I) Students
- Germany:
Students of all particpating classes loved this activity. Some told the teacher that they had (next time) to decorate more as their partners did. But the intention of german teachers was to combine elements of media education (using features of WORD) with English and sometimes with art. Students were especially proud to get cards in english and learn about the partner student. In one class the students liked to stay in contact with his or her partner. So I have sent (important: parents had agreed before) their email adresses to one of the Italian partner.
- Spain:
Students from Spain loved the project. They had a great time designing the cards, learned new words related to Christmas holiday, wrote the cards and participated on the forums writing online posts. Apart from all that, they learned about traditions in other countries. I think that we managed to integrate several skills and we have fostered real communication, which is always motivating as they use the lanague to communicate in real contexts.
II) Teachers:
Let's go back to the teachers' expectations. Have they been realised? Are you content with the results? ...
- Germany:
Pre-christmas time is a very, very busy time full of class test and evaluations and a tight curriculum. So it was hard to use more normal english lessons to write the texts.In some classes there was no time to let all students answer when they had received the cards. As I teach all classes (one in media education and math, the other two classes of grade 5 in biology) I take a small amount of time for small comments of some children. Older classes of grade 8 wrote about chrsitmas traditions in a lessons in which I replaced a teacher who was ill. One answer from an english teacher in our team: "If I get next year a grade 5 in English, too, I like to do the same project again!" Me (Monika), I am very content with the results. There had been more communication (my students have started with English in september) than expected before.
- Italy I ( Valenza)
A satisfying project , which took more time than expected. So the cooperation of the Art teacher and the English teacher was really important. The students learnt in a more creative, original way and communicated with their peers. Also the students’ parents appreciated the etwinning activities. I think the result of the project was really successful.
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Turkey
This project was an excellent opportunity for my students to get to know about Christmas and vocabulary. It allowed them to improve linguistic skills and developed sense of responsibility and belief in themselves. Parents and school management appreciate our work. Having noticed that the benefits of my students derived from the project, I would like to do the same project next year.
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Spain
This project worked very well for my students. I think that all the teachers have provided lots of interesting activities to work with our students. The project was useful and the objectives set at the beginning of the activity were fully met, even expanded as the project was going on. I really think it was a great idea and students have benefited greatly.