Creativity and etwinning in the school curriculum

“Creativity and eTwinning in the school curriculum” A Creative Classroom Group Edition

December 2013

Editor: Irene Pateraki Language Issues: Theodora Gkeniou

Contributors: Marie-Helene Fasquel, Theodora Gkeniou, Renata Raicheva, Andrea Ullrich, Fernanda Cristina da Silva Gonรงalves, Assimina

Lambrakou,Anna Drakotou, Niculina Chiper, Natalia Tzitzi, Teodora Cosma

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Index Introduction……………………………………………………………………………………………2

1. Creating an online book about environmental issues and

7. Flirting with eTwinning: a burst of enthusiasm………………………….17 8. Graphic novels in the classroom……………………………………………….19 9. Physics and eTwinning project…………………………………………………22

sharing it with other countries' students, commenting on 10. Using eTwinning in the Foreign Language Classroom……………….23

their own creations. An eTwinning project (2013-2014) with 11. Active Learning………………………………………………………………………….25

Turkey, Italy and France……………………………………………..………4 2. A brave new world………………………………………………………………………9 3. Creative use of eTwinning activity……………………………………….……11 4. Be smart, do start……………………………………………………………………..12 5. eTwinning, one challenge to creativity……………………………………..14 6. eTwinning and Geography lesson……………………………………………..14

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Introduction

eTwinning is a successful European action that gives the opportunity to teachers all over Europe to organize collaborative projects with the use of New Technologies. Until now it was part of the Lifelong Learning Programme and from 2014 it will be part of the new European programme Erasmus+. As you will see below, it’s very popular among teachers of foreign languages but teachers of other subjects from all sectors of Education, pre-primary to upper secondary, try to integrate eTwinning projects to their class curriculum. It’s not an easy task but as eTwinning is offering many opportunities for being creative, it’s always possible. And as Theodora Gkeniou, a Greek eTwinning ambassador and English teacher, writes below: To put it otherwise, if “creativity is contagious”, as Albert Einstein claimed, eTwinning projects are the perfect space to “pass it on”.

Irene Pateraki Creative Classroom Group Administrator

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1. Creating an online e-book about environmental issues and sharing it with other countries' students, commenting on their own creations. An eTwinning project (2013-2014) with Turkey, Italy and France.

Last year, I used many different online tools and websites to make my students use ESl creatively in an international context (with students from 2 other countries via the eTwinning platform) in order to defend a cause, the environment. This project competed in the UNESCO Innovation Days Forum in Paris and was awarded one of the 5 prizes (among 500 participants) and was awarded an eTwinning quality label.

The students had to start from their very own environment and had to take pictures illustrating their view of what nature is and then write short articles, which we made into e-books and shared with our partners. Then they all discussed them and exchanged their work and ideas online. The second step was to write collaborative short stories linked to the environment topic and to publish them online as e-books. They also made cartoons using the website Bitstrips. They created online posters to introduce themselves and present them to their high school.

I tried flipping my classroom last year.

All the resources and links http://padlet.com/wall/flipped-class

are

on

Padlet:

Most of the links are here: http://padlet.com/wall/2a-short-story Here are some of the e-books: http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/defending-the-environment http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/our_first_international_ebook http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2__june_2013 http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/comic_strip-marie-001 http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/articles_2a_--_groupe_2--final http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/international-ebook-3 Moreover, my students took part in many competitions: in class and the major problem was to find nice gifts (I’m still trying to find some and was given very useful books to reward them), online (The Paper Planes writing competition), and so on. This similarly motivates them greatly.

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

 

    

The project started with the students taking pictures of their environment and of nature generally speaking. The pictures were to illustrate environmental issues or anything related to nature.

We started from what our pupils felt and thought.

Then, the students described and analyzed the message conveyed by these pictures.

From these discussions, topics and major themes arose and the students wrote articles (the first part of the online ebook) about the pictures and what they stood for.

The students also competed for the creation of a logo for our eTwinning group onTwinSpace.

They learnt how to use the e-book software or online web tool.

