So you wanna be a TEFL blogger?
On Saturday I spoke about tefl blogging at the Gwangju KOTESOL conference. I wanted to make a post for anyone who wanted to start blogging, or anyone who has stumbled across this post and wants to start blogging. Here are a list of steps that someone might take to get more involved with TEFL blogging and or Tweeting. There’s no one way to blog so feel free to ignore some of this or change the order.
2) Look for local EFL hashtags. If you’re in Korea, you’re looking for #KELTchat. If you’re not sure try #ELTchat. Once you’ve found one or more, look at the people tweeting. Do some of them seem intelligent and interesting? Follow them on twitter.
3) Post about interesting things that happen to you in the classroom (and in the rest of your life if you want). It’s always a good time to reply to other people’s tweets, but if you can’t think of anything interesting that’s happened, then it’s an extra good time.
4) Time to set up a blog. I’d suggest not even considering anything that isn’t wordpress.
5) You can start blogging straight away if you want but you might be nervous. You can use your WordPress account to follow other bloggers. Try looking to see if people from part 2 have blogs. You might also wants to follow Scott Thornbury, Mike Griffin, Nicola Prentis, Geoff Jordan and The Secret DOS: some of my favourite blogs that were helpful when I was starting out.
6) When you’re reading these blogs start trying to comment as much as possible. even if it’s just to say thanks.
7) Time for you to share some of your thoughts. Blog about anything that you find interesting and that you think others might be interested in reading. Don’t worry about if it’s any good or not, just concentrate on getting your ideas out there. Your blogging will naturally get better as time goes on anyway.
8) If you’ve got time, reply to comments.
9) Eventually you’re going to want to mess around with themes and make your blog pretty (click on dashboard). You might also want to spend some money and have your website hosted so you can have a pretty web address. As your blog is growing try not to worry too much about how many views you’re getting. Just try to keep posting good content.
10) Leverage the critical skills and network you’ve gained to achieve any/all of:
- Personal enjoyment.
- Being a better teacher.
- New friends and professional relationships.
- Untold TEFL fame and riches.
tjhampson 
teachingbattleground 6:47 pm on March 18, 2015 Permalink |
Reblogged this on The Echo Chamber.
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BerLingo 8:54 pm on March 18, 2015 Permalink |
I am going to follow one of your tips, which I would like to think I have been trying to do for a while, and comment on your post 🙂 I found this post in a tweet by Mike Griffin and I’m very grateful, because it reassured me that I’m sort of on the right lines as I dip my toe in the exciting waters of ELT, blogging and online PLNs.
I haven’t even done my CELTA yet (starting in April in Berlin) but I am leaving academic publishing to move into ELT so I naturally have something of a penchant for writing, and wanted my own humble little space to witter away about my experiences in Berlin.
And so was born my Berlingo blog… I’m really enjoying it so far, and you’re right, it does mean a lot when people comment on your musings 🙂 As my experience grows, I hope to actually start writing about things others might find useful, rather than just passively entertaining, but we’ll see!
Thanks again,
Rachel
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timothyhampson 1:23 pm on March 19, 2015 Permalink |
Rachel, thanks for the comment! Your blog already looks really informative and your writing style is much better than mine too. I’m possibly planning to go to Europe and do my CELTA next year (it’s not such a big qualification out East) so I’ll be looking forwards to reading about it.
Tim
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BerLingo 3:23 pm on March 19, 2015 Permalink
Well, likewise 🙂 I’m always amazed anyone actually stays on my blog long enough to write something, and I’m even more touched when they write something so nice!
My writing style is far too waffly, as my academic publishing colleagues tell me, but I’m enjoying the process so I suppose that’s the main thing 🙂
I am hoping to blog about the CELTA, so hopefully that’ll help inform you – and I’m doing it in Berlin if that inspires you as well 🙂 But if you don’t hear from me, that means it’s so intense and I’m asleep 😉
Thanks again for stopping by, and for the compliment!
Rachel
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aiyshah2014 5:57 am on March 19, 2015 Permalink |
I think the best points are number 3 and 7. And I would say you must ALWAYS rely to comments, even if it is just a thank you.
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timothyhampson 1:25 pm on March 19, 2015 Permalink |
I’m a big fan of three too. Commenting lots is a great thing to do. Saying thank you is also good practice. I kinda get that sometimes people are busy so don’t mind if I don’t get a personal thank you though.
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timothyhampson 1:26 pm on March 19, 2015 Permalink
All that and I didn’t even say ‘thank you for the comment’.
Thank you for the comment!
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aiyshah2014 1:30 pm on March 19, 2015 Permalink
Yes. However coming from someone who likes to comment a lot on other people’s blogs, I always get disappointed if there is no response at all (even if only a ‘like’ is fine), and eventually stop commenting on that site. Most bloggers do respond however which is great because I do believe blogging is about engaging not just talking.
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timothyhampson 12:29 pm on March 28, 2015 Permalink
I guess it depends on who it is, some of the bigger bloggers might be to busy. I always like the ‘you have a comment reply’ email. Usually a few exciting seconds waiting for it to open. I hope I can always answer comments here, it’s a nice thing to do.
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Martin Sketchley 9:04 pm on March 22, 2015 Permalink |
A very useful blog post and something that I shall redirect a colleague to as he has just joined the blogging sphere for those ELT’ers that are reaching for the web-based skies! Perhaps this is something that I should consider doing a talk on in the UK.
On a side note, I have just found your blog and just clicked the ‘Follow’ button.
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timothyhampson 12:33 pm on March 28, 2015 Permalink |
Thank you for the kind words. I hope it’s useful for them, I’m happy to answer any questions or give advice if needed. I’ve only done two TEFL presentations but this one felt a lot easier to put together. There seems to be a genuine interest out there so I hope you decide to go for it.
Thanks again
Tim
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Martin Sketchley 11:47 am on March 30, 2015 Permalink
My colleague has finally joined the blogosphere of ELT and has just created his website and joined Twitter. His website is: http://www.eltplanning.wordpress.com
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/eltplanning
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