The magical journey of an eTwinner to the world of creativity

“The magical journey of an eTwinner to the world of creativity�

A collaborative story, outcome of the LE Creative writing in eTwinning-a hands on experience 15-23 December 2012

Writers: Irene Pateraki Isabelle Couto Marie-Hélène Fasquel Efthymia Filippaki Carla Asquini Teodora Cosma Dimitris Tsintzas Georgia Kosma Camelia Timofte Edit Viasz-Kádi Evi Tarro Jose Luis Garcia de Diego Nena Mandelj Angela Tsakiri Argyrios Zymaras Fina Vendrell Anna Szczepaniak Evi Kousidou Joanna Zalewska-Coldron Magdalena Goc Grit Brungräber Dara O'Driscoll Maria Vassilopoulou Athanasia Papachristou Rosa Delia Costantino Soudaz Hermina Popa Francesca Anili Ingrid Gallardo Vasilica Gazdac Mirela Tanc Lidia Boje Silvana Turcinovich Petercol Anna Pokorny maria georgiadou

Paraskevas Pinelis

Enza Martorana Betina Astride Füsun Kuleli Karol Barriuso Vasso Oikonomidou

Anabela Brígida Melania Filip Lia Molini Olga Antonioli Fernanda Cristina Gonçalves) Maria Georgousidou Füsun Kuleli Jola Okuniewska)

Summer has come to an end...he couldn't really say if things happened as he was expecting, but now while he was sitting by the seaside watching the seagulls flying around he was almost sure. Any doubts he had disappeared. His only certainty remained: he would fulfill his dream and nobody would stop him.

However, his enthusiasm might be short-lived.

Indeed, after meeting Daniela and discussing their wonderful project, he wondered. Was it true?

Could it happen? Would they both feel up to it?

Why not?

We have excellent and clever students, excellent colleagues. If it was a Comenius project maybe we could find partners from Greece. Imagine!!! Sounds, lights, colors, smells..

Dancing syrtaki at the seaside!!

Of course... what an excellent idea...this was what was missing... eTwinning's community, fantastic friends from all around the world!

But suddenly he woke up to the truth and realized that he was sitting on his favourite old armchair in front of the window, hearing the smooth voice of Irina, the blond young nurse from Ukraine, who was saying:“Don‟t worry, you just had another nightmare!” and “Take your 5 red pills and try to stay calm! The doctor says you can‟t think too much to the eTwinning projects, you know, it is definitely too exciting for your weak heart now”.

It was a dream! He decided to propose that the title for the new Comenius project ''An Important Moment In My Student Life'' and to compose quickly a work plan, to contact colleagues before they get involved in other projects, once with the start of the new school year. *He took the first pill: he travelled back in his childhood, back when he was going to school. The teacher was holding a big piece of wood and everybody was afraid of him. He thought of HIS

children. Were they afraid of him? Did they enjoy going to school or they felt miserable? He had to go on...

He took the second pill: now he was a university student, studying to become an EFL teacher. Student's life in Thessaloniki- Greece... Glorious years... Endless free time, lots of hobbies, numerous friends and the love of his life still with him!

What more could he possibly ask for? He started feeling much better. The nurse smiled at him courageously, but she was still holding 3 pills for him to take...

For a moment he thought it was the right time to swallow the next one but he was afraid of what was going to happen next.

Would he be a human being or he would turn into a butterfly wandering all over the land flapping its wings desperately.

Would he be a wise elf trying to change his fellowsâ€&#x; intentions to fight against the huge black hole beyond...

Open your eyes, Man. It was only a nightmare. And he was hearing the seagulls again. He returned back to the reality.

Thanks goodness. I'm going to fill myself with positive thoughts.

How to get out of this situation? I'll begin to plan my fantastic future. Let me see the first steps. And he started to learn how to create something together. First lecture was about writing together. Yes writing together, but, what about? That is the question? Again, the same problem? What will be the subject to write about: Nature, animals, wild life, European countries, nightmares‌ The third tablet has almost caught him in the throat. He was frightened by and almost ran out of breath. The nurse quickly offered him a glass of water.

When the tablet has started to work, he felt much better. He found himself on

unknown place. Where am I now, he wondered. What am I doing here?

