The English Language Teacher's Guide To Twitter, tech tip #11

The other day I quickly posted up notes on how to best use Twitter in a couple of the ELT Yahoo!Groups I belong to and one community member wrote and said... er, why isn't this on your blog so we can find it again?


So, here it is:
(don't forget you can always print out my blog postings by scrolling down to the bottom and clicking on the eco-safe badge, you can also email it to other teachers who aren't yet on Twitter).

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a conversation that happens at the speed your fingertips can type. For educators, it's a community, a place to meet and form global relationships with other like-minded professionals in a ...virtual staffroom.

The basics

• visit Twitter and create a profile. You can use a "handle" or alternative name if you wish.
  

• load up a great pic, preferably of you smiling.

• use a nice background, either those provided by Twitter backgrounds, your company's logo or a great photograph -perhaps where you're from or a place you enjoy visiting.

• write a good 160 character description of yourself, include your interests and be sure that your relevant expertise in teaching is there - bios are incredibly important to those who have many followers, we want to know who you are and if we should make the connect.

Conversing with other tweachers

• to talk to someone on twitter use the @ sign in front of their name/handle at the start of the tweet (@kalinagoenglish blah, blah). Only they and the people you both share in common will see your message.
  

• if you are sharing something that you would like both the reader and the rest of your followers to see, enter a . or any text/symbol before the @name (hi @kalinagoenglish this is a gr8 link 2 materials from the BBC etc).

• if you would like to talk to someone privately put a D in front of the name no @ (i.e. D kalinagoenglish) or simply click on the word "message" on their home page. If you're using a client, click on the thing that looks like an envelope when you hover over the tweeter's picture. You can only do this if the person you follow is following you back.
  

• to share something from one tweeter to all of your followers, put an RT before the @name, this will spread the message on to the person's followers as well.

• think before you tweet ;-) sometimes you'll say things you didn't mean to or make spelling mistakes but don't worry about it. The time line's pretty quick and contrary to everything you read on the web, tweets disappear very quickly.
  

Managing the chaos

• the very best app (in my opinion) to manage life in Twitter is Tweetdeck. You can use this on your computer or on your phone. It's a free download and very easy to use. It also enables you to divide up your stream into different groups.

• you don't have to follow every link the second you see it appear on the screen. From the Twitter home page, click on the star and then read it when you have time. If you're using Tweetdeck, hover over the tweet, click on the settings wheel, scroll down to the tweet and click on favorite.

Finding other like-minded teachers

• you can also scan through these lists on Twubs: #teachertuesday and #edchat to find those with similar interests.

• to recommend other people to the people that you follow/ are following you back in your PLN (Personal Learning Network), use the hashtag #teachertuesday on Tuesdays or #followfriday on Fridays.
  

• to show the whole Twitterverse that you are discussing something related to TEFL, use one of these hashtags: #tefl #esl #efl #elt #esp #businessenglish - this is also a great way to find other people to follow as you can save up to 10 searches on the twitter side bar. Obviously if you're a teacher of another subject use a relevant hashtag.

• as a general rule unless you're really, really only interested in talking to 10 people: follow your followers: try to limit yourself to those who are in the same niche area you are in. You can also follow people who have the same interests as you do - pop music, books or art. But be careful with social-networking "gurus" who tweet all day long filling your stream with miscellaneous information or the life-coaches who tweet nonsense and watch out the spammer p*rn-girls.
  

Understanding and unleashing the power of Twitter

• the fastest way to understand why millions of people, and now teacher-trainers, are recommending Twitter when, as a newbie, all you're seeing is chaos (that was me 6 months ago) is actually due to the quality of one's PLN.
  

• Twitter actually doesn't take on any shape until you follow and are followed by over 100 people. Once you reach that stage you will begin to connect and have fascinating and amusing conversations and you'll be able to access the Wisdom of the Crowd extremely quickly when you need to find information.

• Twitter, as an educator, is all about the sharing. Sharing knowledge, getting to know other global teachers and networking with them, informing them about the work you do, finding out about the experiences they have, telling everyone about articles, blog postings or new ways of thinking about teaching.

• you can repeat tweets which contain important links. As twitter is global and obviously on a 24 hour clock, some of your followers may miss it the first time round so you can RT stuff hours or days apart. For those who're using their phones and are on Twitter all day or perhaps are insomniacs, you can vary up the intro to the link.

Having excellent manners and fabulous net-i-quette.

• publicly or privately thank people when they RT your tweets - you don't have to do this all the time - however it doesn't hurt to be conscientious about doing it fairly regularly.

• likewise, when someone recommends you to their stream in #teachertuesday #tt #followfriday or #ff. Fairly rude if you never say thanks! btw, NEVER, ever use these hashtags to promote your own work or resources. Ever. We will hate you and possibly, probably, unfollow you.
  

• if you put a call-out to your stream asking for help with something, send out another tweet out a few hours or days later saying you appreciated their participation (or perhaps they won't help you again!)