All the creations were shared on TwinSpace with our partners and online on Issuu and on Padlets.

We then started commenting on our partners’ creations and discussing their projects too and vice versa.

The students made interactive posters on Glogster (called « Glogs ») – this was also a competition: the best Glogs were selected and awarded a prize as well as a diploma.

For instance, for the best logo 



http://www.glogster.com/ Some of them wrote acrostic poems on http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives /acrostic/) And, last but not least: they wrote collaborative short stories on Google docs : https://drive.google.com/ which were then turned into e-books

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

Glogster http://www.glogster.com/



ReadWrite Think (website) http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives /acrostic/)



Voki – animated avatars (for Twinspace) http://www.voki.com/



Animoto – videos http://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2nq2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQ



Voicethread http://voicethread.com/

Our online tools: a selection ebook creation: 

Mobipocket (ebook creator and reader) http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdet ailscreator.asp



Myebook : ebook creator http://www.myebook.com/



Photorécit : http://groups.diigo.com/group/photorecit



http://groups.diigo.com/group/esl-ebooks

Collaboration Debates 

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Amap : debate mapper http://www.amap.org.uk/create/



Google docs https://drive.google.com/

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Google forms ou Survey Monkey –online http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/ http://fr.surveymonkey.com/



Walwisher : to share notes http://wallwisher.com/

Wordle : for brainstorming purposes

Creation of multimedia content

surveys

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

Pen io : web page creation http://pen.io/



Diigo – sharing links

The eTwinning first request

The aims of the project are to share ideas with students from around the world in a creative and collaborative way. The second aim is for the students to improve their command of English while studying an important topic and while using English in an authentic way.

-- First and foremost, the students are analyzing nature and trying to make pictures/videos with a message and we'll soon analyze them. They will discuss the messages together and decide on which ones they will use in the project and what specific environmental problems they want to tackle.

Creating an online e-book about environmental issues and sharing it with other countries' students, commenting on their own creations.

-- Then, they will start working in groups: writing articles, essays, poems (such as acrostic poems for instance), short stories, about their specific topic.

The online e-book will be a collaborative creation and will be made up of texts written by the students (articles, opinion essays, poems, short stories), pictures (taken by the students and which will be the starting point of the project and of the students discussions, and other pictures), videos (made by the students).

-- We'll make an e-book from all these activities and share them with our partner.

This e-book will be shared with the partner's students who will comment on it and interact with the French students. Similarly, they will share their own creations for discussion with my students.

-- Our partner will choose her topics and share her students' work with us too so that both groups of students should be able to discuss the different projects and interact in as a natural way as possible.

- better knowledge (even an intimate knowledge of the chosen topic)

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- making friends from different countries, - learning to respect other countries' values, differences, ideas, - improved command of English - being at ease to use English as a communication language - authenticity.

- Poems (acrostic poems for instance, using online tools), - Short stories about the environment.

You will make it together, using collaborative online tools.

The next step will be to share it with classes from other countries and to ask them to comment on your work, ideas,...

Everything will be shared on TwinSpace (eTwinning platform).

They will also provide their own projects which we will discuss as well.

Lesson plan (what I’ll do in class to bring ideas & to make students think about the topic)

This project is an online collaborative project.

Major task

To help you complete your task, you will discover many facets of the problem in class and on your own thanks to our lessons but also to our web page:

You are going to make an ebook using pictures, videos and texts to discuss environmental issues.

The ebook will be divided into different parts : - The analysis of your own pictures and videos, - Your ideas about the topic, what you want to say about the problems,

http://environment.pen.io/ and Diigo group: http://groups.diigo.com/group/projet_environnement

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In class: we will study various texts, film extracts, audio files

1- Brainstorming (The Environment) / vocabulary (Extracts from : Bac en vue, toutes séries, Spécial Vocabulaire, MarieHélène Fasquel, Ellipses, Paris).

2- Logo creation 3- Test: are you ecofriendly?

4- Video: Beds are burning 5- Environmental crisis 6- Manifesto / poster / powerpoint (diaporama) / glog…  the students write about what they have so far understood, learnt.

