We are very excited at eTwinning as our first Guardian Teacher
Network themed week, ‘The World in Your Classroom’, gets into
full swing. The themed week lasts until Saturday 29 September,
and each day great blogs and resources will be uploaded. Visit
the GTN site to see what’s been added so far, including a feature
blog from experienced eTwinning Ambassador Sandra Underwood
on ‘Using technology to connect with schools in other countries’.
Be sure to catch the live Q & A session on Thursday 27 September,
from 16.00-18.00, where a panel of international experts (including
some more eTwinners) discusses the topic of working with schools
in other countries.
And, don’t forget! The day circled in every MFL teacher’s calendar is
coming up tomorrow - the European Day of Languages. This is the
perfect time to remind your school about the work that you are doing
on eTwinning - maybe in your school assembly or by showcasing your
project to another year group. If you’re not already involved, it’s also a
great time to introduce eTwinning into your classroom, and even start
a project!
If you’re stuck for inspiration, the European Commission education
team have put together some excellent ideas on how you and your
school you can celebrate the European Day of Languages.
You can also use a Europass Language Passport
to record formal and informal language skills! The
passport allows students and job-seekers to
describe their language skills according to the
Common European Framework of Reference for Languages
(CEFR) that is recognised across Europe. They can create their
Europass Language Passport online and for free.
For more information, the UK National Europass Centre has links to
the online template for filling in your own Language Passport.
If you have thought of another great way to incorporate eTwinning
into your planned events for the day, do let us know via Twitter using
the hastag #eTwinninguk or by commenting on this blog.
As you can see, there is lots going on this week on eTwinning and
beyond, so make sure you keep yourself plugged into our blog and
don’t miss out!
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September 25, 2012
April 12, 2012
eTwinning European Conference 2012
From our perspective at the eTwinning UK National Support Service, the annual European eTwinning Conference is a massive highlight of our year. It gives us a chance to be part of celebrating the success of eTwinning and an opportunity to contribute to the moulding of its future. This year we were able to take 24 UK teachers and ambassadors as well as 6 NSS staff and a colleague from the Department for Education to Berlin for the conference.
Day 1 - Speeches and Awards
After being welcomed to the conference by local German school children in over 30 languages we listened to speeches from Minister Dr. Bernd Althusmann, Deputy President of the Standing Conference of the Ministers of Education and Cultural Affairs of the Länder in the Federal Republic of Germany and Xavier Prats Monné, Deputy Director General for Education and Culture, European Commission showing the support for eTwinning at policy making level across Europe.
Anne Looney CEO of the National Council for Curriculum and Assessment in Ireland then gave a key note address Convictions and connections; how teachers networks are changing how we change about the power of networks, eTwinning being a fantastic examples of this. She posed the question 'I teach because...' to the audience who replied in huge number via Twitter.
The day was capped by the 2012 eTwinning European Prizes awards ceremony where prizes were awarded to the best projects in 3 age group categories as well as in 3 special categories.
Age 4-11 Prize Category Winners: 'Adventures of the Twinnies around the World'
And the winners were...
4-11 Years Category - "The new adventures of the Twinnies around the world"
12-15 Years Category - "A Taste of Maths (ATOM)"
16-19 Years Category - “Reporting without borders”
French Language Special Category - "Journalistes en herbe"
Spanish Language Special Category - "Carpe Nuntium: voilà nuestra “FrItalianza"
The Marie-Skłodowska-Curie-Prize - "SOHO: Sunspots Online – Helios Observatory"
Day 2 - Workshops
On our second day in Berlin was all about workshops. A huge array were on offer, most being led by eTwinning teachers and ambassadors sharing their expertise and experience of being involved in eTwinning, with other experts contributing too. It would be impossible to review and sum up each workshop as there were just too many but you can get a flavour of their content and outcomes on the conference website.
Our team attended a number of excellent workshops on a really diverse range of subjects 'Learning with your Granny', mobile technology in the hands of pupils, building successful teams of eTwinners in school, Web 2.0 tools, eTwinning and your professional development and teachers talking to other teachers about their experiences of eTwinning all of which showed why eTwinning is so powerful - the community is driven by passionate people and fuelled by professional exellence.
Day 3 - Panel discussions and the future
On our final morning in Berlin we looked to the future. The future of eTwinning but also the future of teaching and learning. Marc Durando Executive Director of European Schoolnet spoke to us about whether schools were keeping up with their students in terms of harnessing technology, particularly mobile technology that has become extensions of ourselves, for the purpose of learning within the classroom. eTwinning has shown that it can and is being done, but we know that eTwinning, like the use of appropriate technology in the classroom has a long way to go until it is the norm across Europe so there is a great distance still to go.
