Courtesy of EdTechTimes.com
Wondering if blogging is right for your language classroom?
This infographic provides a nice overview and some great tips that will surely get you fired up. For the language classroom the benefits are enormous. One of the greatest challenges in teaching a second language is providing enough opportunity for real world use of the new language.
Writing blog posts in the target language, getting feedback and engaging in dialogue with an audience beyond the classroom, sharing topics of personal interest, and making connections with native speakers to name a few.
So where do you start?
Doing some research to understand how others are using blogs would be a first good step. You will find that there is the option of starting a classroom blog that you manage along with your students , or you can have your students create and manage their own blogs. Here are some articles to get you started.
Blogging in the Language Classroom: It Doesn't "Simply Happen" by Carla Arena
Blogging in Classroom: Steps and Benefits
Best Ways to Use Blogging in the Classroom
Choosing a blogging platform
Next step is to choose a blogging platform. Below are some of the most popular and well-developed options. Your choice depends on your level of knowledge with the technology. Whether you go with a Hosted or Self-Hosted blogging platform will be your first decision.
Picking the best platform for your classroom blog
Teacher-focused platforms: KidBlog and Edublogs
Others include: Blogger, WordPress.com or Wordpress.org and Tumblr
Staying Engaged
The challenge will be staying committed and engaged with blogging. it only works if it becomes a natural and exciting extension of your classroom activities.
Keeping up with what other teachers are doing with blogging helps to keep you motivated through the learning curve stage. Showing your students examples of successful and fun blogs also helps to motivate.
Once you are in the groove and blogging why not enter your class into a Blogging Challenge?
What do you think? Hope this helps to get you started. Happy blogging!