Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2013 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------You Live in eTwinning, and eTwinning Lives in
You
by Virgilio Iandiorio
In cinematic language they would call this article for
Newsletter 3 a retrospective, because it is the
illustration of moments and aspects of my
eTwinning experience, when my job is going to end
at the school. Also I have come to Ithaca, as the
veteran of the poetry of Constantine Cavafis. Ithaca
as a metaphor of the school, so I too can say:
Ithaca has given you the beautiful voyage. /
Without her you would have never set out on the
road./ She has nothing more to give you. / And if
you find her poor, Ithaca has not deceived you. /
Wise as you have become, with so much
experience,/ You must already have understood
what Ithacas mean.
I feel that eTwinning has given a meaning to my
school experience in recent years, allowing me to
discover the importance and beauty of the
comparison, participation and sharing.
Everything started as an amusement, because I
interpreted eTwinning as a game, because the play
is a primary and necessary condition of the
generation of culture.
A small high school in a village in the hinterland of
Campania, where they teach Latin and ancient
Greek, a mail box, sign up for the eTwinning
program. One fine day the messages; colleagues
available for partners!
The first twinning was with Gimnazjum of Lebork
(Poland), it lasted longer than we expected; the
first interesting results. The pupils produced a guide
in powerpoint of their respective provinces and
three issues of a magazine online called Dialogos,
made entirely by the students who, for the first
time, tried to write and format a newspaper. The
pupils exchanged e-mail and news about the
organization of their schools, using only English as
the language of communication. For the work done,
thankfulness of the Polish Agency went to the
partner school.
From a common passion for Latin and Roman
civilization a really exciting project was born with
the Licée Pierre Caraminot of Egletons (France).
The pupils found it interesting to work with peers
from another country, to work on a project less
attached to programs, assignments and tests, to
practice Latin in a new and more alive form. Under
their pressure, the project has taken two directions:
work on the texts from Latin authors, and
comparison of the lives of high school students in
France and Italy. It was the beginning of the
eTwinning action, and some difficulties presented
themselves. The e-mail communication was not
ideal, because it offered a confined, closed,
discontinuous space, it did not allow access to a
more appealing space. We thought to a more open
way: the blog. In one year, there were over one
hundred pu blished articles, with visits to the blog
from all parts of the world. The project has
produced revival of Latin renewed, rewarding work
for pupils, feeling for a European identity beyond
the geographical distances and cultural differences,
and willingness to meet really.
The Italian Agency LLP eTwinning in 2006 has so
assessed the project: "What is interesting is the
continuous juxtaposition of past and present: the
graffiti of Pompeii are a pretext to start a trip
(virtual) defined as "Iter Campanum"- the region
where the Italian school is located - in which the
pupils alongside descriptions of familiar landscapes
and places with Latin texts of Cicero, Plautus,
Apuleius and also other authors. The end result is a
re-reading of the past through the lens of the
present where there are notes of humour, as the
imaginary restaurant "Le Forchette Caudine”. For
each month on the left side of the blog page the
monthly folders of student contributions French and
Italian students’ contribution appeared, so for those
who want to follow the entire course of the project
from the beginning, they have to do click on these
folders."
The result of the intense collaboration with the
Gimnazjum n. 2 of Strzelce Opolskie (Poland), Licée
P. Caraminot of Egletons (France) and the Vidurine
mokykla Kaunas (Lithuania) was the publication of
a book containing 20 tales of the four countries,
translated into the languages of the four countries
and in English. At the completion of the book,
printed by a newspaper of the province where the
Italian school is located, over 70 students and ten
teachers from the four schools gave their
contribution. The book of over 200 pages is
enriched by the drawings which illustrate the
different fairy tales. They were made by the
students of the Polish school.
“Teachers for teachers” is the project with Zespół
Szkół Ponadgimnazjalnych w Szydłowie (Poland).
It is a project only for teachers. We exchange
information about our work at school.
With Zespół Szkol w Kocku (Poland) on the theme:
Our History and Traditions, has produced
interesting research of the students, who have
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