My second presentation at the Primary Language Show this year was entitled
What can eTwinning do for you?
This was an extended version of last week's presentation, offering ideas of how eTwinning and addressing the International Dimension fits into the Key Stage 2 Framework and meets objectives for all years.
Below is the Slidecast of the presentation.
And also a video of me explaining why eTwinning is so good for the PLL classroom.
Here comes the first of my presentations from Vida Latina last week at Aston University. The conference was organised jointly by Links into Languages and the ALL Spanish Committee, and focussed on Latin America.
AS part of the day, we had a session on International links - a double act between Liz Hitchcock of the British Council and me.
After Liz had talked about the Global Gateway and ePals, I shared some experiences of how we have gone about links with other schools at Whitehouse Common.
Following on from my previous post about rediscovering Seesmic, another friend, John Warwick, asked me to share a little bit about eTwinning in the primary language classroom for an eTwinning presentation he was preparing. I decided to record him my answer as it's easier to explain in person and I also thought it might be useful too! So here it is!
If you want to find out more, see my Slideshare and post here.
A while back - actually nearly two years ago - I became aware of a tool called Seesmic on which you could record video clips and others could respond by recording their own short clip. At the time, I used it to join in a few conversations and also to practice speaking Catalan / Mallorquin after a looong break. It was easy to do and fun as well.
I was asked last week by Chris Fuller to make a short video sharing my thoughts on using Twitter in the languages classroom and why it's such a good idea in my opinion for a presentation he's doing soon.
As I was home alone, I had to do it in a way that didn't involve another person filming me, and my hand is unsteady at the best of times! I had never used the film option on Photobooth, and I was also concerned about delivering it to Chris via email in case the file was too large.
I had picked up a tweet at about the same time from Leon Cych asking for volunteers to be involved in a project this year called Remixing Education, and one of his methods of 'recruiting' was via Seesmic.
So, having been reminded of the existence of this site, and having recorded a response for Leon, I decided to use it to record my clip for Chris.
It's very easy! Once you've signed up for an account, you press Create a video and start talking into your webcam (iSight camera in my case). Once you've finished you can review the recording and start again if you're not happy. It's then posted on the site - you can choose whether to allow it to appear on the public timeline or just to keep it on your page.
Once finished, I sent the URL and embed code off to Chris so that he could use the clip as he wished, editing it etc to his purposes.
I thought that would be that, but the ever eagle eyed king of RSS feeds, Joe Dale, picked up the clip on his radar and, having ascertained why I'd posted a clip to some mysterious 'Chris', blogged it!
And then I was astonished to receive a lovely response from a lady in Anaheim, USA who had seen the clip and wanted to tell me how good it was! A wonderful surprise and so exciting for someone unrelated to my life - real and virtual (Twitter, my blog etc) - to make such comments about my thoughts and 'work'.
We all need a bit of encouragement sometimes, so thanks to Joe and Freida for giving me some to keep me going when I'm seizing up with all this cold ;o)
I've spent some time over the weekend doing something that I find rather uncomfortable - listening to my own voice! Whilst it is much better than watching myself on video, I find myself cringeing at the sound of my accent and speech habits. In my head I don't sound like that - my 'self-image voice' speaks much more 'properly' and sounds less Brummie!
So why do it? Well, I was catching up with editing the audio from my presentations at two recent conferences - in Hull and in Basingstoke, Hampshire - before adding it to my podcast. I kept reminding myself that I wouldn't have to listen again once I'd finished, and then remembered that I'd have to listen one more time to synch the audio to my Slideshares to make Slidecasts.
By now I should be schmoozing wth eTwinning Ambassadors from across Europe at a 5 star hotel in Varna, Bulgaria. Instead, I am sitting in a pub at Budapest Airport. It's a long story....
I will finally arrive in Varna at 1.35 am - was due at 15.30. However, I am grateful that a)I met George Glass at Heathrow this morning to save me from a serious panic attack b) the ladies at the Austrian Airways ticket desk were much more pleasant than their representative at the gate when our original 'plane was horribly delayed c) BA had flights today to Varna d) George had some euros
Apologies to those of you who have been waiting for four weeks for this!
On 19th June I spoke at the Birmingham Primary Languages Conference along with Dr Lid King and Lucy Adamson of CILT amongst others. Held at the beautiful Birmingham Botanical Gardens, the conference was attended by many of those involved implementing and delivering primary languages in the area. My talk was on eTwinning and the International Dimension, my main point being that looking outside the classroom and making links with others is a nobrainer for so many reasons.
Below you can listen to and look at my presentation. If you want further information, feel free to contact me via the comments, or by going to the eTwinning site.
It was great to be asked by Helen Thomas to talk to some teachers from Stoke about International Dimension and especially eTwinning a couple of weeks, and I'm sorry that it's taken me this long to upload my presentation.
