CLIL, eTwinning and more: most popular posts of 2011

2011 has been a very busy and surprising year in my life as a teacher. I've had lots of "surprising problems" and lots of "surprising rewards" as well (not meaning the big awards here - though they were more than welcome of course! - but the tiny everyday success stories, half smiles of my students, little exciting "I can" moments, and so on).

This blog is definitely one of the surprising rewards. The people I met here, the support I got (and I'm getting right now), the ideas that were born here through sharing.
Yes, 2011 was a great year for LifelongLearningTeachers.

And I'd like to welcome the new year by having a look at the posts that were most viewed, commented on and discussed in 2011. Now, let's see what all the buzz was about!

1) eTwinning Conference "Leading 21st century education" part 1, part 2, and conclusion
the before during and after of a challenging event...with most etwinners being rather skeptical I'm afraid (but maybe we'll be surprised, who knows?)

2) structure of a (CLIL) lesson - start with the pupils
the basic structure of a (CLIL) lesson as presented by Dr Diana Hicks

3) CLIL: language teacher or subject teacher?
still the burning question...

4) my best CLIL lesson of 2011 and CLIL lesson for Science/Geography
practical tips for the everyday lesson: I'm glad you liked this, and I'm planning to share more!

5)  how do you fight boredom in the classroom?
well, it looks like we all have a common problem to deal with!

I'm closing this post, wishing you all a very happy and successful 2012, with the most viewed post of all times. It's a post about traditions, celebrating and children (and adults) having fun: Gigantes y Cabezudos ! Thank you Elena!

And I'd  like to thank here all of the great teachers who lived with us the LLT adventure from the very beginning. Thank you everybody.

Have a great new year!

eTwinning Conference "Leading 21st century education" - conclusion

It's kind of funny when you think how many ideas, projects, doubts and (especially) questions can come out of a single event. The eTwinning Conference held in Genova was a gold mine for my personal reflections, not only dealing with the future of eTwinning, but with the future of the EU and the future of European education.

Which means, a huge part of my own future (and yours, if you're a teacher). Something we cannot fully decide for ourselves: and it's quite scary when you feel someone else is deciding for you.

 So, while in Genova, I just sat there all the time, staring at the policy makers, burning with questions, and hoping for some answers. Unfortunately, there actually was very little time for questions. And I must admit what was said was not exactly answering my doubts.

If you want the official covering of the event, you can have a look at the article on the eTwinning portal When eTwinning meets policy makers! You can find videos there , documents and much of what was said and done.

And if you want my very personal, very unofficial and very uncensored opinion as well, just go on reading!

I was convinced by:

- Commissioner Androulla Vassiliou's speech. True, eTwinning is an EU success story, and Heaven knows if Europe needs success stories these times. And true, as a success story it deserves more attention and recognition by the political world. Now, the question could be: is the political world interested in common EU success stories? or individual (national) selfishness is bound to prevail?

- The four workshops. Of course I loved mine (Pedagogical Practices), I found I had so much in common with the experts in my panel, even if we came from very different experiences (with me being the only simple teacher...). But I liked all of the workshops I could attend, and it was pleasant to see there were teachers in all of the panels: after all, there was someone who knew what we were talking about in practice, not just delivering a lecture. What's more, the workshops were the ideal size in terms of participants, so we could exchange ideas and try to find common solutions for our (common) issues. There was a debate, not just a speech from a stage. And here, there are two questions as well: 1) did the policy makers understand the real value of this cooperation between teachers all over Europe? or 2) did they look at it as a non-expensive toy to keep their teachers entertained and professionally growing (without them having to do anything)?

- Anne Gilleran's sentence: eTwinning is a place where you're allowed to fail. Great! Even if as teachers we're usually obsessed with being perfect, in fact we can't be. And it's a relief to feel free to make mistakes once in a while - and learn from them. That's what LifeLongLearning is supposed to mean. Now, to the question: will policy makers understand this? will we still be free to fail in an "institutionalized" eTwinning?