• pay kindness back with kindness. Do unto others as you'd have them do unto you.
  

Also, it is really important to note that an unbelievable amount about a person's character can be determined within those 140 characters you send out. So make a conscious effort to be the same nice person that you are in real life ;-).


The list of absolute "NO" goes:

• do not only talk about yourself /your company /your articles /your book/ your blog etc - no matter how passionate you are about these things. The general rule of thumb for this, if you're in business or you're on twitter for professional reasons, is: 1 about you and 4 about others/life/teaching and the questions of the universe.
  

• share the work of other people through RT'ing and communicate with other people about what they're doing: never put someone's name on something that they didn't tweet themselves.
  

• do not use a logo unless it is a very, very likeable one. No one wants to talk to an image. It's not rocket science: would you like to spend time talking with a poster or a roadside billboard? That would be seriously freaky, right? We can see your company's name at the bottom of your tweet or use it as your background - we'll notice you and respect you if you have a personal picture because it assures us that you're here to participate, not simply wanting to spam us.
  

General teachers don't have to worry about the above.

• do not use an automated feeder only. We, like, um can tell that you're not you and it totally turns people off. An exception to this might be Aniya, @TheEngTeacher (who came up with the concept of #teachertuesday - she uses Viigo to feed a constant stream of links on teaching, autism and smart-phone related issues). If you're on Twitter, then be on Twitter.
  

• do not protect your updates. It makes you look secretive.

• never ever follow any link that says "get 100 followers" -these are spam bots that will take over your account. Get your 100+ followers slowly and patiently by earning your stream's respect. If you follow weirdos and pornstars we will be rather dubious of you.

• be very cautious of DMs from people you don't really know advertising weight-loss gain or videos you starred in - these tend to be from people whose accounts have been hijacked (usually because they themselves clicked on a dodgy link) and are worms.
  

• do not talk about coffee, in fact, try to limit trivia in general unless it's Sunday morning (!) or you've been on for a while and have now formed real friendships with the global teachers you're meeting, share good links to the articles you've read and enjoyed.
  

• never, ever talk about dogs if you're following Scott Thornbury! LOL, obviously, do not tell him I warned you.
  

  
Who to follow if you are an English language teacher:



http://tweepml.org/100-ELT-other-educators-to-follow-on-Twitter/
*if you're non ELT you can also search this site for other excellent lists of educators in your field

Update 24-11-10
The Tweeplm website (and list of educators to follow) is currently down while they update their site.  For the time being, a good way to find those in ELT would be to look at the list of folks I've marked as ELT

HERE

My handle on twitter is @kalinagoenglish - http://twitter.com/kalinagoenglish.

Oh, but before I sign off, just in case the above wasn't information overload already, here are links I've saved to help pave the way and get you up to speed:

http://delicious.com/KalinagoEnglish/on-twitter

I lk fwd to c'ing u in the Twitterverse!

Karenne

Useful links related to this posting:

• In the space of 140 characters
• Why twitter lists are a good idea
• Why I use HootSuite to manage Twitter-life
  
• Thoughts on online friendship
• How important is the web2.0 to your professional life?
• The Business of Twitter - a Business English lesson
• In the age of Twitter and Facebook what's happening to English?
• To twit or not to twitter
• Mashable Guide to Twitter
  

• Larry Ferlazzo's Guide to participating in live-chat sessions related to ELT.
• Guido Europeaantje's webinar on joining and using Twitter, particularly for newbies.
  
  

NOTE: this article, like most of the stuff I write is copyleft/licensed CC-ND-NC. This means that although it's totally free, it's also my intellectual property. Unlike copyrighted material, however, you can download it, pass it on, email it, print as a pdf, distribute it amongst your staff..etc, etc without notifying me. However if you'd like to use it in a commercial magazine, you should write and let me know the details. If you're a fellow blogger, no seriously, peeps - you can't copy the whole posting! Contact me and I'll let you know what to do.

Business English Teachers Conference - Poland, Nov 20-22nd 2009

For the first time ever, the annual BESIG conference will be held outside central Europe and instead will take place in one of Poland's biggest cities - Poznan.



Every year the IATEFL Business English SIG conference draws between 350 and 550 participants, bringing together teachers, publishers, innovators, school representatives and it is a unique forum for anyone working in the field of business English teaching.

This year the plenary will be given by my favorite business course book author, Vicki Hollett, and she'll be talking to us about relationships and the effect interpersonal language has in the workplace.

Other great presentations include:

Anişoara Pop from Romania presenting asynchronous speaking and writing web 2.0 tools, Nick Robinson designing needs and means analysis in Financial English, Rita Baker spelling and Chia Suan Chong on an alternative to ELF.

Heike Philp, Graham Stanley and Holly Longstroth will be discussing business English in 2ndLife; Christiana Gardikioti will talk about how to make effective powerpoint presentations and Matt Firth will review the Legal English Certificate.

