HanDS: Democratic Schools-an etwinning project 2019/20

When this pandemic began, teachers all over the World were given little notice to shift very quickly to distance learning or e-learning, sometimes with no training. In many cases, we had 48 hours or a weekend to reinvent lessons for an already planned curriculum, learn new technologies, find non-technology solutions to student learning, and figure out how to keep students engaged. But all us etwinning teachers ,also had to balance home and work and how to do our life’s work from afar while simultaneously caring for students, grieving losses, and so many more challenges and obstacles!

For all those -mainly non-European -teachers who keep asking me about what etwinning is about: eTwinning is the community for schools in Europe.

I personally realised that there was only ONE thing that was still there for both me and my students, during the lockdown: etwinning!

eTwinning offers a platform for staff (teachers, head teachers, librarians, etc.), working in a school in one of the European countries involved, to communicate, collaborate, develop projects, share and, in short, feel and be part of the most exciting learning community in Europe. eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport.

eTwinning promotes school collaboration in Europe through the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) by providing support, tools and services for schools. eTwinning also offers opportunities for free and continuing online Professional Development for educators.

Launched in 2005 as the main action of the European Commission’s eLearning Programme, eTwinning is co-funded by the Erasmus+, the European programme for Education, Training, Youth and Sport, since 2014.

Its Central Support Service is operated by European Schoolnet, an international partnership of 34 European Ministries of Education developing learning for schools, teachers and pupils across Europe. eTwinning is further supported at national level by 38 National Support Services.

TwinSpace

The place where eTwinning magic really happens is the TwinSpace; a safe platform visible only to the teachers participating in a project. Students can also be invited in the TwinSpace to meet and collaborate with peers from their partner schools.

One of the most important elements of eTwinning is collaboration among teachers, students, schools, parents, and local authorities. In eTwinning teachers work together and organise activities for their students. They have an active role, interact, investigate, make decisions, respect each other and learn 21st century skills. eTwinning projects involve the contribution of each member of the team. Take inspiration and explore these awarded projects.

Finally, in eTwinning, our work is important and deserves to be shared and recognised locally, nationally and Europe-wide. eTwinning recognises the work carried out by teachers, students, and schools through National and European Quality Labels, eTwinning Awards, eTwinning Schools and the eTwinning Portfolio.

One of our school  inspiring etwinning projects, this year, was a project about DEMOCRATIC VALUES.

About the project

This #eTw4Democracy project, provides an opportunity for students to make connections with students of other European partner schools, sharing and enhancing democratic values, at the same time.
Our schools are microcosms of the communities in which they exist. They are the perfect environment for students not only to learn about civics and democratic values, but also to experience democracy in all aspects of school life cultivating the way the students become citizens. In a democratic school students and teachers should participate equally in the shaping of school life, thus realising their right to have a say on matters that affect them. The activities in this project aim to support students in promoting democratic values within their school communities ensuring that students understand their rights and responsibilities and have strategies for building an inclusive and equitable school environment for all.

AIMS

The overall aim is to share school democratic values, with others! Children will recognize that their actions affect themselves but also others.
Our “HanDS” project, provides the opportunity to break down classroom walls, too. It gives our students a chance to see a world outside of their walls and teach about Democracy, at the same time. Additionally, our aim is that, the concept of Europe will be understood and our students will become fully aware of the other European partner schools. Therefore, citizenship should become a practical ,rather than theoretical, part of the curriculum.
All in all,our aims are:
To prepare students for their future role as citizens
To provide students with opportunities for learning in a democratic environment
To promote active participation and responsibility in the school environment
To improve students’ communication, collaboration, decision- making and problem- solving skills

WORK PROCESS

The tasks, will be set by all partner schools; the activities and work produced will be shared on twinspace by the schools, on a monthly basis and the work process will be communicated using the journal, on a weekly basis. Depending on the activity, pupils will have the opportunity to work independently or with talk partners and will have membership / access to twinspace to share and see the other school’s work and join in forums. Children will also have the opportunity to work in mixed ability groups in each school or in teams of pupils in different schools, sharing responsibilities. They will also have to work in teams, to think of ideas about collaborative projects and about the hand-print crafts, to fill the parcels that will be sent to the other schools, on different topics. Those parcels will have themes, such as:school life in the past, school life at present ,a day in a democratic school etc
The project, works on two levels: sharing on twinspace and parcel exchanges, by post.

