Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter 2017 No. 7 | Page 16

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2017 Newsletter ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Furthermore, they are one of the best learning tools pupils can have and are ideal for eTwinning projects. 3. Being an English as a Foreign Language (EFL) teacher and eTwinner, blogging has long been within my radar for the development of several skills. Chen (2015) systematises those contributions in three categories: Language skill practice. Reading and writing have always been a huge concern for all teachers and, in L2 learning contexts, blogging practice improves vocabulary and grammar (Vurdien, 2013); for Switek (2016) blogs are “writing laboratories”. Huang (2016, p.43) also highlights the importance of motivation and comments claiming that “the asynchronous nature of blogs benefited them [pupils] in reading, writing, editing, and giving comments on their own postings as well as their peers’.” Now, as partners in eTwinning projects, we are promoting language exchanges and communication in real contexts and for a real audience, so why not invest (more) in blogging? Metacognitive skills. Today’s world is far more complex than it was a couple of years ago and pedagogy has to change in order to better support the acquisition of 21 st Century skills (Scott, 2015) capitalising on the web 2.0 technologies (Morgan, 2015). New technologies require new skills – collaboration, creativity, communication, critical thinking along with problem solving skills – not only for the time being but also to prepare our pupils to face the challenges of an ever-changing world of work. By involving our pupils in eTwinning and blogging projects, we are providing them with even further opportunities to develop these much-needed skills. Intercultural competence. Within school projects, our pupils may contact with peers from different language and cultural backgrounds which boost the exchange of ideas and interaction (Meinecke, Smith, & Lehmann-Willenbrock, 2013), making learning a group process. At the same time, these powerful and memorable cross cultural experiences promote positive attitudes of respect, tolerance and acceptance towards differences around us. With a blogging project, these practices may be extended to a whole new level since the potential audience exponentially increases. Bearing in mind that the current job market already works under the premises of collaboration 24/7, by participating in eTwinning and blogging projects (how about eTwinblogging projects?) we are not only fostering pupils’ intercultural awareness, but also amplifying learning and instilling active global citizenship. As said before, I am an EFL teacher, but these eTwinning and blogging affordances apply to all contact languages, be it English, French, German, Spanish - you name it. So, why not spread the word about eTwinning projects and take full advantage of the blogging potential? 4. Whilst I cannot say much about blogging within other twinspaces besides my own, the truth is that, in Portugal, blogging is almost exclusively pursued by educators and teachers. Indeed, after accessing Portal das Escolas, our largest collaborative network in the educational field, and checking its dedicated blog catalogue at Catálogo dos Blogues Educativos, I did come across a number of EFL blogs as well as some others created within eTwinning and Erasmus+ projects. However, after a more attentive look, we can observe that only teachers post entries and only a minority of blogs, if any, includes comments and interactions. Do not get me wrong - this is no criticism at all, solely the stating of a fact. Therefore, if eTwinning educators and teachers are willing to create blogs and promote their eTwinning projects and good practices, the ultimate challenge now is to involve our pupils in blogging, too. 5. It is no easy task to get pupils blogging. Blogging tasks and activities should be directed and well structured, narrow enough to guide the young eTwinners, but also broad enough to allow them some freedom to develop their ideas and express their opinions (Meinecke et al., 2013). There can and should also be assigned and scheduled blogging tasks to ensure continuous participation, and pupils should be accountable for their publications (though always under the instructor’s monitorisation, including esafety issues). One way to ensure this can be to rotate blog posts and or comments among the participating schools / countries; just like teachers are free to post blog entries, pupils should also be allowed to do so – or at least have a “spokesperson” to do it thus empowering learners, developing their autonomy and creating a sense of attainment and ownership. Last but not at all least important is to tackle issues that meet our pupils’ interests. 6. eTwinning blogs should not be limited to one single class or project partner, or, as too often happens, to teachers alone; they should be interacted by teachers and pupils and shared with 16