checking in, reminding, thoughts on blog policy

I'm still waiting for Junai, Xuan Bui, Hala and Zoh to introduce themselves. Although I have bio statements on file from their applications, I don't see the point of posting introductions for them. Besides, I don't need the writing practice. LOL. I'm looking forward to reading more about Junai's experiences in Second Life what she thinks about it as a way to learn and practice English. Perhaps she will post an image of her SL avatar.


In case our new members are feeling shy, perhaps a welcome and introduction from "old hands" would encourage them to jump right in. Sadamu, Allun, Rajeev, Mata ~ please welcome newcomers and share your insights...


I have been thinking about my role. Should I just post study materials, links, lessons and not care whether or not anyone participates? I could and perhaps should but it would not help you. You will never become better writers unless you write ~ a lot, better readers unless you read ~ a lot. Participating you read and write, become active learners. Also, Blogging English is part of project on self-paced learning that I'm working on and need your help with. I'll describe it in more detail another time. 


In the meantime, I'll continue posting study resources, links, articles, readings,. What do you need? Feedback and input would help. Check the features below for more learning resources.
Notes about blog features in header, sidebar and at bottom of page: 

• Header, none yet: tabs for any new pages added will be just below the header 
• Tags or labels: the Tag Cloud in the sidebar shows distribution of posts by topic. The larger the font, the more posts on the topic. Individual tags are active links. The tag cloud is a good way to look for study materials by topic in older posts. Active lags (labels) are also at the bottom of most posts.  
• I removed the contributor list that was on the sidebar. It seemed confusing and inaccurate because no others were contributing. I decided to rename the list and use it as a roster that includes past but currently inactive members: Blog Members, Past and Present.  
• Archives: self-explanatory. Most of the post titles describe content or topic
• RSS feeds to English learning sites: BBC English|Words in the News; ESL.about.com
• Learning Links: again, self-explanatory
• Read the News (in English)
• At the bottom of the page: Newsreel about English and learning English; Learning English video bar