NEWS ALERT! In 2016 #AusELT‘s monthly Twitter chats will be moving to Sundays instead of Thursdays, in an effort to work around everyone’s busy schedules, though the time (8.30pm Sydney-time) remains the same. And that means the first chat of the year is coming up on Sunday 7th February! (Click here to see the time where you are.)

If you are new to #AusELT, here are some facts about our Twitter chats:

• they began in 2012
• they happen on the 1st Sunday of every month between February and November
• they focus on issues around ELT especially in our region/context
• they take place at an accessible time for people in this hemisphere
• they are a great way to personally connect with other ELT professionals
• they might be 1-hour live chats (great for fast-paced discussion)
• they might be 24-hour ‘slowburn’ format (great for sharing links and tips)
• they are led (‘moderated’) by the #AusELT admin team, #AusELT members with a special interest in a particular ELT area, or even guests who are experts in the field
• previous special guests have included: Mark Pegrum, Scott Thornbury and Jim Scrivener
• topics are selected by the community or set by guest moderators
• recent topics have included: effective group work, LGBT issues, and MALL
• you can read summaries of most of our chats via our blog contents page

In the past we have had regular shout-outs for topics and then voted on these, which had definite benefits but was also quite time-consuming to manage. So this year we’d like to experiment with doing one big shout out for topics at the start of the year, and then using these to help us schedule and set up chats throughout the year. And we promise: there will still be plenty of room for changing the schedule if something new and interesting comes up, if an #AusELT member puts their hands up to run a special-interest chat, or if a guest moderator unexpectedly gets nabbed!

So let’s start by brainstorming some topics we could discuss in 2016! Leave your ideas in the comments, on the #AusELT Facebook page or on Twitter using the #AusELT hashtag.

If you would like some help getting started with Twitter, click here. You can also follow me (@sophiakhan4), Lesley Cioccarelli (@cioccas), Nicki Blake (@Penultimate_K) and a number of other #AusELT members – tweet to us for help and we’ll look after you!

And if you would like to volunteer to lead a special interest chat, please also let us know – we’d be happy to schedule you in, provide guidance and support you ‘on the night’ 🙂

Twitter can be a brilliant place for sharing and developing ideas, gaining perspectives, and connecting with others. Hope to see you out there in 2016!

This post by @sophiakhan4