James Schofield will be informing us why Business students should read graded readers - but by the way, I need no convincing on that, my students LOVE his books - some have even written reviews...

David Cotton on authentic business videos, Duncan Baker chatting with you on finding business clients, Paul Emmerson (is this his first live workshop since he became a daddy? ;-)), will be highlighting his book, Business Vocabulary Builder; Anne Hodgson on monitoring and motivating our 1:1 students and also Tonya Trapp reviewing generation Y in business English.

And many, many, many, more fascinating presentations.


For more information about these, full workshop details etc, see the website:

BESIG conference 2009

Early bird registration (by Sept 30) - €120, €95 IATEFL members.

Best,
Karenne

p.s to watch a video from last years' conference, see this posting here.

IATEFL Scholarships 2010 - deadline 18 September 2009!!

Attending something like the IATEFL probably seems like one of those unreachable career objectives.

I mean, the cost of the flight, hotels, the conference itself..?

We're EFL teachers, money is not exactly a plenty, now is it?

Well, guess what - there are scholarships!

Who knew, huh?

This is the copy of the email I got today:

Please can you spread the word that there are scholarships available to participate at IATEFL's Annual International Conference and Exhibition in Harrogate, UK, in April 2010.

There are 16 scholarships available, all with the deadline of 18th September 2009 for applications to reach IATEFL.

Please refer people to our website at

Scholarships 2009

We hope to receive many applications this year.

With thanks and kind regards,

IATEFL Conference Organiser

I've had a look at what's on offer - basically, there are scholarships for non-members of IATEFL, many more for those who are members: scholarships aimed at teacher-trainers and trainees, first-time speaker awards, scholarships for new teachers(!), scholarships for those who teach with young learners, those who work on humanizing language teaching and much, much more.

So, want to develop your professional career in the field of English Language Teaching?

Head on over to their website and I'll see you in Harrogate.

Can't wait.

Best,
Karenne

p.s Plenary speakers next year include Tessa Woodward, Kieran Egan, Ema Ushioda and Jan Blake - keep posted on updated details on the conference here.

p.p.s. To see how fab it was last year (I watched it all online earlier this year... which is why am going next) check out the forum, photos, filmed keynote presentations etc here.

Water Words (on using images in ESP: Financial English)

One of the absolute best supplementary books to use when teaching banking or financial types is Financial English by Ian MacKenzie.


However, despite the absolute wealth of vocabulary it contains, the exercises can be a bit difficult for students to do, especially if they've never seen the words before and also the book is, quite frankly, a wee dry.

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you've probably already gleaned by now that I like to have a bit of fun in my lessons... and I've noticed you do too... while still sticking to the core learning objectives.

So in this posting I'm going to hone in on two different approaches to working with lists of words, when presenting a visual lexis.

For this example, we'll look at the language in unit 2.10 of Financial English, Liquid Metaphors.

Step one:
Divide up the following words by the number of students you have:

2.10 includes:
channel, dry up, flood, flow, pour, run out of, swim, trickle down, drain, ebb and flow, pool, source, awash, crest, depth, under(water), fluid, sank, plug.

*To mix things up, I also brainstorm a list of related lexis with my students and provide extras before evenly distributing these amongst the students e.g. (water)fall, drop, river, cross that bridge, laundry, ocean, wave & drown.

Step two (the dogme version)

Hand out the vocabulary and ask your students to draw pictures matching each word.






As great masterpieces aren't expected, you'd be surprised how much 50+ year old bankers enjoy doing this type of activity, LOL!





For the words they have difficulty drawing (because they don't know them) either encourage them to help each other out, mime the words or allow them to use a dictionary.

OR

Step two (the techno-teacher version)

Give your students their share of the words and set image searching as their pre-task activity.

They can use Google images (use safe search), any photo based web 2.0 platform and/or my personal favorite, flickr. Remind them to look for images that are creative commons licensed.

Ask them to copy the pictures into Powerpoint, create slides & label if wished.

n.b. if you don't have a computer in the classroom this pre-task can be set as a home based activity.



Step three

Spread the pictures across the table or if you have one, pin them up on a corkboard.

Encourage your students to present their drawings or slides and to share their understanding of the words they've learned with each other.





Step four

Do the exercise provided by the book* - if feasible, get them working in pairs of groups discussing the different solutions applying the words to a financial context, referencing the pictures on the table.

*obviously although I'm using Financial English as the example here, you can do this activity with any vocabulary book.



Step five

Build awareness by highlighting and discussing the common expresssions i.e. trickle down, run out of, riding on the crest of a wave, pulling the plug on something, a huge pool of resources etc - encourage them to come up with alternative sentences using these.

Step six

Now ask your students to write up a short essay reusing the metaphors. For example, in this case, they could describe:

• their company's financial situation
• a project they're currently working on
• their country's economy
• the financial crisis and the global economy
• a current financial news item (e.g. a company heading toward bankruptcy or being listed on the stock exchange)
  

Step seven

Correct their pieces and get them to share what they wrote with each other - encourage further conversation on the opinions stated - reusing the collocative phrases as often as possible.

