father
pco — poco — a little
pdt — piérdete — get lost
pf — por favor — please
pls — por favor — please
pq — porque, porqué — because, why
q — que, qu.a — that, what
q acs? — ¿Qué haces? — What are you doing?
qand, qando — cuando, cuándo — when
qdms — quedamos — we're staying
q plomo! — ¡Qué plomo! — What a drag!
q qrs? — ¿Qué quieres? — What do you want?
q risa! — ¡Qué risa! — What a laugh!
q sea — qué sea — whatever
q tal? — qué tal — What's happening?
sbs? — ¿sabes? — Do you know?
salu2 — saludos — hello, goodbye
sms — mensaje — message
spro — espero — I hope
tq — te quiero — I love you
tqi — tengo que irme — I have to leave
tas OK? — ¿Estás bien? — Are you OK?
tb — también — also
uni — universidad — university, college
vns? — ¿Vienes? — Are you coming?
vos — vosotros — you (plural)
wpa — ¡Guapa! — Sweet!
xdon — perdón — sorry
xfa — por favor — please
xo — pero — but
xq — porque, porqué — because, why
ymam, ymm — llámame — call me
zzz — dormir — sleeping
+ — más — more
:) — feliz, alegre — happy
:( — triste — sad
+o- — más o menos — more or less
- — menos — less
:p — sacar lengua — tongue sticking out
;) — guiño — wink

[Nina Liakos]

This is so fascinating to me, as I studied Spanish when I was a child. It's so innovative and uses so many different ways to get meaning across (like English txtspk, I suppose, which I also don't know). It uses sound-alike words and numbers (100pre, from cien/siem; b7s from siete/sit...), letter names (bb, d2...), reduced pronunciation (y for ll), deleted consonants (asias), deleted vowels (msj, dfcl...), one letter to replace two (x for ch, w for gu, including the unSpanish k for c/qu...), English words and onomatopoeia (grrr)... It's so creative! Thanks so much for sharing!

[Mariel Amez]

Fascinating indeed! As a Spanish speaker myself I found it very hard to decipher some of it.Thanks, Jennifer!