EXPECTED RESULTS

Children will learn about civics and democratic values, but also experience democracy in all aspects of school life, through their dialogue, written work and the parcels that they will send and receive! Children will also practice writing and communicating in English and children in all countries will familiarize themselves with aspects of each other’s school life, promoting democratic values within their school communities.

Our project, helps us to widen our horizons, reconsider our perspectives, improve self-esteem, increase understanding of different cultures and values , enhance democracy in the school environment and prove that “communication is at the basis of understanding others”.The process is always constantly about learning to learn collaboratively, building an inclusive and equitable school environment for all.
The pupils are expected to be inspired and motivated and participate equally in the shaping of school life .

Origami crafts and ELT games

This school year, we decided to use ORIGAMI crafts, in our ” CUbeS: CUlture and Smiles in a CUbe”  etwinning project ! Origami, is such a creative form of Art!

Why is Origami good for our students?

Generally, Origami is good for our students, as it develops eye hand coordination, sequencing skills, spatial skills, memory, but also patience and attention skills.  Origami allows students to develop fine motor skills and mental concentration. All of this combined stimulates the brain – especially when BOTH hands are being used at the same time.

Add to these, the social aspects of Origami – learning about other cultures, working together, teaching each other and taking pride in your work –simply PERFECT for our etwinning project, this year!

Young children will surprise us in the ability they show creating basic folds – start on origami patterns such as Fortune Tellers , Windmills and Paper Boats are a classic example of childhood origami projects! And you can quickly progress from there.

Oh.. and what childhood does NOT include a Paper Plane? Origami right there! I love this Origami Paper Plane video by this 7yr old. 

It is fantastic for cooperative learning – children learn to work together and support each other. It breaks down age barriers – a younger child may be able to help and older one. It is also a great way to learn about other cultures and communities. So the key aspects of Origami benefiting well being and social skills are:

• Patience

• Cooperative learning/ Working in together

• Sense of achievement

• Learning about other cultures

• Community building (especially if working on an origami school project)

• Sense of achievement & joy in the finished product

A. The Origami Paper Airplane “You” game

This fun writing icebreaker or brainstorming activity, works well with all students.

To start, the students write three to five facts about themselves on a piece of paper. Remember to ask them to write their full name on one of the wings. Then they put their creativity to work by folding that paper into a paper airplane.

On your count, everyone flies their planes toward the middle of the room. Then students pick up a plane that landed near them.

Students take turns reading the facts written on the plane and add one new fact about the person whose paper plane they have in their hands. Let the class help if individuals get stuck.

Repeat the procedure as many times as you wish

A class discussion may follow.

Extra: another Paper Plane Game idea

Level: Any Level

Draw a target (with points – like a dart board) on the whiteboard or use a cardboard box in the middle of the room. Then, students make paper airplanes and launch them after they answer your question in the form of a sentence-in our case, about their etwinning partners.

I recommend formulating questions that lead to 1 or 2 types of answers. This allows for better memorization. For example, use CAN/WILL questions and write the beginning part of the answer on the board “I /My etwinning partner can/will…”.  I recommend giving a prize to make the target points mean something, thus peaking their interest

B.The Origami CHATTERBOX game

Chatterboxes (or fortune tellers or cootie catchers) are one of those classic toys that epitomise childhood…I remember lots of laughter playing with them with my cousins on summer holidays. This suggested game is a bit of a twist on the traditional chatterbox, perfect for our etwinning project, whilst also having a giggle.

