http://burcuakyol.com/
Year 2011. And it is almost impossible to be a bad teacher.
Because…
If you are a teacher who is
passionate about teaching and who considers continuous professional
development as an important aspect of your career, the opportunities to
become a good teacher are ENDLESS.
I am not going to share with you a long list because I find long lists overwhelming and confusing.
Here are my six reasons why you cannot be a bad teacher. In other words, learning opportunities for enthusiastic teachers:)
1. Twitter
It is a global
staffroom with endless learning and sharing opportunities. After you
sign up and before starting to think desperately what to do next, go to
We Follow,
search for educators on Twitter and start following them. You can
search with keywords like elt, esl, efl or tefl. If you think you need
some guidance, you can join the aPLaNet Project.
It is a European Union funded project which aims to help language
educators become autonomous members of online social networks.
A great way to understand how Twitter
works and how wonderful it is to be in a global staffroom, you can join
the #ELTChat discussion sessions that take place every Wednesday at
12:00 p.m. GMT and 21:00 p.m. GMT. ELT teachers from all around the
world log into their Twitter accounts and for one hour they discuss on a
topic they have selected. Read more about the #ELTChat.
2. Nings
Ning is an online platform for people and organizations to create custom social networks. (Source: Wikipedia)
When you join a Ning that is created for
educators, you have the opportunity to join discussions, share
articles, videos and photos.
Here are four Nings which you can become a member of and start interacting with likeminded colleagues:
3. Facebook Groups & Pages
Through Facebook Groups and Pages, you can stay more connected with educators from all around the world. (Click here to read about the difference between Facebook Groups and Pages.)
Here are some Groups and Pages you should check out:
#ELTChat (Group)
EU Educators (Group)
4. Blogs
There are so many wonderful educator
blogs in the blogosphere. Once you start following some of them, you
will see that they support each other by giving links to other
educators’ blogs and that’s how you will discover other great blogs.
As a beginning, check out these blogs, and their blogrolls* as well:
*Blogroll: A blogroll is a list of links to blogs that the blogger likes. A blogroll is usually included in the blog’s sidebar.
5. Online Workshops & Conferences
IATEFL Online Project has been providing online coverage of the IATEFL Conference for five years. The next IATEFL Conference
is taking place in Glasgow on 19-23 March 2012 and I’m sure the IATEFL
Online Team will do a wonderful job again and take the conference to
teachers who are not able to attend in person.
Virtual Round Table Conference (20-22 April, 2012)
The Virtual Round Table Conference is a
3-day online conference. So far more than 2000 participants and 180
guest speakers have participated in the conference. It is great that all
the sessions are recorded and can be found on the Virtual Round Table
(VRT) Ning. You can join the Ning at http://www.virtual-round-table.com/.
The Macmillan Online Conference (8-9 November, 2011)
Macmillan is organizing its first online
conference. It is a 2-day event with a very good line up of speakers.
You can see the program here.
EVO is a set of online discussions and
workshops that takes place every year from mid-January to mid-February.
Sessions include a range from simple discussions to virtual hands-on
workshops. Registrations start on January 2, 2012 and being a TESOL
member is not required to register.
6. Webinars
The term webinar is short for Web-based
Seminar, a presentation, lecture, workshop or seminar that is
transmitted over the Web, specifically a portmanteau of web &
seminar, to describe a specific type of web conference. (Source: Wikipedia)
You can check out TeachingEnglish |
British Council | BBC, Macmillan and PearsonELT webinars that offer good
quality content on a regular basis.
It is great that everything I have
shared with you here is free and you don’t need any special computer
skills to get started. All you need is enthusiasm and some time!:)
Let me finish with a quote…
“Enthusiasm is excitement with inspiration, motivation, and a pinch of creativity.” Bo Bennett
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