Helen's+experience+in+blogging

flat =A Class Blog= //I started using blogs 6 or 7 years ago. While I was on maternity leave, I was surfing the net a lot. I came across blogger.com when I decided to find some platform for sharing my news, photos and interesting stuff with my online friends. I soon figured out how it works and started creating blogs one after another one for photos, one for my favourite music, one for saving useful links etc...// //So when I got back to teaching at school, I surely decided that I need one more blog for my students. My idea was to post some interesting materials and tasks for them once a week to be done as an out-of-class activity. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough time or devotion to do it on regular basis and in the last years I've abandoned it, but there is still something to show and share with you, my dear colleagues, on this blog// //Here are the main directions I was using this blog in: (some links within the blog may be dead)//

Blog: Learning English Online

1. [|Weekly tasks]. I mostly used video stories from LearnEnglishKids site. The students were supposed to watch the video, print out the activity worksheet (I either created them myself or used the worksheets from LearnEnglishKids), complete it and submit it to me at school (or complete it on their computer and send to me by e-mail).

2. [|Students' project works]. I posted my students' PP presentations and even scanned some of their creative works on paper. Once we used the blog for conducting one of our projects. It was called 'Young photographer competition'. In the first stage of the project students brought their photos in class and interviewed each other about the photos. Next they wrote short 'reviews' on the photos of their classmates. Finally the photos and the reviews were posted [|to the blog] and students had the opportunity to vote for the best photo during the week (i used the Poll gadget for this). The following week the winner was announced [|on the blog]

3. Additional materials related to our coursebook content. For example, [|this video] was related to the article about 'Otzi the Iceman' in MoveAhead 2, and the following [|videos] and [|the Planet song] (btw, listen to it! it's just lovable) were devoted to the 'Space' topic from the same coursebook. And [|here] is one more video that we watched while studying some Food-related topic (u'll have fun watching it!)

4.[| Songs.] I often use songs in class, so it's great when students have the opportunity to watch the music video in the blog as many times as they wish and practise singing along. For attaching files to the blog I was using my //narod.ru// account. The blog design and layout is still unfinished because I had to move it to a new address some time ago due to the old address malfunction and the links got broken.

Lyudmyla's summary: A blog is worthwhile being created Learners’ perspective Teachers’ perspective
 * as a platform for sharing news, photos and interesting stuff with online friends
 * to post interesting materials and tasks for learners to be done as extra activity
 * to run a project
 * to post the learners’ reports (PPP) and scanned copies of their creative works
 * as a good way of language acquisition ( putting grammar into practice, using appropriate vocabulary)
 * as a developing tool (writing, reading skills, logical thinking, imagination and creativity
 * to enhance students interaction and active participation
 * Posting reflection on the blog, one can see their own progress
 * very useful for a teacher designing a coursebook: a much quicker and more effective way to try out your activities

However,

Other ideas:
 * Blogging can be a time-consuming endeavour
 * Learners may show low interest and participation
 * sharing a blog with the colleagues who teach the same forms or involving one or two smart students can answer the challenge of time consumption
 * blog tasks can be optional and doing them can be seen as a chance to improve a learner’s English and get a good mark for submitting the weekly task worksheet
 * some extra points (like 10% of the exam mark) for learners’ regular contributors to the blog could help to keep it alive and interactive
 * posting content on a blog seems to be simplier and more comfortable for an amateur than on a website

=A Personal Blog= Internet Resources for ESL Teachers and Students Here I collect useful links and resources from the Internet. With the help of lebels I am classifying them by the following categories: LT Guide Grammar Topics Vocabulary

<span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">I have also added a blogroll so I can follow the other educators' blogs and see when they are updated.

=Joining the blogosphere= <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">With the help of Google Reader I have subscribed to over a hundred of educational blogs and channels. Now I don't need to check every blog - all posts are available on one page.

=Commenting on other blog entries= <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">Commenting on the posts of other bloggers is one of the first steps in becoming an active 'web head'. I have chosen to comment on the blog entries of a young ESL teacher in Chile who shares his reflections on teaching. <span style="color: #008000; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; font-size: 120%;">[|http://elteacherjulian.blogspot.com/2012/01/coming-back-to-school.html#comment-form]