To make:

• You will need a square of paper. Ours was the width of an A4 page – 21 centimetres.

• Fold your chatterbox according to the instructions found here (or you could google up a Youtube video).

To play:

1. Ask one student to read and choose a colour, from the outside of the chatterbox. Spell out its name as you open and close the chatterbox.

2. Ask the student  to read and choose a number, on the inside of the chatterbox (you should only be able to see four choices). Spell out the chosen number, as you open and close the chatterbox.

3. Ask your student to choose a number from the choices on the inside of the chatterbox that are open on the last letter spelt. Open the flap corresponding flap and read the name of one favourite sight, there.

4. As far as our etwinning project is concerned: this is the sight, which that the student should visit on the relevant twinspace PAGE,to read and learn more about- and later write about what he/she has learned and his/her impressions, on the relevant twinspace FORUMS thread!

5. Swap over and have fun letting your students be in charge this time, working in pairs…you might just have a hard time getting it back off them though!

 C. The Origami Paper Boat Game

This is a game where you practice words that have to do with any topic – in our case, words that have to do with the second “CUbeS’ Page about our Country-  and your memory!

Hand one paper boat to each student. Give them some time to read all the info on it.

Start like this: say to the first student “a boat comes loaded”. The student answers “with what” and you say “with sunny islands”. Then the student continues to say to the next one in the class “a boat comes loaded”…he/she answer “with what”…the student says “with sunny islands and the Acropolis” for example. And then it continues like that “forever”.

The students have to remember what words have been said and they have to come up with a new word/phrase having to do with the topic.

If anyone fails to remember all the words that have been said or if he/she can´t come up with a new word, they are out of the game. The winner is the one that can continue “forever” without failing. (It can be a looong day!)

When I played it with my class (Greeks 12 year olds) they didn´t want to stop so they continued the game even after the lesson was finished and I had left the room!!

Have fun learning about Greece-or any other topic- with this origami paper boat game!

D. The Origami windmill  “Call My Bluff / Two Truths and A Lie” game

Call My Bluff is a fun game which is perfect at the start of term as a ‘getting to know you’ kind of game but, it can also work in our etwinning “CUbeS” project .

The game is excellent for practicing speaking skills, though make sure you save a time for after the game to comment on any mistakes students may have made during the game. (I generally like to reserve this for after the game, so you don’t disrupt their fluency by correcting them as they speak).

With older groups you can have some real fun and you might be surprised what you’ll learn about any given topic, when playing this particular EFL game.

How to play:

First, hand your students a paper windmill each. Allow some time to play with it and read all the info written on it.

• Write 3 statements about any given topic – or about the Greek school in our case- two of which should be lies and one which should be true.

• Allow your students to ask you questions about each statement and then guess which one is the truth. You might want to practice your poker face before starting this game!

• If they guess correctly then they win.

• Extension: Give students time to write their own two truths and one lie.

• Pair them up and have them play again, this time with their list, with their new partner. If you want to really extend the game and give students even more time to practice their speaking/listening skills, rotate partners every five minutes.

• Bring the whole class back together and have students announce one new thing they learned about the given topic- or about the Greek school, in our case- as a recap.

E1. Easter Bunny-Flower corner bookmark craft

1.The bunny bookmark design, really is a very easy one:

Step 1: Begin my making your very basic Origami Corner Bookmark. There are step by step photos and worded instructions for you on this Origami Bookmark post – you can print these off too!

Step 2: using any paper cut offs – cut out two large bunny ears. Add a little pink and glue to inside of your basic origami bookmark.

Step 3: add facial details.

That is it… you have made an adorable Paper Bunny Bookmark using printer paper!

Here’s a video link to help you create your own origami paper bunny corner bookmarks.

https://www.redtedart.com/easy-paper-bunny-bookmark/?jwsource=cl

2.You could also try to make the Flower corner bookmark.

