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

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2017 Newsletter
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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
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