creativity and etwinning in the school curriculum

8/13/2019 Creativity and eTwinning in the School Curriculum

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reativity and eTwinning in the school curriculumA Creative Classroom Group Edition

December 2013


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Editor:Irene Pateraki

Language Issues:Theodora Gkeniou

Contributors:

Marie-Helene Fasquel, Theodora Gkeniou, Renata Raicheva,

Andrea Ullrich, Fernanda Cristina da Silva Gonalves, Assimina

Lambrakou,Anna Drakotou, Niculina Chiper, Natalia Tzitzi,

Teodora Cosma


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Index

Introduction2

1. Creating an online book about environmental issues andsharing it with other countries' students, commenting on

their own creations.An eTwinning project (2013-2014) with

Turkey, Italy and France..4

2. A brave new world93. Creative use of eTwinning activity.114. Be smart, do start..125. eTwinning, one challenge to creativity..146. eTwinning and Geography lesson..14

7. Flirting with eTwinning: a burst of enthusiasm.178. Graphic novels in the classroom.199. Physics and eTwinning project2210.Using eTwinning in the Foreign Language Classroom.2311.Active Learning.25


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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, its 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. Its

not an easy task but as eTwinning is offering many opportunities for being creative, its 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 Einsteinclaimed, eTwinning projects are the perfect space to passit on.

Irene Pateraki

Creative Classroom

Group Administrator


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1. Creating an online e-book about environmental issuesand 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 are on Padlet:

http://padlet.com/wall/flipped-class

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 (Im 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.
http://padlet.com/wall/flipped-classhttp://padlet.com/wall/flipped-classhttp://padlet.com/wall/2a-short-storyhttp://padlet.com/wall/2a-short-storyhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/defending-the-environmenthttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/defending-the-environmenthttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/our_first_international_ebookhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/our_first_international_ebookhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2_-_june_2013http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2_-_june_2013http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2_-_june_2013http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/comic_strip-marie-001http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/comic_strip-marie-001http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/articles_2a_--_groupe_2--finalhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/articles_2a_--_groupe_2--finalhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/international-ebook-3http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/international-ebook-3http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/international-ebook-3http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/articles_2a_--_groupe_2--finalhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/comic_strip-marie-001http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2_-_june_2013http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/collaborative_ebook_2_-_june_2013http://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/our_first_international_ebookhttp://issuu.com/mariehel2/docs/defending-the-environmenthttp://padlet.com/wall/2a-short-storyhttp://padlet.com/wall/flipped-class


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The project started with the students taking pictures of theirenvironment and of nature generally speaking. The pictures

were to illustrate environmental issues or anything relatedto nature.

We started from what our pupils felt and thought.

Then, the students described and analyzed the messageconveyed by these pictures.

From these discussions, topics and major themes arose andthe students wrote articles (the first part of the online e-

book) about the pictures and what they stood for.

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

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

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

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

The students made interactive posters on Glogster (calledGlogs ) this was also a competition: the best Glogs wereselected 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 onhttp://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives

/acrostic/)

And, last but not least: they wrote collaborative shortstories on Google docs : https://drive.google.com/ which

were then turned into e-books
http://www.glogster.com/http://www.glogster.com/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/https://drive.google.com/https://drive.google.com/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.glogster.com/


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Our online tools: a selection

ebook creation:

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

ailscreator.asp

Myebook : ebook creatorhttp://www.myebook.com/

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

Debates

Amap : debate mapperhttp://www.amap.org.uk/create/

Wordle : for brainstorming purposes

Creation of multimedia content

Glogsterhttp://www.glogster.com/

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

/acrostic/)