7- Extracts from An Inconvenient Truth 8- Minor task: making a Podcast about an environmental cause.

9- Assessment: Tree fighters (listening test), America goes green (reading test)

Group work: writing the book, imagining the poems, short stories, learning how to use the tools & how to write these types of texts.

Marie-helene Fasquel English Language teacher France

2. “A Brave New World” In Dead Poets’ Society, Mr. Keating used to advise his students: “Avoid using the word ‘very’ because it’s lazy.

A man is not very tired, he is exhausted.

Don’t use very sad, use morose.

Language was invented for one reason boys – to woo women-

In the computer lab, you will prepare your tasks We will keep studying the topic.

You will analyze your pictures & videos, start thinking about the articles you are going to write.

and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do” This quote made quite an impression on me, from the very beginning. Being a language teacher, I found that it encapsulated the quintessence of the message I had been trying to pass on to my students ever since I set foot into a classroom.

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On a second thought, I realized that it applies to a variety of situations since it refers not only to language use but to our philosophy as teachers and learners, even further to our entire lifestyle. It is not enough to carry through a project, just to get it done. It simply won’t do! One has to invest time, effort, mental processing so as not to be mediocre, to reach a level less ordinary, to allure his/her audience.

Yet, to be extraordinary, you have to be inventive; you have to be imaginative; you have to be creative! I have often felt that creativity has become the Holy Grail of education. Everybody is pursuing it, but few, if not any, have found it. What does being creative entail, though? Having a fresh approach to much discussed subjects, looking at things from a different angle, thinking outside the box, making the most of the available resources, are only few of the ‘ingredients’ of the magic potion!

When teaching teenagers, you know that they get bored, sometimes even cynical, in a split of a second, when they don’t feel stimulated, enlivened, energized by the educators. For me, as well as many other colleagues from all over Europe, the involvement in eTwinning projects opened up a ‘brave new world’. It became a springboard to activate and vitalize my pupils as well as myself, by sparking the flame of creativity.

So, paraphrasing the aforementioned quote, I believe that teachers are meant to engage their students, and in that endeavor, laziness won’t do. We have to stimulate their imagination by going beyond the obvious, by experimenting, by implementing new methods, by having our toolbox filled with new ideas and techniques. And in this endeavor eTwinning projects can be of assistance to us in multiple ways; as stimuli for authentic learning, but also as a means for professional development, which goes hand in hand with our own personal growth.

To put it otherwise, if “creativity is contagious”, as Albert Einstein claimed, eTwinning projects are the perfect space to “pass it on”.

Theodora Gkeniou English Language Teacher E-twinning Ambassador Greece

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3. Creative use of eTwinning activity E-twinning project Holidays and Mindmapping is suitable for creative use. It motivates pupils to make amazing mind maps of holidays in different European countries. The participants are from Bulgaria, Italy, Portugal, Romania and Turkey. They worked with pleasure and made beautiful drawings, paintings, posters and mind maps. Mindmapping is a good way to provoke children to be energetic, creative and talent. The project motivates kids to learn more and to improve their own language skills and English. Pupils presented wonderful products in this reference. Here you can see some children’s mind maps. Hope that you will like them!

Project link:

http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p80896

Children’s mind maps:

Renata Raicheva English teacher Bulgaria

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4. Be smart, do start

eTwinning has become part of my teaching in several classes.

There are my year 6 students who got addicted while working on the “Across the miles to you” project and asked for the next one as soon as we closed the blog. So we joined “Europe’s sweet tooth”, prepared presentations on recipes, created logos, posters, etc.

Shortly before Christmas we organized a bake sale: prepared cakes, using our partners’ recipes, and donated the money we earned to charity - a great way to link an eTwinning project to the students’ wish to help others who are not as lucky as they are.

So, that project has constantly been in our lessons, but the most creative and fun part was our fashion show. I usually have that kind of activity in year 6, but this time we dedicated it to the project, which gave it an even more enjoyable and motivating touch.