Best,
Karenne

Side note: I've done both of these methods with my learners and they all reported 1) increased awareness of the vocabulary and 2) a noticing of the lexis in later financial news articles.

For me, these approaches of working with images, while similar probably have different effects on memory.

I've been thinking about it and reckon that they probably trigger different learning processes (one involves some physical learning and discovery of the lexis, the image searching would result in immediate association between the word and image) however, honestly, as I'm not a scientist nor do I have a masters in second language acquisition, I'd really love to know your professional take on this issue.

Do you know of supportive texts that back these ideas up?

Have you/would you also do this type of activity with kids or teens? Why, why not?


Useful links related to this posting:

• Jeremy Day's excellent tips on using Imagery in Financial English
  
• Murder of a Superhero (using drama in the classroom)
• Other teaching tips with a dogme angle added
  
• Other vocabulary teaching tips

• Scott Thornbury on Repetition, great YouTube video!

• The Weboword Ning - for vocabulary enthusiasts, lovers and learners! This is the world's first community dedicated to Visual Vocabulary.

• Jamie Keddie's post: Reasons for buying flowers (grammar + images)
  
• Vicky Saumell on Using Phasr
  

Karen Schweitzer on Deborah Healey

She-in-ELT series - 1
to read a printed version of this posting, scroll to the bottom of the screen and click on the green Eco-safe badge.

An interview with Deborah Healey

Deborah Healey has been involved in English language teaching since 1976, and with computers in teaching since 1983. Although she is very fond of gadgets, she has learned to temper her enthusiasm for technology with a dose of pedagogy and no longer thinks that every lesson must incorporate as much tech as possible.

Her time in Yemen from 1985-1988 taught her a great deal about the power of even minimal technology, used appropriately, as well as about running computers off truck batteries to keep them from being fried by power fluctuations. She has taught almost every class and every level and held several administrative positions at the English Language Institute at Oregon State University, from Technology Coordinator to Director, during her nearly 30 years at OSU.

She is now happily ensconced at the University of Oregon's American English Institute/Department of Linguistics, where she has been doing distance ed teacher training courses.

Her students so far have been mostly from Iraq, providing a very different look at that country from the one often in U.S. news. She has written extensively about CALL, including her early Something to do on Tuesday and current chapters in CALL Environments and A Handbook for Language Program Administrators. She presents frequently in the US and globally; recent workshops have been in Thailand, Singapore, Yemen, Vietnam, Qatar, Oman, and Egypt. Working with teachers and technology are her favorite activities.

Deborah was kind enough to share her thoughts on English language training and women in the ELT field in this exclusive interview for Kalinago English:


What made you decide to pursue a career in English language training?

I moved to Oregon in 1974 and realized that I could do just about as well going to grad school and getting food stamps as working at a minimum wage job. Since my undergraduate work was with languages, I headed over to Linguistics to see if they had any spaces still open.

They did, so I got a Master's in Linguistics. At that point, I cast about for job possibilities and found ESL and I've been in English language teaching and teacher training ever since.

Moving from a teacher to a teacher trainer was easy, especially after I became involved with technology and spent time helping my colleagues learn. CALL was a hot topic in many places, so I went from presenting at TESOL to presenting in other countries.


You currently teach in a distance education program at the University of Oregon's American English Institute. Can you tell us a little more about the class you teach?

I'm doing two fully online courses this summer. One is Shaping the Way We Teach English, a course developed largely by Leslie Opp-Beckman and colleagues at the U of O. My class is made up of English teachers in Iraq with a range of backgrounds and experience. Some are high school teachers, while others are teacher trainers themselves. That course focuses on pedagogy, with technology primarily as the medium of instruction.

I'm also teaching a course called Building Teaching Skills Through the Interactive Web. This course is designed to build skills in using technology in English teaching. Most of the participants are Iraqi teachers, though we have a few from other countries in the Middle East as well. The participants are doing reflective blogs - that's been a very interesting process!


Distance learning is becoming an increasingly popular education option among students and teachers alike. What sort of impact do you think this has had on the field?

I don't think that distance learning courses have had a very large impact on the field yet.

We're seeing a lot of material online, including many websites with a lot of information and resources for English teachers. However, the vast majority of what is online for free is also curriculum-free - meaning that the teacher would need to know how to structure the instruction him/herself in order to use it effectively. The courses that we're offering at the UofO are real courses, just delivered online. It's not cheap to do this kind of work, and we couldn't offer it for free. That said, the materials in both the Shaping course and the Building Teaching Skills course are available online.

Our idea at the UofO, like that at MIT, is that the materials are not where the real value is found - it's in the interactions among participants and with faculty members.

The great value that the Internet offers is in helping teachers create better face-to-face and hybrid (partially online) courses. The communication potential of email and now social networking sites is huge, especially for those in EFL settings. Students are no longer studying language in a vacuum; they can have online partners from around the world to use their English with in authentic ways.

