The Edublog Awards 2011 – Nominations
November 21, 2011 5 Comments
This year is the first time I can participate in nominating for the Edublog Awards and I’m very excited to give my nominations. I get so much out of the blogs and online resources I use for teaching that it’s nice to give something back in a way to the people who dedicate so much of their time to this.
1. Best Individual Blog
An A-Z of ELT by Scott Thornbury was the first ETL blog I came across. It’s a complete no-brainer for the best individual blog. His posts have been a constant source of inspiration on Sunday mornings over a cup of coffee and I’ve really enjoyed contributing to the comments section.
2. Best Individual Tweeter
@harrisonmike
Prolific tweeter and sharer of resources. Mike crosses over to Facebook too where he is just as helpful.
3. Best New Blog
This one has to go out to Brad Patterson’s Journée in Language, although there was some tough competition. This guy could write the etymology of ‘bland’ and it would still be a thrilling read…
4. The Best Ed-Tech / Resource-Sharing Blog
Nik’s Learning Technology Blog
5. Most Influential Blog Post
Vicky Loras’s ‘What’s your Story?” is the stand-out choice in this category for the reaction it got from the blogging community. Well thought-out, the post achieved something beautiful by challenging teachers out there to share their experience, which I think sums up what is great about the PLN: sharing experience and reaching out to people.
6. Best Twitter Hashtag
#ELTchat
7. Best Teacher Blog
Anthony Gaughan’s Teacher Training Unplugged. This was a tough one, there should really be six or seven categories within this one to accommodate for the amount of great blogs out there. But in the end it is Anthony that gets my vote. He never fails to inspire me with his ideas, and there’s even more to be said about the discussions the ensue in the comments section
8. Best educational use of a social network
British Council’s Teaching English page on Facebook. That’s not just because they gave me blog of the month. It brings together truly the best selection of the ELT world in one place. Great resource. If you’ve not been there, where have you been hiding?
9. Lifetime Achievement
Ken Wilson
Hey Dale-
Merci 4 thinking of me. I have a blast sharing my language wonders, but even more fun interacting with everyone via all of our posts. Saw you nominated on a few other blogs so I wanted to share Chiew’s iASKu, but you know I’m rooting for you too !!!
I swear you’re making an etymological pun with Bland ! It’s actually a fascinating example of semantic change or “bleaching”. Just like Michael Jackson’s “I’m bad” somehow helped bad gain a good connotation, Blandus in latin used to mean “mild, smooth, flattering, alluring”, but over time it simply flipped 180. (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=bland).
Another wild semantic change that I really love is “silly” which moved from “blessed” to “pious,” to “innocent” to “harmless,” to “pitiable” to “weak” to “goofy” and more… http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=silly&searchmode=none
again, BIG MERCI Dale ! Cheers, b
Hey Brad,
It was a tough choice for the new blog category. The problem is that this year so many of them have appeared. It was always going to be case of choosing one over the other. I’d like to give a shout out to Chiew’s iASKu as well; a deserved nomination if there were ever one.
I had no idea that bland had such a fascinating etymology! I swear, it was no pun (although I am quite partial to good pun-based laugh). What say we bring back the innocent and blessed name to silly? Restore it to its rightful place?
Good luck for the nominations.
Dale
DEAL… for silly. From here on out, silly = innocent and blessed. Excited to tell all 2 billion speakers that the ‘standard’ has changed.
With such power comes great responsibility
indeed – innocent and blessed say I
emi