We shall call it BLOG

After viewing several CALL presentations on Tuesday, I was struck by something that I had not thought about including in my CALL top 10 list--the blog. It seems so simple, and perhaps because it is the tool I use the most, I never even thought to include it in my language toolbox or my top 10 list. I have found in both this class and in Materials that blogging is an excellent way to research and muse on ideas, turn in assignments, explore new topics, and express myself as a person. After all, a paper that a student hands in can only have so many options--the font type, size, spacing, color of the paper. With blogging, I was able to include pictures, play with the background and font colors, include a graphic, and embed audio and video. After my experience, I feel like a blog is a good way to allow students to express themselves in a more universal way through visuals while they are still learning how to express themselves through their words. It is also a more efficient way to keep writing assignments collected so that students can go back and see for themselves how much they have improved over a semester. If students are in the US for the summer or a semester to learn English, the blog could serve as a way to share with friends and family what they are doing. It is also an easily accessible record of their academic time in the United States, and might be a free way that programs can "give" students something to remember their time. All in all, it is a great CALL tool, probably the one that I will use the most in future classroom settings.