Vokianimated avatars (for Twinspace)http://www.voki.com/

Animotovideoshttp://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-

q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQ

Voicethreadhttp://voicethread.com/

Collaboration

Google docshttps://drive.google.com/

Google forms ou Survey Monkey online surveyshttp://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/

http://fr.surveymonkey.com/

Walwisher : to share noteshttp://wallwisher.com/
http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asphttp://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asphttp://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asphttp://www.myebook.com/http://www.myebook.com/http://groups.diigo.com/group/photorecithttp://groups.diigo.com/group/photorecithttp://groups.diigo.com/group/photorecithttp://groups.diigo.com/group/esl-ebookshttp://groups.diigo.com/group/esl-ebookshttp://www.amap.org.uk/create/http://www.amap.org.uk/create/http://www.glogster.com/http://www.glogster.com/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.voki.com/http://www.voki.com/http://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQhttp://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQhttp://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQhttp://voicethread.com/http://voicethread.com/https://drive.google.com/https://drive.google.com/http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/http://fr.surveymonkey.com/http://fr.surveymonkey.com/http://wallwisher.com/http://wallwisher.com/http://wallwisher.com/http://fr.surveymonkey.com/http://www.google.com/google-d-s/forms/https://drive.google.com/http://voicethread.com/http://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQhttp://animoto.com/intro/animoto/22?gclid=CJe2n-q2iLMCFXHLtAodD1wAiQhttp://www.voki.com/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.readwritethink.org/files/resources/interactives/acrostic/http://www.glogster.com/http://www.amap.org.uk/create/http://groups.diigo.com/group/esl-ebookshttp://groups.diigo.com/group/photorecithttp://www.myebook.com/http://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asphttp://www.mobipocket.com/en/downloadsoft/productdetailscreator.asp


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Pen io : web page creationhttp://pen.io/

Diigosharing links

The eTwinning first request

Creating an online e-book about environmental issues and sharing

it with other countries' students, commenting on their own

creations.

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).

This e-book will be shared with the partner's students who willcomment on it and interact with the French students. Similarly,

they will share their own creations for discussion with my students.

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 authenticway.

-- 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.

-- Then, they will start working in groups: writing articles, essays,

poems (such as acrostic poems for instance), short stories, about

their specific topic.

-- We'll make an e-book from all these activities and share them

with our partner.

-- 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)
http://pen.io/http://pen.io/http://pen.io/


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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.

Lesson plan (what Ill do in class to bring ideas & to make students

think about the topic)

Major task

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,

- 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.

This project is an online collaborative project.

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:

http://environment.pen.io/

and Diigo group:

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


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

1- Brainstorming (The Environment) / vocabulary (Extractsfrom : Bac en vue, toutes sries, Spcial Vocabulaire , Marie-

Hlne Fasquel, Ellipses, Paris).

2- Logo creation3- Test: are you ecofriendly?4- Video: Beds are burning5- Environmental crisis6- Manifesto / poster / powerpoint (diaporama) / glog

the students write about what they have so far understood,

learnt.7- Extracts from An Inconvenient Truth8- Minor task: making a Podcast about an environmental

cause.

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

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.

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 WorldIn Dead Poets Society, Mr. Keating used to advise his students:

Avoid using the word very because its lazy.

A man is not very tired, he is exhausted.

Dont use very sad, use morose.

Language was invented for one reason boys to woo women-

and, in that endeavor, laziness will not do

This quote made quite an impression on me, from the verybeginning. 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 itdone. It simply wont 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 discussedsubjects, 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 dont 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

wont do. We have to stimulate their imagination by going beyond

the obvious, by experimenting, by implementing new methods, byhaving 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 activityE-twinning project Holidays and Mindmapping is suitable for

creative use. It motivates pupils to make amazing mind maps ofholidays 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 childrens mind maps. Hope that you will like them!

Project link:

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

Childrens mind maps:

Renata Raicheva

English teacher

Bulgaria
http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p80896http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p80896http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p80896


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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 Europes 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, dont start project with

them. And what a surprise, with an activity for a local health

campaign I got them.

First I asked a young colleague, music teacher, if he could compose

a song for usthen 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 whats 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. Itsmore interesting to put phrases from a partners cartoon into

indirect speech than just using the textbook. And when we

practiced conditional sentences we had to smile, reading some

statements ;)http://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammar

Andrea Ullrich

Gymnasium Georgianum Hildburghausen,

Germany
http://padlet.com/wall/besmartsonghttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartsonghttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammarhttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammarhttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammarhttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartgrammarhttp://padlet.com/wall/besmartsong


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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 someactivities, 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 Gonalves

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: Lets 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 seastwo big hugs.

. Lets 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 ''Lets exchange information''

activity, we produced reports and we engaged into discussionsbased 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 tohistory, 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 seastwo 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 coursessection 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.

he 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 usageWe 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 workin 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 teenagers personality.

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.

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.

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

and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL); we had Geography, Art,

History, Languages, Culture, ICT.

It has been a different year full of enthusiasm, surprises, fun-in-

learning, tech-skilful lessons, art, awards and rewards for all the

school community, both the doers and the viewers, thanks to the

eTwinning programme.

Anna Drakotou

English Teacher

Greece


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8. Graphic novels in the classroomThrough the Graphic novels in the classroom (http://new-

twinspace.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.

The initial step was to research the genre of graphic novel

(i.e. What the Heck is a Graphic Novel? -

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

conventional 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 thewords 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

(cohesion between visual and linguistic articulation, sequential

essence, character evolution) and a further analysis of target

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

interests). Romanian students have chosen the following graphic

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

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

Our team has faced a challenge by deciding to illustrate a

novel studied in Romanian Literature class. The students came up

with two independent versions of graphic novels, inspired by afolkloric fantasy original to Romania, The story of Harap Alb, by Ion

Creanga. It was hard work for Ciprians team, to convert into

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

months to do so. On the other hand, Bogdans team forged a digital

version quicker, by familiarizing with web 2.0 tools such as

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

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

easy communication of the plot.

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

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

The exhibition displaying the illustrations took place in the

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

took place during a workshop organized by Information Centre

Europe Direct Bucharest, hosted by European Institute Romania

called Ways to promote active citizenship among young

population.

All the schools involved in the partnership enjoyed a fruitful

and pleasant cooperation. All the information, notes and readingwere posted by the Norwegian team, the founder of the project. All

the comments and correspondence bear witness to synergy and

efforts submitted by collaborators throughout the tasks. The

partner schools were unconstraint in choosing topics and manners

of developing and formulate final products. The views of the

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

found in the handout of the evaluation module.

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 relevanceof ingenious ideas, an open minded view towards cultural diversity

and the European linguistic heterogeneity.

The eTwinning Graphic novels in the classroom the parties

involved initiated an original cross-curricular dialogue.

Niculina Chiper

Liceul Teoretic Nichita Stnescu,

Bucureti, Romnia


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9. Physics and eTwinning projectHere are some thoughts and proposals about developing Physics

tasks as part of an e-Twinning project.

Lets 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 lets make clearwhat 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.

A.the story of the small bulb "To glow"

(Referring to the function of the simple electric circuit in a fairytale

form for children.)

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 areassisted 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.


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

.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.

End.

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

Assimina Lambrakou

Teacher of Physics

Greece

10.Using eTwinning in the Foreign Language ClassroomAs 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 LanguageIntegrated Learning (CLIL), I was obliged to teach various

subjects in English. eTwinning came in handy in that case,

too. More specifically, in last years projectLets talk about

our countries,the 5thGraders 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 childrenstudied 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 wishesto 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 childrens

awareness of the value and importance of altruism and

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 publics self-dignity,

which are all fundamental but scarce in contemporary

journalism.

it is fun! Doing away with the coursebook (or so the pupilsthink), 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 childrens self-esteem. At the end of every schoolyear 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 LearningThrough the eTwinning projects, the activities of the students are morecollaborative, 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 similarityof triangles to determine the height of a tree;

to solve crossword puzzles and problems, in contest betweengroups, 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 throughcollaborative activities for realising of interactive posters, for

fixing and deepening of the knowledge.

Teodora Cosma

Maths teacher

Romania


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creativity and etwinning in the school curriculum

Documents