ENJOY DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT EVALUATION - SENEM SEDA DEMIRTAS (PROJECT FOUNDER)

 

Dear All,

Perhaps, the world has never seen a contagious pandemic like this so far. When I started writing the project, I was thinking about how to make a world of difference in my students’ lives. By the way, most of the students met distance learning under the conditions of pandemic process. We focused on the changes at schools, we tried to raise awareness on the importance of wearing a mask, keeping social distance and hygiene. On the other hand, life was going on and time was going by so fast. My students didn’t have smart boards at school, we were all at home due to lockdowns and some of them had just Internet access and mobile devices at home. Wasn’t it enough to start a project? Of course, it was and we started. The next step was the partner forums on the eTwinning page. As you know, if you find a suitable eTwinner, it means you are nearly over the hump. All well and good. We were the living end for the project. However, it was still dangerous out there because of the coronavirus. It was a great occasion to have Internet access and necessary devices at home to conduct an eTwinning project from a distance.

As the time goes by, we all accommodated ourselves to the pandemic conditions in the world and made the distance learning an enjoyable event via Web 2.0 tools and provided the enhancement of the creativity of our students by doing cross-cultural activities and the integration of web tools to online education. In the end, all students absorbed the importance of wearing a mask, keeping social distance and hygiene. We did cross-cultural work on foreign languages, fed the distance learning with creativity, made our students use English actively and also, they learned about different cultures. We all, as teachers and students, collaborated and contributed as much as possible. When we introduced our students to their foreign agemates, they took an active part on Twinspace enthusiastically and enjoyed learning English more than ever.

We used some IT tools such as PNG & SVG Avatar Generator Online, Canva, Crello, Google Forms, Powtoon, Jigsaw Planet, Padlet, Renderforest, Story Jumper, Pixton, Face CO, Zoom, Capcut, Splendid Flyer Maker, Splendid Logo Maker, Microsoft Movie Maker, Chatterpix and ImageChef to make our project more interactive and visual. Perhaps, it was one of the most enjoyable sides of the project.

We organised group activities such as webinars for our students to make them improve their communication skills in English and they found an opportunity to practise English in real life via this project. Now they understand English is not a foreign language only used at school.

In sum, all expected results came true as desired and our students really enjoyed distance learning and they all produced creative products and now they are much more respectful about different cultures. Ultimately, we are quite sure they will use English actively in their lives compared to before and join lots of projects because these activities broaden horizons.

 

All the best,

Senem Seda Demirtas

 

ENJOY DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT EVALUATION - JOSÉ PAULO LEITES DA COSTA

 

My dear friends,

    I have joined this project because we were living extraordinary times and your proposal was the most relevant one. All schools in Europe, and the world, really, were going through a new reality, a strange reality.

It seemed an impossible task to change the way we used to teach in such a short period of time.

Could teachers and students cope with this new reality?

The Project “Enjoy Distance Learning” seemed to be a good way to get some answers and we weren’t wrong.

It is my opinion that involving teachers and students in eTwinning projects contributes to a complementary, if not as important as, way of exploring the curriculum. At the same time, they encourage students to explore educational tools available to the most part of them.

There is a downside: not all students in our countries have the necessary financial and technical resources to put it in practice. That is something that should, and it does, worry us.

The outcome has clearly overcome these setbacks. Both students and teachers were enthusiastic about the activities carried out in these months, despite all the difficulties of distance learning.

The activities have encouraged students to go beyond the results. They have opened up the students’ minds to a different culture with its traditions, symbols and specificities. Plus, students were able to understand each other by using a foreign language, common in their curriculum.

Our youngsters need to see the routines of other nations so they can come to the conclusion that we are all equal, both in happiness and in troubled times. That’s what they saw in our webinars and chat activities. They realised that their Turkish friends were going through the same difficult situation.

That is learning. That is character building.

What we hope our students will have learnt from this project is exactly that: people are happy or sad in the same way, no matter the culture or the country, and difficulties can be overthrown by communicating. Not clamming up on themselves.

I genuinely hope we can repeat the experience in a couple of years and testify the enduring impression this project has left on all of us.

