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The project was based on the exchange of cultural information about traditions and celebrations in Spain and England. Its dual aims were to use the foreign language to communicate and get to know our partners, and to discover and celebrate similarities and differences in our national celebrations. Staff and pupils at both schools contributed to a lively exchange of ideas and materials, and their enthusiasm made the project a success.
During the course of this project the ICT skills of both pupils and staff , particularly those of the coordinators of the project, have been enhanced immeasurably. Pupils at WCPS have produced collaborative Powerpoint presentations about Easter, Word documents about Pancake Day and conducted research using the Internet. During these activities, they have learned new skills such as copy and pasting and bookmarking, and used word processing to review and correct their efforts. They have become increasingly familiar with our own school website and in particular the e-twinning pages where their work has been published.
We learned how to create and publish web pages, adding and manipulating graphics, using HTML codes to format entries and uploading images and documents of various types (including converting files to PDF to enable their inclusion on the site). Both sites boast specific sections of the site dedicated to the project.
The publishing of work on the websites has maintained interest and allowed parents to see what has been happening in school as well as allowing other pupils to see what their peers have produced and, of course, allowing the pupils involved to see their work showcased for a wider audience than normal. The project has also encouraged us to explore other areas of ICT such as VLEs and the feasibility of using blogging and podcasting.
Learning a language that is not spoken on a day to day basis in your country can seem an artificial exercise with little immediate point. Through the e-twinning project, pupils were provided with real Spanish people who were interested in them and with whom they could practice their Spanish (in written form). Pupils have produced letters in Spanish and English at WCPS, both individually and collaboratively, with a real purpose – to send them to our partner school and not just as a paper exercise. Pupils have also benefited from raised self-esteem as they received replies to their letters, and saw their work showcased on the websites of both schools for not only their peers but also the wider school community to view and enjoy.
“A whole school involvement is one of the many strengths of the project…”
“Moving to a more dynamic web space (a blog, for example) would give students more flexibility in what is published and when, and a chance for visitors to interact with the material – expanding the collaboration.”
Visit the project’s public Twin Space to find out more.
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