EFL Blogging School

for Moldovan Regional

Teachers
Course description
The
project
will
equip
Moldovan regional teachers
with the necessary skills to
use online tools such as blogs
to enhance their English
language
teaching
experience.
Participants will learn how to
engage students in online
projects and raise up their
interest in studying English
using online tools.
By the end of the project,
participants
will
have

experimented with creating a

class or school blog, inviting
members, posting and editing
entries and commenting on
other blogs.
In addition to that, participants
will have looked into comment
management,
template
personalization and will learn
how to enhance their class or
school blog using other online
tools, such as Voki, Animoto,
Pow Toon, Google Polls, free
online dictionaries, DVolver,
Listy and many more.

Become an active EFL blogger and learn

how to involve your class in meaningful
blogging in just 4 months!

Course objectives
Special points
of interest:

Description
Objectives
Tasks
Team
Partners

By the end of the project, participants will have:

created a class or school blog
posted and edited entries
commented on other blogs
tried team blogging (inviting members)
explored options for comment management
investigated possibilities for template personalization
compared different blog hosts
grasped the concept of syndication (RSS)
compared aggregators and other syndication tools
discussed the potential of blogging as a teaching tool in the
English lesson and as a tool for professional development

Page 2

Month 1: EFL blogging basics

Trainer: Dr Daniela Munca-Aftenev
During the first month of the course, participants will:
exchange introductions and become familiar with the group
environments
try tools for synchronous communication to be used during
the project
answer a survey to determine their previous experience with
blogging
add themselves to the group map
visit the group blog
discuss the concept of blog (and distinguish it from "website"
and "wiki"
analyze various EFL blogs and the ways these are used to
enhance EFL teaching and learning
get to understand blog jargon
plan their own blog (defining its purpose and target audience)
choose a platform, a theme and a name for their blog

Exploring the pedagogical uses

of a blog
By the end of October, participants will:
edit their class or school blog profile
post, edit and format their first entries
learn how to add images, links and widgets to blog entries
explore options for comment moderation and establish blog
settings according to your preferences
experiment with various blog tools and widgets used for
language teaching and learning
explore the pedagogical uses of a blog

Month 2: Creating an EFL class/school

blog and involving students
Trainer: Corina Ceban
Dictionaries
MWvisual, thefreedictionary, visuwords
Polls
Monkey Survey, Google Polls
Video Teaching Tools
UTube, Teacher Tube, Jenny ESL
Speaking Production Tools
Prezi, Slideshare+audio

Dont focus on
having a great blog.
Focus on producing
a blog thats great for
your readers.

Page 3

Month 3: Video production for EFL

blogging and involving students
Trainer: Svetlana Lungu

Video Production Tools

Movie maker, Voicethread, Voki

Writing Production Tools

Dvolver, Tagxedo, Fodey

Graphic Production
Glogster, Pininterest

Easy solutions for busy teachers

ReadWriteThink

Month 4: Enhancing the blog as a

teaching tool
Blogging: Off we go!
Trainer: Olga Morozan

E-Portfolio

Projects

Integrating on-line Tools in lesson plans

Evaluating using blogs (rubrics)

Month 4 is dedicated to:

turning the blog into a teaching tool
enhancing the blog with tools for EFL teaching and

learning
integrating the blog into daily teaching practice
adjusting the blog to school curricula
combining classroom teaching with online teaching
actively involving students in posting on the blog

(complete tasks, post comments, submit homework

etc.)

Page 4

Preparing your blog for the final event

In January your blog will:
be prepared to be presented in public at the project final event,
reflect everything you learned during the project,
include your teaching portfolio, students sample work, lesson
plans, teaching advice, bibliography for students etc.

Month 5:
Presenting your Blog and sharing from
your experience
In February each participant will:
present his/her blog during the project closing event in Chisinau,
be in charge of organizing a 25-45 min workshop to share from
his / her experience on the project,
organize a training for 10-15 teachers and educators in his/her
home region.

Page 5

Mentors

Dr Sheryl G. Feinstein
Professor at Augustana
College, South Dakota,
USA

Trish Ostroski
Peace Corps volunteer in
Durlesti, Moldova
Community and
Organizational
Development

Tatiana Shevchenko
Ad Astra Career
Development Center
Founder and Project
Coordinator

Nicholas Cicchinelli
Fulbright English
teaching assistant

Amy Samuelson
J. William Fulbright Student
Research Program grantee

Anne C. Campbell
Nicholas Huzieff
Tamara Sine
Comparative and
English Language Fellow at
International Development U.S. Department of State, Fulbright English Teaching
Assistant (ETA)
Education Program
Business English
Teacher, ELKO Group

Beni Combs
Justin Grotelueschen
Ossiryss (Oz) Castelln
Co-founder and Vice President
Private English and Spanish Instrucat Project Casa Mare, a Moldovan
tor, Ceadr-Lunga
NGO working to professionalize social workers in Moldova

JPeace Corps volunteer

Trainers

Olga Morozan
Svetlana Lungu
Senior lecturer, Institute
PhD student, EFL
of Educational Sciences,
Methodology, Ion
iEARN Moldova Country
Creang State
Coordinator
Pedagogical University

Corina Ceban
EFL Teacher,
V.Alecsandri Lyceum,
Balti,
Expert in integrating
blogs in teaching

Dr Daniela
Munca-Aftenev
M.A in Integrating Web
2.0 tools in EFL/ESL
teaching, University of
Mississippi, USA

PROJECT PARTNERS

If you are interested to participate in the next round of

EFL Blogging School Project,
please write an official request to:

daniela@americancouncils.md

This project was funded by a grant from the United States Department of State. The opinions,
findings and conclusions stated herein are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect
those of the United States Department of State.