Whatsapp?

I guess everybody knows whatsapp and how it works, so I won't waste time here explaining the basics. I'll go straight to ideas on how to use it in class! The main point here is to make activities more interactive and to bring them closer to students’ realities.

Emoticons: Have students try to figure out sentences written in emoticons. If you are teaching comparatives, for instance, you can "write" a sentence like this , and have students guess the meaning (Dogs are more friendly/ friendlier than cats). Then, students can create their own sentences.
Another idea is to have students describe themselves using emoticons. The other students have to guess what he/ she meant.

Audio messages: Ask students to record audios with the pronunciation of a word or the intonation of a sentence. They can save it for later reference or students can record audio files to help one of their peers.

Photos/ videos: send students photos or videos and ask questions related to what they are studying (What are the people in the picture/ video doing? What was happening? What happened next?).

Lead-in video or picture: Use it to have students create a chain story. The whole group can also create a chain story with pictures they have in their galleries.

Communication: Well, of course, a whatsapp group can foster genuine communication in English among students. 

Do you have any other ideas? Share with us!