Holiday Homework - Have a go at writing your first blog post!

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Have you written a blog post yet? Would you like to try but have been worried about how? Now is your chance - and I promise you it really is very easy. Moreover you can have a go in complete privacy if you wish - just follow the instructions below.

First - choose your topic. You could write about what you did with your class on the last day of term, or an activity you tried that went well, or one you'd like to try but have reservations about, or why not just tell us about your holiday?!

Next - click on 'My Page'. That is click on your page not mine. You know what I mean. The third tab along underneath the Talkabout Primary MFL logo; Main / Invite / My Page / ...
Click on the words 'My Blog' and then click on 'Add a Blogpost'. The blog screen should then appear. To write anything just click in the box and start typing. If you want to make your writing BOLD, or Italic, or underlined - first type, then highlight the text with your mouse and then click the little B, I or U icons. See example:

Don't panic if it looks like little strange symbols have appeared on your writing. This is normal and will 'magically' turn into bold, italic, underlined text etc. AFTER you have finished your blog and you click 'preview' at the bottom of the page. Honest.

Now a page of writing isn't too pretty to look at, so you can also add pictures by clicking the postcard icon and even attach whole files to share with people (from powerpoints to word documents to soundfiles, most formats are supported) by clicking the little piece of paper icon. See examples:

Again you won't actually see the pictures/files just yet, but you will see a line of code. Don't worry because you can preview it to check in a minute. When you have finished typing, scroll down to the bottom and you will see your options to save, tag, preview and moderate comments before you eventually get to 'publish' your blog and let everyone see it (or not - your choice). It's a good idea to save a draft as you go along, in case you want to finish it later. Here are some pictures to show what these options mean:
TAGS - used to help people find a blogpost. Put down any words that people might associate with what you have written, or just leave it blank.

When to publish: by default you will find 'now' is ticked, but you can change this to another date/time if you would like..

Privacy - who do you want to see (or not see) your post? You have plenty of choice. If you just want to practise and hide it from the world click the last option, but go on, be brave, let's have a peek!

Comments - this is when people can leave messages for you after your blog. Or not - you decide. You can also choose to moderate comments - in this case you get an email telling you what the comment is and an option to let it be 'published' (seen by everyone) or not (deleted). I rarely use this option on this site, but it is very useful to know about, particularly if you want to go and start your own class/student blog elsewhere as most blog services give you this option.

Finally - let's publish. Ok have a preview first then to check you've got the pictures where you want them. Don't panic if you spot something later - you can always update your blogpost by clicking 'edit blog' even after if has been published, for as long as you like. No time limit!

Now I am on holiday too, so won't be publishing too much myself over the summer - particularly as I am trying to move house as well! But if you have any problems leave me a message and I promise to get back to you asap to help out. Good luck and have a great summer everyone!

[Jo Rhys-Jones]

Hi again Helen - well done! and thank you for wishing me luck with the move. I really really need it!

Something I can help you with though is the picture size - if it is too big it won't appear on the main blog list - well spotted! But it should still appear on the blog itself when you click on it. To make it smaller, remember when you added the picture by clicking on the little postcard icon? and a little box came up and searched for the image like on an email attachment? well then you got a box to click 'ok' BUT just above 'OK' was the word 'options'. If you click on that you can align the image to the right or left, and get ning to make the image small - it offers a thumbnail default size of 300 which is usually fine, but sometimes I go smaller still by highlighting the number and changing it to 200 or 15o. Then check the little box next to this option is ticked, and click 'OK'

...if only moving house were like that. Anyone want to buy my house by the way? please?

[Helen]

Forgot to say- good luck with the house move!

[Helen]

hiya Jo Thanks for the detailed explanation- wasn't my first but I still learnt something! Just wondered why my picture didn't come up on the main part of my blog? is it too big? Don't know how to make it smaller?!
Anyway have a lovely holiday- i feel better now I have got my homework out the way!
Hx