Chapter 2 focuses mainly on the advantages of blogging in the educational world. As always, this tool is more user friendly and advantageous to the teachers of history, ELA , science and math. I really read the chapter searching for answers to how foreign language students could benefit from blogging. Again I ended up with more questions than answers due to the fact that 8th grade Spanish students do not posess the skills to write critically in the target language. The positive reasons for possibly using a blog for Spanish are as a "filing cabinet" for writing samples, the willingness of shy students to participate, the possibility ofcreating conversations with native speakers, surveys and literature circles.
The challenges we face as foreign language teachers is that we lack a common meaningful reading text for our students. The idea of somehow engaging with Spanish speaking pen pals through a blog would be fantastic once the logistics are settled. This would take away all the "paper" involved in the pen pal system making the process easier for students and teachers. Journal entries on basic writing promts as well as survey questions using basic grammar topics covered in class. I agree with the author that the excuses would decline with the lack of paper. Lastly, creating a site to publish examples of good writing, regardless of how complex could be very motivating.
Maureen, as a fellow foreign language teacher I have to agree with you, it is hard to find meaningful text for our students. At the middle school level we strive to strengthen their speaking skills. However, it is difficult for them to communicate in writing. One option would be to post a question on a blog and have them write very simple answers in target language. As the year progress we could post more challenging questions/answers.
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