March 2011

The eTwinning Conference and Camp are just around the corner! The eTwinning Conference and Camp are approaching fast! For the first time ever in eTwinning, they are taking place together. This year’s events will happen in Budapest, Hungary, from 31 March to 2 April. Over 530 teachers and 120 pupils from 31 countries in Europe will get together in order meet their partners face-to-face and participate in a number of exciting workshops, panel discussions and cultural events. The eTwinning Prizes 2011 will also be awarded on this occasion. We look forward to meeting you all in Budapest! For those who will follow all the eTwinning Conference and Camp activities online, here is a special event website where you will find the latest news, information and blog posts created especially to share firsthand experiences throughout the event: http://www.confcamp2011.etwinning.net

What’s going on in schools?

Project of the month

Learn more about projects

Castles around my town Pupils exchange information about the castles surrounding their respective towns in Slovakia and Turkey by using photos, chats and email. Quality Label of the Month What is the Quality Label? Family lab This project aims to compare manners and good behaviour norms in partner countries. Pupils can discover how they should behave while visiting a foreign country and staying with a host family. The final product is an international book of good manners, helping young people to become good citizens of European society.

From the eTwinning Portal More than 650 eTwinners are heading to Budapest! We are pleased to announce the winners of this year's eTwinning Prizes 2011 competition. New Helpdesk on your Desktop! The new Helpdesk is now within your reach for help and guidance during your first eTwinning steps. If you haven’t done it yet, take a moment to connect to your Desktop and look around!

What’s going on across Europe?

France: The winners of the eTwinning postcard contest!

More than 600 postcards were submitted by classes from 5 different countries (FR, LU, NL, BE, IT) for the eTwinning postcard contest. Thanks to all the participants and congratulations to the winners. Each country chose national winners and 2 overall European winners were selected.

Greece: Online synchronous lessons on the eTwinning Portal

A new series of online synchronous lessons on the eTwinning Portal started on 23 March. The lessons are going to focus mainly on the difficulties encountered in the use of the eTwinning Desktop tools.

Italy: Come to Florence and celebrate Europe day!

The launch of “Youth on the Move”, aiming at broadening learning mobility opportunities for young people to the year 2020, will take place from 7-9 May in Florence, Italy, within the framework of the “Festival d’Europa” (Festival of Europe). eTwinning will be part of the programme, involving its teachers and pupils in workshops and performances. Come and join the “Festival d’Europa”!

Latvia: eTwinniners join the “Get online week 2011”

At the beginning of March, Latvian eTwinners actively joined in the “Get Online Week 2011” activities, which were coordinated by the Latvian Information and Communications Technology Associations and the Ministry of the Environmental Protection and Regional Development. All together, more than 41,000 people across the country participated in the “Get Online Week 2011”, marking Latvia as the country with the highest activity within Europe.

Latvia: eTwinning training for beginners

From 17-18 March, an eTwinning training seminar for beginners took place in Viļāni and Varakļāni, Latvia.

Poland: New competition for best Project Diary launched!

A new competition for the best Project Diary in Poland has been launched. Every month the NSS in Poland evaluates recent entries and awards the most interesting Project Diary. Posts, photos and links describing project’s activities constitute an interesting form of a project’s promotion. Teachers are welcome to take part in the competition!

Portugal: Regional conference in Madeira Island

The eTwinning Portuguese team and the Regional Secretariat for Education and Culture (SREC), from Madeira Island, held in Funchal the first Regional eTwinning Conference for head teachers and teachers on 9 February. About 100 teachers learned about eTwinning and the use of the TwinSpace. A teacher from Madeira was invited to present her project as an example of good practice.

Portugal: Training sessions in the north of Portugal

During the month of February, the eTwinning ambassador for the north region held four training sessions on the use of the TwinSpace, aimed at beginners and experienced eTwinning teachers. On 10 February, the training session was designed for teachers involved in the Connecting Classrooms project. On 15 and 27 February, it was time for eTwinning beginners, and on 25 February, for experienced eTwinners.

Slovenia: National eTwinning conference KONFeT

The annual eTwinning conference will be held on 14 April 2011 in Kranjska Gora. The conference will be part of the International ICT conference SIRikt 2011.

Spain: eTwinning on the Net

Do you want to be informed about the latest information? Follow eTwinning in Twitter, visit the Spanish NSS webpage on Facebook and sing up to the Spanish newsfeed.

Spain: Lipdub as a result of collaborative work

The project Boundless Communication is a collaborative work in which the Secondary School Guillem de Berguedà (Spain) and Västervik (Sweden) are involved. It shows how eTwinning fosters teamwork in a cross-curricular and multilingual way. In the visit to Västervik, a spectacular lipdub was filmed: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fzbd8Eh7a6M