eTwinning UK

Scotland meets Finish Sporting Heros

East Lothian teacher Michael Purves's and his eTwinning pupils from Yester Primary School enjoyed a unique 'Sporting Day' when two famous Finnish sporting giants visited Yester to see a presentation of the eTwinning project by the children themselves. The Gifford's Healthy Passport project with Kuvansin koulu Primary School in eastern Finland is approaching the end of its first year, and Michael wanted to celebrate the brilliant work that has been done in both schools.

Hibernian football club's manager, Mixu Paatelainen, who was capped 70 times for the Finnish national team in a glittering career, and Tero Aarnio, who is a very talented speedway rider with Berwick Bandits in the British Premier League both watched enthusiastically as the Yester children showed off their blogging  work. After seeing examples of video and podcasts from both classes, they answered a series of questions put to them by the children in Yester and also by the children in Kuvansi, who had prepared questions in advance in advance.

Afterwards, both stars spoke warmly of the work they had seen. Mixu said,

"It's been wonderful to see the excellent work that the children have done. It's amazing to see how well organised the project has been, and how much the children in both classes have learned from each other."

The children were also shown Tero's motorcycle, and were thrilled to have their photographs taken individually by it. Check it all out at on the Healthy Passport blog.

Well done to Yester Primary and Kuvansin Koulu, we look forward to next year’s project!

UK-Sweden Bilateral Workshop 9-11 May

We have just held the first ever Bi-Lateral eTwinning workshop in the UK. The workshop took place in York with 12 teachers from the UK and 12 teachers from Sweden participating along with support from eTwinning ambassadors and British Council staff.

Aims - to create excellent eTwinning projects on the theme of Vikings and enhance participants ICT skills.

NING – We used a NING space (similar to MySpace, Facebook etc) to allow participants to ‘meet’ each other online and complete simple tasks designed to encourage people to form partnerships.

Fri 9th May - We began with an introduction to eTwinning, a fantastic case study presentation from eTwinning ambassador Cathy McKirdy and an outdoor workshop exploring York with digital cameras and sound recording devices completing the Treasure Hunt produced by eTwinning ambassador Ruth Royce.  Due to the use of NING for online collaboration and a great outdoor workshop in the afternoon everyone had found a partner to work with by dinner! After visiting the Jorvik Viking Centre to enhance our knowledge of the Vikings we had a leisurely dinner.

Sat 10th May - everyone participated in 3 great workshops in the partnership group on
- Voki creation (animated characters with voices online)
- Digital Video production (creating videos of the digital photos everyone took in on Friday to create digital stories
- eTwinning tools (exploring the eTwinning website and registering project)

Sun 11th May - we watched the fantastic videos and vokis created on Saturday before listening to a brief presentation on everyone's forthcoming project.  We finished with advice and support on the next steps in developing a project and a farewell lunch.

Results
- Enhanced ICT skills due to participation in workshops - 10 eTwinning projects created

For further details contact Jenny (jenny.compton@britishcouncil.org)

eTwinning UK art competition: enter by 16 June 2008!

The competition and competition website open on MONDAY 19 MAY.

To celebrate the ongoing success of eTwinning in the UK, the British Council is running a competition open to all UK schools and colleges who have a registered eTwinning partnership to design a piece of artwork which best sums up the spirit of eTwinning. The winning entries will be reproduced on our new eTwinning promotional materials being launched in the autumn term, and winners and runners-up will receive software or hardware prizes in addition to having their work showcased on a special online competition gallery. There are separate age categories from 3 to 18 – the younger ages are for collaborative work, the older for individual designs.

Entries must be submitted via the competition website

www.sparkandfuse.com/etwinning

where you can also find the competition terms and conditions. You have until midnight on the 16 June 2008 to get your entries in – so don’t delay!

Culture in a Box

Read how Shawlands Academy in Glasgow have been able to teach key areas of the S1 ICT curriculum though their eTwinning project with partner school Collège La Fayette in France. Find out more.

eTwinning workshop in Bonn, Germany

The 25^th to 27^th of April this year saw the opportunity for eTwinners from all over Europe to gather in Bonn for a professional development workshop (PDW).  21 countries had representations and delegates were asked to pose for a photograph, which was then posted on a map of Europe in the main foyer – in a new variation on ice-breaking, delegates were given someone else’s name badge, the idea being that you would find the person whose name badge you were given, using their Polaroid photo as a reference.  The event kicked off with champagne and gummy bears, then a networking dinner in the hotel restaurant. 

