I was never a big fan of Twitter before entering British academia (which for some reason comes with having to have an online social media presence, and that presence had better be on Twitter!) It has been such an eye-opener for me. It is informal, supportive and a real goldmine of information and resources for all those involved in ELT! It is a great tool for professional development, as it fosters reflection, cooperation and allows me to hear about upcoming seminars, webinars and conferences that I might not hear about otherwise.
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Intrigued? To get you started, here are the Twitter handles I recommend following:
  1. ELT chat: a weekly chat moderated by ELT professionals with weekly topics chosen by its participants via polls. A summary is also normally offered at the end of the chat. Tune in on Wednesday at 7pm GMT!
  2. CELTA chat:  interested in teacher training? Join the CELTA chat every first Monday of the month at 7pm GMT and exchange ideas with trainers and teachers from around the world.
  3. TEFLology podcast: a lovely podcast on all things TEFL, including research issues and interviews with notable personalities. Definitely worth a listen on your commute to work!
  4. BAAL: the Twitter feed of the British Association for Applied Linguistics
  5. British Council Teaching English: lesson ideas, free resources and accessible publications. Extremely classroom-oriented
  6. English Teaching Professional: brief insights into the latest content from this practical ELT magazine
  7. ELT planning: technologically smart lesson ideas, particularly recommended for work on phonology and pronunciation
  8. Language on the move: tweets in different languages on interesting research on multilingualism, bilingualism and sociolinguistics
  9. ELT event calendar: want to keep up to date with ELT events around the world? Then follow this calendar!
  10. ELF Pron: Laura Patsko and Katy Simpson tweet about their work on English as a Lingua Franca and its applications to pronunciation and listening teaching
  11. IATEFL: follow the account of the International Association of Teachers of English as a Foreign Language to get updates on the yearly conference and all the Special Interest Groups' events
  12. ELT Research Bites: want to keep up with the latest research but can't find the time and energy to sit through a whole paper? With ELT research bites, you can read short and accessible summaries of research to inspire your teaching
  13. TEFL Equity: tweets advocating equal opportunities for native and non-native English speaking teachers in ELT
  14. ​Richard Smith: inspiring tweets about action research projects in ELT especially