Monday, March 06, 2006

Using blogs in English teaching

You can read a lot of articles on this subject, but if you want to see a real live project, have a look at this link. This is a class blog with instuctions from the teacher and in the side column you can click on the individual student blogs. The teacher is Jane Petring from Canada who was one of the moderators of Blog06, the online course I "attended". Feel free to leave comments on the student blogs, they would like that Jane told me.

what is the difference between this blog and our list

I am curious to see how our blog develops and what the content of it will be. Many blogs serve the purpose of a sort of online-diary or journal. Personal experiences play a large role. I think the blog is a place for story telling, whether in the form of an anecdote or a little longer text, a place for musing out loud. It is a "slower" medium than the ELTAF_ML list and allows us to weave a tapestry of comments.

As a "treat" to myself, I am tutoring a high-school student who just wants a regular opportunity to speak English, and read interesting or challenging English stories and texts. It is fun to share her enthusiasm for reading. Today we started the abridged version of "I know why the caged bird sings" by Maya Angelou. Since I grew up in the south of the USA I remember some of the atmosphere that Angelou describes.

I'd like to know if there is anything in your teaching that you experience as refreshing or as a treat.