 

1. Begin by making your basic Origami Bookmark in green – like leaves or the grass.

2. Once you have your green bookmark base, it is time  to make your flowers.

3. Decide on your colour combination of your flower bookmark, as well as the types of petals you would like. We made two different ones – the blue flower and the white daisy bookmark.

4. For the blue flower bookmark, you will need 5 blue petals – oval shaped and one yellow one.

5. For the daisy bookmark, I cut out 12 long thin white petals and one yellow oval for the centre of the daisy.

6. Glue all your petals onto your bookmark, but take care not to stick them onto the lower part of your bookmark.

7. Add your centre. Decorate with with your pens and rosy cheeks.

8. Finally, you can make a little red ladybird or bee and as it as a cute detail.

Here’s the video link to help you create your own bookmarks.

https://youtu.be/jnzVYG09RYA

E2.-The origami Easter paper corner Board Race

First, hand each student one corner bookmark and give them enough time to read all the Easter customs and traditions vocabulary written on them.

Later, have them play the game below, in teams.

There isn’t an EFL teacher I know who doesn’t use this game in the classroom. Board Race is a fun game that is used for revising vocabulary.

It is a great way of testing what your students already know about the subject you’re about to teach- in our case: a great way to teach/revise Easter vocabulary and learn more about Easter traditions in our  etwinning partners’ countries.

How to play:

First, watch this helpful video of real teachers using this game in the classroom by BridgeTEFL:

Here’s a step by step explanation:

• Split the class into two teams and give each team a colored marker.

• If you have a very large class, it may be better to split the students into teams of 3 or 4.

• Draw a line down the middle of the board and write a topic- ie Easter in Greece- at the top.

• The students must then write as many words as you require related to the topic in the form of a relay race.

• Each team wins one point for each correct word. Any words that are unreadable or misspelled are not counted.

F1. Origami mini books craft

Here’s a picture which will help you make your own origami mini book.

And here’s a short video tutorial.

F2. The Origami Mini Book HANGMAN game

This classic game is a favorite for all students. It works no matter how many students are in the class.

How to play:

As usual, hand each student one mini book-In our case, it’s a Greek Recipe mini Book .

Ask the students, to read them.

Then, play have them play this game.

In case you’ve never played, here’s a quick rundown.

• Think of a -Greek recipe- word/name and write the number of letters on the board using dashes to show many letters there are.

• Ask students to suggest a letter. If it appears in the word, write it in all of the correct spaces. If the letter does not appear in the word, write it off to the side and begin drawing the image of a hanging man.

• Continue until the students guess the word correctly (they win) or you complete the diagram (you win).

• They win an extra point, if they can tell you anything about that recipe, in correct English.

Christmas fun in class- and few post-holiday class activities

I have been the class Christmas lessons  planner for many-many years. We have games, crafts, fun language activities, and an absolute blast with my students. I also always have printable games on hand, just in case I need to fill some time. Usually, though, we end up with way more fun than there is time for.

This year, I used most of the activities I have already written about, in older posts, and added few new ones…

In this post,I just wish to share some pictures, which prove how much fun we had, while learning new things about Christmas and practicing our English , at the same time!

For more details about most of them, please, feel free to read my earlier relevant blog posts, here , here or here.

This year, we made beautiful 3D crafts with my little ones, learning the Christmas vocabulary a, at the same time.

We played lots of fun games, with all classes!

 

We sang Christmas songs!

We even sang old-time-classic songs  such as “The rainbow song”, using Christmas ornaments!!

We made Advent calendars!

 

We decorated our special Christmas trees!

 

 

 

 

 

We wrote Santa letters and met one of his best friends!

 

Here  are some cool post-holiday classroom activities I have come across online and I have decided to use in my class next week!

I hope, they’ll work!

POST-HOLIDAY CLASS ACTIVITIES

We  should try to avoid diving right into the schoolwork after break. Instead, I think we should make the adjustment a little bit easier by welcoming students back with fun activities that incorporate what they did over their holiday vacations.

Let’s get our students back on track and motivated to learn once again.