As promised, here is the presentation (it's the same presentation but from a previous date - nd you get it with sound!) and the case study from my school below it. If you have any questions, please get in touch with me or with the eTwinning team at the British Council. The West Midlands contact is Isabel Lalsingh who is lovely and very helpful.
I spent this afternoon taking part in an eTwinning event at the British Council in Manchester, delivering a case study and explaining a bit about eTwinning.
Below is my presentation (soon to have sound added to it so you can listen and look!):
Currently listening to Paz from the Consejeria de Educación talking about all the wonderful things that they do to promote Spanish within the UK and Ireland.
Courses for Primary teachers to improve their language skills,
Arsenal Double Club,
classes for Spanish children in the UK,
Ruta Quetzal,
resources held at Manchester University School of Language and Linguistics that you can borrow,
awards for Spanish Primary and Secondary School of the year
facilitating links between Local Authorities in UK and Ireland, and Consejerías de Educación of autonomous regions in Spain,
training British Council language assistants,
Spanish workshops
publications for Primary and Secondary including TECLA and Acti/España - published online
Check out their website for more information of the great work they do!
'Super Sub Stevens' was called up as a last minute replacement today at a Comenius West Midlands conference for PMFL leaders entitled 'What does a good one look like?'
Hope all those that attended enjoyed th day. I was only there for the afternoon, but really valued the input by Pam Haezewindt of HMI on OFSTED inspections (blog post to follow!)
As promised, below is my presentation on The International Dimension. If you pop back in a day or so, you'll be able to listen to the audio at the same time as I intend to make a Slidecast. (You can also listen to the audio on my podcast, Lisibo talks.)
I've also embedded a video of the hands from one of our International projects, Hands across the World.
And I've added the presentation on WCPS' winning eTwinning project. Sorry I was unable to talk about it at greater length but hopefully you can find out more information from the Slideshow.
This afternoon I had the pleasure of meeting up with a number of educators - teachers and advisors - who shared an interest in eTwinning. I had been asked by the lovely Isabel Lalsingh of the British Council eTwinning team to present a short case study of my eTwinning experiences and this I was pleased to do.
Good to see Isabel again, to meet Andy Tromans having heard his name mentioned numerous times, and to see @spookingdorf aka Dale Jones - that was a surprise! And of course to meet eTwinning fans new and old!
Below is my presentation in its entirety - it isn't on its side as I had feared ;o) If you need any help, feel free to contact me.
We had a discussion based around the theme - where do you draw the line? Do we mind people taking our photos? Does it matter on the context? What about children? Is this different? Should it be the matter of course that we seek written permission for use of children's images? Does this extend to their work or just their photos?
Then we were asked to come up with a scenario that could be used to provoke debate on eSafety.
Our scenario - a 10 year old child with a Facebook profile. The child has given herself a false DOB to register but then revealed the truth on her profile that she is 10 and single. The profile was open to people who weren't friends as she was member of a network. What issues does this raise?
Another scenario - some pupils in a class don't like a teacher and provoke them - the pupils video the teacher arguing with them in the heat of the moment and publish it online. It is devastating for the teacher and they hung themself.
And a further scenario - pupils make a video on their mobiles of children wrestling and publish it. A few weeks later, the police arrive with a complaint from a parent who feels the school is a violent place.
Very interesting - what do you think? Any ideas of your own on this subject? You might gain further insight by listening to Edtechroundup (ETRU) Podcast 4!
A really interesting seminar with lots of discussion about creativity and innovation.
Key ideas included the need for freedom, for space and for the acceptance of diversity; the need to spark ideas in one another, to accept that there are no right and wrong ideas and that the best conditions for creativity can be different for each person. Here are a number of photos taken of the ideas sparked by the session. Perhaps you'd like to add your own comments.
I've been blogging all weekend from the European eTwinning Conference in Prague on the special blog set up for the event. I've also been tweeting our activities when I've had a chance.
I've just arrived in Prague for the European eTwinning cnference entitled Creativity and eTwinning. The conference hall is very full so I am cross legged on the floor - however, I am comfortable, have free WiFi and my crossed legs are the perfect Mac stand!
Edward de Bono - he of the thinking hats - is currently speaking - I'm tweeting his talk as I blog too!
Also blogging on the eTwinning blog so looks like I might be busy!
It's good to be back in Prague - the picture is from my last visit, also for an eTwinning conference last year!
Educator and consultant, passionate about creative teaching and learning using technology.
Director Lisibo Ltd.
Apple Distinguished Educator and Apple Education Mentor.
eTwinning Ambassador.
recent conferences - in Hull and in Basingstoke, Hampshire - before adding it to my podcast. I kept reminding myself that I wouldn't have to listen again once I'd finished, and then remembered that I'd have to listen one more time to synch the audio to my Slideshares to make Slidecasts.
