Annual eTwinning Conference, Prague

I was really fortunate to be invited to attend the Annual eTwinning Conference last weekend.  The event took place in Prague and it was really amazing to be involved.

I began my journey with eTwinning nearly 2 yrs ago, in a search for a French school so that we could set up an exchange.  Once I made my first advert for a school I was hooked and found it very hard not to accept every offer of a project that I came across.  However, one of the projects I set up with a French school was highly successful and even got into the short-list for the European eTwinning Prize (though not to the finals) and that was how I ended up, last Friday heading to Prague rather than taking part in our usual LEA-wide CPD Day that was taking place.

Several delegates, inlcuding Lisa Stevens, were blogging on the conference blog throughout the weekend, so I'm not going to go into too much detail about workshops etc..., as I think that they are very well written about there.  I thought that I might just write about some of the highlights for me.

One of the main things I was looking forward to was the Key Note Speech given by Dr. Edward de Bono.  I must say that he didn't disappoint.  His presentation style was unique, using a webcam to project the writing he was doing throughout his speech he spoke about how we can learn and teach creative thinking.  I found this most inspiring and it certainly gave me some ideas as to how I can harness my creativity and how I can help my pupils to be more creative with their language work. 

There were plenty of other activities aimed at helping us develop our creativity and also think about how we can "spread the word" about eTwinning in our local areas and further afield.

Another major highlight for me was a coach tour of Prague.  Unfortunately is was at night but even so, it was amazing to be visiting such a beautiful city.  The Czech CSS had provided coaches for all 400+ delegates and guides to give us a  comprehensive description of their beautiful capital city.  It was a very pleasant experience, made even more pleasant to have the opportunity to leave our coach and walk into the Old Town.  Only three of us from my coach took up the opportunity to brave the cold of the night but I was pleased we did.

I also came away with a fantastic moto; "What we learn without joy, we forget without regret".  I have forgotten (with regret) the name of the lady who said this but may of us thought how apt that was!

I had a really great time at the conference, not least because I got know and spend time with some really lovely people of differing nationalities and backgrounds.  Thank you, eTwinning for inviting me!

I took very few photos, so here's a short video I made in Moviemaker with thanks to Smetana for the appropriate backing music...