Welcome to August Issue of Choutari
Editorial:
Change is natural and inevitable. Change is necessary to cope with challenges, to embrace new opportunities, and to take any project to new heights.
In order to build on our success in more than a half decade, we have updated our network’s name, moving our blog to a new site within a domain of our own. Nelta Choutari is now ELT Choutari and its site is www.eltchoutari.com. As an informal, independent group of bloggers and facilitators, we continue to pursue the same goals of enhancing professional development in ELT, while we explore new avenues and make greater impact on the community.
What we had so far was a basic WordPress blog; with this site, we have the full range of functionalities that we can use as needed.
Some facts about our journey so far seem worth sharing with our readers and well-wishers. Over the half a decade, we have been positively overwhelmed by the wonderful engagement of 180,557 visits with around 500 posts and over 1100 comments as of July 31, 2014. We wanted to grow and promote such an engagement with a standard site.
Secondly, when we launched the blog in 2009, we gave it the name NeltaChoutari simply because the group was started by members of the organization NELTA and the group wanted to create an informal space similar to the public square in the countryside. This space belonged to the community, and it was characterized by freedom of expression, informal organization, lack of external supervision, welcoming acceptance of active contributors and understanding when any core member wanted to step aside, spirit of volunteerism, and a passion to give back to the community. However, as time went on, the informal group became bigger in scope and impact and more popular than we initially expected, and some confusion began about what the name meant: is it an official blog of NELTA (which it is not), or is it somehow an alternative space (it’s not that either), why is it not part of the NELTA if it bears such a name?Recently, after NELTA office launched its official blog (Nelta ELT Forum) we wanted to emphasize that Choutari is open, informal, and independent – while acknowledging the forum’s official status and a lack thereof with ours. We believe that informal and open spaces add tremendous value to any professional community. We don’t think that one is better than another, but we do think that an informal space adds a unique set of value.
Choutari continues to be dedicated to discuss, discover and deliver ELT related issues in particular and education in general–with even more energy and commitment. We encourage you to continue to contribute and benefit from the vibrant professional community on this platform.
Welcome to our new site—ELT CHOUTARI!
Here is the list of articles included for August Issue, especially focused on diversity in ELT:
- Diversity in English Language Classroom, by Balram Adhikari
- Diversity and Broader Goals of ELT, by Shyam Sharma
- Talking about Creative Consciousness in Teachers, Jeevan Karki
- Teacher Training: One of the Best Ways of Self-development, by Parista Rai
- Building a Community: What We Value: Reblog by Praveen, Umes & Uttam
- Choutari Writing Workshop #2: Photoblog, by Choutari Team
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Happy Reading!
—
Editor for August Issue
(with Editorial Team)
ELT CHOUTARI
