ICELANDIC SCHOOL

Our school is located in the Southern region of Iceland. Our borough is called Bláskógabyggð and are approximately 3300 km2. The population here is 1121 persons where 28 % of the population comes from other countries like Poland, Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Czechoslovakia, Indonesia and Thailand. In our borough we have got three of the most visited places in Iceland, Gullfoss, Geysir and Þingvellir which means that 80 % of the tourists will visit Bláskógabyggð while they are in Iceland. The primary occupation is farming and agriculture but the tourist industry is rapidly taking over. In big parts of our borough we are blessed with hot boiling water in the underground, which makes it possible to grow many kinds of vegetables. Our school is a public school called Bláskógaskóli Reykholt. We have got 86 pupils age 6 – 16 divided from 1. – 10. grade. Our pupils come from the eastern part of Bláskógabyggð mainly by schoolbuses in a radius of 30 km. We have got 15 teachers, 5 support teachers, 1 secretary, 1 headmasters support and 1 headmaster. We are teaching according to the public laws. In Iceland the first foreign language taught is English and the second language is Danish. In our school we are just 86 pupils all together but we will be working in this project with the age 10 – 16 approximately 50 pupils. All of them have got access of their own IPad which is used in diverse teaching where all sorts of apps are used. We are using Google Classroom as our basic ICT but we are also using programmes as word, excel, Power Point and are now teaching the pupils to use InkScape and to use Fablab. Our aim is to improve their skills in coding. Our pupils live isolated from other countries and our aim by taking part in this project is to widen their horizon and make them more accepting towards diversity. Also this project will give them real life opportunities to communicate in the foreign languages they are learning at school and teach them of other Europian cultural heritage and to make them more aware of their own using their ICT skills. This project is an excellent opportunity for the teachers involved to improve their teaching development in language, culture and ICT skills. These new skills and experiences will be brought back home and used to inspire the rest of the school community. Teachers involved with the project is: Lára Bergljót Jónsdóttir: Has got 21 years of teaching experience and 3 years’ experience as the headmasters support. Are specialised in home economics, wood work and design. Has got excellent ICT skills. This is the first time to participate in a project like this. Kathrina Andersen: Has got 16 years of experience as a languages teacher in English and Danish, first in Denmark and now in Iceland. Has been working with European projects through ESP – Europian School Projects. Has got fine ICT and communication skills and are eager to learn about other cultures and cuturel habits.