Learning with eTwinning - European Commission - Europa

23456ICT projects have brought innovation into my teaching. My pupils can compareschool life, traditions and customs and they are very proud to have their ownfriends in another country. For most of them, it is the first time they are usingtheir school knowledge in a real-life context. eTwinning has brought real-lifeinto our classroom. They all are members of the TwinSpace team and some ofthem have even become administrators. They know that it means that I trustthem and they in turn respect their roles in this way.The pupils have improved their knowledge in using ICT tools, the TwinSpace andcontinue the friendly relations which we have had with Kavasila High School fora long time as well as with other European schools. They have friends online butthey do not feel this virtual reality; for them, everything is real. They discuss realtopics and exchange real letters which is very important. They have learned to beresponsible and precise. They know that on the other side of Europe somebody iswaiting for their response. They often work from home voluntarily. They gainmore self-confidence which has been especially important for my Czech pupils.The skills and concepts in my projects have fulfilled our curricular requirements incompetences that are compulsory and mustn’t be forgotten: the competences to(1) learn, (2) solve problems, and (3) communicate both socially and personally.The pupils learned how to work in a team. They had to respect each other andaccept the fact that we are different. They worked with a text, translated it intoa foreign language and learned to be responsible. The main benefit was working ingroups: being able to plan the work and dividing the tasks.My project has definitely changed my view on using ICT tools. During the lastthree years, I took several courses on using different kinds of software.I wanted to better my computer knowledge and this has happened togetherwith the development of the TwinSpace. What was enough three years ago, itis not enough today. I have become a real computer “expert” and have in turnreceived even more respect from my pupils. I use ICT tools regularly in mylessons and can’t imagine returning to traditional methods. I do not want to bea “talk and chalk teacher” anymore.I would like to encourage teachers to get involved in any kind of eTwinningproject and not give up after a possible first failure. Be patient and beforegetting pupils in contact with new friends, spend some time to get to knowyour partner teacher better. It is worth starting a new project and if you startmore than one, there is always hope that not all the projects will fail. As a lastpiece of advice: please, if somebody contacts you, be honest and answer themessage whether it is a positive or negative answer. Do not make others wait.63