People from many different countries were around him, he could tell by hearing them talking to each other. They all looked familiar to him, but not the place. It was unearthly, seemed like a different planet.

But wait, the Eiffel Tower ...but that's Paris! But what's his connection to France? Could he be the former president Sarkozy, having lost his mind not being elected? No! Something drove him towards the Louvre Museum.

Magnificent! What a concrete spot of culture! He entered, his feet fast on his own mind, he was just a body being transferred.

Then he stopped.....there before his eyes the brilliant Greek marble statue of the Winged Victory of Samothrace...."what a treasure away from home", he thought! He went out of the Louvre feeling fulfilled and happy. His eyes wandered around more, still the place not familiar. What was happening? He went on down the cobblestone streets, it reminded him of Stockholm and its grandeur. In front of him, the statue of Europe on the Taurus stood. "This must be the Europlanet", he thought. "So strange...and all those people around me uttering different words and yet communicating..."

Time for the forth one, where would it bring him to? Maybe to a wonderful place, full of sweet sounds which will feel his soul, a large blue sky with tiny stars shing so bright. Yes, open your eyes, it is true, something has happened that has changed the days before. Who am I? where am I? He feels happy and light like never before. He looks around,... He can see beautiful mountains full of shining snow; he feels the fresh freezing air and can breathe deeply. What an amazing place! He turns around and can see smiling happy people; they invite them into their homes. He wonders "What should I do?

I don't understand the language they speak to me" Never mind they look so friendly... He goes into the cottage, good people invited him, there, and he can see a happy family around the big table. They all are talking, eating and inviting him to join

them. He starts eating and even he starts to understand the languages the people are speaking, he is happy....

He realizes that everything is possible, when you have an open heart and a more open mind! He shares their family table. He discusses with them. He speaks about his family and job. He is a teacher, with a great love for his job. He loves his students and he wants to teach them to have open mind and heart, to express themselves in many different ways... To write down about their feelings and their dreams. To feel free to share their dreams with people around the world. The cottage family is listening to him with great attention. The family's children asks him to teach them too, how to write about their dreams. He is more than thrilled. He wants to stay but he must return to his family and students. But an idea comes to his mind! There is eTwinning!

They can use it to communicate, to learn to write all together!

The first idea that occurred to him was to communicate and share recipes. They can also invent their own recipe by adding one ingredient at a time and make a collaborative recipe in the end. "I guess I'm hungry", he thought. He asked the nurse when lunch is due. She answered that he'll get something to eat in half an hour. Then could I have a cup of tea? - asked he polite. No problem - said the nurse and went to bring a pot full of warm liquid. He drank all tea. It was so nice, smooth and aromatic, just like in China. It was ages ago when he visited the most mysterious country on the world. He didn't ever dream on going to China, but one day...

One World Classroom pen-friend invited him to enter International Art Exchange with his students and thus their long lasted friendship has started.

They exchanged pictures of children showing everyday life in their countries, got to know new friends and started to correspond with them. These pictures were so full of colour, fascinating and amazing, so they will most certainly help to awake memories, remind and could be used to inspire future students to write creative texts in the classroom. They show teenagers in their school uniforms waiting for school to start, Africans in their newly built school singing with teachers, Vietnamese students

rowing to the other bank of the river to get to school, Chinese children cooking together, Indonesian students growing plants for a biology project and American students drawing pictures of themselves. What a variety of scenery! There will be for sure something for everyone to write about.

And so their senses awake and words wander across the lined pathways on the page, staggering a little at first, nervously aiming for balance and control but gradually each word beginning to stride with confidence as the imagination transforms exotic faces, captured through a lens, into characters and frozen settings magically become stories.

Thus collaboration starts and the students sail for a magical trip, that of creative writing, and become all little authors, as they let their mind free and their heart open to express what they see. Yes, that's it..... He thought! I don't need any pills. I need to return, to continue experiencing, to try, to live. And the days went by. He seemed to return to his normal routine. He was so happy with the small daily life's pleasures. A hot cup of coffee with friends, the gurgling laugh of his students, the walks with his dog Rex. But one morning as he was trying to wear his pants, he saw a small red speckle in the corner of the closet. That's where he had put it. The fifth pill. He had no reason to take it. But the temptation was big ...

