Starting up

Icebreakers *

This is an online catalogue full of fun icebreakers and teambuilding activities. You can filter activities by group size or type of activity. With a little ingenuity, you and your eTwinning partner(s) can create a successful activity in which the students get to know each other in a fun way.

Mystery Skype ***

Everyone knows Skype. But for many, Mystery Skype is still ... errr... a mystery. The idea is as simple as it is brilliant. Through the Mystery Skype database you can find a colleague elsewhere in the world. You agree on a common time schedule and set up a Skype connection in the classroom. Important: your students do not know where the other class is located. The assignment? Guess the location of the other class as soon as possible by asking specific yes/no questions. Excitement and enthusiasm guaranteed!

Socrative **

With Socrative you can basically do anything you like in the classroom. Imagine that together with a class somewhere in Europe you will be asked the same online question at the same time. Imagine that your individual answer would appear next to that of a pupil from the partner country. This is a motivating way to get students in touch with each other. To make it all "eTwinning", you can even create internationally mixed groups to quiz each other or carry out assignments.

Padlet *

Maybe there's one at home. Or in your class? For many people, a classic bulletin board is more than just a reminder. Many of these bulletin boards are used as a means of communication. Imagine that you would have a virtual version of this bulletin board at your disposal. And that you could also share this board with other people somewhere in Europe? With Padlet this is possible. So you can have your students create virtual post-its on an online board that they share with a class elsewhere in Europe. But it goes much further than written messages. You can add all kinds of files, from photos to sound files to even video material. It's a great way to introduce your students to each other on a common 'wall'.

TeamUp **

When the ice is broken and everyone has had their introduction to the group, the real work begins. In an eTwinning project, ideally, mixed groups of pupils from different partner countries should be created. Not an easy job of course. Fortunately, there is the TeamUp tool. It is a tool for teachers to form teams of students based on interests. Moreover, the progress of the work in the different groups can be monitored. In the website you will also find a manual that guides you through the process of forming groups.

Tricider *

In an eTwinning project, it is very important that pupils from all partner schools carry the project. For example, students are often allowed to create a logo for the project. If you want the students to discuss these logos and even vote for the best logo, you can do so. You can use the Tricider tool to do this. It is an online tool that allows all students to brainstorm together on the same platform. In addition, all students can also vote for their favourite logo and even motivate them to choose a certain logo or not. The possibilities are endless, the consensus is reached quickly!

This tool can also be used later in your project, for example when smaller international groups of students want to discuss with each other and achieve results.

SpeakUp *

SpeakUp is very similar to Tricider, but seems to go a step further. The purpose of the tool is not only to stimulate ideas, but also to solve problems and ultimately even make well-founded decisions. Input from team members is automatically ranked according to the number of votes assigned to the comments and decisions are made in a very transparent way. There is also a stimulating element of competition in SpeakUp. Those who are active in the tool can score points and earn badges.

Taskade *

Taskade is a task management tool that you can use on a computer, smartphone or tablet. Working together is very easy by inviting others to make lists and notes together in the same online environment. Taskade has many nice templates that you can use to organize your calendars, notes, to do lists etc.. So if you want to divide tasks at the start of your eTwinning project, or if you want to keep an overview of your shared calendar, you can choose to work in Taskade together with your eTwinning partner(s).

Online Stopwatch *

Picture this: your first online video meeting with the partner class of your eTwinning project. Excitement, sensation! Imagine that your students have to guess where the other class is located, how do you manage that in a fair way, so that everyone gets the same amount of time to ask questions? An online stopwatch could do the job. No hassle, just online. The choice is yours: stopwatch or countdown.

Funny.pho.to *

At the start of an eTwinning project, most pupils ask themselves what the other pupils look like. Not every student likes the idea of sharing a picture of themselves. It may then be a good idea for the students to edit a photo themselves. With Funny.pho.to a lot is possible. Funny or very arty edits with usually a good result. Involve your students in the eTwinning project from the start!

