Blog Review: Willy’s ELT Corner
By Jocelyn Wright
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By now, you may be familiar with some of the active blogs listed on Top 100 ESL Teacher Blogs & Websites to Follow in 2020 (ELT blogs) (https://blog.feedspot.com/esl_teacher_blogs/). However, you may not yet have seen a new one that appeared on the Internet in December of 2019: Willy’s ELT Corner (https://willyrenandya.com/). If you have been around English Language Teaching (ELT) for some time, you will correctly guess that this blog was created by Willy A. Renandya, a renowned language teacher educator currently based at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore.
Willy’s informative blog, built out of a spirit of generosity and exchange, features six tabs after the Home tab: Blog, Willy’s Publications, Teaching Tips, Research Tips, ELT Links, and what he calls a Laugh Corner because a little humour goes a long way!
Over the past four months, Willy has regularly blogged about diverse topics relevant to ELT professionals. Some of his most recent posts look at extensive listening and reading, implicit learning, writing, technology, vocabulary learning, teaching methods, and publishing! In addition to these more casual reads, there is a quite complete and extensive list of journal articles and book chapters, written or co-written by Willy, as well as interviews he has participated in that may inspire teachers and researchers alike.
In addition to his own tips, he shares hundreds of quality, free access or downloadable resources on useful ELT websites, including skills assessment videos, public domain audiobooks and stories, British Council resource books and teaching videos, ELT concepts and journals, guides to research methods, a free online statistical tool, and much more!
As mentioned when contacted, his aim is to use the blog “to reach out to the thousands of teachers in the region who have little access to TESOL resources” (personal correspondence). As one testimonial on his website already states, “It’s so useful for me and my colleagues to improve our teaching quality. Besides, I also refer to the link anytime I need resources for my research.” Feel free to explore this developing blog, which has already received over 29,000 views! And do share the blog with colleagues. Willy’s goal, as stated in his launch message, is to reach 100,000 teachers by the end of this year.
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Jocelyn Wright, Associate Professor at Mokpo National University, has taught in South Korea for over a decade. She has also taught in France, Quebec, and the Dominican Republic. Her educational background is in linguistics and education. She is always interested in professional development and anything that helps her reflect on her practice.
