Finding out others are experimenting with blogs and esl as well

It finally occurred to me (DUH!) to reach out to other ESL teachers who use technology to see if any have started to experiment with blogging and ESL. I posted a query to three discussion lists that I participate in {[NIFL-TECHNOLOGY:3605]; the tech mentor network (tmnetwkca); and TESLCA-L discussion list} and got back several replies mentioning different blogs to look at! I've listed a few of them here:

http://weblogteachertraining.blogspot.com/ (which led to http://eslfeedback.blogspot.com/)

http://esl.osu.edu/staff/bloch/weblog/ which discusses a complete workshop presented at TESOL 2005 (the international conference for the Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages professional organization) and has a list of ESL/EFL blogs included. Check out http://blog-efl.blogspot.com/ for one such ESL/EFL blog.

The one that I think is most relevant and is the best example of the things I would like to do that I've been directed to so far is: http://ourenglishclass2.blogspot.com/

I also found this description of a presentation to be given at the upcoming JALTCALL 2005 conference (JALTCALL is Japan Association for Language Teaching Computer Assisted Language Learning at http://www.jaltcall.org/):

"DOUGLAS, Scott
Kansai Gaidai University (JAPAN)

(with Janet Listoe)

Time: Sunday, 14:20 to 15:00 in Room P22

Accessing the Global Community Through Blogs

As globalization grows at an increasingly rapid pace, the use of weblogs (blogs) enables EFL students to engage in authentic discourse with the online community. EFL teachers can act as gatekeepers to help learners access this global community. This presentation outlines a year long project at Kansai Gaidai University that involved 191 second year students and two EFL instructors who created and maintained blogs as part of a second year required reading and writing course. After a brief introduction to blogs, the presentation will examine how blogs can be used with EFL learners, as well as the rationale behind using blogs and the implications for increasing the English language proficiency of learners. The presentation describes how students were able to engage in authentic dialogue in English and use experiential writing as a developmental step towards expository writing while entering the on-line global discourse and learning to negotiate meaning within a community. The presentation then focuses on blogs as a tool to develop basic communication skills, and as a tool to assist students with continuous independent learning outside the classroom. Finally, examples of blogs created by the students will be looked at before considering student evaluations of blogs as a learning tool. This interactive on-line presentation is open for questions and comments from participants. Participants are invited to share their views on the writing and reading of blogs in the EFL classroom and specifically, their views on blogging as a valid task for language learning. Handouts will be provided."

More information about the conference presentations can be found at
http://jaltcall.org/conferences/call2005/presentationlist.php