Etwinning

Seven Countries, Eight Stories: un intercambio de historias y cultura entre países europeos

"Seven Countries, Eight Stories" is a project which has been carried out in 8 European schools since the 2009-2010 school year. It involves an exchange of stories in which the pupils learn about the culture of other participating European countries and discover common roots.

The Spanish partner, Emilia de la Vara from the CEIP San Fernando de Aranjuez, Madrid, comments that the Comenius project which they are carrying out has meant an innovatory way of working with other European countries by means of the eTwinning page. This space makes it possible to present the different activities which are being organized in each of the participating schools to the whole educational community. It is a story telling project which aims at developing the creativity and imagination of the pupils, as well as helping them to understand the European culture of which they form a part.

The project has changed the pupils’ attitude to learning foreign languages, increasing their motivation to take on other languages. This meant that last year the school considered participating in the bilingual programme being developed by the Madrid Autonomous Community, and presented a highly valued project which allowed them to initiate the bilingual project in the school this year. This project involves the whole school from Infant Education to the last year of Primary Education.

This year there will be two mobility projects taking pupils abroad for the first time in the 30 years of the school’s history. The project is encouraging an exchange of methodologies among teachers from different countries and creating ties of friendship with them and with their schools. It has also permitted the development of new projects like the one planned for this year with the Infant Education school of one of the participating English schools (South Stanley Junior) with which they aim to twin starting with Infant Education.

The collaboration among participating centres is optimal. There have been two encounters (Spain and the United Kingdom) and the result has been fantastic.  There has been a distribution of tasks for each partner within the Comenius project and up until now there have been no problems. Spain is acting as the coordinator, managing the mobility projects, mediating among the partners, establishing the work plan and evaluation for each school year, reminding the partners of the important dates and monitoring the smooth development of the whole project. Spain manages the TwinSpace page with the Belgian Partners, updating it with each of the activities as they are carried out during the school year and for the duration of the project. Decisions on the project or on what is included in the TwinSpace are made jointly.

With regard to the cooperation of the pupils, given that this year includes the planned mobility projects, there is a proposal to start using eTwinning to exchange information and activities with the pupils.

One of the activities carried out last year with the 5 year olds, was the creation of a digital story, a great novelty for such young pupils. The teachers have also brought themselves up to date with courses and seminars. This year they are going develop even more activities with the pupils so that they can communicate with their peers in the other participating countries, as well as improve their level in learning foreign languages.

The project has brought benefits to the school as a whole. The whole educational community knows about the work done in the Comenius Project and the use that is being made of eTwinning to develop it. The pupils have improved their attitudes to learning a foreign language and have realized how important it is; the teachers have come into contact with other European schools and have shared their thoughts and activities, methodologies and professionalism, in a very positive climate.

Furthermore, the use of ICTs in the school has increased; the teachers have brought themselves up to date with the new technologies carrying out seminars in the school, both to develop web pages, and to learn how to use new resources like interactive whiteboards. In a word it has meant that our school has opened up to Europe.

This project has been awarded the Quality Label by the Belgian and Spanish agencies and the participating English schools have received another International award for all the activities carried out during this first year.

The link to the activities on TwinSpace is: http://new-twinspace.etwinning.net/web/p16694