Reddit is a platform that provides connections between people who are interested in any type of hobby or interest. Literally, on the platform, people discuss everything from the meaning of life to the best magazine to keep next to the toilet bowl. I can define it as a giant group chat with strangers from all over the world. The platform lacks a professional attitude unlike LinkedIn, as people tend to share memes, jokes, or funny GIFs under the posted content. I registered to Reddit a month ago and was immediately disappointed in myself as I didn’t register to it before. I was especially amazed to see that the “Turkishlearning” subreddit is in the top %5 of the biggest communities in Reddit. As a Turkish teacher, I could use this subreddit not only to share my knowledge but also to learn from other teachers and even collaborate with them and create more sources for the Turkish language area which lacks a lot in terms of authentic materials. It is also a good source to observe what kinds of topics are difficult for Turkish learners. Another subreddit that is interesting to me is the “Chess” subreddit. People share the positions that they reached in their own game and ask other Redditers for the best move. It creates a brilliant brainstorm as people discuss the possible outcomes of those certain chess lines that are suggested.
These two subreddits that I mentioned have different learning potentials for me. The “Turkishlearning” subreddit would allow me to learn from other teachers and build a community where learners ask questions to people who are experts or know more than them as some of the replies to these questions are from learners with an advanced level. In the chess subreddit, the amazing AI chess bot analyzes the image that’s posted by the author (image #1). Then creates an interactable puzzle link of the image on chess.com and lichess.com which are the most commonly used chess website in the world. Then the bot also comments and suggests a hint (i.e piece: Rook, move: Qf4+), evaluation (i.e Black has mate in 3) and best continuation line. The chess bot also doesn't reveal the answer immediately, instead, it creates an interactable button that you have to click to see the answer. (i.e 1. Qf4+ 2. gxf4 Nc4+ 3. dxc4 gxf4#). (Check images #1, #2 and #3.) In the same post, another comment and mentions another line where the player wins a free rook.
There are different learning goals that I can obtain from the “Turkishlearning” subreddit. As a Turkish foreign language teacher I can identify the common problems that Turkish learners have by observing their posts and creating materials that are suitable for that audience. One of my plans for the future is to have a big Turkish learning community. Thanks to the subreddit, I’m observing the moderation of the community, the rules that were set by the moderators, and also the language that’s used in the conversations.
As my profile is almost a month old and as I’m getting to know how to use Reddit better, my plan in the future is to play a more active role in the “Turkishlearning” subreddit. I’ll achieve this by sharing content and interacting more with the community members. I’ll also connect with Turkish teachers who published their own books and learn more about the process of self-publishing in order to publish my coursebook in the future. I’ll share some of my own content that I prepared years ago for my former students in the community and expect feedback from learners and teachers so that I can update my content accordingly.
My objective in the future is to be recognized in the community and see my Turkish teaching videos and materials among the posts and comments. My other objective is to create workshop classes which I’ve done in the past and invite people from Reddit and gather more Turkish learners together.
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Wow - super interesting and diverse subreddits to consider! Glad you chose the one w/ more human interaction 😂 Love that there is a long term plan for you in this (potential) community. Your objectives seem like good activities - maybe think about what would be evidence of their success - i.e. the kinds and levels of responses from others about how they are received.