Facebook - a language learning tool?

FaceBook has become a very powerful social networking tool recently. For some people, it is the way to re-connect with their past (e.g., long lost friends) and for some it is the way to connect with the whole world. And, indeed, for some people it works as a medium of broadcasting what they think every moment, quite similar to Twitter. In some countries, it works as tool for political pressure and can have serious implications as well (e.g., a recent ban of facebook in Bangladesh). If you are a FaceBook user, you know what I am talking about anyway.

Over the last 15 months I have been thinking about how I could use FaceBook for learning a language, namely, Bangla. This idea came to my mind when I was making classroom videos for the English in Action project in Bangladesh back in February 2009 when I met several Bangladeshi English teachers in different parts of the country. I was initially struck by the fact that as soon as any Bangladeshis met me, they would start talking in Bangla assuming that I am one of them - it was natural for them to think in such a way as I do look like one of them. But what struck me was not their assumption. It was the idea that if I could learn more Bangla, I could easily become one of them and communication may become easier.

While making the films, some of the teachers asked me if I was on facebook and my immediate response was 'yes' - I don't know why I got so excited! They wanted to add me as their friends and I accepted them. Then I thought about learning some Bangla from them so that I could continue to learn the language from distance too as I was there only for a couple of weeks. So, I requested two of them and they were happy to help me. However, the excitement did not last long because after a few exchanges of the messages in Bangla and English our communication lost its momentum. But I do still feel that it is possible to learn a language through facebook. To continue this learning, I have kind of started again with some enthusiastic friends from the Institute of Education and Research, the University of Dhaka. Let's see how far I can go this time...