Create a Holiday Memory Book

Have students capture their best holiday moments in a memory book. Students will have more than enough to share, and a memory book is a great way to do that. Ask students to draw or bring in a picture of their favorite holiday outing or gift. Then ask students to write a few sentences about it. Once students have completed their memory book page, have them share it with the class or bind them all together to make a class book.

 Make New Year Resolutions

Returning from holiday break is the perfect time to teach students how to reflect upon the past year and to make positive changes for the new year. Tell students that the new year means a fresh start and they can make promises to themselves that are positive and realistic. As a class, brainstorm a few resolutions together. Give them the following prompts to get started.

• In 2015 I want to learn …
• In 2015 I want to get better at …
• My goal(s) for 2017 are …

Have a Show and Tell

As soon as students enter the classroom after winter break, they inundate you (and each other) with stories about what every student received from Santa, or all of the fun places that they went while on break. What’s a better way to share all of their experiences and new toys then to bring something in for a little old show and tell? For a different spin on the traditional activity, try having students guess who brought what item in.

Creative Writing Prompts

A creative and calm activity to get your energetic students back into the grind is to have them write about what they did and received over break. Students can get the opportunity to discuss their adventures in a fun writing piece. For instance, ask students to write about the best gift they gave and what made it so special, or describe their family’s holiday traditions in detail. Here are a few more creative writing prompts.

• What are you most grateful for this holiday season?
• What was your favorite holiday food that you had over break?
• Who was the person you spent the most time with and why? What did you do with them?
• Write about a place that you went over the Christmas break.
• Write about something you did with your family over Christmas break.

Play a Fun Game

Welcome your students back to school with a few fun games! Try to avoid piling on the schoolwork right away and instead try playing a few fun games to ease students back into the routine. Review games are a great choice for easing students back in. Try games like the “Hot Seat” where one student faces away from the board and chooses three people to give them clues about what is written on the board behind them. Another fun game is “Ping Pong,” where students are divided into teams of two and the team that gets the answer correct gets to throw a ping pong ball into a one of three cups to get a prize for their team. Prizes are things like a homework free pass or lunch in the classroom.

Host a Party?

Before you must get back to all the school chaos and your crazy school day routine, kick off the first day or two back to school with a party! Invite the classroom next to yours over for some cookies and hot chocolate. Allow students to share their holiday break stories over a warm cup of cocoa! Students will love the ease and flow of a relaxing day back to school.

Christmas break was a time for rest and relaxation, so it’s important to remember to ease students back into the school routine slowly and carefully. This will ensure that everyone will be motivated and ready to learn in no time.

European Day of Languages fun activities,in a… Library!

The European Day of Languages has been celebrated every year since 2001 on 26 September, as an initiative of the Council of Europe in Strasbourg.

Throughout Europe, 800 million Europeans represented in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states are encouraged to learn more languages, at any age, in and out of school. Being convinced that linguistic diversity is a tool for achieving greater intercultural understanding and a key element in the rich cultural heritage of our continent, the Council of Europe promotes plurilingualism in the whole of Europe.

The European Day of Languages celebrates plurilingualism and encourages the 800 million Europeans in the Council of Europe’s 47 member states to learn more languages.

 

 

For the day, a range of events is organised across Europe: activities for and with children, television and radio programmes, language classes and conferences.

Modern foreign language education aims to develop multilingualism and intercultural awareness. In this theoretical framework, the foreign language can be used as a bridge among the students’ languages and serve as a tool to develop translinguistic competence.

This year, I’ve  decided to write, about  the activities our local “English Language Teachers Association” created, for the European Day of languages event, which was held in the local Public Library, on 26th September 2016!

Also, I  used most of those activities in my class, the very next day, with huge success!

Here we go…..

BRAINSTORMING TIME !!

Children aged 8-12 , had the chance to know a lot about the different languages spoken, not only in Europe but, all over the World, by watching several videos, singing and taking part in a discussion .