I was NOT convinced by:

- the projection of a bright technological future for the European schools, where teachers and students communicate via twitter, regularly meet on social networks and happily exploit ICT as creative educational tools. I've visited schools in Tuscany (and we're supposed to be one of the rich parts of Italy) where the ICT equipment is zero. A high percentage of teachers can't even hold a mouse. Lots of pupils think exploiting ICT means playing Wii or Play Station games. And there are even more serious issues: more and more families, in this time of crisis, can't afford buying a pc or paying for the internet access. Lots of Municipalities have less and less money to provide their schools with ICT equipment. Not to mention the crisis of European Education we've been discussing in another post (how can we forget all of those un-met benchmarks?). My feeling was that the impact of the present crisis was underestimated. It's my personal opinion, but the efficient and creative hypertechnological school of the future is Utopia school... or (worse) it is going to be an elite school for those who can afford it.

- the policy-makers speeches: sorry, apart from very few happy situations, the distance between the politicians and the EU-minded experts (Eugenio Riviere, Santi Scimeca, Anne Gilleran, Donatella Nucci etc) was patent. The politicians just kept seeing their small slice of the educational world, while the others talked in a wider perspective. And sadly, I'm not sure they had the same goals in mind. My question: did they understand each other?

...

Ok, that's all for my experiences and thoughts about Genova. I know maybe I've been boring with all of these posts, but we are living such a difficult period for the EU and the debate in Genova got for me a wider meaning, going beyond eTwinning.

After all, in my opinion the question is not if eTwinning will or won't be recognized by the institutions of the different countries. The question is: will the different countries recognize the existence - and value - of the European dimension in education?

eTwinning Conference "Leading 21st century education" - part two

The Eminent - eTwinning Conference in Genova has actually been a great series of events and a brilliant first step towards giving an institutional role to eTwinning.

Do you remember the key questions the conference was supposed to address? I do, but if you don't, just have a look here. I believe thousands of eTwinners are now anxious to know which role they'll be playing in the near future in their schools, in the European educational system and in their national educational systems.

Before I start with my own, very personal reflection, let me say I tried to keep track of all speeches and info I could put my hands on. Sometimes I wonder if eTwinning is actually disseminating itself well enough, as it was very difficult for me to find materials, presentations and speeches delivered during the conference. Anyway, you can find something here, through Eminent. And, as usual, I uploaded all that I could find in the TNG twinspace - first folder under "Useful materials". So, if you're curious and you'd like to know something of what was said and done, just have a look there.

Now, back to the key questions. I can't deal with all of them in this post, so, this "conference soap opera" will have a third chapter as well (maybe more). As for now, I'm just starting with the first question.

- How can professional development policies benefit from eTwinning practice?

Not sure of the answer - but believe me, all of the important people, policy makers and stakeholders were just as puzzled as I (the "normal" teacher) was. Of course eTwinning is a great place for professional development. Of course it's a place where we meet, share ideas, develop projects and thus we grow as better teachers (that's what a social network based on educational shared interest is supposed to do for us). And of course again, professional development policies already benefit from eTwinning (at almost zero cost: teachers choose eTwinning for no other reason that their passion - no funding involved for us).
So, eTwinning practice has already done a lot for professional development policies.
Now, in my opinion, the question should be different: what can professional developmet policies do for eTwinners? can our work and our passion be recognized someway?
The good news: in some countries, it is already. The bad news: most of the others think what we already have (?) is more than enough.