Not willing to do it, the fifth pill finished in his stomach and suddenly he felt much better. It was winter but the sun was shining in the sky. It was warm and he could see a very beautiful landscape, there was water all around and he guessed he was on an island. He bumped into a kind woman and he asked: Where am I? The woman answered with a sweet voice: You're in Gran Canaria, one of the seven Canary Islands. You're welcome to this place. Are you hungry? Come and eat with us!

We've got some delicious canarian food... Later on I wake

up with only one thinking: "Which way will I solve the situation?

Which way to come out of this mismatch? And I stay laying on the bed for minutes than I decide: "I will write about it" and I started....

And everything goes better.

I know it is a good time to have ideas. Now I'd go further. Now I'd say isn't hard to do a really good job. I know that we can't directly control where our thoughts drift, but we must feel free to create.

What made this clear to me was having an idea in my mind for two month. Online theater. The mounting (online) of a theatre production. What if we work together to make a play? After writing the script, we'll split the roles, we'll choose a stage director and we'll play online.

Suddenly, I started to contact all my friends all over the web, to propose my idea. Some minutes later, we'd arranged a small theatre company. We decided on chat to involve even a very well-known actress. She accepted too. Now, it was to write a plot all together. The basic idea was to tell the misadventures of a person coming from the 21 century that had occurred to live about 4 centuries before. This person was surprised to see how the things had evolved in his present, how people had changed their opinion in material things. A new world had been created from nothing, only from the ember of the world we are living now. But not everything had changed he could see that the spirit of improving, of creating new ideas was still alive. There is no time rush, flowing slowly without changing anything around him, the people, animals, nature. People were different and he felt this approach and this now so close to feeling special and to feel for the first time in his life at home.

The entire sky had become an idiot board and he was reading in quick succession the possible names for his project: …How to prevent side effects …

How to get ol… …How to d…

But a loud trumpet blast from the kitchen interrupted his

creative process another time and brought him back to the harsh reality: a steaming plate of soup waiting for his soul on the desktop.

Tic-tac-toe, tic-tac-toe was saying the tablet, unheeded. ...what a mess! He couldn't move, yet he had travelled the whole world in a few minutes. Flash Memories? Telepathy?

The soup kept looking at him but his eyes were closed. Something surrounded them. He couldn't see. He was only feeling something wet and sweet on his lips. He tried to move. He tried to take off that... was late ... had to reach his loved ones because Christmas season approaching. Hope so you do not have to stay far from his family. He was thinking of all the things he did this Summer! Now he has so many stories to share with the loved ones...near the Christmas tree, surrounded by presents and Christmas carols... What an adventure!!! He will definitely start to write a book about all that happened and share it with his eTwinning friends! As the night was falling, he was finishing the first chapter of his book, when suddenly there was a knock at the door. His wonderful wife Claire brought him some refreshments. "I know you have been working hard, honey so I brought you some of my special cookies and tea. Try not to stay up too late!" She was an amazing woman, and the sparkles in her eyes always reminded him of how much he loved her. He decided to finish tonight's chapter and go and spend some time with the woman of his dreams.

(Tea Ho "Life is so strange sometimes" he thought. It's like the neverending seasons that generously present you with so many gifts: joy and sadness, worries and beautiful surprises, tears and laughs and smiles... But the most important one is love." Yes, he had loved and been loved so many times. There were so many important people in his life... While he was reflecting on his past experiences, he remembered the smiling faces so familiar to him. The negative thoughts started to disappear like a dark cloud blown away by the wind. He remembered his caring parents, his primary school friends and their happy voices, his first girlfriend and how much she had loved him, his wonderful wife and his newly born son, so little and so cute. Yes, he was a

rich man, a lucky man. Life had been a good mother to him and given him its blessings. There was no reason to give up. Not now that he had started to see the light at the end of the tunnel. He breathed deeply with hope and trust and felt grateful for being given another chance. "Yes, life is beautiful" he thought while he was crossing the silent park. It was a wonderful feeling, an unbelievable experience. He realized that he has always had a beautiful life, and he has been given so much treasure he hasn't appreciated so far. It took him so long to be aware of all these!

