10x3 and other numerics

This getting to be a bad habit - yet another post opens with comments along the lines of "I haven't posted for a while...."

The experiences that inspire reflection are happening, the ideas are there, the desire to write is itching away inside my head (I often find myself 'typing' posts in my head as I do other things, usually with the good intention of writing it all up - or should that be down? - when I get home....)

The missing element has often been time, partly because of this recent development:

...partly because the research projects for my Trinity Dip took up a lot of time, and partly because of a few articles I have written over the last several months, which have used up most of my writing time. As a result, the inspiration and ideas for posts have piled up making it difficult to know where to start - the new job, why I moved on from the old job, completing the Trinity Dip, that role-play lesson I did in January that went down really well, or the really interesting chat I had with a colleague about dogme just yesterday? Not knowing where to start means not getting started at all...

However, come April, I always get the urge to up the ante on the blog again. Why? Well, the annual IATEFL conference and the chance to be a registered IATEFL Online blogger is usually a kickstart. And then there is the blog anniversary - I started this blog way back in April, 2010 and it would be remiss of me to let its 6th birthday pass by without a blog post or many!

One thing bugs me though and that is the knowledge that good intentions often fail to get typed up properly, so I have been thinking of some kind of theme or target to centre my posts on and give me a target for getting back into the reflective blogging mood that has served me so well in the past. I am not one to say "I will write x number of posts per month" as that can easily fall by the wayside. Instead, my idea is this - each month is roughly 30 days long so I will divide each month into three blocks of ten days and assign a different theme to each one. This may result in several posts or it may just result in one (but hopefully it will not result in none!) This will give me something to focus on as well as allowing me to get through some of the numerous ideas I've had over the last few months.

And so for April, the blocks of ten will be as follows:

1. Reflecting on the Trinity Dip course I took last year

2. IATEFL Online 2016 (topical to say the least)

3. Recent reflections on dogme

I won't commit to anything for May yet but possibilities include: language learning and technology; my new role and life in Bahrain; my final days and lessons in Gabon; applying for ELT jobs (been doing a lot of that in recent times); or anything else that inspires over the next few weeks.

Of course, there are 31 days in May so I shall not count May 1st - seems like a reasonable time to take a day off!

Hopefully, I'll be posting here again within a day or two and not with an opener of "I haven't posted for a while..."