Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2013 Newsletter
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Living eTwinning
by Olga Antonioli
It is difficult to describe in an original way the
benefits eTwinning offers to its members. I will just
write some personal reflections based on my own
experience started in 2005. Much has been said and
much will be said as the portal is not static but
dynamic not only for the growing number of
eTwinners, but especially for the collaborative
proposals ranging in social, educational, cultural
and technological contexts which, day after day,
expand in continuous evolution. There is not the
danger of getting bored because the choices are
varied and free. The freedom of choice reassures
people when they approach eTwinning for the first
time and then, it becomes a stimulus for creativity.
There is no compulsion in the way of working as
everyone can choose, plan and 'shape' the activities
to develop with contents, methods, tools and times
that suit personal needs and abilities. Freedom is
the participation in projects, in regional, national
and international seminars and workshops, in
Learning Events and in Teachers' Rooms.
Communication and collaboration are the two key
words for the interaction with others. This is the
objective our students have to pursue to approach
and interact with peers, in order to respect their
personality and their 'diversity', to satisfy their own
and the others’ curiosity, to feel full of enthusiasm
and desire to improve themselves, to overcome
their shyness and shame to speak in a different
language, to reflect and grow humanly.
I have become addicted to eTwinning almost
without realizing it. One thing leads to the other...
despite I have had objective difficulties to work at
projects but I was pushed not to give up for a
number of reasons: the comparison with other
teachers, the questioning as a teacher who looks
for new solutions to my teaching, the friendship
often only virtual that develops with the partners of
a project and other eTwinners with whom I have
shared different collaborations. I have always
gained positive experiences and ideas and improved
in using Web 2.0 tools. This rarely happens in the
real world. And, most important of all is to see the
brilliant flicker in my students’ eyes when they
share a project and compare with European peers.
The students of the second year participated in the
first two. 'Linguistic Scenery-European Day of
Languages 2012' lasted nearly a month. The
students were invited to send photographs
representing linguistic scenes they saw around
them (words in another European language, not in
their native language) and to take part in a photo
competition. Two of my students came in the top
five. All the participants have learned to see the
world around them with more attentive eyes and in
particular to look for foreign words or phrases which
were significant for the context and to find out their
meanings on a dictionary which proved to be a
useful vocabulary exercise.
'Let's Discover Europe' has involved schools from
24 countries. The students exchanged information
on their respective homeland: the language,
currency, geography of the country, famous people
etc. In December there was also a real exchange of
postcards that was very appreciated by everyone.
The data regarding all the involved countries were
collected and put together to create a booklet of
Europe.
In 2012-2013 school year my pupils took part in
three projects : 'Linguistic Scenery - European Day
of Languages 2012', 'Let's Discover Europe' and
'Hopes and Dreams'.
90