 

They shared their experiences concerning their mother tongue and all the foreign languages they had been exposed to.

GAMES TIME !!

Later, they worked in teams and played a Quiz game. They answered questions about different Languages, testing their knowledge and having fun ! A bomb timer was used ,to add more excitement to the game!

In the next game, a representative from each team , had to wear a special hat, with the name of a language written on it. His/her fellow players, had to help him/her  guess the name of that Language, using miming, key words, descriptions, movement and more…That was fun!!

“BOOK TREASURE HUNT”!!

Then, it was time for our Book Treasure Hunt, in the Library!

The teams, had to move around the room, and  look for  12 books, well hidden in the shelves, with titles written in many different Languages! There was a musical background during the Treasure Hunt and a time limit…..3 Songs ,with lyrics in 3 different European languages!

GIFTS!!

All the kids, were rewarded with the  “European Day of Languages” bracelet and special stickers !

ARTS AND CRAFT!!

The next activity, enhanced the kids’ artistic expression!

The children had to create the Multilingualism Tree , full of cute Owls, speaking many different Languages.

“Hello” IN ALL LANGUAGES!!

The final activity ,was to write  “Hello” in as many Languages as possible, on special mouth-masks!

And , of course, they greeted each other in all those Languages, holding their mouth-masks!

I used most of these activities in my class, the very next day! My students loved them and had so much fun! Here are some photos…

With my older students, we also played a favourite game I have written about, in a previous post:“ The multilingual game”  !

With my very young learners, we played several circle games practicing “Hello” and “Goodbye” or “Goodmorning” and ” Goodnight” . But, the most fun thing we did, was to have our mascot Hippo, talk to us about his hometown London! We made beautiful drawings of Hippo’s most favourite places in London! We even asked Hippo lots of questions about his life there and learned so many things about life in a different country, in Europe ! It was a fun-fun day!

And don’t forget: WE ALL SMILE IN THE SAME LANGUAGE!

 

 

 

 

Teaching my students to be Thankful!

Thanksgiving is the perfect time to teach our students about being thankful!

Here are some ideas on how I teach my students about how to appreciate the blessings in their lives.

GIVING THANKS POSTER for my 3rd graders.

The poster collage

My little ones can’t read or write much yet, so I ask them to draw, or use photos of all the things they are thankful for.We make a “Blessings” theme…They add photos of their loved ones, pages or drawings of their favourite foods, and all the things that make them happy.Any time they feel down, I ask them to have a look at our posters wall and and see all the reasons they have, to be happy- and thankful!
We name all the things on their posters in english!

GIVING THANKS COLLAGE for my 4th graders

The goal of this craft, is to create a collage filled with drawings and pictures of all the things my students are thankful for.They are asked to draw pictures or cut photos from magazines or even print photos from their computers! They write captions under their photos or drawings and talk to the class about them.It’s important , to braistorm ideas and have a class discussion about Thanksgiving, before they do the task above!

I keep  their collage up on the wall, till the end of the school year! They love looking at them from time to time.

THANKFUL WREATH

Another way to remind my students of their blessing is the Thankful Wreath. It is similar to the Thanksgiving tree idea below and is used with  my 5th graders.

I give them a leaves template and ask them to write the things they are thankful for and share them with the class, justifying their opinions.

We talk about Thaksgiving and how important it is to appreciate what we have and take nothing for granted, before we make the wreath.

Another idea that works really well, is to get each child to trace their hand on yellow, red or brown construction paper and write what they are thankful for on the hand shape.

THANKSGIVING TREE

This is ideal for my 6th graders. We start by talking about how Thanksgiving bacame a holiday and the first Thanksgiving!
Later, they cut out  the leaves shapes and write their blessings on them!They add their leaves above the tree trunk, turning it into a beautiful Fall colored tree!

For many other Thanksgiving Games and crafts ideas , apart from mine , you can visit

 

http://busyteacher.org/8094-7thanksgiving-crafts-and-games-your-students-will be-thankful for