We want to create a project based on childrens drawings. We are starting with our 6 year olds’ drawings inspired from fairytales, different seasons, xmas…. but want to let the project grow with the children. Language is english.

If you’d like to join Lars Ring, look him up in the Partner Finding section of your eTwinning profile and send him an email for more information.

If you are new to eTwinning, you can register at www.etwinning.net to access your profile and use the Partner Finding tool to find partners from all over Europe.

If you need help with your eTwinning project of to seek partners, you can contact the Maltese National Support Service on 25982150 or 79002150 or send an email at etwinning@schoolnet.net.mt.

Enjoy!

Read more by Michael O’Donnabhain - eTwinning UK NSS

Nearly 500 teachers are meeting in Seville to celebrate the fifth anniversary of eTwinning, an action that creates online communities of teachers and schools across Europe. Through eTwinning, over 85 000 teachers from across Europe work together in international school activities involving more than 50 000 schools in 32 European countries. In the five years of its existence, eTwinning has grown from being a partner-finding tool for teachers to become a rich, Europe-wide community of teaching and learning (www.etwinning.net). On 5 February, a prize ceremony is being held for 37 schools from 21 countries that are the top winners of this year’s eTwinning Awards for excellence in eTwinning.

This year’s annual conference in Seville marks the fifth anniversary of eTwinning. Over the three days of the conference (5 - 7 February), teachers from thirty-two countries in Europe, as well as national and European representatives, will take stock of the initiative. eTwinning makes the most of Web 2.0 tools to promote -

• project work with pupils,

• online communities for teachers, and

• numerous opportunities for professional development.

Odile Quintin, the European Commission’s Director-General for Education and Culture, will open the conference. She congratulated the many thousands of dedicated teachers for their contributions to this innovative education tool: “eTwinning is a true community of practice, learning, excellence and innovation in education both at the European level and worldwide. The teachers participating in eTwinning have shown how powerful the learning experience can be for children when it is enriched through international collaboration, cultural and linguistic exchange using twenty-first century tools.”

On 5 February, the top eTwinning projects will be awarded prizes for their excellence in eTwinning during the 2008-2009 school year. The awards come in three age categories (4-11, 12-15 and 16-19) and four thematic categories (Spanish language, French language, Maths & Science, and Creative use of Digital Media). In total, 37 schools from 21 countries came away as the top winners. The prizes for the age category winners are participation in the eTwinning Camp (to be held in April/May), and the special categories winners receive school equipment and professional development opportunities.

The eTwinning action is coordinated by European Schoolnet on behalf of the European Commission.

Contacts:

John Macdonald : +32.2.295.52.67 / John.MACDONALD@ec.europa.eu

Sophie Andersson : +32.2.295.02.08 / Sophie.ANDERSSON@ec.europa.eu

Age category 4-11:
Colours of Life - common story written by children
- Ewa Kurzak, Przedszkole Publiczne nr 5 w Głogowie (PL)
- Miriam Schembri, St. Thomas More College, Fgura Primary A (MT)

Jury Comment: Excellent use of various methods for cooperation in a group of very small children from kindergarten. It showed a high degree of cooperation between teachers to plan their work together.

Age category 12-15:
50 easy things you can do to save the Earth
- Florenci Sales Vilalta, IES Sòl-de-Riu (ES)
- Nelly Vicheva, Secondary School of Economics “Georgy S. Rakovsky” (BG)
- Remei Ibáñez Alcocer, IES Sòl-de-Riu (ES)

Jury Comment: This project managed to turn a depressing and complicated topic into an inspiring search and study into our environment. The pupils and teachers from different countries actually worked together and created a wonderful web-magazine and videos that could be used as learning material. This project can serve as a good model for any eTwinning project.

Age category 16-19:
LED - Learning and Teaching Furniture Design in Europe
- Gabriela Bodiková, Stredná odborná škola drevárska (SK)
- Rahel Böhlke, Marcel-Breuer-schule berlin (DE)

Jury Comment:This project has an outstanding combination of learning and teaching strategies. There is a well-structured plan from aims to evaluation and all these reflect on the practical results. The ICT help to develop modules and exercises for learning and teaching furniture design in a vocational and intercultural context.
SPECIAL CATEGORY WINNERS

Maths and science (prize sponsored by European Schoolnet)
Magic but real experiments
- Alexandre Costa, Escola Secundária de Loulé (PT)
- Claudia Cziprok, Colegiul National “Mihai Eminescu” (RO)
- Claudia Radu Scoala Gimnaziala, “Gheorghe Lazar” (RO)
- Danuta Tracz, Zespół Szkolno-Przedszkolny w Brzeźnicy (PL)
- Irena Babinska, Vilniaus r. Pagiriu gimnazija (LT)
- Manuel Díaz Escalera, Colegio Sagrado Corazón (Esclavas) (ES)

Jury comment: The project shows a concrete ad innovative collaboration among partners using web 2.0. In the project blog you can find videos of experiments carried out by the pupils in the school activities, very amusing and useful to see!

