This section is devoted to creating a new professional online social network for English teachers in Madrid and Spain. Like me, most of you probably know little or nothing about the new "social networking" sites popping up all over the internet. But, what little I know tells me that these "light" social networking tools could possibly really get "heavy" when applied to the needs of the profession, and that the sooner we get it started in a big way, the better for all of us collectively.
(Aug. 3)
What do I want you to do?- Join LinkedIn (or Facebook or XING)
If you're an English teacher, DOS, academy owner or are otherwise a TEFL professional in the Madrid and Spain area, I'd like you to join LinkedIn.com and network with me and others in the sector in Madrid. (My profile on LinkedIn: .) Also, I'd like you to join the group I've created there. (If you for any reason prefer or feel free to join me there instead - or in addition. (Some people have already chosen one or the other.)
I've created a couple of groups for you to join as well: and I'm helping to promote this previously existing group:
Why do I want to do this? - To improve contacts in the sector
I think that everyone in the sector will benefit tremendously if we can get beyond petty competitiveness. If we reach a critical mass of professionals, the top teachers and top jobs (DOSes) will be able to find each other much more easily and quickly, and schools will be able to stay in contact with more teachers than ever. That's the theory anyway. Bear in mind that I'm new to this too. Help me to make it real.
My feeling is that if you're impressed with what Google and MadridTeacher.com are doing for schools and teachers, wait till you see what these types of sites will do for you if we can get them off the ground (for us, because for "them" they're already getting millions of visits and members). My feeling is that early adopters will benefit enormously, so get to it.
Here are a few videos explaining explaining social networking and LinkedIn.com:
A general video about social networking
A general video about LinkedIn
LinkedIn Inside Out
A video about Company Profiles on LinkedIn
A video about Facebook, My Space and LinkedIn
A video about Privacy and Social Networks. Sorry, there's got to be a bad side to everything I suppose.
What do I want you to do? - Join LinkedIn (or Facebook or XING)
A general video about social networking
