TELEGRAM AS A SOCIAL PLATFORM OF DISTANT LEARNING FOR PREPARING STUDENTS FOR THE CAMBRIDGE FIRST EXAM (FCE)

Abstract. Nowadays, there is still no single system or plan for online learning. In many schools and universities, students use various sites, programs and messengers for learning English. Distance learning is the interaction of teachers and students at a distance, reflecting all the components inherent in the educational process (goals, content, methods, organizational forms, learning tools) and implemented by specific means of Internet technologies or other means providing interactivity. The history of the emergence of distance education begins in the 1700s. In 1728, Caleb Phillips submitted an advertisement to a Boston newspaper to recruit students to study shorthand anywhere in the country by exchanging letters. Since then, the process of distance learning has been improving, and new technologies have been introduced. Distance education of the Russian Empire existed only in the format of an external course for a long time. The flourishing of remote education began in the first years of Soviet authority. In the 1920s, as part of the illiteracy program, self-education manuals were published in huge numbers and others. In the 1970s in the Soviet Union, there were 16 entirely correspondence universities and 46 specialized secondary schools.

Nowadays, remote education is implemented with Internet technologies. Children communicate with the teacher via video link, do assignments online on a particular website, or send works by e-mail. Telegram is a cross-platform instant messaging system with VoIP functions that allow people to exchange text, voice and video messages, stickers and photos, files of many other formats. Using this messenger can be made even more convenient and efficient, especially for educational purposes as students. This app has a convenient search engine and unique functionality to create and install authors’ add-ons of any type.

This article aims to adapt FCE tasks by regularly publishing specific sets of exercises, tips on Telegram to help students prepare for the Cambridge First Exam and improve their English skills and knowledge.

Students of Peoples’ Friendship University of Russia (Institute of Foreign Languages) took part in this survey. A strategy plan of posts following four components: Reading and Use of English, Writing, Listening and Speaking was developed and tested.

Keywords: foreign language teaching, FCE, Telegram, messenger