Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter no. 5 - July 2015 | Page 57

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2015 Newsletter -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------My students and I really enjoy the time spent together during school time. My students have improved themselves both in foreign language and ICT. I have participated in some national and international workshops, conferences, seminars about eTwinning, and they always help me to go further in my teaching career. I have seen how enjoyable and helpful it is to share something with other teachers from different countries. Earlier this year, 2015, we applied for an Erasmus+ school education partnership project with my eTwinning project partners. And it was approved, so we are very happy because we have cooperated on eTwinning projects and we really want to meet each other and this will come true. I will take my students abroad for the project meetings, and this is very important for my students as they cannot afford to go abroad. They will meet their friends from Sweden, Belgium and Greece. I am very happy that they will have this experience. In short, eTwinning has enabled me so many benefits! As an eTwinning ambassador, I am trying to help teachers meet eTwinning by organizing etwinning seminars and workshops in my city. eTwinning brings us love, peace, tolerance, kindness. Happy to be in the world of eTwinning! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Learnenglish+ - Put a plus in language learning by Theodora Gkeniou This year our team of three schools, from Greece (Theodora Gkeniou), France (Claudine Coatanea) and Poland (Lucy Nocon) worked collaboratively to produce our very own MOOC about language learning. Here are the main characteristics of our project: Content: We no longer rely on a single course book. The content of our MOOC (videos, interactive maps, presentations) is created by teenage students for students. Form: the traditional classroom is usually limited by the physical surroundings and learning takes place here and now. In our etwinning project time and space for learning are expanded since the participants work on the Twinspace platform, create and upload their materials, discuss on forums and collaborate on Google forms. Process: the process of learning is not predefined or imposed by the curriculum and the teacher, it is democratically decided with the students through online and offline discussions, negotiating and voting. Furthermore the groups are arranged in a flexible manner taking into consideration the students’ common interests and desires. Skills: we do not solely address linguistic skills. We also develop 21st century skills by providing space for collaboration, by promoting learner independence and fostering creativity. Student role: our students are neither passive nor isolated. They are active decision makers, transformed from consumers to creators of knowledge in a multicultural environment. Teacher role: the teachers involved are not preachers. They are leaders and mentors planning, organizing, managing, making decisions and evaluating the project. Evaluation: from top down, teacher led assessment, we move on to bottom up reflective processes whereby students self and peer evaluate and acquire metacognitive skills. 57