Quattro!

Janet's Abruzzo Edublog is proud to announce its fourth birthday.  My blog has been going for four enjoyable years, and I hope to continue writing on it for many more years to come.  Last year I didn't celebrate, and I vowed I would in 2012, after reading this blog post by Natasa.

My blogging adventure started four years ago.  Since then, I have written and published over 400 posts, on a wide range of subjects.  These include teaching English to students and teachers, thoughts on educational technology matters, experiments with many Web 2.0 tools, and my own lesson ideas and materials. In addition, I have posted my opinions of the beautiful region of Abruzzo, where I am currently living.

I would like to say a very big thank you to all my readers and viewers. I feel incredibly honoured and humbled that viewers from 171 countries from around the world have at one time or another taken the time to read one of my posts. Below are screenshots taken just now of the different countries.  The first shows the top countries from the Clustrs list that is in my dashboard.
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The second shows the countries where readers have visited occasionally:

Here you have a current view of the world map:

...and another view:

The most popular posts being viewed today include some which are over two years old!

Fun at the Lake is one of my most recent posts, and outlines some of the activties and lessons that I taught recently at the Lake School of English, Oxford.

Why do I blog? There are many reasons, but the most important ones are as follows:

• to share my teaching ideas
• to share my presentations and webinars
• to share my experiments with using new tools
• to reflect on my teaching
• to reflect on my experience of online courses
• to have a repository for my thoughts on teaching
• to connect with teachers and educators from all over the world
• to connect with my PLN
• to write my personal reflections on conferences I attend
• to write book reviews
• to write about my life in Abruzzo
• to connect with other bloggers via my sidebar

Once again I would like to say a very big .......

......... for reading my blog!! 

25,000

I'd like to say a heartfelt thanks to everyone from all the countries above, who reads or has read my blog in the past 2 years and a half since its birth in November 2008.

The figure 25,000 just seems to have a special touch about it and this is what my Clustrs map has just told me. This amount of viewers is very modest in comparison to a lot of the leading ELT bloggers. To me, it means a huge amount and I can't believe how my very modest blog has evolved since November 2008.

I have readers from over 100 countries from as far afield as Guam, Tanzania, Qatar, Belarus, Swaziland, Dominican Republic and it seems every corner of the world. I am absolutely thrilled and deeply touched. Thank you very much to every single person who has ever stopped by to see what this blog has to say!!

Design 565
Nothing much has changed from the original layout. In fact it has remained exactly the same. My one attempt to jazz it up and bring it to the modern world went totally unnoticed until I actually mentioned it to one of my fellow bloggers (thanks Chris) who actually said he liked the new style. However, I decided to re-instate the status quo without undue fuss and here it still is. Design 565 as seen below:

I have sometimes wondered if the blog layout is too fussy and cluttered, but then I actually like it this way and don't have the heart to make it minimalist, as that isn't my character. The same Voki cat is still here with the same message.

So, here's to the next 25,000 viewers or readers. I'll do my very best to write about EFL matters, Abruzzo news and anything else that randomly comes up in my life. This blog is my

• personal and very public virtual Learning Diary
• e-portfolio
• repository of free lessons and lesson ideas
• window to the world outside
• daily source of inspiration
  
• cherished labour of love

The Time To Blog Is Now!
If you do not have a blog and you are a teacher who wants to reflect on your teaching practice, listen to my words of wisdom: start a blog now! I can assure you, you will not regret it.
Below is a list of useful sites and information about blogs and blogging, which will help you learn more about this wonderful subject. Hopefully they will inspire you to want to set up your very own first blog:

Russell Stannard's Teacher Training Tutorials on Blogger.
The Edublogger's Introduction to Blogging
Larry Ferlazzo's "The Best Sources of Advice For Teachers (And Others!) On How To Be Better Bloggers"
Ed Blog Collection by Clive, Sir

10,000

I almost gave up writing my blog in the early days. I was writing to my heart's content in what seemed to be a void. I had no idea if anyone was reading a word, and at one stage, I felt a bit down about it. Here is a post I wrote on 19th November 2008. As you can see, the tone is a reflective one. I was almost on the verge of giving up. I am soooo glad I persevered!

Today I realised that I am undergoing a classic beginner's moment of self-doubt. I began with great panache but somehow I seem to have got a bit lost in a dark wood like Dante in the Divine Comedy. Basically, I can't see the wood for the trees. The photo above taken just a few minutes from where I live is nice and clear - that is how I'd like to feel about what I am doing with blogging. There are so many excellent articles re blogging like for example: www.teach42.com which has been written to help people exactly like me. However, the great "digital divide" is rearing its ugly head: those who know and can and those who want to know but can't quite get there! You can imagine which side of the dividing line I belong to. Having taught Beginner level many times during my life, I know that it is easy for some learners to get worried about their progress when it is not fast enough and the classic "me class higher" syndrome is a desire to run before they can walk. Well, I'd be happy with simply "walking" at this particular moment! Anyway, I will end this rather gloomy posting on a higher and more positive note. I will endeavour to listen to all the kind words of encouragement that I have received and I will not give up quite yet.....

Clustr Maps
Then I found out about ClustrMaps. The idea of knowing where any potential readers were from, intrigued me, and so I installed it in December 2008. Here is an excellent guide on Adding ClustrMaps to Your Blog Sidebar Using a Text Widget by Sue Waters from the Edublogger. It was so exciting to see that I was not in fact writing to myself. As the red dots increased showing countries from all around the world, it made me feel very happy. The idea that someone in Fiji or Malaysia, Kenya, Panama, Uruguay, Jamaica or Lithuania, to name some of the 100+ countries currently represented by the dots, has taken the time to view my blog, even if for only a second, is a wonderful feeling.

I would like to say a big thank you to all my readers. The counter has just passed the 10,000 mark!! I am absolutely amazed. It is lovely to share my thoughts with you all. I hope I will continue to be inspired to write my blog, and at the same time, I hope you will also be inspired. The biggest lesson I have discovered about writing a blog is that it is all about learning and sharing. This involves being connected to fellow educators from around the globe. This in turn has helped me to develop both personally and professionally. It's also about doing something I love with passion. Blogging has been a life-changing experience.