ESL Blogs

In the last newsletter we made a special request for all of you to share your thoughts about blogging! I want to know how blogging has helped you learn (or teach) English. 

Why do I need your help? I will be going to a conference for English teachers next week. The conference is called IATEFL and it will be held in England. At the conference I will be speaking about blogging with MyEC learners. I'm hoping that some of the teachers will be inspired to join MyEC (or any blogging community) with their students after the talk. 

I was so excited to find a post by Nafis called "How MyEC Blogging Helped me" that I decided to use her example to inspire my next writing challenge. (I already had a different topic planned, but that will have to wait until next month!) Everyone has homework, except Nafis! 

Your Task

1) Check out Nafis's blog post. 

2) Spend some time looking at your own blog posts. Look at your first one and compare it with your last one.

3) Think about how blogging has helped you learn English (or teach if you are a teacher). Has it given you confidence? Has it helped you make friends that you can practise with? Have you found new tools for practising English? How has your typing speed/spelling/vocabulary improved? 

4) Share your blogging adventure with us (highs/lows/favourite post/favourite comment). Include suitable links to other blog posts.

5) Answer this question: Why should teachers blog with students?

6) Come back here and share a link to your post! 

My Example

The first thing that attracted me to MyEC was the chance for English learners to have their own blogs. To this day, it is still my favourite part of the club. In a blog you have so much freedom. You can write on topics that interest you. You can embed videos and include pictures. You can make up stories and share them with the world. It amazes me how a community gathers around a single piece of writing. Some posts receive dozens of comments! 

MyEC bloggers have many different reasons for blogging. Some want to improve their TOEIC or TOEFL mark. Some want to make friends. Others want to improve their vocabulary, typing, and spelling. Many bloggers want to share their talents (poetry or music).  Personally, I want to show people that writing can change your life. We all have something to write about!

One of the high points in my blogging adventure so far was blogging about the World Cup. As many of you know, I did not have a TV during this big event. I shared my concern and asked all of you to help "keep me in the loop". Many of you left comments throughout the competition. I feel like I saw the World Cup thanks to you!

I experienced a low point when I realized that some bloggers were plagiarizing. Most members who were doing this didn't even realize that copying writing from the Internet was wrong. I wondered if my writing challenges were too competitive. Were bloggers plagiarizing in hopes of getting featured? I created the Plagiarism Pledge and built a resource page on EC. This problem still occurs from time to time, and I learned to give people a second chance. 

My favourite writing challenge so far was #13: Interview with a MyEC member. In this challenge members had to ask questions to another member and post the questions and answers in their blog. Some of you even interviewed Josef! I think this challenge helped bring some members closer together. I interviewed Salim about his cats. 

I think teachers should blog with their students because it helps learners fall in love with the language. It also lets teachers use their creativity. Blogging is an easy way to share feedback and offer suggestions. Blogging in a community like MyEC, is an excellent way to start. New bloggers get an instant audience and the bloggers here are very kind and supportive. I hope the teachers at the IATEFL conference enjoy your examples.

How has blogging helped you learn (or teach) English? Take us on an adventure!