At the end of the school year, we organised a 3-day series of virtual meetings to start the project and get together. Because of the pandemic restrictions, it was impossible to arrange student exchanges but we didn't want to start a summer holiday without meeting each other in some ways.
The aim of the mobility was to introduce the place where we live and the school we are from. The project has six topic areas and each country developed online activities to cover some information of these areas. We used several techniques that can be adapted to everyday teaching as well:
escape rooms: Google site, Google form, Genially
quizzes: Kahoot, Wordwall, PowerPoint presentation with showing up coloured cards after the team discussion
shared Google files (any type) with crosswords or project tasks that the presenters can monitor while teams are working on them and give clues if necessary then we can look at together at the end
online simulators or games
To close the meeting we played a Kahoot quiz made from the trivia questions students collected at the beginning of the cooperation on Twinspace and had a Song Contest.
In the hope of managing the project as we planned and in order to prepare for the coming mobilities, virtual meetings and other tasks the project coordinators and fellow teachers of the parties met for a teacher training event in Százhalombatta, Hungary. Besides the cultural, professional and management issues the main attraction of the meeting was that we could be together in person.
After the Principal's welcoming words, we started the meeting with a Human Bingo game that provided an opportunity for talking and getting to know each other or catching up with the news. It was followed by a tour of the school. The first discussion point was the epidemiological measures each country introduced.
The first afternoon was devoted to a professional training on the educational use of gamification. Márta Barbarics, Assistant Professor at ELTE Department of English Language Pedagogy lead a workshop on different game elements that may be adapted to educational goals. We looked at the advantages and disadvantages of these elements and developed ideas on how to use some in our project.
Culture and games were in the focus on the second day of the meeting. We started in the school when the international colleagues visited two of our classes, 10A and 8B, and played together with students. In the first class drama games were presented as one of our specialities in the language specialisation which was followed by discussions using Dixit cards. In the small discussion groups, students and our guests could also interview each other about issues of their interest. Then, in the second class, we introduced some games to develop language skills like Brainbox Hungary, Testimate, Scattegories, Tabboo, Story cubes, and also, played in small teams. Both students and teachers enjoyed themselves.
In the afternoon, our guests were guided around the Castle District including the Várkert Bazár and then the Marketplace in Vámház Avenue. The weather was brilliant and our partners could enjoy the breathtaking view of both sides of the Danube. Before our dinner, we had our first experience of a real, not digital escape room near Gellért Hill. It was really funny and exciting.
The last day was for teachmeet where each member shared an educational experience or tool that they found useful and also entertaining in their teaching practice. We also discussed the project issues and decided on dates and tasks for the coming three semesters of our project.