eLanguages newsletter 04 September 2008
Hello, and welcome to the latest edition of the eLanguages newsletter. In this issue we hope you'll find lots of inspiring ideas for projects you can get involved in during the new term.
Read on to find out about a unique partnership opportunity with schools in Switzerland, new projects involving UK, Indonesia, Lebanon and Japan as well as special country projects to help you find partners in Turkey, Poland, Nepal and Brazil.
Read on to find out about a unique partnership opportunity with schools in Switzerland, new projects involving UK, Indonesia, Lebanon and Japan as well as special country projects to help you find partners in Turkey, Poland, Nepal and Brazil.
On 12 September, eLanguages will be at the Youth Exchange conference in Zurich, Switzerland. We will be running workshops for Swiss teachers who want to get involved in international school partnerships.
Our goal is to establish partnerships and projects between the Swiss teachers and other schools on eLanguages.
If you are looking for a German, French or Italian speaking partner school, and would like to be involved in this, please contact the eLanguages team as soon as possible. Step one will be just adding a simple message to the discussion forum. You can do this on the project page.
Here is a selection of five projects that have recently been set up on the site. They are all excellent examples of what you can do with an eLanguages project, so if you feel inspired why not join in, or start your own project like this?
We're from Cornwall - Where do you live?
Tristan Rowles, a teacher at Carclaze Community Junior School in Cornwall, has set up this project which has received a great response from teachers in Bahrain, Romania, India, and Germany. Take a look at the fantastic work Tristan’s students have produced and leave a question for them on the discussion forum. If you’d like to start a similar project, we can help set it up and promote it to other eLanguages teachers. Contact us at info@elanguages.org
Exchanging Traditional Food Recipes
This project has been set up by a group of Indonesian teachers keen to share traditional recipes and learn about the cultural significance of national foods. Enthusiastic teachers from Bulgaria and Romania have joined in and are looking forward to developing the project this term. Take a look at the fantastic pictures they’ve posted and join in the discussion.
Implementing ICT in the Classroom
Rana Sabbidine is a teacher from Lebanon who is interested in discussing best practice in the use of ICT in the classroom with teachers around the world. To help do this, Rana has set up an eLanguages project called, 'Implementing ICT in the Classroom'. There have been contributions from teachers in Indonesia and our friends in the eTwinning team. Why not join in the discussion and share your ideas?
Life in Japan and England - a student's perspective
Teachers from Wade Deacon School in England and their partners in Japan have created a project that covers cross curricular work; geography, ICT, dance, drama and music. It’s a brilliant example of how eLanguages can provide a collaborative platform for a partnership you already have. Wouldn’t this be a great way to record your international work and create a ready made portfolio to apply for your International School Award? Let us know if you’d like assistance setting up a similar project.
Culture 08
Our colleagues at CILT - the National Centre for Languages, have helped put together this ICT/Languages project themed around Liverpool as the European Capital of Culture 2008. It gives you step-by-step stages to follow, ideas for classroom activities and advice on the ICT tools your students could use. The project can be adapted for different languages and language levels. Let us know if you’d like more information on how to adapt this to use with your own partner school.
We frequently receive applications to eLanguages from teachers in a wide variety of countries. To help get new partnerships started we have set up some special country focused pages.
The idea is simple: use these pages to post a message about yourself. All the members of a page will receive your message, and can respond to you. So, in a project of 30 members you have a very good chance of finding the right partner. Once you’ve found a partner, you can agree on a project and start a new page.
Click on the country links below to find out more. Each page contains teachers actively searching for new partners.
- Turkey
- Poland
- Nepal
- Indonesia
- Brazil
Each page has a discussion forum. If you are interested, leave your message here. Or write to the eLanguages team with the country of your choice in the subject box.
A project can lose momentum if you lose track of it. To keep alerted to activity, you should use the “Watch” function. This function is available in the bottom right corner of every page. If you click on it, you can choose to set the “Watch” to hourly, daily, weekly or monthly.
What does it do? Every time somebody adds something to the page, you receive an update by e-mail. If you set “weekly” for example, you will get one update per week on any changes that have been made. It’s a great way to keep a track on who is doing what on your project. Even projects that have been quiet for a while can suddenly start up again if someone joins in. For more help on this, e-mail the eLanguages team.
Remember, when you are uploading files to the site, ensure that you avoid giving out the surnames, private email addresses or contact details of your students.
UK users should check and follow your school's Acceptable Use Policy when including photos of children in your class.
UK users should check and follow your school's Acceptable Use Policy when including photos of children in your class.
The security of users on eLanguages is a very important issue for us and we appreciate your assistance in ensuring the safety and privacy of all students and teachers involved in eLanguages projects.
If you have forgotten your login and password details, send a message to info@elanguages.org and we will issue a reminder.
If you have any comments regarding your experiences on eLanguages, we would love to hear from you. Send a message to the eLanguages team, and we’ll use your feedback to improve the site.
