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...

Online safety is an integral part of what schools need to be teaching in 2017. It encompasses a wide range of issues and affects staff, pupils, parents and the wider school community. As more and more schools embrace technology as a tool to support learning, it is important that staff and pupils alike understand how to use it safely and responsibly. Research suggests that 57 per cent of young people think that their friends engage in risky behaviours online  which demonstrates the need to address this in schools. The "Online Safety Course"  at the European Schoolnet Academy offered participants a better understanding of the current risks and challenges that young people face when they go online. They discussed strategies for supporting young people and helping them to develop safe and responsible behaviours when they go online. A wide range of resources that can be used in schools was provided, and participants were also asked to share their own experiences, chall...

Unit 1 of Think Teen 2nd Grade, Beginners  ends with a project on tribes whose ways of life are threatened by modern world. Maravelaki Fryni, an EFL teacher in Serres has an excellent webquest to accompany the book's project in her blog . Turtle Song Cycle (With Turtle) by Anthony Walker / Spirit Gallery As this was our first project work, my main aim was to keep the students' works short so that they wouldn't copy large sections from the internet without processing them. To this end  they had to answer very specific questions and gather information from a range of sites.  Before starting working on the actual project we discussed the evaluation criteria so that they were absolutely clear what was expected of them. During the presentation all the teams used the evaluation sheet in order to discuss and decide on the best project.  Below are some of the students' works:

For Safer Internet Day 2017 , 1,500 young people aged 8-17 years took part in an online survey conducted by ResearchBods and commissioned by the UK Safer Internet Centre. The aim was to explore the role of images and videos in young people’s digital lives and the influence this can have on their self-esteem, behaviour and emotions. The findings reveal how important images and videos are in young people's digital lives, demonstrating the positive role this plays as well as the risks and pressures they may face as a result. It underlines the importance of ensuring that all children have the skills, knowledge, confidence and resilience to communicate using images and videos safely, responsibly and creatively. Parents, teachers and most importantly schools in general should be able to understand the implications such surveys convey in order to guide children and teens towards better and  safer  internet use. 

Safer Internet Day 2017 will be celebrated globally on Tuesday 7th February with the slogan ‘Be the change: Unite for a better internet’.  The day offers the opportunity to highlight positive uses of technology and to explore the role we all play in helping to create a better and safer online community.  As young children and teens are more and more involved in social media without actual guidance, it is vital for schools to offer them advice on internet etiquette and safety  as well as model responsible behaviour and use.  The official page  of the campaign offers a gallery of resources in many languages together with lesson plans for students of all ages.  You can find ready made activities especially designed for EFL learners in the British Council . Levels range from A1 to C2 so there is something for everyone there. 

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.

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

Today we live in a world that has been affected by rapid advances in technology. The way we work, communicate, shop and think has changed dramatically. In order to cope with these rapid changes and to make sense of the world around us, we need to not only develop our understanding of how technology works, but also develop skills and capabilities, that will help us to adapt to living in this new era. Learning to code helps us to make sense of how things work, explore ideas and make things, for both work and play. What’s more it helps us to unleash our creativity and work collaboratively with wonderful people both near us and all over the world. C O D E IS P O E T R Y