This tutorial is designed to be used by teachers and will provide step by step instructions on how to set up a blog using the blogging platform “Typepad”. 

Please note that Typepad charges a small fee for using the blogging platform. While there are free platforms available, in the opinion of the tutorial author, this platform offers more easily-usable features appropriate to language teachers (for example ease of uploading multimedia materials).

Before you start
To understand what blogs are and how they can be used in language teaching and learning, you may wish to read the 14-19 page on blogs.

What does the training consist of and how long will it take me?

• There are sixteen 3-5 minute video tutorials. These  tutorials offer step-by step guidance on how to set up a blog. Each tutorial is accompanied by a PDF transcript which can be printed out.
• It is recommended that the tutorials are viewed in blocks of 3-5 videos per session. They can be used in a group or by individuals working independently. 
• The whole module will take between three and six hours and by the end of the module, the teacher should have set up a modern languages blog in their school or college.

Index of tutorials

1) Signing up for a TypePad blog
2) Designing your blog
3) Writing a blog post
4) Moderating comments
5) Naming your blog
6) Customising the design
7) Selecting content 
8) Adding an author profile
9) Creating categories
10) Adding an image to a post
11) Uploading an audio file
12) Embedding a video clip
13) Adding a Links TypeList
14) Checking your blog statistics 
15) Checking out the widget gallery
16) Adding a widget manually

Additional reading and resources:
The 14-19 page on blogs includes:

• Case studies of schools which have been successful in setting up blogs
• Blogging platforms and good examples of existing MFL blogs

What will I gain from this training?
You will be invited to share the blog you have made for consideration in the section of our website showcasing good examples of existing MFL blogs.