Hello

Hello,

My name is Teresa Costanza an Italian English teacher who browsing into the Italian site of the Ministry of Education has come across the e-twinning program and the request for collaboration with the 8^th Lyceum of Patras, Greece, on a three –month time project “Olive tree-Olive oil“. This new way of collaboration and electronic learning, strongly wanted by the European Union, has been promoted in our school and has involved the students, aged 16-18, of all the three branches of study (electrotechnics/electronics, biology/chemistry, catering).

The students have enthusiastically adhered to work on this project, especially those who haven’t developped yet their ICT abilities whereas the students with a good knowledge worked also on the graphic part of the project.

My special thanks go to the Greek teacher Angeliki Ikonomopoulou, administrator of this e-twinning program for her collaboration and for being so helpful with advice on how to carry on the work.


Photo 1: The students with the English teacher	Photo 2: The students in one of the computer labs

How students have welcomed the eTwinning Program:

The eTwinning program has been presented to students providing them with enough information on this new e- learning didactic methodology which uses ITC to favour intercultural exchanges between European schools and at the same time reinforce their ITC training as well as the language of communication between the schools.

Students have promptly and enthusiastically accepted to adhere to this eTwinning program with the Greek school 8^th lyceum of Patras, on a common project theme “Olive tree-Olive oil”.

The project has been carried out during curricular hours of English and Computer classes in each lab.

Some students have done personal research at home, too.

The same students have required the supervision of other teachers while carrying out the project concerning matters related to teachers’ specific subject.

Each of them has expressed his personal ideas about the graphic part of the project and gained more confidence on managing the communication in English with the students of the partner school.

Besides, they have manifested a strong motivation for e-learning respect to the usual traditional teaching methods and in addition the student’s common work published on a web site has reinforced students’ wish for a collaboration and comparison between the two cultures.

Pedagogical values acquired:

	Students have gathered information from books and Internet* to carry on the project “Olive tree-Olive oil”*
	They have sent emails to exchange information with the partner school
	They did video conferences utilizing Netmeeting* and MSN in order to meet each other*
	They did word processing by making use of Microsoft Word
	They made image and backgrounds with ArcSoft Photo Base, ArcSoft Photo Studio 2000
	They made web pages using Microsoft Front Page
	They used eTwinning* portal*
	They translated and wrote summaries with the supervision of the English teacher

I would like to thank for their willingness to help students and supervision the students’ work:

Vincenzo Petrelli, Headmaster who has supervised enthusiastically the project

Piero De Vita, historian and teacher of Italian Language and Literature who has provide students with precious historical documents on Trebisacce and Olive tree

Patrizia Mazzei, teacher of Chemistry, who has supervised the chemical part of the project

Pietro Salatino, teacher of Food and Nutrition, who has supervised the information on nutritional properties of food and the Mediterranean diet

Domenico Corrado, ITC teacher, and in charge of the lab who has managed to place the project in the web site

Teresa Costanza

English teacher and

eTwinning Administrator

IPSIA “E. ALETTI”, TREBISACCE

E mail: t.costanza@libero .it