Two teachers were awarded for their efforts and participation in eTwinning between schools from different countries in the European Union.
The teachers are Miriam Schembri from Fgura Primary A, St Thomas More College, in the age category four to 11, and Maria Antoinette Magro from Hamrun GP Primary, San Gorg Preca College, in the special category – Creative use of digital media.
Nearly 500 teachers are meeting in Seville for this year’s annual conference to celebrate the fifth anniversary of eTwinning, which 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).
A prize-giving ceremony was held on Friday for 37 schools from 21 countries that are the top winners of this year’s eTwinning Awards for excellence in eTwinning.
Over the three days of the conference, which ends today, teachers from 32 countries in Europe, as well as national and European representatives, are taking 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.
Ms Schembri’s award was in the category reserved for primary students. The Fgura Primary A school was twinned with the school Przedszkole Publiczne nr 5 w G?ogowie and the Italian school Scuola dell’infanzia Il Pratone ex I.P.P.A.I., Genova.
The project was explained in these terms: Colour is a very noticeable attribute of the world around us. Colour is a way children observe and categorize what they see. These very recognizable characteristics encourage children to define and organise the diverse world around them. These first teachings in preschool and kindergarten are basics that every child needs to know before he/she learns the other basics of reading, writing and math. Understanding colour is a tool for learning many skills in all curriculum areas, from math and science to language and reading. Colour is one of the first ways preschoolers make distinctions among things they see. They also begin to distinguish shades, hues and tints. The meaning of colour is also symbolic. Teachers introduce the children to colours around them. They will see the seasonal colours, colours in the environment, colours in food, colours of the sea, sky and water. Colour activities will be integrated into the curriculum.
Ms Magro’s award was in a special category of the secondary students awards – Creative use of digital media (sponsored by eSkills Week) or Schoolovision 2009, and there were no less than 19 winners.
The project was described in these terms: 2009 is the European Year of Creativity and Innovation, so, following a similar format to the Eurovision Song Contest this year taking place in Moscow on 16 May 2009, Schoolovision will allow one primary school from all eTwinning countries wishing to participate, to record, video and upload a song of their choice to be viewed by all other participants in the project. In addition, all countries will be asked to evaluate and vote for their favourite songs after they have watched and listened to all the others – and of course, voting for yourself will not be allowed! Under the rules of the project, you and your class will have until Friday 8th May to decide upon your song, practise it, video it, and get it uploaded onto the project blog website, using either the video upload section within www.blog-ger.com, or by using google video. Once all songs are uploaded, you will need to get your class to listen to all the other countries’ entries and decide who will receive your votes. This should be done in the week from Monday 11th May until Friday 15th May. On Friday 15th May, we intend to host a FlashMeeting, live webcam conference, for as many of the 31 partners as possible, so we can cast our votes in the style of the Eurovision Song Contest, and find out which country will win the contest! The winning school will be sent a trophy to keep for one year, and all schools taking part will be sent special certificates.