YouTube is a platform which lets users upload videos for private or public viewing. This technology is the largest video sharing site on the Web. In this way, the most popular topics used in videos from youtube are music, gaming, beauty and daily vlogs. Otherwise, it can also be used in the educational area.
According to this, YouTube can be utilizing for different educative purposes. It can inform students with short clips of news, movies or documentaries, it can help students to acquire new vocabulary or it can develop critical thinking in students while watching some controversial videos. However, I would use youtube in order to improve students' listening skills.
This technology is relevant to language learning due to the ease with which it can be used. With just one click the teacher can make a lot of listening activities inside the classroom. In addition, the teacher can add some flashcards or images while the audio is being listened. One advantage of using youtube as a listening tool is that you can upload all the material you want, sharing it with other teachers because YouTube is public.
Finally, a limitation that YouTube has is that a good internet connection is required. This is really important because, even if there is internet (medium or poor connection) the videos will not load or the quality will be bad. Hence, teacher should be prepared for this, maybe bringing their own internet and sharing with the class would be a solution.
