The first joint teacher training event took place in October 2018 in the Hungarian partner school with the participation of one or two teachers from each school. The main purpose of this training event was to equip teachers with methods and practices they can exploit during the implementation of project activities.
Teachers visited school departments and facilities and got an insight into the Hungarian educational system and the different teaching methods, programmes and project activities that the Hungarian partners take part in.
We organised various icebreaking activities with a view to getting to know each other better and teambuilding. We identified our expectations and hopes as well as doubts related to the project and in the course of a group discussion we talked about them.
Every partner school and town was presented and the participating teachers could get acquainted with the programmes and projects the partner schools are involved in.
We made a visit to the Town Hall of Százhalombatta where the members of the international project team met the deputy mayor of our town, who gave information on the history of our town and also talked about the various international programmes and contacts the town is involved in.
We decided on project dissemination platforms: Google site, School websites, Facebook groups and a Facebook page, Twinspace, social media accounts (Slideshare, Pinterest, Instagram)
We revised the activities for the 1st project year, distributed tasks and responsibilities. We agreed on the rules for the logo competition and planned mobilities of the 1st project year and agreed on dates and tasks to be completed. We established the rules and the procedure for the debate programme, and also agreed on the implementation of CLIL during our project. A detailed plan for project newsletters was also made and responsibilities were distributed among team members.
As the main platform for our work will be Twinspace, a presentation on eTwinning and Twinspace was made. We also had a Teachmeet session and each partner presented one or more web-based tools they use and may be used during the project. The tools introduced: Prezi, Canva, Kahoot, Plickers, Google Classroom, designing an online escape room.
We agreed that Google classroom will be used as a virtual classroom especially for extracurricular/ informal learning activities and language testing.
We worked on project evaluation and agreed on an input measurement tool in order to map out the project members’ expectations related to the project activities as well as students’ input language knowledge.
We agreed on the implementation of Europass documents and the Europass CV, Language portfolio and mobility document were introduced. We decided to use the Europass mobility document in our student exchanges.
The teachers observed a drama lesson and learnt various drama activities and games for establishing rules, building group cohesion, practising communication and improvisation. A 4-hour-long teacher training workshop was also organised, where we learnt about tools and methods for creating and implementing CLIL materials. This training was really useful and the participants were also awarded a certificate for their attendance.
We also took part in a field trip to the local Archeological Park where we took part in a guided tour about the history of Százhalombatta and got an insight into ancient history. A trip to Székesfehérvár was also organized and the participants participated in a guided tour and visited Bory castle and the central part of Székesfehérvár. We also had the opportunity to look at the replica of the Holy Crown and the participants learned a lot about the history of Hungary.
During a sightseeing tour in Budapest we visited the main historical sights of the Hungarian capital city and during a night cruise on the Danube we could admire the breathtaking view of Budapest at night.
After the meeting the participating teachers will use the acquired methods and skills in their everyday teaching practice and will also have demonstration lessons for their colleagues from inside and outside their institutions in order to disseminate results and findings. All the produced activities are made public online through different dissemination platforms.