The following day saw speeches from our own Ann Gilleran, who was joined by the Mayor of Bonn and followed by the keynote speaker Professor Dr. Nicola Wurffel from the University of Heidelberg

.  The group then split into smaller workshops for the rest of the weekend, covering topics such as podcasting, Twinspace (beginners and advanced), video and intercultural dialogue.  All of the workshops were interesting, but I particularly enjoyed Waltraud Ziegler’s A-Z of eTwinning, a very innovative approach to the art of eTwinning and delivered with a great sense of humour! 

All-in-all it was a very informative and fun weekend – we were lucky to have the best spring sunshine for a walk through central Bonn between workshops.  Saturday evening was spent eating and salsa-dancing in a Schloss overlooking the Rhine. 

Thanks to the German eTwinning team for putting together such an enjoyable and worthwhile programme of events!

To find out more and get links to the workshop presentations please click the following link

http://www.etwinning.de/veranstaltungen/workshops/pdw2008.php

New eTwinning 'Intercultural Dialogue' Project Kits

As 2008 marks the Year of Intercultural Dialogue in Europe, two new eTwinning project kits have been developed for schools to run projects on this featured topic.

Based on the kits, we would like to invite all eTwinning schools participate in one way or another, either as a full eTwinning project or as an activity or module within an existing project. The topic of intercultural dialogue is a great opportunity for pupils and teachers to share their experiences, cultural backgrounds and traditions as well as to discuss the importance and impact of this in our everyday lives.

The official website of the Year of Intercultural Dialogue also features a lot of great information, ideas and competitions that can be easily incorporated into eTwinning project work. Have a look!

Collective Cultures

To celebrate the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue, the British Council is running two competitions under the theme of Collective Cultures to find out about young people's experiences of other countries and cultures and developing relationships with people from different societies and backgrounds.

Download CollectiveCultures.pdf

We are welcoming entries to a poster competition and a poetry competition, from primary, secondary, special and sixth form pupils and further and higher education students and young people (including young people in non-formal learning environmentes) that participate in the Comenius, eTwinning, Erasmus or Youth in Action programmes.

Prizes for winners include a new Archos 405 Portable Media Player and winning entries will feature in a special publication to be produced later in 2008.

The attached leaflet gives more information on how to enter the poetry and/or the poster competitions. The closing date for entries is Monday 2 June 2008. Entries must be submitted in paper form, by post, accompanied by the relevant entry forms, to the competition address as specified on the attached leaflet. The leaflet includes details of full competition terms and conditions.

ETWINNING UK NATIONAL CONFERENCE 2008

The 3rd annual eTwinning Conference will take place at the National College for School Leadership conference centre in Nottinghamfrom 13th-15th June 2008.

Our Aim

- To develop the eTwinning Ambassador network in the UK

- To award excellent UK eTwinning projects (UK eTwinning Awards ceremony)

Our Objectives

- Explore how eTwinning relates to the UK curricula

- Provide hands-on training in relevant ICT tools for eTwinning Ambassadors

- Explore and develop the role of the eTwinning Ambassador in the UK

- Explore links between eTwinning and the wider Comenius programme

Invitations for the conference will be emailed directly to eTwinning Ambassadors. More information to follow on our website.

UK ETWINNING NATIONAL AWARDS 2008

The annual UK eTwinning Awards are given to excellent eTwinning projects who have received the eTwinning Quality Label. To be eligible for consideration, projects must:

• Be registered on the eTwinning portal
• Have started in the 2007-08 school year
• Have applied for the eTwinning Quality Label by Friday 23rd May 2008

Find out more about the UK National Awards

Read more about how you can apply for the eTwinning Quality Label

Spring Day 2008

Spring Day for Europe is an annual event that encourages schools to book one or many days in their calendar to organise events that focus on debate, interaction and reflection on European themes. Spring Day for Europe is an opportunity for young people to express their views and make their voices heard in Europe. It will run from the 25 March to 30 June 2008.

Now in its sixth year, the main goal of the campaign in 2008 is to prepare and assist schools in planning, organising and running their own events as part of the European Year of Intercultural Dialogue. A wide range of activities and events are expected to take place at local, national and European level.

Click here to find out more about the great activities and competions.

Annual eTwinning Conference 2008!

The UK NSS team and 20 UK eTwinning ambassadors attended the Annual eTwinning Conference 2008 in Bucharest from 14-16th March 2008.  The theme for the conference was intercultural dialogue and the participants enjoyed a range of workshops including sessions on eTwinning tools, Intercultural understanding through eTwinning and eTwinning with educational resources!

A highlight for many was the inspirational talk from the keynote speaker, Professor Sugata Mitra from the University of Newcastle upon Tyne.  His speech on the use of ICT development and his experimental approach to this within his home country of India left a lasting impression on the audience.

For more information and photos from the conference please click