eTwinning UK

Schools wanted for Make the link - Climate exChange

 
Make the Link – Climate exChange is a 3 year project funded by the European Union, promoting learning, dialogue and action on climate change.

Linking 11-19 year olds in primary and secondary schools, as well as youth groups in the EU (UK, Netherlands and Bulgaria) with those in Africa (Malawi, Senegal and Kenya). The programme has been developed by the Citizenship Foundation and Plan UK, make the Link Climate exChange is a free programme which provides a series of downloadable climate change teachers' resources.

The resources have been developed to align with the key stage 3 and 4 curriculum framework, and will promote learning, dialogue and action on climate change in UK secondary schools.

www.mtl-cec.org

eTwinning Project shortlisted for ENGAGE Awards

eTwinning project Crescendo was recently shortlisted for an ENGAGE Best Practice Award.  Teachers from the two primary schools used Wii Music and Wii Sports, Olympics and Karts, and collaborated during the run of the project. The project, led by Paddy Carroll from Shaw Wood Primary School and Anne McMorrough from St Martin de Porres National School, beat off competition from 11 countries to make it to the final shortlist.   The ENGAGE Quality Awards recognise excellent contributions from teachers, educational practitioners, game developers and producers to the quality of game-based learning. The aim of the awards is to make the quality issues related to games and learning process by using GBL a visible topic and to increase the awareness amongst learning organizations, schools, teachers, learners, educators and practitioners, industries, and players about the educational potential of GBL.

You can find out more about ENGAGE here.  The 'Crescendo' project will soon be appearing as a project kit online at eTwinning as an example of good practice in eTwinning.  Well done, Anne & Paddy, for your efforts!

Live and kicking: MYLO

 
MYLO (My Languages Online) is a free KS3 and KS4 language learning resource from the Department for Education, covering French, German, Spanish and Chinese.

Designed to engage young people in learning languages, to raise their competence, and to encourage them to continue studying languages - the website is organised into a series of challenges. Users can search by theme or undetake challenges. Each challenge is designed to offer a fully-rounded and self-contained learning experience, promoting language learning through creativity, problem-solving, decision-making and enquiry.

Challenges are structured to include:

• Context
• Practice activities
• The Challenge
• Support
• Submission (for assessment)

MYLO is available to UK schools and each school can only be registered by one teacher administrator. Once the school's registration is activated this teacher administrator can then set up additional teachers at the school.

To get on-board, go to: http://mylo.dcsf.gov.uk/

 

 

Titanic Schools Project

Interested in making links with partner schools on the theme of the Titanic?  Then why not visit the Titanic Schools Project site?  The famous ship combined with the history of engineering and shipbuilding throughout Europe could make for a really interesting project using both eTwinning and the Titanic Project.   For more information on the Titanic Project please see the attached form.  You can register on the eTwinning programme at any time. Download Titanic Schools Project

New project of the month - Velindre Community School

 
Read all about the fantastic work being done at Velindre Community School in Port Talbot by Ruth Sanders and her pupils...

www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning-project-month-velindre

Get snapping: International Education Week 2010

 
International Education Week is an opportunity for schools across the UK and worldwide to celebrate their partnerships with schools in other countries and all their international curriculum-based work.

It’s an excellent way for schools to showcase the innovative and inspiring ways in which they are helping to prepare young people for living in a global society and working in a global economy.

Joining in the global celebrations can also provide an opportunity to involve local media, parents, nearby schools, local groups and communities in your school's activities.

Get involved:

You and your school can join us in celebrating International Education Week by uploading images that demonstrate the fantastic international work you are doing onto our Flickr account.

Upload your images with a caption (including your name, school and crediting photographers) completing the following sentence:

Working on international projects changed our lives because.....

Before uploading please complete the consent form. This needs to be sent back via email or post as outlined in the document.

