In foreign language learning, it is important for students to understand a language's culture(s) in order to understand its place in the world. To that end, and keeping in mind that students learn best when they are engaged in multiple arenas, I think that creating a blog to serve as a portal to foreign media (news stories, video clips, etc) could be a very interesting and useful experience for my Spanish classroom.
A blog like this would help me meet a number of standards, including New York State's LOTE Standard 2: "Students will develop cross-cultural skills and understandings."* By exposing my students to media from some of the countries whose language we are studying, I can encourage them to develop their understanding of those cultures by interacting with it.
Alternatively - or, even better: As well - I could post about class lessons: a summary of today's and a brief look at tomorrow's, allowing students a second chance to ask questions and a first chance to prepare ahead of time, or even request that we spend more or less time on a certain subject. Using a blog like this, to encourage student discussion and involvement, would also help meet standards of community and communication.
*New York State LOTE Standards can be found here.
As you have pointed out, a class blog could certainly be a great portal to foreign media. Having students create their own blogs could also work as a type of e-portfolio to show their L2 development.
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