[2009 2o] Between the lines

2o Ευρωπαϊκό Βραβείο eTwinning στην κατηγορία "16-19 ετών"

Εκπαιδευτικός: Ελένη Καραβανίδου (ΠΕ02)

Συνεργαζόμενo σχολείο: Colegiul Economic "Ion Ghica" Targoviste (Ρουμανία)

Καρτέλα έργου: 6066

Περιγραφή: "Between the lines" is an interactive teen reading club between a Greek and a Romanian school. Students' ages are 16-18. We read the same books and do common projects. We use ICT and books to present ourselves and our countries, as well as find more about each other's culture. Our bookclub combines modern information technology with the everlasting reading enjoyment.

Links: http://draculabetweenthelines.blogspot.gr/

It was a surprise indeed to start with a horror novel and to find we are throwing bridges to each other because of it! There is talk of the bookclubs meeting in person and discussing our next book face to face. The recent experience of the Czech twinners visiting our school was so positive that everyone in 1o Geniko Lykeio takes the next European visit for granted!

As a teacher responsible of the Library, I took the occasion to teach more systematically aspects of Information Literacy, such as Web navigation, evaluating webpages and to talk about other library books during our bookclub meetings. Although Information Literacy is not yet a curriculum subject in Greece, it is a vehicle for nearly all other subjects and student assignments. Also, it gave students’ random navigation a goal and the results are visible in the mutual blog

Talking to colleagues from the same and other schools, I asked them to contribute to the project by writing something, giving an email interview to students or trying to chat. Our Social Studies teacher,and a Greek language teacher wanted to help on. Their contribution helped keep student interest up. The blog is a means of sustaining contact even after the project is over. Students in Greece wish to participate after they have left school.

Bram Stoker's gothic novel is scattered with Romanian words, habits, ethnological details, landscape descriptions, historical references. It was our opportunity to find them, ask about them and compare them to ours on the blog. Both countries are connected with a common religious and historical background. It was a pleasure to write and read about Easter celebrations, for example and find we are similar. It was even better when the wonderful hand-painted Romanian eggs came as a gift -among many other things- to our Library, much to the students' and stuff's admiration. Items from Romania, Poland and the Czech Republic, that were sent due to our etwinning projects, are now displayed in our European corner at school.

This year we were able to have webcam chats due to three of the Greek Bookclub’s members, who helped the librarian with the technical problems. Also, another Greek School Library in Gianitsa offered to rehearse when needed, so we could chat with Romania. The rest of the students did ppt presentations of books, worked with MS Word. Blogging was the ideal frame of our common work, since the novel we read together is in diary form and enables posts that combine real and literary dates. Teacher communication was constant, almost daily and feedback was provided immediately. The Greek side learnt a lot of new webtools from Romania, while trying to couple the work done by our Targovistian twinners. The student in charge of communication in Greece also skypes and emails our twinners individually (including the Romanian teacher, which I find a very important benefit).

.which leads us to overall benefits of the project. The greatest gain for us was that our bookclub meetings had a specific goal, which was to send our answers or to ask questions and wait for the feedback. This motivated our students and brought them to the library to ask if there is any news from the project. The bookpresentations from both countries are constantly displayed in our library. In reality, apart from the usual monthly meeting, the project was open and flexible, permitting the bookclub members to do some work in their free time, or even during breaks. Mutual effort and understanding between the teachers was also an important motivation and a moral gain. In short, the etwinning interactive bookclub offers more than a traditional one