who will help you see the power of PLN (PART I)

I know what it feels like to be new to online social networking and the world of Web 2.0. You decide that it would be good to meet English teachers from other countries, learn about Web 2.0 and may even be thinking of starting your own blog. However you don’t know how and where to start. You are lucky because there are great people whose online presence will help you start building your PLN (Personal Learning Network).

These people have some common points:

All of them are on Twitter (except one:-).
All of them are blogging, wikiing or running a web site.
All of them are very FRIENDLY, HELPFUL and SUPPORTIVE people.

Three of them are not involved in ELT but they are must-to-follow people for English teachers.

One little thing before I start…These people do not need to be introduced or promoted on my blog. I am receiving e-mails from teachers asking how they are going to find people to build their PLN. This post is intended to be a guide for them.

Here you go…

(The list is in alphabetical order. When you click on their names, you’ll go to their Twitter pages. I’m not going to give detailed information about them. Instead I’ll give links to their blogs, wikis or web sites.)

Alex Case (Korea): Alex is the only person on this list who is not on Twitter. However @TEFL also tweets about Alex’s blog posts and we feel his presence on Twitter as well:-) If you click on his name, you’ll read what he thinks about Twitter:-) He blogs at http://www.tefl.net/alexcase/ .

Andy Hockley (Romania): Andy blogs about leadership and management in language teaching organisations at http://adhockley.wordpress.com/ .

Aniya Adly (Italy): She is ‘TheEngTeacher’ on Twitter. She supports bloggers daily by tweeting about their blog posts. She blogs at  http://theenglishteacheronline.com/ .

Anne Hodgson (Germany): Although we teach English in different areas (Anne teaches English for business and academic purposes), I like following her tweets and blog. She has a great blog called The Island Weekly.

Arjana Blazic (Croatia): Arjana blogs at http://traveloteacher.blogspot.com/ . You should check out her wonderful Wiki where she uses Glogster very creatively.

Barbara Sakamato (Japan): Barbara blogs at http://www.teachingvillage.org/ . I suggest you to read “What I’ve Learned from My PLN” in which you will find links to great guest pieces by teachers from different countries. I hope to meet this lovely lady sometime in the future.

Brooke Shanley-Hurtado (USA): Brooke is another lovely person in my PLN who I really want to meet f2f.  She is “SpeakSpanglish” on Twitter. She has a degree in teaching Spanish and she is also experienced in bilingual classes .She blogs at http://spkspanglish.edublogs.org/.

Chris Cotter (Japan): Chris has a web site called Heads Up English where you can find great resources. He has also written a new book called “Better Language Teaching“.

Christina Cattaneo (Italy): Christina shares very good links daily and interacts with the people in her PLN in a friendly and humorous way. She blogs at http://teachinglife.edublogs.org/ .

Dan Roberts (UK): He is “@chickensaltash” on Twitter. He is a very creative teacher and a humorous member of my PLN. I think his students are very lucky to have him. He blogs at http://chickensaltash.edublogs.org/ .

Gavin Dudeney (Spain): I feel very lucky to have met him f2f. He is one of the most supportive people in my PLN.  I’m also very lucky that he still replies to my endless mails asking for advice about presentations, etc.   I’m very happy that he will be in Istanbul at the time of my school’s ELT conference and will do a workshop here. Gavin blogs at http://slife.dudeney.com/ .

Graham Stanley (Spain): I met Graham in Cardiff. He was in my presentation and I guess he was tweeting there Back then, I was one of those teachers who is skeptical about Twitter. It is that cool black screen Graham and Gavin were using during the IATEFL conference (it was Tweetdeck) that made me give Twitter a try Graham and his friend Kyle Mawer have recently started Digital Play- a new blog of activities and ideas for EFL/ESL Teachers interested in using computer games and digital toys with their learners.

Heike Philp (Germany): Heike is the organizer of the Virtual Round Table Conference and the person who made me and Shelly do a PRESTO:-) I think she has made history by organizing this great conference. Heike blogs at http://www.philp.de/blog/ .

Isabella Jones (UK): Isabella blogs at http://isabellejones.blogspot.com/ . Check out her article called “Online videos in the Classroom: Bringing Languages to Life”.  She has also a Diigo group called Resources for Languages with 349 members.

Jamie Keddie (Spain): Jamie is one of the most creative teachers I’ve ever met. I enjoy listening to his great ideas about using images and video clips in the classroom. He blogs at http://jamiekeddie.com/ and shares great lesson plans on http://www.teflclips.com/ .

Jason Renshaw (Australia): Jason is “@englishraven” on Twitter. He is a very important member of my PLN. I am very happy that he is coming to Turkey to do workshops in my school’s ELT conference in March. He blogs at http://jasonrenshaw.typepad.com/ .

Jeremy Harmer (UK): I am very lucky to have met Jeremy in Cardiff and even luckier because he is coming to  my school’s ELT conference to give a plenary. Jeremy has recently started a blog at http://jeremyharmer.wordpress.com/

Johanna Stirling (UK): Johanna has a web site called English Language Garden and she blogs at http://thespellingblog.blogspot.com/ where she blogs about English spelling. How it works, how to learn it, how to teach it, and how to love it! A unique idea for a blog.

Ken Wilson (UK): It was six years ago when I first saw Ken Wilson at a conference in Turkey. Since then I’ve always admired his presentation skills and the way he communicates with teachers. He did a great plenary at my school’s in-service conference in September and I am very happy that he is coming again in March. Ken started blogging at http://kenwilsonelt.wordpress.com/ a few months ago and already became one of the most popular bloggers in ELT with his unique style of writing.

Kenny Christian (Germany): I’ve had the chance to meet this gentleman at TESOL, France. He is a great friend and a perfect listener. Looking forward to meeting him again! He owns a virtual meeting place where employers find and hire quality English service providers at http://englishprofi.com/ .

That’s all for now.