Students presented clothes in groups, some of them designed their outfit and found names like “Sweet and Snow” for their design.

Even the boys, who presented sportswear, told us their outfit was perfect for a good work-out after tasting too many desserts found in TwinSpace .

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But there is another class, usually reluctant and waiting for you to entertain them… I joined the “Be smart, don’t start” project with them. And what a surprise, with an activity for a local health campaign I got them.

practiced conditional sentences we had to smile, reading some statements ;) http://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammar

First I asked a young colleague, music teacher, if he could compose a song for us…then I brought the idea of creating a non-smoking song to our English lesson. In groups we worked on lyrics, decided on our favourite versions, and then students took them to their music class. My colleague created the tune, and they started practicing. When we performed the song at the town theatre with all year 8 students of the local schools around and got a special award for that, they were ready for going on with the project.

We asked our partners to contribute a stanza to create a collaborative song. http://padlet.com/wall/besmartsong Every week we check TwinSpace for the latest uploads, one student presents what’s new and we leave some comments on our partners’ cartoons, videos, etc. And, of course, the project provides us with the best examples to be used in language exercises. It’s more interesting to put phrases from a partner’s cartoon into indirect speech than just using the textbook. And when we

Andrea Ullrich Gymnasium Georgianum Hildburghausen, Germany

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5. eTwinning: one challenge in creativity

With preschool children, eTwinning is a challenge all the time.

Children can make researches, interact with other children by videoconferences and cooperative activities, they can improve the knowledge in using the computer as they are native digital children, and they can learn different languages.

The creativity in using eTwinning is a challenge because they can work different projects in an interdisciplinary way. Sometimes the colleagues ask me, how I can implement my projects because I have a lot, in their opinion. For me it is easy, because I have and I work the projects in different curricular areas and when I do some activities, in one activity, I can cover all the areas that I want to work and I can develop all the competences I want the children to acquire. In this way one activity can belong to more than one eTwinning projects and children love work like this, because they have always new things to do, there is novelty all the time. For me, work as I do, is a creative way of using eTwinning. ETwinning nowadays is my way of working with children; they give ideas for implementing the projects and sometimes it is surprising what they can do because they are only between 3 and 6 years old. It is amazing!

The participation and collaboration among children develops the learning in the process of producing, raising questions, researching

and creating relationships that encourage new searches, discoveries, understanding and reconstruction of knowledge and understanding of the world. The role of the teacher is important for creating different kinds of learning situations and the mediating role of knowledge.

Fernanda Cristina da Silva Gonรงalves Preschool teacher Portugal

6. eTwinning and a Geography Lesson.

Thoughts and proposals on using e-Twinning projects in the Geography class: We must not forget that the most prominent feature of eTwinning projects is the development of cooperation as well as teamwork spirit. It's not always easy to do so, however, it's worth giving it a try. The satisfaction and the benefits of this process can reward our efforts.

Geography lessons at the second grade of high school are about Europe. The subject is suitable to be developed in cooperation with other schools from Europe and that's what we did last year.

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We took part in two projects: “Let’s discover Europe” was the one in cooperation with 24 other schools, and the other, ours (in the sense that it had been suggested by us), “Baltic sea – Mediterranean: two closed seas – two big hugs”. Α. “Let’s discover Europe” We tried to integrate the project into the curriculum of the subject of Geography, according to the specifications set for the second class of high school by the Ministry of Education.

Through every progressive step of the ''Let’s exchange information'' activity, we produced reports and we engaged into discussions based on our book.

The e-lesson we formed was supplemented with materials created with interactive tools (pps, camtasia studio-video, youtube, articulate quizmaker). The choice of the way we would present our topics was made in the class during the normal teaching procedure, with the use of interactive devices use as IWB, video, pc, lesson plan, and questionnaires. Afterwards we made the presentation material ready in English, to be posted in twinspace. Rather than getting into more detail about the part of the lesson relevant to history, structure and functions of the EC, we decided to make an appointment in order to visit the European Parliament offices! For this reason and after a discussion made in the class, we prepared

the questions which we wanted to ask and students did this with real pleasure.