Now, let's talk for us in Italy. You can be a brilliant eTwinner, develop the best projects ever, have a collection of QLs and a fantastic net of reliable partners all around Europe. Great! You grow up to be an almostdigitalnative teacher, you have lots of competences, you're happy in your job and your pupils are enjoying their learning process. Now, say, one day you decide (or you have) to move to a different school. And ops! nothing of this beautiful world of experiences and competences is kept in your professional record. That is to say, your curriculum vitae is just as good as that of any "chalk & talk" teacher.
All of your eTwinning experience (which is precious, and I do believe it is), in fact does not exist for your Ministry of Education. Better, it is of no interest to them.
Well, I don't think that's much to encourage any teacher to enter the eTwinning world (or the EU projects world).
Lots of us are "old" eTwinners, we were pioneers first, then we developed in time the belief that the eTwinning  methodology can be both an incredible tool and an incredible meeting point for our teaching. We are here because we are sure that's the right pathway. But if we want to involve more teachers, if we want to have a bigger impact on education, if we want to go beyond the pioneer-stage... if we want more, we have to give more.

I believe the last 6 years in my life as a teacher cannot be kept apart from my life as an eTwinner. I learnt, shared and taught a lot in the eTwinning community. Is it so difficult for policy makers to understand this? Would have been better for me to pay for a traditional University course, and just sit there and listen to a lecturer for some 20 hours? In terms of my professional record, yes. In terms of my professional development, it would have meant learning, by listening, 1% of what I learnt through eTwinning, by doing.

Now, I get scared when I read things like these (quoting the Eminent blog)

" By the end of the session a common agreement had been reached: eTwinning should stay flexible and free and shouldn’t be overly controlled, as it is a safe environment. The general feeling was, “Do we really need to embed eTwinning in education policies? Don’t we risk diluting the essence of eTwinning?” "

Which general feeling? Not that of the teachers, be sure.
Of course we do need to embed eTwinning in educational policies! (still my very personal opinion) Otherwise it's like having a perfect educational world that doesn't exist for the real world. And I don't want to live in educational Utopia, I want real life. National and European policies should be able to speak the same language.
By the way, what was this conference for, if we don't think eTwinning should be embedded in education policies?
But I was there, and it was a good event: and I believe it was the beginning of something. I still believe utopia and reality can meet somewere.

Or am I just Alice in Wonderland?

eTwinning Conference "Leading 21st century education"

ABCD is  the leading event devoted to school and education  in Italy, whose aim is to cover the whole school world in one exhibition. It is held at Genoa Fair & Exhibition Centre, featuring exhibition areas, workshops and conferences. It represents both the perfect meeting point for students, teachers, and exhibitors (leading players in this ever-changing and evolving sector) and a tool aiming to meet their needs.

This year, ABCD is for the first time hosting eTwinning, with an international conference for stakeholders and policy-makers.

The EMINENT - eTwinning Conference "Leading 21st century education" (Genova, 16-17 November 2011) is organized by the eTwinning National Support Service Italy and European Support Service - European Schoolnet, in close collaboration with the European Commission, and it involves joint sessions with the 2011 Eminent conference.

The conference, taking place on November the16th and 17th, will face issues related to the changes of the 21st century school: teachers' professional development, pupils' and teachers' motivation for learning and teaching, key competencies for the training of European citizens.

The main goal of eTwinning is actually to encourage the creation of networks between schools and teachers, to provide opportunities for professional development through training of teachers on-line and on-site, with a focus on collaborative learning and teaching aspects related to the use of ICT.

For the first time, the eTwinning conference will bring together policy makers, educational authorities at various levels and educational actors in a mutual effort to identify and develop actions and strategies to get a better 21st century education.

The conference will provide an opportunity to learn, to address and help answer some key questions:

- How can professional development policies benefit from eTwinning practice?


- Which ones can be considered to be the best examples of promotion and dissemination of pedagogical practice?

- What competencies are needed for individuals to participate fully exploit the opportunities offered by eTwinning? and how can eTwinning help in developing these competencies?

- What synergies, within the use of eTwinning, could be created between European and National educational policies?
 
That's much to talk about, isn't it? I find it to be one of the greatest eTwinning challenges so far. And I hope you'll be as thrilled as I am to get to know more. So, keep tuned for more:)
 
 
                                                                                               [to be continued]