From Dubai to Glasgow, via the Carnival

Some people are on my blog… they think it’s all over… it is now!

The Teaching English Blogathon 2012 finishing line has been finally ripped apart. The dust has settled, everyone looks exhausted and, somehow, I find myself amidst a group of fine teachers whose blogging efforts were deemed worthy of reward.

For my sins, I will be sponsored by the British Council Turkey to attend next month’s IATEFL International conference in the delightful environs of the city of Glasgow. Having previously attended this event, I’m aware that it can be quite a marathon in itself, yet a thoroughly rewarding experience for any English teacher who loves their profession. I’m delighted and completely surprised to have been chosen for this, I really am. I’m particularly delighted as the decision seems to have been made based solely on the, ahem, quality of my writing.

The Blogathon itself was an amazing month-long journey that became a fantastic forum for learning, sharing and developing. As those of you who’ve had the misfortune to stumble haplessly onto this blog before might know, I’ve been at this blogging business for quite a while now and have had the ups and downs that all bloggers experience at one time or another. From the posts you cobble together in a matter of minutes that get thousands of hits to the ones you spend weeks crafting only to seem them garner as much interest as an abandoned wild west town replete with tumbleweed, I’ve gone through the mixer with ‘Year in the life of’. This is why the Blogathon was such a refreshing change of scene.

Why was it so much fun?

Firstly, there was the immediacy of it all. For me Twitter can sometimes be unbearably fast to the point that too much good stuff is lost before you even find it. Blogging can be the opposite: there are so many great ELT blogs now that even your posse of readers can’t get round to your blog very often. The Blogathon provided a nice middle point. Posts were short: anything more than 250 words was a no-no. The number of posts was large but readable due to their brevity.

Most important, though, was the interaction between bloggers. You could write something safe in the knowledge that others would very quickly drop by and comment. I got so many good ideas and received so much positive feedback on my posts that it was a fantastic experience to be a part of the event.

How did I approach my writing?

This part of today’s post is a little ‘how to’ in the hope that there will be another Blogathon next year. While I was of course aware that there was a very large carrot being dangled in front of all the participants, I didn’t have this as my focus while blogging. Nevertheless, I went in to the Blogathon with a very clear plan of intent. If you’re thinking of entering next year – please run this Blogathon again! – here are a few things that I did that might see you right:

1) Plan in advance

I started planning my posts in November, so that I had a subject area to work on for pretty much every day. This meant that I wasn’t stuck for inspiration and had something to work on without the stress of coming up with an idea every day.

2) Categorize your posts

I gave myself three very broad categories to work in: practical ideas; theoretical underpinnings; and life outside the classroom. These sound general but by rotating between them I was able to stay fresh and give people something different every day. I’ve suggested that categories be given next year to help give participants focus. Also, it would be great to have theme days where, for example, every participant wrote about ‘one great warmer’ or ‘one song you use to teach grammar.’ Self-categorizing helped me while still allowing me the freedom to roam between topics.

3) Comment, comment and then comment some more 

You are in the presence of some fantastic educators, so read their posts and comment on their wonderful ideas. You like it when people comment on your posts, right? Guess what, other like it just as much. I made a point of reciprocating whenever another blogger left a comment on one of my posts, and I also tried hard to leave comments on posts that didn’t receive as many comments.

4) Enjoy it

Go into this thinking that your great ideas will inspire your fellow professionals, while also remembering that there are many teachers out there who can teach you a thing or two. I love my chosen profession and really enjoyed interacting with people I might not otherwise have had the chance to meet. Go into it with this attitude and you will love the experience.

 

Where next?

March promises to be a crazy month in my life. To kick off, I’m hosting the 27^th Blog Carnival on March 1^st. If you haven’t contacted me to submit your wonderful post yet, please do it today!

A week later I find myself in Dubai as a presenter at the prestigious TESOL Arabia conference. I’ll be posting here within the next week asking for your valuable input into my research for my session on group activities. If you’re attending this conference and you know me from the blog, please come and say hello (I look surprisingly like that bloke in the picture on the right). I’m really shy and might not have the courage to come up and talk to you.

Then comes the surprise conference near the end of the month. I try and make sure I can attend a major international event once every two years, so going to two of the biggies within the space of a fortnight clearly wasn’t part of the master plan. I’ve got plans to run a series of posts leading up to IATEFL Glasgow, so don’t be surprised if I contact you for a guest spot here on the blog. I’ve already got about half a dozen interviews lined up with presenters at the event, so hopefully those of you planning to attend will drop by regularly in the build up to the event.

Anyhows, this post is deteriorating into a self-congratulatory waffle, so it’s definitely time for me to focus attention on to other folks. While I will be in Glasgow as a roving reporter for the British Council, I will be joined by Özge Özturk (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/users/oztrkozge) who will attend the as a representative for the British Council’s Facebook group for teachers. I’d also like to take this chance to congratulate my friends, old and new, who have been awarded a scholarship to one of the online courses offered by the British Council: Aslı Gökturk (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/asligokturk), Crystal Heart (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/crystalheart), Gulnur Şahin (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/gulnur), Leman Ulaş (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/lemanulas), Merve Oflaz (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/merveoflaz), and Teacher Sevil (http://www.teachingenglish.org.uk/blogs/teachersevil). Thanks for making the Blogathon so much fun.

 

See you in Dubai, or Glasgow, or another conference some time soon!