The Flickr account can be accessed from here:
Username: iew_2010@yahoo.com
Password: IEW2010

The British Council are also hosting the following events during IEW:

Monday 15th November:
Global Fellows De-Brief

Tuesday 16th November :
Mock Council of the European Union

Wednesday 17th November:
London premiere of 'The Opportunity' film

Friday 19th November:
HSBC Link2Learn Awards

Global Education - Online Conference

eTwinning ambassador, Paddy Carroll from Shaw Wood Primary School, will be leading a session for the forthcoming Global Education conference.  The session will run from 7pm on Thursday 18 Nov will showcase how Nintendo Wii can be used to promote collaborative learning.  Paddy will also discuss his next eTwinning project and how it is a natural progression into other areas of games based learning.  You can find out ow to participate at www.globaleducationconference.com

 

 

Natural Sciences PDW : A report from Slovenia

 Natural Sciences Professional Development Workshop

In September, the Slovenian eTwinning team hosted a wonderful science based workshop in the beautiful, historic town of Ptuj in northern Slovenia.

Around 80 science teachers from across Europe travelled to Ptuj to participate in the workshop, learn more about eTwinning and take the first steps toward developing their own collaborative science projects

We arrived on Friday evening for the opening ceremony hosted by the CMEPIUS organisation who manage eTwinning & Comenius in Slovenia.  On Saturday, the workshop started with a full programme of eTwinning project case studies, an update on the eTwinning website from the Central Support Service and a thought provoking lecture from Dr Divjak on the future of computing technologies. 

 Next came the in- depth interactive workshops:

- Intercultural communication & eTwinning

- Social Games for relationship building in eTwinning

- Discovering the eTwinning portal

- “Spicy Physics”

- “Naughty Astronomy”

- Interactive whiteboard & Natural science subject

After a hectic day of workshops, presentations & networking delegates had the opportunity to visit the beautiful Ptuj castle and enjoy dinner in the historic town.  Sunday followed with more workshops and a closing ceremony.

The Slovenian eTwinning team chose the theme of ‘Natural Sciences’ as science projects are currently under-represented on eTwinning.  If you are a science specialist, why not register on eTwinning and use one of our eTwinning project kits to begin a collaborative science based project, such as:

Space Safari: The objective of this project is to help pupils and teachers to develop their understanding of space, beyond our own planet and the exploration of space as an important scientific, technological and societal human endeavour

Looking for a new partner school?  Why not consider a school in Slovenia?  There are now over 650 Slovenian teachers registered on eTwinning so log in and get searching for the perfect partner teacher!

eTwinning: 5th Birthday "Design a Card" Competition Winners

The eTwinning UK Team are pleased to announce the Winners of the 5th Birthday - "Design a Card Competition" ...

To celebrate five years of partnerships online, Teachers and Schools across the UK were asked to get involved with the celebrations and encourage students to design a fifth birthday card and give themselves the chance of winning a £250 voucher for the school, and have their work displayed in a special online gallery.

16-18 Category Winner:
National Star College - Max Mitchell

11-15 Category Winner:
Stanborough School - Ellie Gordon 

11-15 Category Runner up:
Stanborough School - Kerrie Harniess

07-10 Category Winner:
Winteringham Primary School - Class 4

07-10 Category Runner up:
Lent Rise CC School - Louis Ballantyne

03-06 Category Winner:
Winteringham Primary School - Class 2

03-06 Category Runner up:
Winteringham Primary School - Class 1

See all the winning entries and runners up in the slideshow below or visit the eTwinning Flickr site!

Head of EU Programmes at the British Council Simon Williams said: “The entries were of a very high standard and it was a very tough decision. The winners captured the essence of eTwinning - the creativity and fun of it - and also brought to life their links with Europe, and their work towards creating a more connected future between globally aware young citizens.”

Global Entrepreneurship Week UK : 15-21 November

 

Global Entrepreneurship Week is a worldwide movement of entrepreneurial people, with millions unleashing their enterprising talents and turning their ideas into reality.

Organised by Enterprise UK, Global Entrepreneurship Week is an opportunity to showcase and celebrate all the amazing work that goes on year-round. Whether you or your students are looking to launch something new, showcase projects, or just generally raise the profile of entrepreneurship. Why not get involved?

Activities range from enterprise competitions to talks from local role models, to large scale conferences and classroom fun, right across the UK. This year's Education Challenge gives students an inspirational, exciting and educational way to enable them to build their own business plan during Global Entrepreneurship Week.

For more information:

www.gew.org.uk