Facepixelizer *

It is not the intention to post a section on the GDPR here, but this tool is still very useful when you start an eTwinning project. Maybe your project partner has different, stricter rules regarding pictures of students. With Facepixelizer you can make faces unrecognizable in a very simple way. From now on, all beautiful group photos can be included in the TwinSpace.

Logomakr *

In the post about Tricider, we were already talking about a logo for your eTwinning project. With Logomakr, your students can enjoy themselves digitally. First of all, they can browse through the more than 1 million graphics ranging from elementary smileys to a colourful school bus. After that everything can be edited: the colours, size and composition of the image can be adjusted. You can add shapes, text or other images, and drag and drop elements into the foreground or background. In the free version of Logomakr you can download a .png file in low resolution. That comes in handy, because it fits easily in a TwinSpace!

Pickaface *

In the meantime we all have the same reflex when we want to post pictures of people online: is this allowed? Some (parents of) students insist that they are not portrayed recognizably in school photos or in the TwinSpace. You can solve this problem with the Facepixelizer tool that we discussed earlier. But you can also literally give every student a face with Pickaface. Each student can create their own avatar with this tool. Maybe it's even a good idea to let all the students in the project work with it so that no one has to feel special. Soon you' ll get inspired to make a game of "Who is it?" with your students' faces. Fun guaranteed!

Rasterbator *

Does your classroom look like it did maybe 20 years ago? You want to pimp your habitat, but don't feel like painting walls during the holidays? Rasterbator is the lifesaver. With this tool you can enlarge a simple picture (smaller than 7MB) to multiple pages with an artistic pixel effect. You don't have to register, or even download anything. Upload a file from your computer or select an online image, select a number of criteria and you're done. Before you know it, you've enlarged an image on 20 A4 pages. Nice idea to bring your eTwinning partner class to your own classroom in such a lifelike way, isn't it?

Thinglink *

With the Thinglink tool you can do a lot of things. And yet the principle is very simple: you upload an image and then add 'tags' to your image. These tags can be simple texts, or texts with images, or links to websites, or links to YouTube videos, or... Your students will probably find it much more enjoyable to explore in the class photo of their eTwinning partner class and to click on all those different faces. In this way, they learn about their peers' hobbies, where they live or what cool tricks they can perform on their skateboard.

Pixton **

It has already been mentioned several times: not all students like to be photographed. Imagine that a student from a partner class makes a wrong remark about a photo that has been placed on the TwinSpace. Only based on 'looks' and therefore also on prejudices. With Pixton you tackle this problem in a fantastic way. What's more, you put the whole class to work by creating accounts for your students in a simple way! Everyone has to make the same effort to get to the end result. Pixton is an online tool that allows you to create avatars. The great thing is that the teacher can take a class photo in which the avatars of the students are neatly placed together. Your students can also make a small comic strip. It becomes completely 'eTwinning' if you create mixed classes in which your students work together on a comic strip with students from abroad. The icing on the cake? A virtual class photo with all students together, of course!

Canvanizer **

If you want to take a very professional approach to an eTwinning project, you can use Canvanizer. With this tool you will discuss beforehand with your eTwinning partners how you will approach the whole project, what the to do's are, who will take on which tasks, what the end result will be and much more. It is more than just an online bulletin board, you can easily use it in a team and you can also clone existing 'canvasses' and give them your own interpretation. Canvanizer offers you a number of templates which they call 'business models'. Anyway: if you want to structure everything nicely and keep an overview, then Canvanizer is definitely worth considering.

MeisterTask **

It is very important to make clear arrangements when it comes to setting up a project with your eTwinning partners. MeisterTask helps you to manage your project in an intuitive way. Determine together which tasks should be carried out by whom and by what deadline. Are you afraid that this tool is too complex or that your project is not extensive enough to get started with MeisterTask? No need to, because even though you can do a lot with it, everything still looks very user friendly and clear.