What is a blog

Viewing Blogs

What kind of blog you want to create?

Starting a blog

Using blogging tools to create your own blog

Links to articles on using blogs in ESL/EFL

Weblogs for Use with ESL Classes
Aaron Campbell

Blogging for ELT
Graham Stanley

Creating a Writing Course Using Class and Student Blogs
Andrew Johnson

Create Your Own ESL/EFL Blogs

What is a blog?

It's hard to provide any one definition of a blog; If you do a search on the Internet, you'll finds dozens of definitions and no two will be exactly the same. Here's a definition from Wikipedia.

A blog (a contraction of the term weblog) is a type of website, usually maintained by an individual with regular entries of commentary, descriptions of event, or other material such as graphics or video. Entries are commonly displayed in reverse chronical order. "Blog" can also be used as a verb, meaning to maintain or add content to a blog.

In simple terms, a blog is a web site, where you write stuff on an ongoing basis. New stuff shows up at the top, so your visitors can read what's new. Then they comment on it or link to it or email you. Or not.

Some common features of blogs that make them different from regular Web pages:

• It is a different kind of Web site—an almost instantly available writing space on the Web that can be created in minutes.
  
  
• No knowlege of HTML coding is needed to create it because it's powered by easy-to-use, Web-based software.
  
  
• Content can be edited and updated quickly and easily—just type and click a post button.
  
  
• Comments can be easily be added to posts by readers.
  
  
• All posts (entries) are automatically archived.
  
  
• Posts (entries) on blogs are usually arranged in reverse chronological order. In this way, blogs are very different from other web pages. However, it is easy to reverse this order.
  
  
• Each entry in a blog has a time and date stamp.
  

View how some ESL/EFL educators have created and used blogs: Viewing Blogs.



Creating ESL/EFL Blogs - TOPICS CALL Pages - ©2003-2009 - Created by Sandy Peters
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