Selecting a Network to Join

There are a lot of networks out there. A lot. Even in fairly specialized fields there can be more networks than one person is able to keep up with. And so the question arises: which network(s) should I join?

The answer depends on where you are in your networking journey. If you're just starting out then I would recommend looking over and skimming as many networks as possible. Then join the ones that give you a good impression. A good impression here is similar to the impression a first look at a resumé would give you: does it look well organized? If so, dive into the details. Since Blogger is part of Google, I found it very easy to find some interesting Google+ groups. The first step here was actually to customize a Google+ profile, which you have automatically with GMail or any Google module, however until you edit it, it stays blank. So, I tossed on a picture and... that was that!

Now onto the group. I joined the English Language Teaching & Learning group. It has a lot of members and from a scan on the group feed it looks to be a fairly active group with decent content. The shared content is mainly teachers sharing individual activity ideas or things to use as part of an activity. From grammar point explanations to videos you can find all sorts of little bits to use in various points on your lesson.

For example, this graphic was shared in the group:

Original File Here

The original file is a bit bigger and the picture has lots of interesting details.

• The colors make it appealing to younger learners, it looks like a fun cartoon that demonstrates the target words with its images.
• The amount of words allows a vocabulary list for more advanced learners to tackle.
• And there is even a phonetic transcription for really high end learners and/or future language specialists. See the original file for a clearer version of this.

Given this one network shared file, a whole lesson can be made. Or even a smaller series of lessons for younger learners. Creating good class materials takes a lot of time and energy, however with effective sharing such as this, teachers can use a good deal of their time to simply search out materials. The key here is that at some point a creative contribution to the group is expected, though with the time saved by searching, there should be a good deal left for some creating and putting back into the group.