The UK eTwinning team is currently looking for people teaching any vocational subject in the UK to attend a workshop in:
VIENNA, AUSTRIA 20th – 22nd JUNE 2012
Do you teach 16-19 year old students in a vocational environment? Are you interested in working with like minded teachers in other European countries on collaborative projects using ICT?
If so, click here to fill in the short application form.
The event will give you the opportunity to:
Meet and work with other vocational teachers from Austria, The Netherlands, Latvia, Finland and Turkey
Take part in practical workshops and activities that will help you find new eTwinning partners to work with
Establish new eTwinning projects that you and students will work on in the classroom
We are able to cover all travel, accommodation and meal expenses for this event, as well as the participation fee, however we cannot provide supply cover.
Places are limited, so to apply pleaseclick here.Applications must be received before 1pm on Friday 4th May 2012 to be considered.
The photos show the delegates by one of the 'white men of Esbjerg' as well as the delicious Danish sardines!
A group of teacher trainers met in Esbjerg, Denmark last week to look at how we can encourage trainee teachers to use eTwinning.
Delegates from Belgium, Denmark, Norway and the UK discussed the various teacher training methods across Europe and looked at how eTwinning could be incorporated into the curriculum.
We hope that by highlighting the benefits of eTwinning as a teaching method to trainee teachers, that they will use it throughout their teaching careers and realise the benefits of international links in the classroom.
Pilot initiatives will now be carried out at the Universities of Glasgow, Winchester and York and we look forward to working with more institutions.
If you are interested in this initiative please get in touch.
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.
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.
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.
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.
The workshops are an introduction to eTwinning and will demonstrate the benefits of e-twinning in the classroom through practical use of ICT. The workshops are open to teachers in nursery, primary, secondary and special schools also FE colleges (pupils age range from 3-19).
Have you been in eTwinning for some time, but have difficulty finding a partner or are perhaps a little confused about the process? Then maybe we have a solution.
This year the Central Support Service for eTwinning will organise two online partner -finding fairs, the first in April and the second in the autumn towards the end of September. The aim of these partner-finding fairs is to help you network with teachers of your own discipline, discuss project ideas and hopefully find a partner to start a project with.
You will also learn about how to use the tools on your desktop to communicate with others, and the steps you need to take to set up a register a project. Each partner-finding fair will have an audience of around 100 people. It will last for three days with a combination of group activity on line as well as the opportunity to discuss with the participants in real time. You will learn the five important steps involved in finding a partner, get the opportunity to present your project ideas and will be guided in the process of how to register a project.
The first partner-finding fair is for teachers involved in Pre School and Primary Education and the dates are April 17 - 19. Applications will open on your desktop. The list of applicants will be sent to the National Support Service for final approval. We hope to see you there and help you on your way to an eTwinning partnership.
The workshops are an introduction to eTwinning and will demonstrate the benefits of e-twinning in the classroom through practical use of ICT. An eTwinning Case Study will be presented by an experienced eTwinning teacher. The workshop is open to teachers in nursery, primary, secondary and special schools also FE colleges (pupils age range from 3-19).
The aPLaNet LLP project is helping language teachers use the Internet social networks for their professional development. The social networks offer educators extremely effective and targeted, professional development, opportunities that they should be part of.
The project is using experienced languages teachers, who are already using the social networks, to mentor teachers with little experience of the networks, on a one-to-one basis.
How you can help We are now looking for your help in finding language teachers in your area that would like to try to understand how the social networks can help their professional development.
To help, please disseminate this message to teachers in your area. The teachers will need to register on the aPLaNet Internet community space at http://aplanet-project.org/ were they select that they wish to be mentored (a Mentee). The project will then assign a Mentor that suites their needs.
This week eTwinning heads to Berlin for the annual European eTwinning Conference 2012. Over 500 eTwinners from 32 European countries will be there to celebrate the achievements of the past year with keynote speeches, the annual eTwinning Prizes award ceremony, workshops, panel discussions and much more besides.
From 9-11 March 2012, eight UK teachers were funded by the British Council to attend an eTwinning Professional Development Workshop (PDW) in Aachen. These workshops run throughout the year and are aimed at teachers who want to learn more about eTwinning and develop their skills in European collaboration using Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). The workshops bring together participants from different European countries to network and share experiences.
In total, there were 59 secondary school teachers who attended this event from across the UK, the Netherlands, France, Germany, Belgium, Luxembourg and Poland. The workshop commenced with a reception at the ‘Kupark-Terrassen’ and an opening speech from the Ministry of Schools and Further Education in the North Rhine Westphalia, Hildegard Jacob. Activities at this venue included a very successful speed dating session to enable partner school finding (see video below).
A range of workgroups where then held within a local bi-Lingual school, Couven Gymnasium, including hands on discovery of the eTwinning portal www.etwinning.net and case studies of successful eTwinning projects. All of the UK teachers were able to find partner schools to work with and to register exciting new projects on the etwinning portal!