Teachers are no longer constrained by the postal service in getting current material, since newspapers and magazines from around the world are available in real time online. You can be reading the same story in Tokyo, Eugene, and Doha at the same time (assuming some people like being up late). Teachers can provide an amazing collection of resources in a variety of media in their classrooms, thanks to the Internet.

Access to resources and communication tools is what is changing language teaching.


Has your teaching style changed over the years as new technologies were introduced?

I've become much more task- and project-oriented since it's been easier to provide students with resources and set them loose. Students get more of the classroom content with technology, too: I give students copies of PowerPoint shows and my notes, when I use them.

Rather than writing on the board, I write in Word and project it - that lets me archive what we've done for students, as well. I don't know how much of the change in my teaching style is due to technology and how much is due to experience - they certainly intersect.


There are some people who feel the most sponsored and influential EFL speakers and trainers are predominantly male. However, you have managed to accomplish a great deal in the field of teaching and English language training. Have you ever felt like there is a glass ceiling in the field?

It's been much easier to move forward since I got my Ph.D. That seems to be more of a leveler than gender, though gender is still an issue at the university. Far too few English language teachers with Master's degrees take the next step and get a doctorate.

Since most of the rank-and-file language teachers are female in the U.S. (and elsewhere in the world, it seems), it's easy to be held back by lack of credentials. The other plus that I've had is being an early presenter in a new area of language teaching with CALL. When there aren't very many people out there doing teacher training, then there's much less of a glass ceiling.


Do you have any other thoughts regarding the issue of being a successful female in the industry?

Women in the field need to do two things: one is to work together to ensure equity, and the other is to get advanced degrees.

Doors open through networking and with credentials. The great thing for me is that I've been able to have fun doing what I'm doing and get some share of respect at the same time.


Do you have any advice or tips for teachers or other individuals who are interested in pursuing a career in the English language training field?

The first step is to be observant during any training sessions that you attend and note what works and what doesn't. I've learned a great deal over the years at workshops and conference presentations, both what got people engaged and what would drive me out of the room from annoyance or boredom.

Part of doing that also is to be a learner yourself, on the receiving end of training. In order to get work, you need to network - do presentations at conferences, respond to email requests for help, put information out on the web for others to use, and meet people who are in a position to offer you work.

Once you've got work, use each session to learn something more about what works and what doesn't. English teachers are normally respectful of others, so I'll just make a note in passing that having respect also includes learning from those you're training and thanking them for what they're teaching you. If you enjoy learning from others, then you're more likely to be successful in the long run.


This interview was conducted by education writer Karen Schweitzer.

Karen writes the Business School Guide for About.com and has been serving as an advisor to business school students for more than three years. She also writes about colleges online for OnlineColleges.net.



To submit your own article for the She in ELT series, please visit this page.

The walls that divide us

(A Business English/EFL/ESP:marketing lesson)

After having lived, worked and taught English all over the world, I've noticed that cultures differ from workplace to workspace and this cultural divide isn't limited to the country of residence, nor to the sub-cultures there but, instead, is a part of a company's own philosophy.

Here in Germany, many people work side-by-side for years, never ever reaching first-name basis. Often they think Americans and Caribbeans are far too relaxed and dislike what they perceive to be a level of superficiality.

On the other hand, when you get to know the Germans, they are, deep-down, some of the most warm-hearted and generous people I've ever had the pleasure of teaching and they continually surprise me with their insights and knowledge.

As you've probably had conversations with your own students about cross-cultural business communication issues, no matter where you live, I thought I'd post up one of my older video exercises (you'll have seen it already if you've been in one my training sessions).

This video is a brilliant supplementary activity to take in with you: it's short, the speech of the actors is clear and the advertisement is particularly poignant for a Business/ESP:marketing lesson.

You can use it across a variety of objectives. On one side working on the concepts of business communication/cross-cultural issues or concentrating on the emotive metaphors, expanding the activity further by brainstorming others.

If you're teaching a group of marketing students, discussing the actual effectiveness of the advertisement can turn it into a particularly interesting conversation.

As an extra bonus, the video also provides a great context for practicing the Present Perfect vs the Past Simple.

Worksheet here (pdf)

Video here

Teaching notes:

The video works well with PreIntermediate students right up to Advanced students.

With the latter, the comprehension questions can be quickly glossed over if you wish, spending more time on the discussion, post video.

With the lower levels, watch twice and do the questions which your students can handle comfortably. Prompt your students to give you their general impressions and/or work on the grammar presented in the dialogue.

Enjoy!

Useful links related to this posting:
How to download video on to your laptop/netbook.


Best,
Karenne

List of Business English textbooks this video activity can be used to supplement:
-Business Basics unit 10
-Market Leader PreIntermediate unit 7 /unit 9
-Business Focus PreIntermediate unit 7
-Intelligent Business Intermediate unit 6
-InCompany PreIntermediate unit 4
-InCompany Intermediate unit 17

As a warmer
-Up to Speed unit 6
-Business Result unit 8

As always, if you'd like to add a book title to this list or you've got a suggestion for working with the video in another way, don't hesitate to add your thoughts!

