eTwinning attended the recent ATLAS “International School” conference in Durham. This event brings together schools from all over North East England, and is a day long event to learn about the opportunities available, and benefits of, international school linking.
This year’s event was held at the Radison Hotel by the River Wear in Durham. There were about 80 teachers from across the North East present, and we heard from a number of schools and educationalists about their experience in school linking, how this fits into the curriculum, and how it complements the Spiritual, Moral, Social, and Cultural Development agenda, which was the overarching theme of the day.
Some of the teachers presenting their case studies brought their pupils along, and it was refreshing to hear their opinions of what a school link meant to them. Pupils from Langley Moor Primary School talked about their memories of how a Comenius Assistant from Hungary had enlivened their classroom by teaching them about Hungarian music, language, and culture. And we were treated to Indian dancing from pupils from Gateshead who had a Connecting Classrooms link with Rajkot in India.
“Positivity” and “confidence” were two key words that cropped up throughout the day, and it was inspiring to hear how the various programmes - from eTwinning and Comenius to the International School Award and Connecting Classrooms - had helped engender this in both the classroom and the staff room.
If you are a teacher in North East England and want to find out more, you can visit the Europe
Direct North East wiki page here http://europedirectne.wikispaces.com/home
To find out more about British Council school links visit http://schoolsonline.britishcouncil.org/
To get started on eTwinning, register on the site http://www.etwinning.net, or write to us at eTwinning@britishcouncil.org. Your North East eTwinning regional officer can advise, and help you make the first steps
