Author: Lynne Jones and Karen Liddle, SCILT and CISS
Presenting at a conference can be nerve-wracking at the best of times. If it’s presenting online at an international conference, it also requires synchronising watches to make sure you join at the right time. Plus, if it’s Spain, then a 7pm start should not come as a surprise! So it was, that on a Friday evening in March, my colleague Karen Liddle and I joined an enthusiastic group of Galician teachers to learn about some wonderful collaborative projects that connected young people across Europe and beyond.
We had been invited by Diana Pastoriza Espasandín from CAFI – el Centro Autonómico de Formación e Innovación (the equivalent of Education Scotland’s Professional Learning and Leadership Directorate) in Galicia to contribute to their two-day ‘Internacionaliza a túa escola’ conference about Erasmus+, eTwinning e outras propostas.
In our presentation, Karen and I shared the testimonies of Scottish educators involved in six very different projects celebrating languages and global citizenship:
- More than just play: An award-winning, learner-led international education eTwinning project around play and games. Led by Kirsten Barrett, St Maria Goretti Primary, Glasgow.
- Culture in a box: A penpal project with a cultural twist between primary schools in Scotland and Spain. Led by Lesley Sim, Dalry Primary, North Ayrshire.
- The Virtual Exchange Teacher programme: Delivering live online Mandarin lessons from China to Scottish school children. Led by Karen Liddle, Professional Development Officer at the Confucius Institute for Scotland’s Schools.
- Digital fairy tales: A collaborative storytelling project between two primary schools in Scotland and Spain. Led by Jennifer Maxwell, a probationer teacher at Dykesmains Primary, North Ayrshire.
- Exploring the endless possibilities of an interdisciplinary approach to language learning: Key Action 2 Erasmus+ project with schools in Italy and France. Led by Lindsay Allen, Neilston Primary, East Renfrewshire.
- Generation Global: Key Action 2, three year, Erasmus+ project with colleagues in SCILT, Denmark and Norway to change attitudes towards languages in schools, businesses and wider society. Led by Sheena Bell and Paul Hare, SCILT.
Check out the great work of our contributors on this padlet.
As well as their interest in the various projects, conference delegates were keen to know how popular Spanish was as an additional language in Scottish schools; how widely Scottish teachers use CLIL pedagogical approaches and how we plan to promote international collaboration post-Brexit.
I live-tweeted the event, mindful that the scope of the presentations over the two days of the conference was vast. It was a privilege to learn first-hand about diverse international collaborations from schools, colleges and workplaces. Project themes included dancing, mental health, digital games, STEM, professional learning and so much more.
Above all, with presenters and delegates beaming in from Spain, Italy and Scotland, the conference itself was a fantastic example of international collaboration. Our new friends Diana, Saleta and the rest of the team at CAFI ensured the event ran smoothly, global pandemic notwithstanding.
It was very motivating to be part of #CAFI_Erasmus in March. The SCILT and CISS teams will be spreading their wings further in the coming months, sharing our work at more international conferences, so watch this space.