A participant of an international eTwinning seminar in Bern in 2012
An eTwinning ambassador
Gabriela Turčanová,
Primary School J.V.Šimka
Žitavany
18
I first came across the word eTwinning on the internet, when I had decided to change my stereotypes in teaching and my perception of the bored faces of pupils, who do not have desire for education and new knowledge.
I hoped it could be changed and I started to look for opportunities of international cooperation and contacts primarily in German speaking countries. By finding friends and peers for my pupils I wanted to spark their interest in learning foreign languages. I thought about possible ways to motivate them and most of all I wished to change the teaching process and lessons and turn them into a creative environment, in which pupils would feel encouraged to express their ideas.
And so I came across eTwinning; I opened the first few pages and have not given it up since. I immediately registered and discovered an opportunity to participate in a teacher meeting in Bratislava, which was delivered in English. The event turned out to be a great meeting of people, who were immediately open to cooperation, full of ideas and thoughts for creative cooperation. That is where I met Sonja Pustak, a teacher from Graz, Austria, together with whom I developed a collaborative project “EAT, DRINK, THINK”, built around the idea of healthy lifestyle.
My first destination abroad was Bern, Switzerland, where I attended an eTwinning event delivered in German. For me it was another excellent opportunity to visit a new country and meet new creative people while getting inspired by new project ideas. The positive energy of the meeting has lived on inside me until today and enriched me in many ways.
When suddenly I was offered a position as an eTwinning ambassador. I hesitated, because I doubted myself a little, but eventually my ambition to always be better and bring eTwinning into our region won.
I was surprised to see the verve with which colleagues from our school, who got interested in the idea of cooperation and sharing ideas across Europe, signed up for my 1st training course. It was unbelievable to see some lower-primary teachers without active command of a foreign language find project partners in English speaking countries. Using a dictionary they managed to break the language barrier and develop excellent projects.
What is the benefit for my pupils?
eTwinning has become a friend of our school, but mainly a nice companion for my pupils. It gave us an opportunity to meet European peers, learn about knew countries, get ideas and implement collaborative projects. Together with pupils we changed the traditional learning to a modern, creative one full of ICT in attractive working environment, in which it is the pupils who come up with ideas for WHAT TO DO and HOW. They are creators and implementers of interesting tasks and at the same time they present themselves and their country. They are inventive, eager, and inquisitive and most of all they look forward to our lessons together. They surpass themselves, overcome their fear of making a mistake when communicating in a foreign language; they improve their knowledge and practical skills. Working with a computer and using new digital tools such as VOKI, PICTURETRAIL, GLOGSTER, e-mail, POWERPOINT, chat, TWINSPACE and many others just motivate them even more.
What are we working on?
3rd grade – LET`S SING – English
7th grade – THE QUEEN OF THE TABLE – HER MAJESTY CARROT! – English
9th grade – MIT DEM REISEBÜRO DURCH EUROPA – German
eTwinning enables everyone to be involved, not just the skilful and talented, but also the less successful ones have an opportunity to participate in tasks suitable for the level of their skills.
In conclusion, eTwinning is great, modern, creative and European. It gives me pleasure and motivates me to see pupils voluntarily seek exposure to a foreign language, communicate and improve their knowledge.
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