In the space of 140 characters

I got an email yesterday asking me if I wouldn't mind describing what Twitter means to me, professionally, and if I could do this within one-hundred-and-forty-words...



And while ruminating on the answer to that, I thought about Alex Case's posts about online parties and Ask Auntie Web's description of me as a networking natural (which was like, the weirdest thing to read, like reading about someone else entirely)...

As I should really get down to setting up a schedule for this blog keeping Mondays or Tuesdays for lesson plans, suggestions and tech-tips, using Thursdays and Fridays for the longer pieces, workshops, the upcoming She-in-ELT series and teacher training issues, today it happens to be Sunday (my day for rants and other thought-pieces) so I'm musing about Twitter.

This is my theory:

Who you are on Twitter
is
Who you really are.

Not rocket science, I suppose.

In my comments on Alex's blog, I mentioned that deep down I'm kind of shy.

Yet, if I really get down to being self-reflectively honest then I suppose I have to admit that I'm not really that much, anymore.

As a child we moved around the world and I spent my teenage years in a boarding school, which had the result you'd anticipate: I spent most of my time reading and writing, saving stray dogs and in figuring out how to break into predefined cultural cliques... and when they didn't want me, how to simply entertain myself with my own mind.

Today, in my non-online life, I prefer quiet groups made up of sincere people who have interesting things to to say or share, not big on parties where I don't know others, love people who are interested in the same things that I am and people with their own personalities interested in things I'm not, surround myself with people who make me think, giggle or grow.

Today, in my online life, I still adore sincere people, faithfully follow links to tidbits of knowledge and also enjoy the warmth of developing international friendships with people who, in many cases, I now have more in common with than those I'm not online with.

But I've also been casually observing those I follow and have discovered that on Twitter, more so than on any other social-networking site, people simply reveal much more about their core personality within the space of those one-hundred-and-forty-characters.

I came up with a list:

• those who are funny people in real life, are hilarious within 140 characters.

• those that are arrogant, are impossible to tolerate.
  

• those who are mavens of information, abundantly link, abundantly share.

• those that are insecure and those who prefer themselves to all others, talk about themselves. And they are able to do this, consistently, within 140 characters.
  

• those who are sweet or gentle have hearts that literally jump off the screen at you.

• those that are antagonistic, start fights.

• those that are lonely show their need for love and attention without realizing we can see it.

• those that are afraid or nervous or brave or good or desperate or intelligent or warm or interesting, are.

• those who have nothing to say in real life, don't have anything to say there either.

• those with much to say, don't stop talking.

And those who are excessively long-winded, like me, have to write a blog about it.

One hundred and forty words?

I will have a hard time answering that email.

Useful links related to this posting:
-Join Twitter by Shelly Terrell on Burcu Akyol's EFL blog
-Twyths by Neal Chambers
-Twitter for teachers by Jason Renshaw
-The OMG-WTF spectrum

Best,
Karenne (a.k.a. @kalinagoenglish)

English Language Teachers Now Blogging, tech tip 10

Back in June, I put a call out asking the ELT blogosphere to answer this question in the form of a blog carnival.

What advice would you give to another TEFL teacher interested in becoming a blogger?

27 bloggers responded: writing over 40 articles, 2 sent emails and 31 bloggers answered a poll on various issues.

Given the sheer abundance and quality of the posts from these global English teachers, it quickly became clear that the best way to present this for you would be to organize them in a downloadable doc, adding extra tid-bits here and there.

Consider the slideshare a trailer, rather than some odd kind of powerpoint presentation...

English Language Teaching Blogging The Trailer

View more documents from Karenne Sylvester.

To view in full screen mode, click the button above. To download the pdf to your laptop, click on the menu and select download. I've also taken a snapshot of each of the slides - so if you like, you can bookmark this page and grab this, print it out and use it to circle which blogs you'd like to visit and read on further (that's here)!

n.b please note that the beautiful mindmap on what community means, slide 55, was created by Joao Carlos Alves, not JC Salves.


What the bloggers had to say...


On getting started

• So you think you have a good idea for starting a blog? Well maybe you do, but every day, there are thousands of new blogs being created and of those thousands, only a very small percentage last beyond the first couple of postings. Why? ...read more on Nik Peachey's On Blogging and Social Media
  

• The transition from a blog subscriber to a blog author was not easy! I wanted to include the best apps, widgets, images, and tools on my site. I would see an item I wanted on another blog and coveted it. I was beginning to believe a person had to be a techie to be able to create these incredible blogs. ...read more on Shelly Terrell's Teacher Reboot Camp
  

• Before venturing into the blogosphere yourself, it’s probably a good idea to check out what is already out there. There are lots of reasons people blog, and no one reason is better than the other. However, people are more likely to visit and remember your blog if there is an angle, a certain hook to it ...read more from Lindsay Clandfield on Burcu Akyol's EFL blog

