Fakebook

A couple weeks ago, I mentioned using social networking sites such as Facebook or Edmodo to facilitate students in their academic writing. Another great way to have students reflect on what they are learning in the classroom if you are still weary about using social networking sites is to have them create fake Facebook profiles on Fakebook. Fakebook, created by teacher Russel Tarr, allows users to create and have complete control over a fake Facebook profile that doesn't allow wall posts or commenting from other users. Users can just click and type on the template, as well as pull profile photos and videos.



Fakebook can be used to create fake profiles for literary characters, historical figures, animals, and even scientific concepts! For example, a student could role-play as a carbon molecule and personify its interactions with other scientific elements on their Facebook wall. Fakebook can also be used to chart a timeline of important events or outline the main plot of a book or movie.



Here is a Fakebook profile I created for the character of Gollum from the Lord of the Ring series.



Fakebook is a great way to engage in higher order thinking about class material and to provide students with more opportunities to use language in new ways. I would suggest using it for more intermediate ELLs, but beginners may use Fakebook to write simple posts and comments.