Today, the development in information technology has revolutionized how people access information and interact with one to another. Ten years ago, people only get information from static websites that only rely on html language. Now more dynamic platforms have been created to bridge peoples from all corners of the world. One of the platforms is blog. If we type "learning English" in Google blog search, we will get 5,500,000 (five million five hundred) blog posts that are related to the keyword. When I visit several English learning blogs, I see that there are blogs that only contain articles and there are also blogs that provide not only grammar explanation but interactive quiz that is powered by javascript technology. Teachers often give additional explanation of certain subjects that they cannot completely when they were in front of the classrooms. As a result, we see more virtual classrooms have been opened by English teachers to interact with their students. To attract students' interest, blog posts even have videos containing some English dialogues that have been embedded from Youtube.

As a matter of fact, the use of blog in English learning process is not adequate given that most blogging platform such as blogger, wordpress and typad do not have adequate educational features such as quiz tools and online chatting room. A good English learning website should be developed from certain website editors that have adds-on for educational purposes. Adove Dreamweaver has what we call quiz builder, Adobe Flash also has e-learning tools. In open source CMS platform, two e-learning tools are highly recommended for teachers who are interested in building e-learning website They are Moodle and Claroline. These e-learning softwares allow teachers to build interactive multi-media e-learning website including online English language course.

The pedagogy framework of Moodle and Claroline is suitable for running an online course or school. Englishland website is developed as a static website using Microsoft Frontpage 2003. However, to improve the performance and reliability of this website, we have added some quiz and video capabilities. Because Microsoft Frontpage can accommodate pages that have been made using javascript, this English website is able to provide online English tests. As a result in various samples of English conversation lessons, after watching dialog, learners can practice their comprehension by taking the question and answer section below the videos.

English learning blogs and websites greatly help students in accessing tons of information about this international language. Now students or learners can study a lot of grammar and vocabulary materials on thousands or even millions of online pages. Although people can now study English from blogs and websites, these internet tools cannot completely replace the need of attending a real English course programs conducted by teachers in classrooms. So, if you are now studying English from certain websites and blogs, don't forget to enroll in a General English or Business English courses at an English school near your house. by Charles Roring

Also read: Learning English by Blogging