One more aspect of the project that activated the students was the additional research work in order for them to collect the necessary material. The research took place at home, using books, the internet and Facebook.

Finally, for the presentation of the rivers of Europe, we ''took advantage'' of the relevant sample teaching of the educational adviser Mr. Georgios Pavlikakis. After it was tested at the classrooms, we gave it the proper form so that the students of the other cooperating schools could watch and check the acquired knowledge. The same process was followed in our presentation on the subject “European seas”. The quizzes following the presentations became part of the final lesson exams.

B. “Baltic sea – Mediterranean: two closed seas – two big hugs”.

The task was integrated into the Geography lesson and the respective chapters of the textbook of the second class of high school yet where it was necessary, some items matched the curriculum of the first class of high school.

Since both the sections related to the seas, we had a discussion/research in the class, helped by the book, concerning the similarities and differences between these two seas. In our

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report we used also data from the first class of high school geography book and specifically the chapter Water in nature. We gathered the relevant material and got a course ready using the scribbler tool that is quite easy to use. We translated the texts and sent them to the partners to be used and completed. Thereafter, based on the course's material as it was prepared, we made a quiz to test students’ knowledge in the Greek language. We checked it out in the class to certify the convenience in use but also the gained Knowledge for ourselves. It was translated in English and using the photopeach tool we uploaded it on twinspace site for our partners.

In the course’s section concerning EU, history, structure, functions, state-members, currency etc., we studied in brief the info in the book, made a questionnaire and asked for a visit to the European parliament offices in Athens Greece. The presentation on behalf of the Office representatives as well as the conversation following the questions we had prepared, became an interactive lesson, in an almost entertaining way, despite the long duration of our visit to the Bureau. Back to school we returned to the book's material and through this all the gained Knowledge was confirmed. Τhe inquiry which consisted of a certain number of quizzes, organized in such a way as to relate with the presentations, as part or as the whole throughout the trimester of the final lesson exam.

Outcomes and benefits

Progress in awareness: We've come to realize the similarities and differences, so we enriched our knowledge as a natural consequence of the networking contact.

ICT usage We could run the program according to the lesson while having the chance to try out web2.0 tools which helped us with the communication and collaboration in order to accomplish our goals.

Activating and developing creativity: We integrated successfully the project into teaching.

During the programs, students worked out information, created questionnaires, expressed their point of views and knowledge in order to correspond to the specific themes explored in the course and the project.

The school opened up to society; We organized and informed the parents at the beginning of the school year's period.

Kids got their parents involved into preparing the questions asked to the European Parliament representatives in Greece.

They had contact with European Parliament representatives in Greece and interviewed them.

From time to time we displayed some of our activities in a blog and to facebook so as to be judged by the users.

Development of team working spirit and self-respect: through the activities, when there was a reason and need for someone to work in a team, we proved the necessity for teamwork and rewarded it.

The effectiveness provided the basis for growing self-respect and the integration of each student in a working team played an

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important part. Yet the individual participation contributed a lot to the self-respect development through the results and contact.

Growth of critical sense: the growth of critical sense among the team members was due to the collection of elements via research and presentations as in the communication and the "acceptance" of elements.

We did practice and improve our Knowledge of the English language.

During this year I consider that I engaged several students as far as participation and self-respect development is concerned, thanks to these programs' activities.

You could check our action points down here: http://baltic-mediterranean.blogspot.gr/ http://discovereu.blogspot.gr/ Assimina Lambrakou Teacher of Physics Greece

7. Flirting with e-Twinning: a burst of enthusiasm!

Teaching has always taken out the best of me in order to be creative, giving, inventive, imaginative, effective and efficient.

Teaching along with e-Twinning, e-learning courses, groups and learning activities has helped me enrich my knowledge, develop my imagination and use such creativity more effectively in class.

Being an EFL teacher for some time now, I assure you that eTwinning offers new ‘portals’ to differentiated teaching and learning. Being a novice user of web 2.0 tools, I was hesitant at first, when our school advisor introduced the idea of joining eTwinning to make a difference into our teaching. When I did so I got hooked!

