Just wanted to nominate a couple of ELT blogs for the 2008 Edublog Awards:

• Best individual blog: The English Blog (Jeffrey Hill)

I am in awe of the time and effort that Jeffrey puts into keeping his blog which seems to be aimed at both teachers and learners. I especially like the postings which offer ideas for using news stories and the media in class. For example, this posting looks at front-page metaphorical language in the British press that was used to report and give opinion on Alistair Darling’s pre-budget statement earlier this week.

• Best resource sharing blog: Learning technology teacher development blog (Nik Peachey)

Keep an eye on this site if you like to keep up-to-date with online tools and resources with teaching potential. Many of Nik’s postings are written to the same format which works very well: The tool or resource is introduced, teaching ideas are offered, advantages and disadvantages are discussed and finally a number of related links are given. It was through this site that I discovered Wordle - my favourite teaching tool of the moment.

• Best teacher blog: Kenneth’s ESL Blog (Kenneth Beare)

Kenneth has been blogging since 2003. I hadn’t even heard of blogs back then. Had you? This is an activity-rich blog that many of my trainee teachers have found useful. It offers grammar, pronunciation and vocabulary activities, ideas for teaching English for specific purposes, and many posting for learners such as tips for self-study and exam preparation.