Zuzana Bezáková,
Secondary Vocational School
Nové Mesto n. Váhom
I think that eTwinning has positively influenced the teaching process in our secondary vocational school. In 2012-13 school year together with a partner school from Poland we started to work on a project called “Literature on a plate”, aimed at pupils who studied to become publicans and cooks. The project combined literature and vocational training and involved collaborative cooking according to literary classics in both countries. The pupils built their knowledge and skills, communicated in English, worked with computers and had fun at the same time, when organizing videoconferences with partner pupils or devising a logo and jingle for the project. Common contacts grew into friendships, which continued to develop in a project Youth in Action, Fair Play on the Net. Our pupils spent 10 interesting days of informal education built around the theme of legal and illegal use of computers by young people in Poland. They showed their creativity and gained plenty of inspiration and ideas. Their curiosity and enthusiasm gave them motivation to learn foreign languages harder. They made friends through these intensive joint meetings and learned the value of the united Europe.
A participant of Our Cultural European Heritage, an international workshop in Budapest, 2012
There was interaction between our schools also on the teacher level. Last year we welcomed teachers from our partner school in our school in Nové Mesto nad Váhom and this year we are planning a visit to the Polish town of Torun. Every such meeting has brought us valuable experience and inspiration and opened doors for further improvement.
For me eTwinning is both work and fun. It is definitely a step forward in my pedagogical practice. I have to keep improving myself and learn and most of all use new ICTs, but I think it is all to my advantage. To me English is a communication language and not just a subject I teach. Now when I walk in the school halls, pupils smile at me, which I find very pleasant. I can see for myself that teaching can be done in a more fun and motivating way and eTwinning is a great source of inspiration. On the personal level, eTwinning has given me friendships with people whom I respect and thanks to this program I have visited places which I would not have seen otherwise.
6
2