Then, he started to think of his students. How could share all these magical moments with them? We all have our adventures in our life, stories from our own life, our familyâ€&#x;s life, our friendsâ€&#x; lives ... maybe our enemiesâ€&#x; lives if we have any. Stories, adventures, experiences, that sometimes make you feel negative, maybe depressed or lonely, other times they make you feel that 'yes! I'm on the right track!' He should create several "treasure chests" at school where they would store all these. Maybe even a "time capsule" they would bury in the ground or a "dream jar" to save their wishes and dreams for the future. Nothing must be lost in a lifetime, our past, present and future are all there and they should play their parts in our lives. That is how he would share all this with his students. He ought to show them how we can make the best of things and that we must not ignore our feelings as well. His decision was taken. He would go to school the next day with a whole lot of new ideas!

Dear Sir you are kindly requested to let me leave this place! There is no need for me to be here anymore, I will restart my life without your red pills and my previous black thoughts! Enough! Thank you.

Monday morning, at school.

"Good morning ,Sir! Where have you been all that time? Will you stay with us? Don't leave us again!

He said nothing but he smiled and he started to read loudly a poem

Ithaca When you set out on your journey to Ithaca, pray that the road is long, full of adventure, full of knowledge.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the angry Poseidon -- do not fear them: You will never find such as these on your path, if your thoughts remain lofty, if a fine emotion touches your spirit and your body.

The Lestrygonians and the Cyclops, the fierce Poseidon you will never encounter, if you do not carry them within your soul, if your soul does not set them up before you.

Pray that the road is long. That the summer mornings are many, when, with such pleasure, with such joy you will enter ports seen for the first time; stop at Phoenician markets, and purchase fine merchandise, mother-of-pearl and coral, amber and ebony, and sensual perfumes of all kinds, as many sensual perfumes as you can; visit many Egyptian cities, to learn and learn from scholars.

Always keep Ithaca in your mind. To arrive there is your ultimate goal. But do not hurry the voyage at all.

It is better to let it last for many years; and to anchor at the island when you are old, rich with all you have gained on the way, not expecting that Ithaca will offer you riches.

Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. Without her you would have never set out on the road.

She has nothing more to give you.

And if you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you.

Wise as you have become, with so much experience, you must already have understood what Ithaca means.

Constantine

P.

Cavafy

(1911)

while he was reading the poem, images of his past, happy past began to appear in his mind. He couldn't stop them, but he couldn't stop time either. His students were listening and

watching him, in a sort of spell. They couldn't move but hear.

And Ithaca, with his beautiful shores, sandy beaches and sunny days and fresh nights appeared in front of them. Well... wake up!

The spell is over! This is too good to be truth. Stop dreaming. Stop smiling! Let's face, again, the reality. While everyone was staring at nowhere with a hopeless smile, someone knocked at the classroom door. An unexpected character appeared. Guess who! The nurse. Oh, yes, the nurse! - Hello, Mr. Thompson!... - she said.- Good morning, Mrs...? What's your name? - he asked.

- Oh, My God! Don't you know me, Mr. Thompson!? Oh, My God...I can't believe! It was a very strange scene! The teacher got flushed and started to talk an unknown language, the students were open-mouthed and one of the boys, Arthur, rose up from his chair and said: Oh, my God! He is my mother but she is dead.

How can it be! „Everybody was shocked when they understood that they faced to a dead person. Suddenly she began to walk towards to Mr. Thompson and whispered something and Mr. Thompson was getting blush when he heard her words. She told all facts that when they were young ,they met and fell in love in Istanbul . While she was talking, Mr.Thompson felt so upset, almost getting fainted. Students were still shocked and stood like a statue. The facts were amazing for Mr. Thompson. He felt he was in the deep of a well and decided he should go to the magnificent city, Istanbul to learn the mystery but at the same time he needed some pills before setting out unknown journey to a fantastic city.

A journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step" Said to himself while he was swallowing once more, one of his pills... As he travelled, he began to notice that the road he was on and the people on it with him, all was going on their business. No longer focusing on past events, present depression nor anticipated future events, had he found the journey itself had become interesting as never before. The landscape, so long ignored, gave him sustenance... He looked up and saw the sun just behind some white patches, smiling to him. Lots of swallows travelling far away...winter was coming, it seemed....

That was another misconception of his eyes and mind... he suddenly realized he was travelling again but this time he was

feeling so well he couldn't believe: "I haven't taken any pill for a long time! Maybe finally I'm OK", he thought. He let himself go in that good flow and started feeling the warm weather, and then a fresh salty breeze got into his nostrils and the sound of seagulls away! He was travelling to a place where he had never been but always wished to go for sure. He couldn't explain how that made him feels good!

While looking down from above he was able to identify mountains and plain fields with crops, big cities and little villages , rivers crossing the land and the ocean nearby... "itâ€&#x;s a little country but full of shapes, colours and smells!"... He closed his eyes and let all his body feel all those different sensations and, when he woke up he was astonished. He woke up on a Brazilian net in the balcony of a beautiful cottage house facing the Atlantic Ocean, a beautiful woman was bringing him a tray with nice little squares of bread, gorgeous smelly cheese and two beautiful glasses of wine, "Here we make a toast with Oporto wine! You are in Portugal, you know? ", she said."That's why I was feeling so good! I always heard about how warm and friendly Portuguese people are!" *He closed his eyes happy, drooping of aromatic wine. Salty sea air gave him his pleasant dizziness. He leaned back floating in a sweet torpor. He heard the seagulls, like in a dream, and he smiled as a dear memory. Everything around him began to spin like a carousel. Fragments of images replaced each other in mind: Eiffel tower, ancient Greece, Gran Canaria, Portugal, Ithaca. Images, sounds, lights, colors, smells! Time seems suspended between sky and earth.

From these reassuring images he went to nightmares: wild beasts in the Roman Coliseum were around him and people from everywhere were clapping and shouting. On the throne the Emperor was about to put his thumb down: the red eyes of the ferocious beasts were looking at him. Suddenly he heard a strange noise coming from the sky: someone on a big and coloured balloon was calling him. The balloon was nearer and he jumped so high that was able to be onboard. He was safe. "Well

done! Where are we going to?" he asked the unknown guy. "I will take you to wonderful places and let you meet nice people who will teach you interesting things".No, no, thanks! No more! I've already had enough. All I want for now is to go home. Back where I started. Just like Ulysses. I have been through a big adventure and now I'm wise enough to know what to do. Please, take me back! What a unique experience is doing an eTwinning project! Fear, excitement, satisfaction, suffering, remembrances, minded and virtual teleportation to past and future, real and unreal experiences, passion, contrasting feelings in taking decisions and...more. All that before realizing of being an open-minded learner always in progress! *While reflecting, it was waked up by the melody from the phone. *Was the colleague of the new proposed eTwinning project, which announced him that their project has received the Quality Label Certificate and that on the forum are five messages for collaboration with colleagues from other European countries.

So..., at work! They decided quickly.

They have now a new partnership built by the work done between a group of collaborative learning event and based on a brainstorming. They decided what are the best idea for a successfully project and the partners and they dream about a new subject based on the children's interests and hope that the plan could be a new challenge for the future of education. *He realized very quickly a page entitled ''An Important Moment in My Student Life'' in PrimaryPad and invited all participants to start working. Soon, more and more colleagues from all over Europe were participating and despite the cultural differences amongst them, he had the feeling that what was written was as if it had been written by one single person, by one single teacher. The language of creativity is taught everywhere he thought! After a long discussions and working, all participants understood they had the same opinions as John Dewey said ' If we teach today as we taught yesterday, we rob our children of tomorrow.' Fortunately we have got eTwinning and we teach our students for tomorrow in perfect way.

Soon, teachers, the project coordinators have established the necessary details to achieve a collaborative learning event for students, to learn more new things about the creative , collaborative writing, on the Learning Labs platform, titled "New Coordinates Of The Collaborative Writing". *Finally, all participants joined from different places to eTwinning LearningLabs, felt pleasured because of learning creative writing. So, they all knew 'learning' , 'respecting', 'loving' is a perfect bridge which connect people to each other in universe and with these great feelings, they farewelled but now they all knew they addicted to eTwinning Learning Labs and meeting wonderful people who dedicated to learning and teaching and can't stop themselves joining to the new courses for the new adventures.

The END