Transcript Blogs in Language Teaching

Blogs in Language Teaching
Language training course
Centro de Idiomas UVA
Ruby Vurdien
Agenda
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What is a blog?
Why use a blog with students?
Different types of blogs
Educational blogs
Teacher/Tutor blogs
Student/Learner blogs
Class blogs
Advantages
Application
Teacher’s role V/S Student’s role
How to create a blog
Activity
What is a blog?
“… a website where entries are
made in journal style and displayed
in a reverse chronological order”,
Wikipedia, 2006
“…personal diary-like-format websites
enabled by easy to use tools and
open for everyone to read”,
Efimova and Fiedler, 2003, p. 490.
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Why use a blog with students?
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Provide a real audience for student
writing
Provide extra reading practice
Guide students to online resources
appropriate for their level
Increase sense of community in a class
Stimulate out-of-class discussion
Help build a closer relationship between
students in large classes
Different types of blogs
Personal
(experiences, personal thoughts/opinions,
travel, etc)
 Educational
(mainstream and language learning)
 Journalistic
(publishing articles, reviews)
 Commercial
(promoting products, e.g., food, wine)
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Example of a blog
Educational blogs
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3 potential blog usages (Campbell,
2003)
Teacher/tutor blog – by teacher for
students
Student/learner blog – by
student(s)
Class blog – by class members
Teacher/Tutor blogs
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Channel of communications
between teachers and students
Class schedule
Regular reading practice
Web links
Syllabus guide
Self-study guide
Example of Teacher blog
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Teacher blog
Local Project
WEDNESDAY 9 DECEMBER 2009
Learning English
Dear students,
Here are the next questions for you to think
about. Hope you'll find them interesting.
Looking forward to reading your comments.
What do you enjoy most about learning English?
If any, what other aspects related to the language
would you like to learn?
Posted by Ruby Vurdien on Wednesday 9
December 2009 at 14:45
Student/Learner blogs
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Individual/group projects
Learner diaries
Writing practice
Give students greater sense of
ownership
Allow quieter students to express
themselves
Example of Student blog
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Learning languages
I would like to make a recommendation. It's a
web page where you can find different people
from all around the world who can help you with
the learning of the language that they have as
mother language and you can help them so that
they can learn Spanish. I have begun today so I
don't know how it works exactly, but I have heard
a lot of good things about this page.
Busuu:
http://www.busuu.com/es/home
I hope to read your opinions if you log on to it.
Class blogs
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Bulletin board
Class discussion
Publishing platform for student work
Develop writing skills
Advantages
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Blogs help learners to:
critically reflect
comment
question
review
Advantages
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Encourage learner (Independence/
Empowerment/Reflection/
Autonomy)
Low pressure learning environment
Collaborative learning community
Extended learning
Higher motivation
Authentic interaction
Application
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Blogs can be used for:
Writing practice
Cultural dimension exploring
Extra teaching materials (journals, weekly
essays)
Blogs should be applied with:
significant teacher input
teacher’s feedback
specific activities or topics
Teacher’s role V/S students’ roles
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Teachers: facilitators who help push
students to think deeper, learn more
and express themselves better
Students: autonomous learners
How To Create a Blog
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If you don't have a Google Account:
Go to gmail.com
Click on “Crear una Cuenta” and fill in all the required information
Go to blogspot.com
If you already have a Google Account:
Go to blogspot.com
Fill in your Google account’s settings in the boxes ‘Correo
electronico’ and ‘contraseña’
Click on ‘Acceder’
Click on ‘Crear un blog’
‘Titulo del blog’ is the title, but ‘dirección del blog’ is the ‘url’.
The title can change, but the ‘url’ is unique, so you must choose a
subject for the ‘url’
Choose a template and click on ‘continuar’
The main screen of editing the blog is found in ‘Empezar a
publicar’
Write the title, body and tags(if you like) and click on ‘Publicar’
Activity
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Write a short introduction of
yourself.
Post your views on how blogs might
enhance your teaching activity.
Read each other’s blogs and post
your comments.