Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group Newsletter no. 5 - July 2015 | Page 38

Visibility of eTwinning Projects Group July 2015 Newsletter

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------Integrating eTwinning projects into classes of
English Language
Although the portal of eTwinning can largely be
used in most European languages it is a fact that,
as in most other areas of life, English has become
the language of communication among most
eTwinning users. Thereby, it has also become the
work language of most projects. Taking into
account previously stated, teachers of English were
the first to accept integrating eTwinning projects
into classes. Integrating projects in English,
whereby one can choose themes and adjust them
both to the national education plan and programme
and one’s own plan, came up as something natural
in classes of English.
Clearly, it is hard to imagine contemporary classes
of English without information and communications
technology. eTwinning enables teachers to develop
their IT skills and educate each other about new
internet tools. We can say that it was through
eTwinning projects that we came up with the idea
of collaboration of teachers of English and IT. The
inseparability of English and information and
communications technology, as well as the syllabus
of English as a second language and Information
Technology as school subjects provides a strong
background for their successful integration in
praxis.

Integrated classes of Information Technology and
English in eTwinning projects
Integrated classes of English and IT are a part of
most eTwinning projects at II Primary School
Čakovec. They are carried out in form of double
lessons and are divided into mostly theoretical and
mostly practical part. Although in none of the parts
school subjects can be fully separated (and this is
not our intention), we can say that in the first part
English is emphasized, whereas the second part
tackles mostly IT. In the first part the English
teacher teaches vocabulary and structures of
English related to the theme of the project. Then,
the IT teacher teaches about the use of the

computer programs and/or Web 2.0 tools. Finally,
in the practical part both teachers play an equally
important role. Thereby their main goal is not to
function as guides to students but as their
assistants.

This form of classes can be successfully carried out
only if both teachers possess at least minimal
knowledge of their colleague’s subjects. If both
colleagues get interested through joint work in the
other one’s subject and expand their knowledge,
the success of future projects done together
shouldn’t come into question. In the practical part
of the classes students work individually or in pairs
on computers with their teachers discreetly
supervising them and providing help when needed.
In this way an informal way of teaching is achieved
with the highest possible autonomy of students in
the process of project work in the classroom.
In this way, for example, activities were carried out
in the project˝ Sustainable Energy – Clean Energy
for the Future”. The main goal of this project was to
learn about the possibilities of the energy of the
sun, water, wind, biomass and geothermal energy.
Students of grades 6 and 8 took part in the project
(age 12 and 14). After they got the assignment to
do the research on renewable sources of energy
and find out about the most important facts, the
integrated classes of English and Information
Technology were held. In the theoretical part
students were shown a thematic animated film in
English followed by exercises of comprehension and
expanding the vocabulary. Finally, the students had
to create written matching exercises and quizzes.
The IT teacher made students familiar with the
program HotPotatoes. In the practical part of the
classes students turned the previously created

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