Starting international projects: getting over the edge!
Trui Catteeuw teaches English and Dutch at Handelsonderwijs Burgerschool in Roeselare, Flanders, Belgium. She tells us more about how she discovered international collaborative projects, as a way to bring something new to her teaching.
I got accidentally involved in an international project about ten years ago: the project was about migration in general, quite interesting for our technical students, starting originally from their history lessons.
The project had been started by our deputy head, one of the ICT pioneers in Belgium. Then he asked me to join the club. We were two teachers from Helsinki, two teachers from Stockholm and two Belgians: my deputy head and I. I was the only female teacher. Some hints from what I learnt during that period:
• Even if you don’t really know what you are starting, just jump into it! People help each other in the course of the project. • Internet at home is easy but no basic rule: you surely have it at school • Register for as many international projects possible: you might only get benefits from them! • Ask colleagues for basic help if you need it: e.g. concerning ICT; and be sure that your pupils often know more than you and are really eager to help you with that part of the job.
Our project started with a competition which involved three schools (Belgium, Finland, Sweden). The basic idea was to create a logo for the project. I must confess that our headmaster, at the time, gave three prices for the three best designs at our school! He was so enthusiastic about the involvement of so many pupils in a historical project that he wanted the pupils to stay very motivated to keep on working on it. Each country sent a package of typical sweets to the Swedish winning pupil in the end.
For the rest the development of the project happened in all fourth and fifth classes of technical school. Teachers of several subjects participated in this project, lots of them for the very first time thus.
• The presentation of the project was done in a history or art lesson. It was about migration (two waves of course!) in the three participating countries (Belgium, Sweden, Finland) in general, throughout history. It was great to find some common roots between pupils from different countries! • Pupils dealing with migration in their proper family tried to find out very detailed information by interviewing people from their family. • Their stories were written out in a Dutch lesson (our native and official language). Pupils did this in groups. After the story they had to look for information about areas and migration, history and migration, sports and migration, migration in movies, interviewing migrants in the school neighbourhood, press articles and migration. • Translating the stories and the information they all found, was done in the English lessons. Only after this it could be put on a site, which was only in January. • Lots of colleagues taught about migration in one or another way during this period: in geography lessons about traffic and migration; reasons for migration; in ICT: creating their own columns with migration elements in Excel etc. • In religious education pupils all had guided discussions about migration. • The music teacher had some lessons about the role of migration in developing different music genres.
Twice a year we teachers had a meeting to discuss about the development of the project, and evaluated the results. After that we could describe the outlines for the rest of the project. We have been doing this project for 3 school years, each year with different pupils taking part.
One of the ultimate aims we teachers had was, that pupils would voluntarily start mailing and chatting with each other, not only but still on migration in their families, in English. And it worked out well! Even if they did not have the opportunity at home, they could do it at the cybercafe at our school, at lunch time.
Another important aim was that we had the intention to make pupils change their view on migration and migrants in their own neighbourhood, class, city by using the internet. We can never tell if we have succeeded in this purpose but it can only but have helped them in changing their view, in making up their mind…
I personally just want to add that I was a bit scared to start international projects, because I couldn’t clearly see what it would lead us to. At first I waited a bit to see what would come. It seemed to me that it would take lots of my energy (travelling some week ends, teaching a normal curriculum, being a class teacher, arranging everything at home).
Some days being together with teachers from other countries and other schools, working together on the same project, meeting informally, making agreements, creates a unique atmosphere, even among your own colleagues at your own school. I think every teacher should participate in such an experience at least once in a life time. It really gives you a kick, some fresh air in your teaching experience. It broadens your horizon. You are in it so intensively. The finishing touch in having all the information in a site that all the participants and even their family could see and read, is great for the pupils and the teachers and is a nice promotion for the participating schools!
I could not continue my school career without having one or other international project going on after this first experience. It’s really special. I cannot but wish all teachers to get this ‘microbe’. Wishing you the best!
