Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2014 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Happy Teaching with eTwinning
by Nieves Mendez Ruiz
If you asked me what eTwinning means to me as a
teacher, I probably would not know what to say at
once, but you would immediately see a smile drawn
on my face, no doubt. This is a story of renewal,
encouragement, innovation and success; that is
happy teaching, is it not?
eTwinning helped me to develop a connection
between our kindergarten and Elementary School
Radonice 165, in the Czech Republic. The project
theme: “Traditions and cultural values in
kindergartens and schools”, with the aim of
promoting intercultural exchange experience in
order to acquire a complete picture in terms of
educational institutions in the world.
Education for democracy implies respect, tolerance
and understanding of their own culture and other
peoples’. Current educational policy takes into
account those values. The preschool and primary
education curriculum tries to master the traditions
and cultural values through Romanian and Czech, in
a multitude of ways. For these traditions and values
to be known by children in other countries, I have
found it useful to establish a unit exchange with a
school in the Czech Republic.
When I first got involved in eTwinning, I learned
one of the most important lessons of my
professional life: you are not in the classroom only
to teach but also to learn. Working with teenagers
in an eTwinning project led me to exchange roles
with them, to join them in an action adventure that
made me realize their actual ability to get engaged
in their task and their powerful creativity.
Purposeful activities aimed at the communication
with other European teenagers were the magic
motivating my students.
That is how I became an enthusiastic eTwinner and
how I met lots of colleagues to share knowledge
and experiences with. Each project is an
opportunity to explore new ways, to develop
teaching skills and create successful learning
environments using all kinds of effective tools in
collaboration with your foreign partners.
For me, my school, our pupils, eTwinning is a great
experience!
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