Category: etwinning

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.

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’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.

So – I’m pleased to announce three new episodes of my podcast Lisibo talks! But does it make sense?

Made it to the hotel at 2.30am this morning and this is what I did!

Already engrossed in the conference and tweeting madly, but I’m looking forward to the sun sea sand and swimming pool!

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Cathedral, Varna, Bulgaria, originally uploaded by Tim Waters.

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

So, hoping to report from Varna tomorrow.

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!