• There are a lot of great blogger/thinkers out there. Some of the best posts I’ve written, I think, have been expanded versions of comments I’ve left on other people’s posts. Of course, always give credit, too. ...read more on Larry Ferlazzo's blog

On blogging with students

• Edublogging... How many times have I written about it, gave tips, presented, and tried to inspire others? Fact is the ones who endure the first stages of discoveries and experiments are the passionate educators, those who teach with heart and soul, who truly believe in their transformative potential as an educator. These are the ones who, later on, become passionate edubloggers. ...read more on Carla Arena's Collablogatorium here

• Difficulties ? We haven’t got a good computer lab. Most of our students do this kind of homework at the weekends at home or in the nearest cybercafé. Some of them are interested in it some of them aren’t, as usual. ...via email from Susana Canelo (view her blog here)

• The idea of blogging with students came to me after a period of feeling that something was missing in my lessons… Before I start, I would like you to watch a video of my students’ thoughts about our class blog:... watch & read more on Burcu Akyol's EFL blog - in 3 parts and she also discusses different blogging platforms here.

• Blogging is pretty easy to do and setting up a personal blog should pose no great hinderence to even the most computer-clumsy, but how can it be used for teaching? ...read more on Illya Arnet-Clarke's EVO blogfolio
  

On finding inspiration & writing great content

• So, what about the so-called blogger's block? Looking back at my blog entries, I can see that I have a lot of unpublished drafts. Posts that I started and didn't finish. And then I remember times when I wanted to write something and didn't. ...read more on Graham Stanley's Blog-EFL

• There is not a TEFL teacher alive who couldn’t easily bang out a couple of hundred very interesting words on at least one of the topics below (in no particular order):

  1. A great/ terrible lesson I observed

  2. What I learned from some student/ observer feedback

  ...read 99 more ideas on Alex Case's TEFLtastic

• Be on the look out for post materials from all walks of life. Read other blogs and comment on them. Find your niche and develop it. Stick to a set format ...read more on Janet Bianchini's Abruzzo blog
  

• A good blog is personal. It's about things that interest you. It doesn't have to be about the intimate details of your life (although it can be), but it discusses things that have caught your attention and that you want to give more thought to....read more on Siobhan Curious' Classroom as a microcosm

On the effect it can have on your career

• Equally clearly to me is that there are brilliant teachers and trainers out there without publishing deals who are as prolific, creative and popular as some of the more visible (at least at conferences and in bookstores) names in the profession. This is a threat, I suspect, for many parts of the profession - not simply ‘expert speakers’, but also publishers, who run the risk of losing control of the primary knowledge distribution channel, and therefore the content and the income....read more on Gavin Dudeney's That's Life

• If you combine blogging with other free tools such as LinkedIn and Twitter, you can join the "magic circle" of other bloggers, thought leaders and illuminaries. In short, an "unknown" can have as much voice and prominence as the industry greats, and has as much chance of getting opinions and ideas heard along with theirs ...submitted via email, Clare Whitmell wrote a similar post on this theme here.

On stuff to know about

• RSS feeds & Google Alerts ...read more here

• Widgets Some people say you have to be careful with the amount of widgets you add to your page so that it doesn´t become too polluted, I say "Try widgets out and keep the ones you find useful. " ...read more on Ana Maria Mene's Life Feast

• Using images Blogging is greatly enhanced by the use of images. And the use of images brings us to the concern about copyright ...read more on Vicky Saumell's Educational Techology in ELT

• On blogrolls My blog roll is about my own Personal Learning Network: fellow bloggers who like sharing conversations with me, communicating with me here and over on their own blogs - we talk about different ideas and teaching approaches, discuss opinions, pass on worksheets or tips to one another, that sort of thing. Kinda like a virtual staffroom. ...read more here

• On tags and labels The haphazard, somewhat unfocussed and certainly unsystematic approach to my blogging was amply reflected in the enormous list of tags that was generated when I added the Label gadget to the sidebar. You may think it is unwieldy and eclectic now, but you should have seen it when it first appeared! ...read more on Carl Dowse's blog.
  

• On html Proficiency in a language allows us to communicate and connect with others. In the same way, proficiency in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript help us to effectively communicate and connect with our readers. If you are not a web head that is okay, because even knowing basic HTML can improve the way you communicate with your readers. ...read more on Shelly Terrell's Teacher Reboot Camp

• On SEO The acronym SEO stands for Search Engine Optimization. When you write any page for the Internet, be it a page on a website or a blogpost, you're writing in a language that is searchable for a target audience. Your text should therefore contain keywords that surfers in your target group would be looking for. ...read more on MELTA/Anne Hodgson's Ask Auntie Web

• On money Many teachers who write blogs would like to make some money from their blogging to either supplement their income or even just cover the costs of some of their time. ...read more from Miracel Juanta on Nik Peachey's On Blogging and Social Media.

