eLanguages Project Toolkit

Creating a project on eLanguages

What could be more interesting than giving your pupils a glimpse into the lives of their peers abroad and working jointly to explore a theme, and share ideas and resources? A project on eLanguages might be exactly what is needed to broaden perspectives and engage pupils in meaningful collaborative work.

For teachers of any discipline the opportunities are endless. Teachers of languages might want to combine a focus on developing competence in the target language with a theme such as festivals, daily routines, or likes and dislikes to engage pupils in meaningful collaborative activity. For older students a joint focus on more demanding themes, such as fair trade, or the hopes and aspirations of teenagers could be rewarding as could any project to explore cultural issues and promote intercultural understanding.

While finding a subject for a collaborative project might not be a problem, lots of other issues have to be considered. Firstly, there is the question of the pupils, their ICT skills, the technology to be used and the time you will have to complete the project. Then there is the question of the roles you will have as a teacher and the roles your pupils will play. You will also have to decide how work will be staged and shared and, of course, how it will be made available for public viewing, whether in school or online.

There is much to consider and this Project Toolkit is designed to help you work your way through the many questions you will have to answer and hopefully ensure your project is a success and likely to lead to more international collaboration.

There are several stages to making your project work and preparing the way for further collaboration.

The sections which follow in this toolkit highlight some of the issues and considerations you must take into account and give you the opportunity to plan to build your project as you work.

Work through each section, reading the notes of guidance and making very brief notes on the eLanguages Project Notepad as you go along.