Without realising it, I started three projects, one for every grade of the junior secondary school I taught. It was out of an ongoing enthusiasm shared with my students; out of an initial need to have a good time while being at school. I started planning and preparing the scenes of all projects progressively.

So, the content of these projects was inspired by school coursebooks and the objectives set by the EU for 2012 -13. ‘Think Teen and Join in’ for first graders, “European Youth Murals” for second ones, and “ Our Political Party” for third graders; all three

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integrated in the curriculum, of a social content and relative to the psyche and values of a teenager’s personality.

and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL); we had Geography, Art, History, Languages, Culture, ICT.

The participation and cooperation was enthusiastic and the outcome quite rewarding. All of them got a National and European Label and the last one on democratic values and active citizenship got the first prize in a European competition. Both students and teachers shared a feeling of achievement and fulfillment.

It has been a different year full of enthusiasm, surprises, fun-inlearning, tech-skilful lessons, art, awards and rewards for all the school community, both the doers and the viewers, thanks to the eTwinning programme.

What is the most important though, is that the students’ awareness and self esteem is boosted. During the program, the students processed information, prepared questionnaires, formed opinions, expanded their knowledge so as to respond to specific topics. For the first time, the school itself came out in society; the parents were skeptical but helpful; on the other hand, my colleagues were hesitant.

Anna Drakotou English Teacher Greece

I introduced videoconferencing via skype I did not expect the reactions I saw! E n t h u s i a s m to the fullest, as well as surprise accompanied by exclamations like: They are like us! Skype contact remained unforgettable. We inspired and were inspired!

I would definitely urge you to join eTwinning community for it is flexible because it can support the teacher who wishes to improve his/her learners’ language skills and at the same time to instill values in students. It caters for all subjects by attempting Content

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8. “Graphic novels in the classroom”

The initial step was to research the genre of graphic novel (i.e.

Through the “Graphic novels in the classroom” (http://newtwinspace.etwinning.net/web/p83117) project, the students were trained to create graphic novels, having as a starting point well known tales, which involve a positive modeling of expectations, to nurture an instinctive analytical demeanor and design an autochthonous interpretive method, using pictures (drawings or TIC instruments) and written English language. The project can be easily carried out in any other school. The students proved to be open to the idea, placing a prospective line of work based on the subject in their future.

The project is unraveling at eTwinning.net, is addressed to pupils between 14-18 years old and gathers together the contributions of 8 partner schools. The aim of “Graphic novels in the classroom” is to facilitate intercultural dialogue among European students, by creating graphic novels (illustrative narrations) with various themes: cultural diversity, genre complexity, folklore, ethnicity and globalism.

What

the

Heck

is

a

Graphic

youtube.com/watch?v=P8-04ISNPsA;Introduction

Novel? to

-

Graphic

Novels -slideshare.net/RaeAnna/graphic-novels-1137714).

Unlike the species it branches from, the illustrative narration is forging its story using by-products of comics: nonconventional plots animated by visual arts and text. The term however can describe nonfiction or short prose, sequentially composed to fit the style. As the text is available together with the image, the reader can decipher the intrigue without translating the words or even reading them. The graphic novel invites the reader to participate more lively in the action and therefore become aware of the adventure unraveling in front of their eyes.

Following research, individual blog presentations and information about origin school/town/ country were posted.

Students displayed actual interest in the issues of partner schools through comments.

Subsequently, a draft analysis of some illustrative novels was done and reference authors were identified and studied.

