I wasn’t planning to blow my own trumpet, but regular commentator, Keith, told me not to let pride stand in my way, so let me shout it out loud…
My site got featured in T.H.E. Journal! Whoo-hoo!
I launched ESL-Kids.com, a website offering free ESL materials, in 2006. Since then, it has had 2.3 million page views, about 400,000 visitors, and is now frequented by around 1,500 people a day. This month, it got featured in T.H.E. Journal!
The Technology Horizons in Education Journal, was launched in 1972 and was the first magazine to cover education technology and is still the largest publication of its kind with a circulation of 90,000 readers.
In the April issue, there is a five page article on English language learners by Neal Starkman. The author has interviewed a number of teachers who are under pressure from programs like “No Child Left Behind” to get their students up to an academic level within three years. One of those teachers is Linda Rush, a member of the Discovery Educator Network and teacher of 130 “mildly to moderately developmentally challenged students” from ages 6 to 22. She says,
A lot of teachers go into the classroom and close the door. Technology opens it up - it’s your school, it’s your community.”
Neal then goes on to list some of Linda’s favorite ESL websites including my own, ESL-Kids.com:
She downloads videos from TeacherTube. She chooses flash cards from ESL Flashcards. She prints out worksheets from Childtopia. She gets ideas for games from ESL-Kids. She uses ELL activities from Kindersay.
Okay, so it’s only a one-liner, but I’m very chuffed to see my website mentioned in print, plus I get a link from the online version!
Other recent plugs I’d like to thank people for…
Mike talked about my origami site, Oshibori Art, in his post, What is Oshibori Art? He also wrote about our online friendship in Peace Be With My Net Buddy 4 Life… In Japan.
Bill gave a plug for the social bookmarking site, JapanSoc, in his post, Doing What I Can’t Do. He then allowed me to guest blog on the Rising Sun of Nihon, so I wrote a little story of my origami experience before starting OshiboriArt.com.
Shane has launched her new blog, The Tokyo Traveler, and she kindly linked to this blog in her Nihon on the Net post.
Jason mentioned my Google Speed-Search Lessons in his article, The Lull Has Arrived.
Allan, who has a website for Canadians abroad, has been using my math website with his children. Glad you like the worksheets Allan!
Thanks everybody! 
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Wow! I hope your webhost can handle the next rush of traffic, Nick.
If you need help with load balancing, let me know. Perhaps we could fire up some of my experimental technologies and cluster some disparate servers to share the burden
Time to set your sights on something higher. The next challenge will be to get a full interview in T.H.E.
Oh, I don’t know if I’d trust your experimental technologies, Jason. You haven’t yet mastered a Wordpress upgrade!
The fact that I have difficulty with a WordPress upgrade should tell you something about WordPress
Seriously, though … one of the biggest reasons I haven’t done much with WordPress 2.5 is because I’m not a big fan of the post writing screens. That, and the fact that it’s being pushed on us harder than cigarettes at a high school dance isn’t cool, either.
As it sits, I’m currently working on a plugin that will actually increase the security of WordPress 2.x releases by implementing a Read-Only database account for anyone viewing the pages. The problem so far has been the way the software accesses the database, though….
Given enough time and resources, I can get it resolved
Actually, I’m not to keen on the layout of the post writing screen in this latest version. I don’t see why I now have to scroll down to choose the category.
I’ve been hacked many times, so I’d be keen to try out your plugin when it’s ready!
Congrats on the publicity - may it make you rich and even more famous!
Oh, and thanks for the plug back to The Tokyo Traveler.
Congrats Nick! Your sites rule and that’s why people write about them! It’s also why they link love you long time!
“Bookmarked”
EnglishRaven and BogglesWorld now have company!!!
Very nice site.
Thanks Chris! Glad you like it.
It is only a matter of time before your talent is known to millions Nick. Keep at it and I know success will be well deserving for you!!!
Congrats Nick! Keep up the good work!
What a clever son I have. Congratulations Nick. You are on the way