by Kristina Scholz

Incorporating blogs into a language class can be a fun and interactive way to have students practice their writing. Blogs not only allow for individualized expression, but as students become more and more familiar with technology, they are an easy way to communicate and share learning.

Doing anything in a language that is not your own often leads to raised affective barriers, and this is very much true for the skill of writing. As students progress with their language learning, there is often a greater need for them to practice. Due to the approachability of the blogging medium, the creativity possible, and the focus on the self, blogs are fairly casual and are excellent places to practice language production. As with most projects, it is important to know your objectives and goals before beginning an activity. These activities can be adapted for students of all ages, levels, and programs. The bottom line is to simply have the students write.

Goals
The two primary goals for these activities are to engage the students in writing as much as possible and for the students to have fun. Structuring the classes as 50/50 lessons (half the class time spent being creative and the other half spent being productive) achieves both of these goals. The creative 50% comes from a cohort of Websites, listed in the Activities section of this article, which students can use as a basis for generating something uniquely their own. The productive 50% comes from the students writing about what they have created, given the directions of the activity.

Objectives
The objective of each class should be clear: to create something visual and to produce some writing. Both you and your students will know these objectives are reached when it is evidenced in their blogs. Because each student has his or her own blog, the onus is on them to meet the class objectives. This allows them to focus exclusively on their own work, and that allows you to float around the room, acting as a facilitator rather than a lecturer. In terms of the visual aid, preselect Websites that the students can use to create something and post it to their blog. (Some sample Websites are provided in the Activities section.) With these, the objective is that students will manipulate the creative aspect and incorporate it into their writing. Websites should be chosen based on how interactive they are, and how easy it is for students to use them to create something that is uniquely their own. These Websites are visual creative outlets for the students. And because the bottom line is having students write, there is little emphasis on the revision process—just a focus on the production process.

Activities
Each student is in charge of his or her own blog and work. The lessons work best when they are self-paced. It can help to use a teacher’s sample blog (http://piesample.blogspot.com/) to give directions for the day’s activities and to model outcomes.

These activities represent six genres of writing that reflect the writing that the students are likely to encounter in a university academic setting, but these can be modified to any specific learning environment. The Websites presented as samples here provide creative input for their focused writing, but you should feel free to choose your own samples based on the genres of writing that are relevant to your students. Using your teacher’s sample blog, write down the directions for each activity, give the appropriate links, and provide a sample of what the visual and writing can look like. Then, during the class, students should complete their own version of the activity.

Here is a list of six genres of writing, and the focus of the written production, the activity, and the accompanying visual for each genre:

Profiles Production focus: Writing for a public audience Activity: Have students register and modify their personal blogs so that it reflects themselves. Pay special attention to the writing need for the profile section. Visual: Have students create an avatar: Blogger Wordpress

Reporting Production focus: Giving information Activity: Have students write about an event (real or fiction) giving information about who, what, when, where, why, and how. Visual: Have students format their writing into a newspaper: Fodey.com

Evaluate Production focus • Making a suggestion or recommendation • Using descriptive language Activity: Have students chose a YouTube clip from their favorite song, movie, or TV show. Then have them write about when they first heard/saw it, why it is their favorite, and why (and to whom) they would recommend it. Visual: Have students share a favorite clip: YouTube

Supposition Production focus • Using the future tense, conditionals • Creative writing Activity: After designing their own superheroes, have students write about the powers of the hero, and what the hero would do. Visual: Have students create their own superhero: Ugo

Descriptive Production focus • Describing what has happened • Predicting what will happen • Making inferences Activity: Assign students a famous painting. Have them write about what the painting depicts, what may have happened, and what may occur. Visual: Have students write about famous paintings: The Art Institute of Chicago

Reflective Production focus • Writing about feelings, emotions, learning • Metacognition Activity: Have students write a reflection about their work in the course, what they learned, how they think they have improved, and what they feel they still can work on. Visual: Have students organize their own visual: Wordle

Outcomes
When the course is over, each student will have a digital record of the work they produced. More important, this project will give them each the chance to practice their writing in a fun environment where the stakes and their affective barriers are low.

Considerations
It should be noted that while the activities are fairly straightforward, there are often technical issues that you may have to address. Teachers using blogs should have some familiarity with the technology and be ready to address any issues that may arise. Two of the most common issues are forgotten passwords and broken Websites. If you are not prepared to deal with technical issues, make sure you have a backup lesson plan prepared!

Also, please be sure to discuss Internet safety before beginning any online activity, and copyright rules and considerations as well.

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Kristina Scholz earned her MA TESL from Northern Arizona University and is now an ELL assessment specialist at Educational Testing Service. Her interests are in technology in the classroom and adult education programs.

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