Spanish language (prize sponsored by the Spanish Ministry of Education)
TRIANGULO
- Mauricio Del Gallego Naredo, IES LLANERA (ES)
- Isabel Monteiro, Escola Secundária de Pinheiro e Rosa (PT)
- Marta Pey, IES JAUME CALLIS (ES)

French language (prize sponsored by the eTwinning National Support Service in France)
Sous le ciel de la compréhension
- Angela Riccomi, ITCG Paolini (IT)
- Wioletta Sosnowska, Zespół Szkół Tekstylno-Handlowych (PL)

Jury comment : Projet très bien documenté et bien présenté sur l’espace public de Twinspace avec un très bon dictionnaire comparatif des gestes accessible sur cet espace .

Creative use of digital media (prize sponsored by eSkills Week)
Schoolovision 2009!
- Anna-Lena Larsson, Grimsåsskolan (SE)
- Aurelija Dirginčienė, Šiaulių „Juventos (LT)
- Bergfrid Kolltveit, Odda barneskole (NO)
- Corina Ciobanu, Scoala cu clasele I-VIII “Vladimir Streinu”, Teiu, Arges (RO)
- Dana Ciglová , ZS Husova, Brno (CZ)
- Gabriela Krížovská, Základná škola a materská škola Poprad , Jarná ulica 3168/13 (SK)
- Ilaria Pelucchi, Scuola Elementare San Giovanni Bosco (IT)
- Ingrid Maadvere, Gustav Adolfi Gümnaasium (ET)
- Katja Auffret, Ecole de Florentin (FR)
- Kolbrun Svala Hjaltadottir, Flataskoli Gardabaer (NO)
- Larisa Voronyuk, Jelgavas 2. pamatskola (LV)
- Marek Fularz, Szkoła Podstawowa nr 1 (PL)
- Maria Antoinette Magro, San Gorg Preca College, Hamrun GP Primary (MT)
- Michael Purves, Yester Primary School (UK)
- Nezaket KANDEMİR GÜNAY, Nazire Merzeci İlköğretim Okulu (TR)
- Oleflemming Nielsen, Stadil-Vedersø Skole (DK)
- Svetoslava Georgieva, SOU “Georgi Izmirliev” (BG)
- Tanja Povhe, OS Venclja Perka Domzale (SI)
- Νίκη Νικολαΐδου, Agros Primary School (CY)

Jury Comment: The idea of all-round-Europe competition sounds to be very interesting and very innovative in connection with school kids.

Download the EMBED Awards 2009 Magazine

2010 marks the 5th anniversary of eTwinning - so let’s all celebrate together with our representatives in Seville.

Live streaming!

For those eTwinners unable to attend the conference in person, fear not! The event will be streamed live online through Elluminate. To access the Elluminate V-room on the day of the conference, click on the individual sessions in the official conference site.

Friday, 5 February:
- Plenary Session 1: Welcome to the eTwinning Conference 2010 (14.00-15.15)
- Plenary Session 2: Keynote Address by Stephen Heppell, eTwinning Conference 2010 (15.45-17.00)
- eTwinning Prizes 2010 - Award Ceremony (17.00-18.00)

Saturday, 6 February:
- eTwinning Conference 2010: Workshop on “The future of learning” run by IPTS (10.00-11.30 in English)
- eTwinning Conference 2010: Workshop on “Tools to support eTwinning interaction” (12.00-13.30 in English)
- eTwinning Conference 2010: Workshop on “Achieving collaboration” (15.00-16.30 in Spanish)

Sunday, 7 February:
- The future of learning: Panel session and closing of the eTwinning Conference 2010 (9.45-11.45)

Schoolovision 2009 made use of a variety of digital resources to make a song contest between 28 countries, where each country had to vote the best song for Europe. Flashmeeting was used to make live conferencing among all 28 countries at the same time. These sessions were used among the teacher participants to plan the project first. Later on other Flashmeeting sessions were carried out during school hours where all the 28 classrooms involved could meet to get to know each other. Finally it was used to vote for the best song. All the songs were performed and videorecorded by the class children and uploaded in the Schoolovision 2009 blog for the rest to view. The winner of the song contest was a school in Brno, Czech Republic and the founder of the project presented them with a trophy.

This project has won many other awards. Many countries, including Malta, has awarded this project a National eTwinning award, but it was also awarded two other prestigious awards: The Global Junior Challenge 2009 award and the eLearning award 2009 for the Best Cross Border Cooperation in Europe.

Congratulations to all the members of this project especially to Maria Magro!

Ms. Apetrei would like to engage other teachers in a project called “E-Journalists”.  The project would center around the idea of having a common e-journal written by students.

Ms. Apetrei writes:

“E-JOURNALISTS  Teachers of English and French and their students (aged 15-18 ) work together in order to design a magazine or a newspaper focused on different topics of general interest (school, music, fashion, sports, environment,etc).  Students get the chance to express themselves in their own genuine way using adults only as advisers and coordinators. Students learn in a collaborative way to interview, take pictures, design pages, write and translate articles into English/ French and their native language. Join us!”

If you are interested in this project, do not reply to this post, but look up Ms. Apetrei in the Partner Finding Section of the eTwinning Desktop, and add her as one of your contacts.  Then click on her Profile to send her an e-mail.

For more information about this or other projects, do not hesitate to contact the National Support Services on 25982150 or by e-mail on jeannette.cardona@gmail.com or amromica@gmail.com.

Good Luck with your Project