Keep Calm and Teach English

The new curricula emphasize the need for students to acquire essential knowledge and skills, as well as to develop the necessary attitudes for the correct use of digital technologies for their personal and social growth. This requires educators who feel confident in their own digital skills. Visit our lesson in eclass  to explore a variety of digital tools and choose those that can be integrated into your daily practice in order to create an effective learning environment in your classroom. The material is the result of training received by members of the Imathia Teachers of English Association (Επιστημονική Ένωση Καθηγητών Αγγλικής Ημαθίας ΕΕΚΑΗ) as part of an approved Erasmus+ 2022-2023 project with reference code 2022-1-EL01-KA122-ADU-000075965. The project was fully funded by the European Union. The national agency for Greece is the I.K.Y. (State Scholarships Foundation).

The Imathia Teachers of English Association implemented an ERASMUS+  ΚΑ1 project titled: Aligning English Teachers to 21st Century Challenges.  As part of the project, members of the Association, who serve in primary and secondary schools in our region, travelled to Prague, Dublin and Helsinki. There, we attended training seminars related to public speaking, digital tools and teacher empowerment. Our aim was to redefine and strengthen our goals and motivations in order to address the multiple challenges educators face today, challenges that have been exacerbated by the pandemic.  We had the opportunity to exchange views and good practices with colleagues from other European countries. We also explored aspects of the history and culture of the respective countries. As a result of the training received, we prepared a lesson in eclass aimed at English teachers  but not exclusively. The lesson is divided into three main sections: Teachers and Oral Communication...

EU Code Week (6th - 21st October) is a grassroots initiative which aims to bring coding and digital literacy to everybody in a fun and engaging way. Learning to code helps us to make sense of the rapidly changing world around us, expand our understanding of how technology works, and develop skills and capabilities in order to explore new ideas and innovate. Coding and 21st century learning Coders or programmers are people who write the programmes behind everything we see and do on a computer. Most of our students spend several hours playing online games, but few know how to create a game. Learning to code encourages students to become creators, not just consumers of the technology they use, in other words it teaches them to use their personal devices productively rather than distractingly. When children or adults learn to code, it helps them to develop essential skills such as problem solving, logic and critical thinking. Through coding, we realize that there’s often...

In 2006, the European Parliament adopted a Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning   defining the competences each European citizen needs for personal fulfilment and development, employment, social inclusion and active citizenship. It invited Member States to ensure that their education and training systems are able to equip people with these competences. Since then, European societies and economies have experienced significant changes. To meet these changes there is a new proposal on Key Competences. So what is new? Well, as a start there is a change of terminology as well as of the competences themselves: the term ICT (Information and Communication Technology) is updated and replaced by  DIGITAL TECHNOLOGIES    as   it is considered a most appropriate term "to refer to the full range of devices, software or infrastructure. With the increased, varied and embedded use of mobile devices and applications, references to 'comp...

One more interesting and inspiring MOOC offered by the European Schoolnet Academy has ended. This MOOC's aim was to train and empower teachers in fostering the sense of initiative and the entrepreneurial mind-set of their students by developing innovative and creative attitudes and skills. The sense of initiative and entrepreneurship is the ability to turn ideas into action through creativity, innovation, and risk-taking as well as the ability to plan and manage projects . It is a key competence that can be developed through any school subject,  from primary to secondary and beyond. It does not necessarily involve a specific school subject. Rather, it requires a way of teaching in which experiential learning and project work have the main role.

Another interesting MOOC was organised by the European Schoolnet Academy . The course focused on Collaborative teaching and learning. Being able to collaborate effectively is a valuable 21st-century skill, yet teaching about or through collaboration remains rare in schools because of a lack of understanding of what real collaboration in an educational setting means, and because existing policy conditions do not always enable it to flourish. This introductory course provided insights into: What is collaborative learning? How can I carry it out effectively in my classroom? What tools can I use to assess collaborative learning? How can I collaborate with fellow teachers to facilitate collaborative learning? The diary includes some inspiring diaries from fellow teachers attending the course as well as a collection of ideas for collaborative activities, digital tools that can be used in collaborative teaching and lesson plans. Collaborative teaching and learning Cour...

In June 2016, the  School Education Gateway  offered a MOOC on Introducing Project-Based Learning in the Classroom. It was an introduction to the concept of project-based learning (PBL) in order to help us to implement this pedagogical approach in our classroom by providing concrete examples, ideas and tools. We explored three key challenges related to the implementation of PBL: how to get students to collaborate effectively, how to facilitate student-driven activities, and finally how to assess PBL in our classroom. The diary includes links to all the participants' diaries and lesson plans, a real treasure of new and exciting ideas on transforming our way of teaching.

A Thinglink by Kornelia Lohynova  

Did you know that two-thirds of teachers in the European Union learn about ICT in their own time, and almost all are positive about its impact on students, according to the Survey in schools: ICT and education (2013)? Despite this readiness however, many teachers in Europe still have a lack of competence in using ICT in their teaching and use it only to a small extent in their classrooms. In order to meet this challenge, the European project MENTEP (Mentoring Technology-Enhanced Teaching, managed by European Schoolnet Academy and funded by the European Commission) developed an online self-assessment tool to empower teachers to progress in their Technology-Enhanced Teaching (TET) competence at their own pace. This course was the first in the MENTEP MOOC series on improving Technology-Enhanced Teaching. The MENTEP MOOC series will support the project’s goals to: - Boost teachers’ competence and confidence to use ICT in the classroom - Increase the number of teachers able to in...

In September 2015, the European Schoolnet Academy offered a MOOC on developing digital skills in our classroom. Digital skills are already an essential requirement for young people to succeed in an increasingly digitized society. Not only are these skills demanded for an increasing number of jobs, they also are a requirement and a right of citizens, if they are to be functional in today’s society. Schools and teachers therefore need support to work with their students to develop a wide range of digital skills that ensure young people leaving school have the skills required by the labour market and by an increasingly digitized society. The course guided teachers in how to develop a range of digital skills and to introduce them to the tools and resources that are available to them.   Created with Padlet

According to the  European Framework of Key Competences  there are 8 basic skills necessary for lifelong learning. They are a combination of knowledge, skills and attitudes appropriate to the context and are particularly necessary for personal development, social inclusion, active citizenship and employment. Key competences are essential in a knowledge society and guarantee more flexibility in an increasingly interconnected world. They should be acquired by:  young people at the end of their compulsory education and training, equipping them for adult life, particularly for working life, whilst forming a basis for further learning;  adults throughout their lives, through a process of developing and updating skills.