Blogs! What an awesome resource for ESL Teachers

What is a better way to assess how international students are understanding and participating in their new culture and their thoughts on their experience... enter the blog! Even though I do not consider myself tech savvie, I managed to get one started and invited the students in. The first blogs started off as midterm exam project. The students created their own blogs and invited me in as a follower or friend. Next, students were given assignments to write on their blogs. These include an introduction of themeselves, what they think of American culture and it's people, thoughts on case studies, film analysis, and visual dictionaries. The results were and continue to be awesome. The visual dictionaries were stunning as it is supposed to show their full understanding of the vocabulary they are learning, and how to use them in the proper contexts. Film analysis and case studies that were written reflected the developing critical eye on the culture and language that they are living in. Here are my students examples. I hope you enjoy them as much as I did