The Cultural Exchange Project Travel Blog

Teach English Abroad! Five Blogs That Help

Written by Randy LeGrant | Dec 26, 2011 2:39:00 PM

On December 12, Edudemic ran a Blog post we really liked by Jeff Dunn, the Executive Director of Edudemic.  They produce a monthly iPad magazine about education and technology.  We follow Jeff on Twitter (@Edudemic) because we work with hundreds of teachers each year, placing them in full time teaching positions in Thailand, China, S. Korea and soon in Vietnam and Japan.  Their content on the Blog, Twitter and their Facebook page is helpful.

The most recent post we loved was "50 Must-See Teacher Blogs Chosen By You."  My brother-in-law is a Math teacher in New York City, and I didn't see his Blog in the list and so I'm going to suggest you take a look at JD2718.  It's a great Blog for teachers, especially if you're teaching in New York City.

Because GeoVisions is interested in teach abroad and especially paid teach abroad, I looked through Edudemic's top 50 to see if I could find some Blogs to pass along to our teachers abroad and those getting ready to go overseas and teach.  Here is a short list from Edudemic's list of the top 50:

A Journée In Language by Brad Peterson.  A great Blog about Etymology and quite a few posts that can help you prepare to teach English abroad.

On of the most incredible and information-rich Blogs on the list for our teachers is An A-Z of ELT by Scott Thornbury.  Scott is the author of An A-Z of ELT, an encyclopedia-dictionary of terminology relating to English language and English language teaching. It was published by Macmillan.  The Blog is a great online resource if you're headed overseas to teach English as a foreign language.  Scott also teaches an online MA TESOL program for the New York School System.  He lives in Spain.

English Raven by Jason Renshaw is an interesting Blog.  Great posts on getting kids to Blog.  And frankly, the best way to teach a language is to have students use it in all sorts of ways, and an online Blog where your students assist is a great way to reinforce language.

Language Moments by Dale Coulter is a great Blog that was a featured Teaching English Blog of the month by the British Council.  I loved the lesson plan on using iPhones in the classroom.

I think if you're going to teach abroad, you want to try to find Blogs and Facebook pages that support what you want to accomplish.  Read from people who have already gone before you and leave clues to your success.  Get involved with their social communities.  All good use of your time before you teach in Thailand or teach in South Korea.

I hope you can use some of these ideas.  I hope you'll follow Edudemic on Twitter or like them on Facebook.

Do you follow Blogs or Facebook Pages we should also list?  Can you recommend them here so we can share?