José Paulo Costa (Lustosa, Portugal)

ENJOY DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT EVALUATION - NANCY MOREIRA (PROJECT FOUNDER)

 

Being part of the project ENJOY DISTANCE LEARNING was an enormous positive experience for teachers and for students involved. It was an opportunity to be part of an international practice that makes our school subject (English language) more interesting and gives students the opportunity to live new, stimulating experiences, to meet other cultures and to have new friends. The advantages of this eTwinning project are remarkable because it is an involvement for a lifetime. Apart from the personal gains, it allows them/us to learn how to use new tools and to know other methods/strategies to work with. This prepares students for a colourful future and teaches them how to be more autonomous and independent, how to take decisions and know exactly what they are able to do. The activities developed were interesting, useful and perfectly adapted to the youngster’s behaviors (new technologies). The cultural and intercultural interchanges help to form their personalities and fight the prejudice. The students' curriculum will certainly enrich their professional and personal profile. Participating in this project also taught our students that the pandemic problem is global difficult to overcome and that everybody is fighting it with hope and care. The chats and the webinars were very useful and motivating for them because they feel that the Turkish friends were real indeed. They can listen and look at them in actual time. In conclusion, being part of an eTwinning project like EDL leaves us too many benefits like knowledge about e-tools, and spectacular and interesting activities, adapted to modern times. This experience brought to our students an added value for their personal, social and professional life, besides too much pleasure, happiness and personal fulfillment.

Nancy Moreira

ENJOY DISTANCE LEARNING PROJECT EVALUATION - KUBRA ODABAS KOLTUK

 

Enjoy Distance Learning has been a great experience for me and my students. They have met distance learning for the first time in their lives because of the Covid19 and their adventure of distance learning started in March, 2020. They have been stuck and overwhelmed by e-classes, watching EBA TV, and assignments. This project has been a breath to them. Thanks to the activities in the project, they both have had fun and learned. The main goal of our project has come true: the distance learning has become fun for them.

From the beginning to end, we have had excellent four months. The activities of the project have been great. My students, who have taken part in an e-Twinning project for the first time, have learned a lot from these activities. First of all, they have met lovely friends, and thanks to the chatting activities, they have had the opportunity to chat with their new friends. While making friends from a different city and a different country, they have also learned their cultures and traditions. Communicating in English has been very good for them, they have improved their English and their self-confidence has increased.

With the ever-changing world and developing technology, it is now in the past to teach lessons with just plain instruction. Nowadays, it is almost a necessity to use the internet and computer while teaching or learning. Therefore, it has become important to be able to use Web 2 tools in education. I and my students have learned to use many Web 2 tools with this project. They have designed logos and posters, prepared e-books, videos, cartoons and surveys. They have used Web 2 tools such as Canva, Google Forms, Renderforest, Pixton, and Story Jumper while doing all these activities. All of them have been fun, creative, productive and unique activities. Now, they are even doing their homework using these applications.

We have to admit that we are going through a very difficult period. In order to overcome this situation, we must stay in our homes as much as possible and follow the rules. During the project, the students and teachers has given the necessary importance to Covid19 precautions. The students have prepared videos about it or we have pointed out the importance of the issue by wearing masks at the Zoom meetings we have held. Students have also gained more awareness about the subject.

We have had a very good and productive time with our project going on since January, 2021. We have had a lot of experience and learned a lot. As an English teacher, what makes me most happy is that my students have had the opportunity to communicate in English. I am very pleased to see that my students have understood how important English is, as a language of communication, not just a lesson. My students and I are looking forward to the next e-twinning project.

Kubra Odabaş Koltuk

PROJECT EVALUATION / ATATÜRK SECONDARY SCHOOL / VAKFIKEBIR / TRABZON / TURKEY

 Our students commented on Enjoy Distance Learning Project:

GOODBYE MESSAGES FROM PORTUGAL TO TURKEY

 Portuguese students sent their goodbye messages to their Turkish friends:

PROJECT EVALUATION/MARASAL FEVZI CAKMAK SECONDARY SCHOOL/SULTANBEYLI/ISTANBUL/TURKEY

Our students evaluated Enjoy Distance Learning Project: