Begin your International Journey with eTwinning Gary Shiells British Council gary.shiells@britishcouncil.org 0131 524 5720 eTwinning is a free and secure online network, where teachers from more than 40 countries can find partners, work on projects and enable pupil collaboration across any subject area. as well as offering free resources, professional development, competitions and awards, eTwinning can be the first step towards the international school award and Erasmus+ funding. • If you are interested in applying for Erasmus+ funding, you can search and find partners using the platform OR if you are already beneficiaries of Erasmus+ funding, KA1: you could find teachers to job shadow or for KA2 use the secure online space to support and manage your project work. • Both teachers and students can store and share their work online in this space and pages can be made public or private. • You can use the tools that already there in the twinspace, like chat rooms, Adobe Live webinar conferencing, blogs to support your project work and meet up with your partner teachers and classes. • You could invite other teachers in your school to join eTwinning to help widen the international work in your school. • It’s really easy and very flexible -projects can be as long or as short as you like. Teachers meet peers from over 40 countries and can dip their toes in international projects. • National projects are also an option –work with someone in another school in the UK.

Brexit The UK Government has stated publicly that the United Kingdom is committed to continuing full participation in the Erasmus+ programme up until we leave the European Union Successful Erasmus+ applications which are submitted while the UK is still a Member State, even if they are not approved until after we leave, can continue beyond the point of exit With the caveat that “nothing is agreed until everything is agreed”, in principle the UK will continue to benefit from all EU programmes, including Erasmus+, until the end of the current budget plan (2014-2020) eTwinning is a free and secure online network, where teachers from more than 40 countries can find partners, work on projects and enable pupil collaboration across any subject area. as well as offering free resources, professional development, competitions and awards, eTwinning can be the first step towards the international school award and Erasmus+ funding. • If you are interested in applying for Erasmus+ funding, you can search and find partners using the platform OR if you are already beneficiaries of Erasmus+ funding, KA1: you could find teachers to job shadow or for KA2 use the secure online space to support and manage your project work. • Both teachers and students can store and share their work online in this space and pages can be made public or private. • You can use the tools that already there in the twinspace, like chat rooms, Adobe Live webinar conferencing, blogs to support your project work and meet up with your partner teachers and classes. • You could invite other teachers in your school to join eTwinning to help widen the international work in your school. • It’s really easy and very flexible -projects can be as long or as short as you like. Teachers meet peers from over 40 countries and can dip their toes in international projects. • National projects are also an option –work with someone in another school in the UK.

www.etwinning.net

Making your profile attractive Its simple… Add a picture Add a snappy bio Briefly describe yourself (interests, why you registered in eTwinning, etc.). This information will be displayed on your profile for other eTwinners to see. Once registered, we encourage you to enrich your profile further by clicking on edit profile when logged in.

What makes a good first project? Keep it simple Keep it short and manageable Keep it relevant to what is happening in your pupils day Are you already doing something that could be adapted?

Finding Partners Start at the Partner Forum allowing you to post a partner-finding request or search existing post by keyword.

Top Tips Persevere! Browse the forum and reply to what you find, but a new post may be more effective Be open – to niche and you may not find a partner Don’t be afraid to “bump” your post if it falls out of sight Add some common keywords to your text Never share your email address – despite what others may do Use the app to track alerts and notifications

Useful links eTwinning website www.etwinning.net eTwinning help videos https://stm.etwinning.net eTwinning workshops https://www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning/workshops/face-to-face eTwinning YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/eTwinning European School Gateway (Erasmus+ course database) https://www.schooleducationgateway.eu