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Student papers were consistent with rigorous, eloquent analysis

(slideshare.net/nchiper/the-tale-of-harap-alb-by-bogdan-cameni,

(cohesion between visual and linguistic articulation, sequential

slideshare.net/nchiper/the-tale-of-harap-alb-by-ciprian).

essence, character evolution) and a further analysis of target

The exhibition displaying the illustrations took place in the

audience (as it is focused on certain age groups with specific

high school premises and was a relish for teenagers. Another expo

interests). Romanian students have chosen the following graphic

took place during a workshop organized by Information Centre

novels: “The Picture of Dorian Grey” (Oscar Wilde), “From Hell”,

Europe Direct Bucharest, hosted by European Institute Romania

“The Ballad of Halo Jones”, and “Promethea” by Alan Moore.

called “Ways to promote active citizenship among young

Our team has faced a challenge by deciding to illustrate a

population”.

novel studied in Romanian Literature class. The students came up

All the schools involved in the partnership enjoyed a fruitful

with two independent versions of graphic novels, inspired by a

and pleasant cooperation. All the information, notes and reading

folkloric fantasy original to Romania, The story of Harap Alb, by Ion

were posted by the Norwegian team, the founder of the project. All

Creanga. It was hard work for Ciprian’s team, to convert into

the comments and correspondence bear witness to synergy and

drawings the essence of the story, and it took them two and a half

efforts submitted by collaborators throughout the tasks. The

months to do so. On the other hand, Bogdan’s team forged a digital

partner schools were unconstraint in choosing topics and manners

version quicker, by familiarizing with web 2.0 tools such as

of developing and formulate final products. The views of the

Blabberize, Voki, Xtranormal, Go Animate, Make Beliefs Comix and

students and teachers regarding the on-going of the project can be

other such. The combo of illustration and English text promoted an

found in the handout of the evaluation module.

easy communication of the plot.

The complexity of the universe comprised by the graphic novel and the hard work involved in the genesis of this project

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caused the students to appreciate the capacity to tell a story in English using images and illustrations.

Contemporary educational tools and methods are in continuous reshaping and renovation to sync up with technology.

Making good use of technology and information require a certain type of attitude, criticising and analysing the quality of the information. Delivering ideas and information in a foreign language has a lot to do with communication in our mother tongue, but also involves intercultural apprehension. Raising awareness towards the importance of cultural assertion requires a grasp of the relevance

Niculina Chiper

of ingenious ideas, an open minded view towards cultural diversity

Liceul Teoretic ”Nichita Stănescu”,

and the European linguistic heterogeneity.

București, România

The eTwinning “Graphic novels in the classroom” the parties involved initiated an original cross-curricular dialogue.

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9. Physics and eTwinning project Here are some thoughts and proposals about developing Physics tasks as part of an e-Twinning project.

Let’s keep in mind that the most important aspect of e-Twinning projects lies in the growth of cooperation and teamwork spirit. It's not always easy to be achieved, however it's worth trying. The pleasure and benefits of this process has been the reward of our efforts.

First let’s make clear what cooperation means in our case. It entails sharing responsibilities among the teams involved; it is thus gradually understood that the participation of each team affects the participation and effectiveness of the others, as well as the entire outcome of the project. Moreover the national teams do not merely contribute in each part of the project separately but they collaborate closely on every stage towards the final product.

Having this in mind and based on the last year's experience, I can suggest two activities that can be implemented in the Physics classroom.

The subject of Physics, which is taught at the participating schools, was enhanced in a Scribbler with simple words and figures, taking thus advantage of the potentials offered by this learning environment.

The cooperating schools, using web 2.0 tools such as Prezi and Google doc., in real time or not, compiled a questionnaire relevant to the lesson.

By using photopeach, quizmaker/internet and google docs, a quiz is set in order to confirm the knowledge gained by the children.

As for Storybird, the cooperating schools were divided in small groups of students, so that the users of the tool are assisted and the results are improved. The stories were created on the topic: the story of the small bulb "To glow".

The fairytales were read with the participation of the school community members.

One of the teams assigned the fairytales e-book creation while another team was engaged in creating pictures relating to the stories.

A. the story of the small bulb "To glow" (Referring to the function of the simple electric circuit in a fairytale form for children.)

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Example: http://issuu.com/assil/docs/__________________

End. Example: http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p88836

Β. I can explain it!

