An eTwinning ambassador
A participant of numerous international conferences for ambassadors, an instructor for on-line learning courses in the European community of teachers
Kornélia Lohyňová, Hotel Academy Mikovíniho
Bratislava
11
15
I teach vocational economic subjects at the Hotel Academy on Mikovíniho Street in Bratislava. When starting my carrier in teaching, I had a lot of respect for the field and I was convinced that besides teaching my responsibility was also developing thinking and creativity in pupils. I enjoyed working as an educator from the very beginning and being exposed to eTwinning added an additional dimension to the job and brought it a level higher.
For me the first very inspiring event was the annual eTwinning conference in Prague. I found meeting with European teachers, who enthusiastically presented their projects, very motivating and binding at the same time. A great bonus was getting acquainted with a number of ICT tools presented at the workshops by experienced teachers and experts, which I can use in my work with students. Such tools help me motivate my students and have them enjoy their school work.
We learned to use shared documents, make joint presentations with partners, create mind maps, of course everything in on-line mode, make electronic posters and magazines, create collaborative blogs, comic books, glogs, wikis, etc. An opportunity of cooperation with foreign schools and building collaborative projects was a “kick-start” even for those students who up until then had been reluctant to education. Many of them became interested not only in topics dealt with in class but also in the English language. Our mutual communication and getting to know each other became their motivation factor and a driving force, as each one of the students wanted to look good in the partners’ eyes.
It is the opportunity to grow professionally and to learn that is an immense benefit of eTwinning for teachers. I have participated in several workshops abroad, online learning events and webinars with European teachers. Each of these events has been prepared very professionally and offered a lot of information both about ICT tools and new trends in education.
An added value in these events was represented by personal or virtual meetings with active and enthusiastic teachers. In our education I often deal with negative moods, colleagues complaining, a passive approach to work, and rejecting new teaching methods, which is the reason why meeting with differently minded teachers is such an encouragement and inspiration.
Each one of these meetings gives me a lot of energy and motivation to keep improving myself and brings pleasure, which I can share with my students.