• On micro-blogging #7. Spread the love. People all over the world, join in, join the love train, love train! That's right, the best way to network is spread the love ..read more on Neal Chamber's Teacher Stumpers

• On managing time If you think that this many tips on time management just to find time to write an unpaid TEFL blog is a bit anal, my answers are: 1) And? 2) They also work for finding time for lesson planning and studying for a DELTA, MA etc. 3) I don’t know if too much love will kill you, too much time management probably will, so use with care and see the last point ...read more on Alex Case's TEFLtastic

• Time management tips When I mention my blogging and social bookmarking habit, I am always asked the same question: Where do you find the time? The answer is: time is an abstract concept......read more on Isabelle Jones' My Languages

On audience

• Use some non TEFL tags about things people generally are searching for (celebrity erotic home videos, new Apple products etc) in the hope that Google drives some (mistaken) traffic to your site or ...read more on Alex Case's TEFLtastic

• Writing a blog or creating a website is hard work. Keeping it up to date and keeping new content on your site is even harder, so if you are going to put all this time and work into your site, you will want to know that people are visiting it and reading your articles and enjoying your content. So you are going to need some kind of tracking. ...read more on Nik Peachey's On Blogging and Social Media

• On getting more professional ...buy Darren Rowse's 31 day challenge e-workbook (n.b. this is not an affiliate link - the challenge made a huge difference to my blogging & blog, I highly recommend it.)

On community

• If you really want your blog or site to be useful, appreciated and get regular visitors then it’s vital that you are part of the community your serve. That means more than just pushing your content to places where you think potential visitors might be, but it means actually engaging with, understanding and being part of those communities. ...read more on Nik Peachey's On Blogging and Social Media

• BELTfree isn't a directory in the usual sense of one, i.e. a place to randomly market blog posts - we're not listed on google and the stuff we say and do there is private. All active bloggers, we're a mix of methodology authors, materials writers, teacher-trainers, language coaches and teachers. ...read more about BELTfree here.

• Wikipedia defines community as “a group of individuals who share characteristics, regardless of their location or type of interaction” ...read more on Joao Alves' Reflections.
  

On commenting

• Whenever I get a new comment on one of my posts, I think that I’m writing and some other people are really reading it and even bothering to reply for it! Every comment is a smile on my face and putting this smile on other people’s faces and doing it every day is awesome...read more on Özge Karaoglu's blog

• When I leave a comment, I’m more likely to see the connections between the various posts I read, and more likely to follow the links provided in the initial post, as well as read the blogs of the other commenters on the same post....read more on Kim Cofino's Always Learning

Why I blog

• Comin' under the wire, watch a virtual chat with Vicki Hollett on Learning to Speak 'merican

• There are lots of great EFL teachers who blog. You will be learning from them and with them. If at first it feels like you are the one who is receiving all the knowledge and giving nothing in return, that will soon change. And let me tell you that the blogging community needs the people who can ask the right questions as much as it needs those who will answer them. ...read more on Natasa Gojic's blog

• Always wanted to write, to engage and entertain, to practise articulating my thoughts. What better chance to do so, than this. What better feedback than the number of people visiting, commenting. ...read more on Tamas Lorincz's blog

• I hope that Bite-Sized-English.com is a win-win situation. I hope that the people who come here hoping to practice and improve their English ‘win’ by getting good English practice, and good tips to improve their English. And I know that the website has been a win for me, because it’s helped me refine my teaching ...read more on Toby Crowley's Bite Sized English

• I noticed a few months into blogging that I could put on my blog, at no extra cost, a poll thing. How cool is that? After some thought I decided to do a poll of influential people in ELT in order to make a new list. I felt that I would be joining the ranks of all those great internet polls (World’s Sexiest Woman, Worst Pizza Place in America etc). I proudly announced my poll on Twitter and all hell broke loose. ...read more on Lindsay Clandfield's Six Things.
  

• Time is a real issue. I could easily spend the whole day blogging, and still I wouldn’t get everything out of my system that I want to say. ...read more on Jeremy Day's Specific English
  

• A lot of blog advice seems to focus on boosting traffic or monetizing content. Personally, though, I try not to do things with these targets in mind. It is easy to get consumed by finding the right keywords, or SEO, or link exchanges. I find that if I think about these things too much, it ruins what I write ...read more on Dave Royal's ESL etc

• Though I don’t make money from it and know I’m one of (and not one in) a million, blogging is as important to me as the teaching and writing I charge for. The best part has been the discipline of thinking about things in greater depth. ...read more on Anne Hodgson's No blog is an island

Did you get this far down the screen?

Wow ;-)

So, what do you think, did we cover everything?

Any questions still need answering? Fire away - if I/we can help, we will.

And do let us know when you've set up your new blog... but no spam, right ;-)


Best,
Karenne
p.s. THANKS to all the bloggers who participated in this carnival and patiently waited for me to publish it and much thanks to you for reading it and the great entries listed.