The project, linked with the sharing of Christmas songs during the Christmas Truce in 1914 in World War I, involved ten schools around Europe sharing Christmas songs (including the carol ‘Silent Night) in a joint video-conference carol concert in December 2014, to remember the 100th anniversary of the first Christmas Truce; and also learning about World War 1 and exchanging Christmas cards.
This an eTwinning project, planned by the teachers in the ten different schools. The project was, and is, co-ordinated by Diana Linford in the UK, but all schools, teachers and pupils played an active role. Our aim was to remember the 100th anniversary of the 1914 Christmas Truce. This was when soldiers are reported to have stopped fighting and to have sung Silent Night together in English and German. We developed this idea to include all 10 languages of the schools in the project.
Our pupils recorded Silent Night in their language (and also a traditional carol from their country) and our videos were shared, via Youtube, on the project Twinspace http://twinspace.etwinning.net/248/ . Pupils in each school learned each others’ songs throughout the autumn term in preparation for our video call.
On 10 December 2014, we held a video-conference call. Seven schools took part (unfortunately one had to drop out at the last minute because of local technical problems), with the other three partner schools contributing videos to be played during the call. Pupils told each other about their learning in the project, and sang their traditional carol. We all sang Silent Night together, with verses in each language. This was a very memorable and moving remembrance of the 1914 Christmas Truce.
In addition, pupils took part in a logo design competition; made and exchanged Christmas cards with all the other schools in the project (these were made into displays in each school); some pupils made e-cards using the Scratch programming language and these were shared on the Twinspace (http://twinspace.etwinning.net/248/pages/page/18559); Christmas traditions were shared, enabling pupils again to learn from each other. Finally, pupils and teachers reflected on their learning in the project.
The work from the project was compiled into an ebook so that pupils could continue to share and learn from each others’ work:
http://issuu.com/djlinford/docs/ebook_christmas_truce_d9566b9fe580c0?e=1...
Questions have been provided on the ebook to facilitate pupils’ ongoing learning from the ebook and project: http://christmastruce19142014.weebly.com/
There are also quizzes and games for pupils to check their learning: http://twinspace.etwinning.net/248/pages/page/18448
The objectives were to use ICT tools to enable pupils to learn from each other about World War I, and about Christmas in 2014, and to participate in an online live commemoration of the 1914 Christmas Truce.
In particular, we wanted to use a video-conferencing tool, which we believe is cutting edge technology in primary schools, so that we could participate in a live carol concert together.
We used etwinning.net with its online tools and webpage ‘Twinspace’. Google Docs was used for planning the project. Webex as the video-conferencing tool. The programming language Scratch was also used to give pupils experience in programming with an audience in mind. Video was shared via Youtube to enable pupils to learn the words of each others’ songs in advance of the video call.
The website created to exploit the ebook, making the project durable and sustainable, is and will remain a long-lasting proof of students and teachers working together for a common goal when crafting, testing, solving and maintaining the quizzes. The software and tools used for the site are: Weebly, Hot Potatoes, GoConqr, Learning Apps, Padlet, Jigsaw Planet, Google Slides, ProProfs, QuizRevolution and AnswerGarden.
No records are kept on numbers. The Twinspace is online and links to it are via our schools’ websites and from the eTwinning website. It has also been featured by the British Council twice:
http://www.britishcouncil.org/etwinning/what/case-study
and
http://britishcouncil.cmail2.com/t/ViewEmail/r/AA7E58170B44C9FC2540EF23F...
and it is mentioned in the Visibility of eTwinning projects newsletter 2015: http://joom.ag/Zl4p
The project and the UK prize have been mentioned on Twitter by @DianaLinford, @eTwinningUK, @paolarduini
Newspaper reports on the project were published in the UK, Poland, Ukraine, and in the school magazine in Romania: http://twinspace.etwinning.net/248/pages/page/21987
Exhibitions about the project, with the Christmas cards from the partner schools, were displayed in the schools of the project.
Our project won the prize for the best eTwinning project in the UK, 2015. We hope that it will be used in the future as an example of best practice in online project work.
The assessor’s comments included:
“fully collaborative and delivering motivating active-learning actions throughout; immaculately planned, delivered and recorded on the twin space to an extremely high standard; use of innovative technologies to ensure full partner participation and engagement is outstanding; the legacy materials generated provide a wonderful resource for others to use; a most impressive and exemplary eTwinning project.”
The project was listed in the top 10 projects for 2014-15 in Estonia. The judges commented:
"The project "Christmas Truce" is very original. There are many Christmas projects every year but this project is quite different. The project "Christmas Truce has another point of view. Children shared Christmas peace singing "Silent night", sending cards and studying history."
In particular, we think it could be used as a model for international school work where the project benefits from the inputs from a number of different countries. The perspective and depth gained from these reflections broaden and deepen this kind of project. The whole is much more than the sum of the parts.
We are particularly keen to encourage other teachers to use the technology of video calling with other schools, to enable pupils to learn from their peers.
The use of Scratch programming was successfully used within the project, which gave the pupils a real audience – around Europe – for their messages.
I talked about the project at the British Council’s conference for UK eTwinning Ambassadors, in Manchester, March 2015, in my workhop on the use of video-calling in the classroom.
I am also mentoring a group of teachers from our local cluster of 12 schools in the use of eTwinning and IT within the primary curriculum. As part of a joint project last year, we held skype calls between our local schools, and one of the schools held a call with a Greek school. A further joint project is planned for this term, also to include video-calling.
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