We then moved on to a really interesting panel discussion with interactive audience voting chaired by Riina Vuorikari. The panel was made up of two eTwinning Ambassadors Tatjana Gulic from Slovenia and Steffen Toppler from Germany, Donatella Nucci from the Italian NSS, Adam Porkorny from the European Commission and Dorothy Cassells from European Schoolnet. The questions posed and answered touch on the here and now of eTwinning, how the development of technology is transforming the way pupils can and want to learn and the future classroom. The panel discussed at length their reaction to questions on: obstacles that exist within schools that stop teachers working together on eTwinning projects; the benefits of eTwinning School Teams, the role of social networking in school, the relationship between technology and teachers and the future.
It was an interesting and interactive conclusion to three interesting and interactive days where over 600 eTwinners from 32 countries came together, celebrated their achievements, shared experiences and explored ways in they could help share the benefits of eTwinning to students in their schools, their countries and across Europe. We can't wait for the future to arrive, the future is now.
Thanks to our wonderfully talented eTwinning colleague in Belgium Cecile Gouzee for the images.
February 09, 2012
Request a free eTwinning team resource pack
We have developed a range of eTwinning resources to support you and your colleagues using eTwinning.
Our school resource pack is completely free and includes 5 copies of the following resources:
- eTwinning Cookbook - 50 recipes for school collaboration and professional development in Europe
- Voices of eTwinning - a teachers guide to eTwinning
- eTwinning postcards - designed by pupils at eTwinning schools across the UK
- eTwinning information leaflets
- eTwinning notepads
Email the UK team etwinning@britishcouncil.org to order your pack
January 09, 2012
See you at BETT 2012
If you are at BETT this week Wednesday 11th January - Saturday 14th January come and see us and say hi at one of two stalls.
This year for the first time eTwinning Europe-wide has a stand of its own with a packed programme of activities including case studies from current eTwinners and a live partner finding event Download ETwinning BETT 2012 Programme. Find us at stand G110.
We will also be at the British Council stand, so if you want to talk to us about eTwinning or find out more about any of the other work British Council does stop by and see us at stand Q38.
Can't wait to see you all there!
November 18, 2011
Workshops for School Leaders - Raising standards in UK schools
As part of International Education Week 14-18 November 2011, the British Council eTwinning team in the UK hosted 2 extremely successful workshops for school leaders, looking at how to raise standards in schools using eTwinning, Comenius and other international programmes offered by the British Council. Over 70 delegates attended each event and heard inspirational stories from practitioners who have used eTwinning and Comenius to successfully motivate, inspire and improve education standards at their schools for both pupils and staff. Find out more about this event and others here.
John Worne, British Council Executive Board, opened the workshop with a thought provoking speech about the importance of preparing young people to live in a global society and work in a global economy, whilst highlighting the British Councils continued commitment to UK schools. We heard inspirational stories from Head teacher Kevin McCabe (Jervoise Primary School) illustrating how schools in special measures have been turned around through participation in international linking programmes. The keynote address was complemented by George Glass (Cauldeen Primary School) and Anne Jakins & Nick Falk (Sackville School) who demonstrated how 2 UK schools have worked together “virtually” with counterparts in Finland and Afghanistan through eTwinning and Connecting Classrooms to support learning and teaching their schools. British Council staff members Michael O’Donnabhain, John Rolfe and Vicky Gough provided further information to delegates on British Council school strategy and programmes. John Warwick (St Luke’s School) rounded up the event discussing international learning journey taken by staff and students at his school, providing a perfect lead into the final session where participants had the opportunity to start planning how their schools can use international linking opportunities to support raising standards for staff and pupils.
Manchester 17 November
John Payne, British Council Account Director, opened the workshop and reiterated the British Council commitment to supporting both UK schools and young people through the continued provision of international linking programmes for schools. During the keynote address in Manchester, assistant Head teacher Rob Ford (Wootton Bassett School) showed how the international dimension has been embedded throughout all aspects of school life to such success that it is now the first state school in England to receive an ‘outstanding’ across the board under the new OfSTED inspections. George, Nick and Anne (pictured) repeated their London presentation which was very well received by all the delegates. British Council staff members Susan Glover, John Rolfe and Alex Abel provided further information to delegates on British Council school strategy and programmes. Our final speaker, Anne Daniels (Carleton House School), concluded by demonstrating how she has used eTwinning to support her own professional development; illustrating how she has moved from a class teacher to Head teacher. The workshop finished with participants planning how to embed international linking opportunities into their schools to support raising standards.
