Six teachers from Latvia and one teacher from Sweden have written to us so far ready to start the project with us. It will be difficult to decide who to work with if we are given the green light to go ahead with the course next week. In the end our only wish for the future partners is to stick with us to the end. It is always a major disappointment for the students if they are promised interaction with foreign students and it doesn’t happen.
Planning this project seems to go in an odd order, but we have no choice. The applications for Nordplus Junior funding are due March 1st and we are on holiday February 20th-24th. There are quite a few pages to fill in that application and we need to send our future partners papers to sign and I have to get a scan of the signed papers to add in the application before turning it in March 1st. So, I think that I will have to fill in the application this weekend and add details to it later. We have such a full curriculum in our regular classes that we can’t do projects like this on regular classes, so we have come up with another plan. Our students can choose three optional courses each year varying from cooking and sports to studying historical phenomena or global issues – our course was offered the first time this year so it might be that the students have not chosen it. Our student counsellors and our principal will be counting the number of the choices for each course next week and then we will get a list of the courses that will take place 2012-2013 at the end of next week at the latest. For financial reasons there is a rule that only those groups will be formed that have at least ten students.
As far as the course goes, we have only some ideas here and there, but not a full picture. We’re thinking of building it as we go. We know for sure that we don’t want to use the eTwinning platform because there are easier ways to post student works. We also know that we would like all the teachers in the project to post their ideas in this blog. Just to hear what they have done and how it has been for both the involved teachers and students. It is also a good way to report back to Nordplus Junior to make our project transparent, to let them see how we use their money. And for that it is also important that there are also student works online for them to see what has been accomplished by the project.
I have done a similar project for three years and it has been very successful. The way it is arranged is similar but students are very different and the purpose of the course is very different. I think we have been given the grant every year because we have such extensive online material to show what we do. The problem with the course has been how to organize traveling with three partners so that everyone gets a trip during that school year. We have done it so that first all three schools meet in one of the three locations, in other words one of the partners hosts a visit for the other two, say in April for example. Then the ones who hosted in April get a trip to either one of the other two towns, say in May for example. This way there will always be one partner each year who does not have to host, but this plan requires continuity for several years in order to even out, to be fair to everyone. But its best part has been the fact that we all get together once a year in one place. If we are planning cooperation only for one year we need to have another kind of a plan. I don’t know if the idea that everyone hosts and everyone travels is a good one here, and thinking about this at this point when we don’t even know who we are going to work with, feels very premature, but it is necessary because I have to write that in the application that is due in two weeks (one of which is a holiday week for us) and I need to include the partners’ signed papers in the application. And then again, maybe this will become a project that will go on from year to year, like our other Nordplus Junior project has done.
Even though we are not sure if the project will get a green light next week, we are confident that it will. We have talked to a handful of students who say that they chose our course, and our headmaster has been very supportive of all our projects. At this point even though we haven’t decided on the future partners yet, we are hoping for your comments on the way we have planned this and we’re also hoping that sharing our thoughts will make you more certain of wanting to commit to the project.
Can I Help You? - Teacher Blog 
I really like the idea of an ongoing project because it shows more continuity. And I agree very much on the criteria that all the partners must stick together. In the past I had also projects which started with a great enthusiasm and after a few months just “died”. A project needs ideas but also commitments, lots of commitments from our-sides as it is always the teacher who carries the whole project.
I think that we should limit the number of participants to max 15, smaller groups stick together better, the coordination is easier.
As about travelling: If we focus on the idea of an ongoing project, every country- maybe nor necessarily every participant- would get the opportunity to travel abroad.
Trelleborg is easy to reach, there are two different airports nearby, both need only about 25 min travelling (Copenhagen and Malmö). Trelleborg is quite small (65.000 inhabitants)- the kids just can’t get lost. Our school provides free lunch for everybody- it might be a plus as well.
I would not like to use the eTwinning site, blogging has become very easy, the same is for creating wikis as a collaboration plattform, I also could imagine using the smartphones extensively, as here in Sweden the majority of the students uses iPhone or galaxy ( you name it). Using viber or what’s up applications to send voice memos would not cost anything and we would use the tools what our students love to use 24/7.
We are on winter vacation from the 20th of February (for a week) and I guess it would be a good idea to try to find some time when we could meet online and talk about our ideas.
Great ideas Catrin! 15 students sounds sensible. As Annika told, we will need ten to be allowed to do this, 10-15 is realistic. We will be having ninth graders next year, they will be graduating after that year and leaving our school – but that doesn’t have to mean the project has to end, of course.
We are very hopeful and enthusiastic about this all and waiting for the numbers and information is it possible to continue with this the way we have planned. You’ll never know will these students after all get excited about something that involves things that usually are quite difficult for them (as using and learning English are) and choose it over “easier” lessons but this time it seems that we have a plan that motivates them. Many students have been asking a lot about our course.
Exciting times, as Annika framed it. Planning something new and waiting to see how it works. Wonderful that we have found teachers thinking alike and wanting to start this with us!
If the project is accepted, can we plan the staff meeting at the beginning of the project in the most appropriate place for all participants because F2F meeting is really useful for successful project. By this time we will know all the participants and
it makes planning the events more exact. WE have this experience from our Comenius project and has been so good that we, the teachers, are still friends three years after the project and keep visiting each other.
I am always exciting about new challenges in my life and meet new colleagues.
Our school is located in a small town Saulkrasti near the Riga Gulf anout 50 km from Riga.
Thank you so much for the kind replies Catrin, Katriina and Gaida! Really appreciate your ideas and contribution! I have filled in a Nordplus Junior application for the project today – well those pages that I was able to fill in at this point. Can’t wait to see which courses are on our headmaster’s list next week – thumbs up!!!