(Accounts of natural phenomena as they become known every day and their explanation according the physical laws) The collaborating groups have to upload photos and videos on twinpace, about the phenomena observed in everyday life. These are saved in a particular space.

Every single team (group) had to interpret the phenomenon as showed on the picture or video clip by using the laws of physics as well as some interactive tools like, video, pps, google doc etc.

So finally the presentation of the teams' work has been designed using Prezi tools (so that all the activities are included) and connected in real time.

The most active and effective team has been awarded a prize, even though I would have preferred just to exchange gifts as souvenirs (e-gifts or real one), in order to avoid developing inferiority complexes to the rest of them.

Assimina Lambrakou Teacher of Physics Greece

10. “Using eTwinning in the Foreign Language Classroom” As an EFL Teacher for more than two decades, I have noticed repeatedly that students, particularly Primary School ones, get easily bored in class. There are a number of tricks that the teacher can use to attract their attention and increase their motivation but, in my opinion, nothing compares to eTwinning because  it involves ICT and, as everybody knows in this line of work, children both love computers and are expert at using technology. I am very proud to admit that my pupils have taught me quite a number of ICT lessons. For example, Paul, an 11-year-old showed me how I can build my own blog page and Joseph, a Fifth Grader, downloaded for me and showed me how I can use “HyperCam”

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it caters for all subjects. Attempting Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL), I was obliged to teach various subjects in English. eTwinning came in handy in that case, too. More specifically, in last year’s project “Let’s talk about our countries”, the 5th Graders studied Geography, collected information in English and prepared powerpoint presentations of Greek castles and islands as well as a presentation of their hometown in English. Moreover, other subject teachers such the Music Teacher, the Drama Teacher and the PE Teacher cooperated with the English Teacher and facilitated the children in singing and dancing regional dances and staging myths and legends for their partners to watch on TwinSpace. Click on the links to watch “The Myth of Europa” and “Alexander the Great and the Mermaid”. For these short performances, the children studied Greek Mythology and History in English and acted out the myth and the legend in English, too. it is flexible because it can support the teacher who wishes to improve his/her learners’ language skills and at the same time to instill values in the children. To prove my point, I should mention two projects, “Volunteerism and Human Rights” (school year 2011-12) and “School Reporters” (school year 2012-13). As part of both projects, the learners improved their writing skills because they had to contribute their own articles to the partnership online magazines (“Volunteerism and Human Rights” and “European Stars”).

More importantly, the former project raised the children’s awareness of the value and importance of altruism and

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volunteerism and eventually led to an increase in volunteering within the whole school while the latter taught them journalism ethics such as reliability, objectivity, integrity, politeness and respect for the public’s self-dignity, which are all fundamental but scarce in contemporary journalism. it is fun! Doing away with the coursebook (or so the pupils think), giving a plausible excuse to leave the classroom and visit an NGO, another school or listen to an expert at school, preparing a performance, singing, dancing, experimenting with online tools or talking with project partners on Skype are only a few of the advantages of doing an eTwinning project, all of which are fun for the children. it boosts children’s self-esteem. At the end of every school year an eTwinning Event is organized for the pupils to present their work to their school mates, teachers, family and friends. After the presentation the children feel they have accomplished something special because everybody congratulates them on their Foreign Language skills and the amazing things they can do in the ICT class preparing voki profiles, making and uploading powerpoint files, chatting and finding their way around New Technology, in general!

That is why, I assume, everybody at school wants to take part in an eTwinning project.

Natalia Tzitzi English Teacher Gree

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11. Active Learning Through the eTwinning projects, the activities of the students are more collaborative, they are interested to cooperate with colleagues, to learn new things, to be creative.

In math lessons, students were interested: 

to apply theoretical and practical knowledge about the similarity of triangles to determine the height of a tree;

Teodora Cosma Maths teacher

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to solve crossword puzzles and problems, in contest between groups, with roles of personages from the fairy tales; to solve exercises and issues through exposures, comparison, analysis, debates, explication; presentation of knowledges and problem-solving through collaborative activities for realising of interactive posters, for fixing and deepening of the knowledge.

Romania

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