Can we use blogs in ELT?

Can you, as a teacher, keep your students interested in your class only by lecturing and using only course book? It is almost impossible. So, here is an idea: Why don't you use blogs?

Encouraging your students to write a blog is a fun way to teach English. So how can we use blogs in ELT? Actually it is up to the teacher's creativity but the important thing is to get the students' attention. Of course, the teacher has a critical role here. If you show your students that blogs can reach all around the world, it will get their attention for sure. So, after blogging for some time, when they get a comment on a post from a person from another country, they will realize that their writings are read. They will probably feel more confident and enjoy blogging more.

 You can also assign them to write about a subject. The assignments you choose is very important. Blogging for a class doesn't have to be boring. So, you can simply ask your students to write about the last movie they watched or the last book they read. You can even select a movie and ask your students to summarize it or comment on it. This way the students will not get bored or they will not feel forced.

If you want your students to be more creative, you can write a paragraph of a story on your own blog and ask your students to write the rest of the story on their blogs. 

I have just wrote "your own blog" because you, as a teacher, should be a model for your students. So asking your students to have a blog when you don't have one would not be fair. Blogs can help the teachers in many ways. You can give homework to your students on your blog or you can start a discussion and ask your students to comment on them. You can post the things you want your students to read or watch. 

These are only few examples of the ways that you can use blogs in ELT. What do you think? Do you have any other ideas?