International Collaboration

Helena Butterfield

The Langwitch Chronicles: http://helenabutterfield.net

A bit about me

• MFL Teacher

• International Co-ordinator

• Former Head of Department

• eTwinning Ambassador

Sustainable Schools National Framework

“By 2020 the government would like all schools to be models of good global citizenship, enriching their educational mission with active support for the well-being of the global environment and community.”

“The international dimension in education is an increasingly important part of agendas such as Every Child Matters and Community Cohesion in how it supports the cultural heritage of teachers and learners and positive learning across schools.” International School Award Website

The International Dimension

Why?

• Celebrate different cultures

• Native speaker contact

• Authentic material

• Real audience

• Widens focus

• Motivation

DCSF International School Award

•Accreditation scheme for curriculum-based international work in schools. • Open to all UK schools •Free of charge. •Now features in Part One of the 2007-8 SEF for schools in England as a 'significant award' that contributes to giving the school a 'distinctive character'.

eTwinning

•Enables teachers, pupils and students in 32 European countries to work together using ICT.•European Commission’s partner finding and online collaboration tool. •Schools and colleges (working with pupils and students between the ages of 3 and 20) can register details, create a profile, search for partners and engage in online partnerships •Short or long term partnerships•Collaborate on a range of curriculum based projects in any subject area •No administration process or time restriction •Free!

What to do next?

Register for eTwinning

Find a partner school

Twinspace

• Similar to VLE

Project kits

Ideas that have worked

Blogging project with France

Wiki project (in English) with France, Italy, Turkey,

Romania, Poland

Project on our local area in German

On going GCSE project with France

Realtime communication

• Online Chat

Twinspace Chatroom

Skype chat

• Video conference

Realtime communication

Other ways of working together online

• ePals

• eLanguages

• Connecting Classrooms

• Comenius

• Twitter

And finally…

“What you learn without joy, you forget without regret”

Tiina Sarisalmi (Finnish Teacher, eTwinning Conference, Prague, Feb 2009)

More information

• The Langwitch Chronicles: http://helenabutterfield.net

• Durham Tees Valley MFL Ning: http://stocktonmfl.ning.com

• eTwinning: www.etwinning.net

• British Council: www.britishcouncil.org

• helena_butterfield@yahoo.co.uk

• Twitter: @langwitch