Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2014 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Our aim is to form a world in which all human
beings can understand each other better, recognize
and respect their cultures and – after all – live in a
peaceful world.
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So in December 2007 I planned my first eTwinning
project with Diane, a Romanian teacher, “Hello, I
Am the Traveller”, whose main aim was “leading
young people to understand similarities and
differences between their living way and their
partners’ one... the Italian students will be able to
build a bridge of knowledge towards their partners”.
Such a project was very important not only for my
students but also for their parents and the teachers
involved because it gave us the possibility to work
on our cultural identity accepting and respecting the
cultural differences. It was the first step toward the
“European citizenship”.
The project was awarded with the National Quality
Label and, as a consequence, in December 2009 I
was invited to the Thematic Monitoring Conference
entitled “The digital competences in the European
dimension” in Florence organized by LLP Italy, and
then to the European Conference in Seville in
February 2010: the starting point for my personal
development as a European teacher!
Speaking and working with other European teachers
I felt that a new world was going to open before my
eyes, I had so much to learn but I realized that it
was possible, thanks to my partners' help. When I
returned to school, full of new ideas and
enthusiasm, which I shared with my closest
colleagues, I managed to join the pan-European
celebration on the 5th of May 2010 and to take part
in the contest organized by Italian Agency for
eTwinning birthday, inviting teachers, parents and
the local authorities to the performance prepared
by a group of students “Let's celebrate eTwinning: a
song for you”. In this way the whole school
community knew that eTwinning was the fastest
and shortest way to Europe.
My Experience in eTwinning: Diary of a
Teacher
by Antonietta Calo
I met eTwinning in 2007 when my headmaster
asked me to take information about the Lifelong
Learning Programme, because it was necessary to
take our school to Europe and the Comenius
programmes seemed to be the answer. But let me
say that, reading and studying the possibilities
offered by LLP, I immediately understood that
eTwinning was the right answer! It was the easiest
and faster way to open a window on Europe: I could
start immediately my project as I did not need to
require any permits or authorizations, I could work
on my ideas with my whole class during my
curricular English hours, my students would get in
touch with other European classes and... and...
and... I was really excited!
The project was awarded as the best one made by
a High School and it was a great achievement for
the whole Institute. As for me, I applied the
K.I.S.S. approach: keeping it short and simple was
the winning method to involve students, parents
and teachers because we could work all together in
a relaxing and motivating atmosphere. At the same
time, thanks to the possibilities offered by the
eTwinning portal as a Community, step by step I
improved my professio