We would like to take this opportunity thank all the speakers, staff and delegates for participating and contributing to both workshops.
The following programmes were featured during both workshops:
British Council Schools Online
November 11, 2011
Congratulations to all the eTwinning & Comenius winners of the Life Long Learnning Programme ‘Your Story’ competition!
Many congratulations to all these recipients and to all the winners of the LLP ‘Your Story’ competition; we look forward to meeting them at the prize ceremony here at the British Council London on 24 November (1130-1500); further details can be found at http://dev.lifelonglearningprogramme.org.uk.
WRITTEN
1ST PATRICIA KING - ST JAMES CE INFANT SCHOOL
2ND KULSOOM HAQ - GLASGOW EAL SUPPORT SERVICE
3RD DIANA LINFORD - EASTBURN JI SCHOOL
PHOTOGRAPHY
1ST CHRISTINE GIBSON - NORTHAM ST GEORGES CE VA INFANT SCHOOL
2ND PATRICIA KING - ST JAMES CE INFANT SCHOOL
3RD CAROL DUFFY - BROWNLEE PRIMARY SCHOOL
FILM
1ST MID CALDER PRIMARY SCHOOL
2ND SOUTH WEST COLLEGE ENNISKILLEN
3RD TIE GREAT CORNARD UPPER SCHOOL AND TECHNOLOGY COLLEGE / YSGOL LLANGYNFELYN
October 25, 2011
June 14, 2011
eTwinning 2011 Conference - this weekend!
The 6th annual eTwinning UK National Conference is taking place this weekend at the National College for Leadership of Schools and Children's Services conference centre in Nottingham 17th-19th June.
The theme for this year's conference is based around celebrating the work of the eTwinning Ambassadors' network and highlighting how this contributes to the European Year of Volunteering.
The main aims of the conference are to:
- Continue to strengthen our UK network of eTwinning Ambassadors, involving both long-serving and more recent members
- Continue to strengthen links between eTwinning, Comenius and other British Council managed international opportunities for schools
- Host the eTwinning National Awards Ceremony
The conference programme will include an inspiring and thought-provoking mix of plenary presentations and case studies from eTwinning Ambassadors, hands-on workshops on a range of topics including intercultural dialogue, eTwinning portal tools, and the latest ICT tools. There will be poster sessions and opportunities to find out about other British Council opportunities for schools.
NB. Participation is by invitation only.
Don't forget you can follow and contribute to all the action via Twitter by following us @eTwinninguk and the event hashtag #etwinuk.
See you Friday!
May 17, 2011
New eTwinning Publications
Our colleagues at the eTwinning Central Support Service have recently issued two new eTwinning publications:
Voices of eTwinning: Teachers' Talk which features teachers from across Europe sharing their diverse eTwinning experiences in practical terms and;
Teachers' Professional Development: an overview of current practice which is a report analysing the impact that eTwinning has on teachers' professional development in a variety of countries.
Both are interesting and thought provoking reads and give a real insight into eTwinning practice in the different educational environments that the programme encompassses. More information and digital copies can be found on the eTwinning Portal.
March 02, 2011
Get hands on with science through Xperimania
Xperimania is a new project aimed at boosting young people’s interest in science across Europe.
A joint venture between the European Chemical Industry Council and European Schoolnet, the project aims to help students in secondary school classes (pupils aged 10-20) and their teachers understand the wide variety of applications of chemistry, and how this fascinating science has contributed to the evolution of many day-to-day items.
Participating in the following activities provides students with a unique opportunity to stimulate their scientific and analytical skills:
Equality:
Take part in 2 competitions, related to this year’s theme of the IYC: “Chemistry – our life, our future”. Xperimania is running these competitions to increase female student interest in Chemistry
Xperimania Science Ambassadors:
Check out all the activities conducted in the workshops, with inspiring and interactive chemistry and physics experiments
Check out the property:
Investigate the properties of a familiar object through simple hands-on experiments
Timeline of everyday objects:
Read-up on past discoveries and present the scientists’ findings
Hands on experiments:
Set up an easy and fun experiment related to petrochemistry and materials, and upload lab reports on this website
The content of Xperimania is available in 6 languages: English, French, German, Italian, Polish and Spanish. However teachers and pupils from all European countries are warmly invited to participate.
