Video Conferencing Project between Devon and Finistère

Background

Devon has had a strong relationship with Brittany for many years. Montgomery Junior School has had a partnership with Ecole Sanquer in Brest which was established in 1997 and, in 2002, a case study of their work together, by Catriona Ferguson, Primary AST at Montgomery, and Philippe Le Bian, headteacher of Ecole Sanquere, was featured in the DfES “Videoconferencing in the Classroom” publication.

Tim Arnold, Adviser for Digital Media Education, and Steve Cayley, Adviser for eLearning, have also been involved in national projects established by the TDA supporting links between primary schools in a range of European countries – the Videoconferencing Project, established 2004, linking schools in the UK with schools in France and Germany, and the CTLI Six Schools Project, 2005, linking schools in Trafford, UK, Granada, Spain, and Niort, France.

Following this national work and with Primary Languages very firmly on the education agenda we were keen to develop a local project. The idea was to link a group of schools in Devon with a corresponding group in Brittany. Using the existing relationship that Catriona Ferguson had developed with her video conferencing partner, Philippe Le Bian, as a model, the search began for an additional five schools in each country which would be keen to take up the opportunity.

A Devon Education Services steering group, Chris Wakely, (Languages Adviser), Jenny Smith (Primary Languages Consultant), Catriona Ferguson, Tim Arnold and Steve Cayley, was set up and, in 2005, members of the group met with Inspectors in Finistère, Hervé Quillien, Inspecteur de l’Education nationale, Circonscription de Brest IV and Catherine Gning, Inspectrice de l’Education nationale de la circonscription de Quimper 8, IUFM de Bretagne to propose the development of the project to involve five more Devon/ Finistère school partnerships.

The meeting was a great success. We went on to identify the five additional Devon primary schools to join the project and the French inspectors identified five primary schools in Finistère, two in Quimper and three in Brest. We considered size of classes and schools, age range of children and any specific requests from our French partners when matching the schools, and we set up five new partnerships.

The Finistère Inspectorate secured funding for the purchase of videoconferencing equipment and to upgrade the DSL lines in the Finistère primary schools. In Devon, those schools that didn’t already have videoconferencing equipment purchased or borrowed some, and all the schools were connected the SWGfL Videoconferencing Service.

Aims of the Project:

* To develop a relationship between a group of Devon schools and partner schools in Finistère and establish ongoing programmes of collaborative work between staff and children;
* To develop and embed the use of a range of technologies including broadband videoconferencing, to support the learning and teaching;
* To support the requirements of the curricula in both countries – in our case the KS2 Framework for languages with special reference to intercultural understanding.

For example from the Oracy and Intercultural Understanding strands:

Year 3

• O3.3 Perform simple communicative tasks using single words, phrases and short sentences
• O3.4 Listen attentively and understand instructions, everyday classroom language and praise words.
• IU3.4 Make indirect or direct contact with the country where the language is spoken

Year 4

• O4.1 Memorise and present a short spoken text
• O4.4 Ask and answer questions on several topics
• IU4.1 Learn about festivals and celebrations in different cultures
• IU4.2 Know about some aspects of everyday life and compare them to their own

Year 5

• O5.1 Prepare and practise a simple conversation, reusing familiar vocabulary and structures in new contexts
• O5.3 Listen attentively and understand more complex phrases and sentences
• O5.4 Prepare a short presentation on a familiar topic
• IU5.1 Look at further aspects of their everyday lives from the perspective of someone from another country

Year 6

• O6.3 Understand longer and more complex phrases or sentences
• O6.4 Use spoken language confidently to initiate and sustain conversations
• IU6.1 Compare attitudes towards aspects of everyday life
• IU6.2 Recognise and understand some of the differences between people
• IU6.3 Present information about an aspect of culture

All year groups:

Language Learning Strategies: Practise new language with a friend; look at the face of the person speaking and listen attentively; use gestures to show they understand; plan and prepare for a language activity; look and listen for visual and aural clues; ask for repetition and clarification

As the project had no external funding, we were relying to a large extent on the enthusiasm and goodwill of the head teachers involved and in them recognising the opportunities for the intercultural and language exchanges that video conferencing could offer.

Some of Devon the schools already had video conferencing equipment and had therefore had experience of using the technology, although not necessarily in another language. In most cases a member of staff who was confident in speaking French was involved to facilitate communication, especially in times of technical difficulties! Although this staff member was not necessarily the class teacher, they played a key supporting role both in the sessions and throughout the whole project.

Initial Steps

At our initial meeting we mapped out the aims of the project and outlined a structure for the group using the joint experiences of Catriona and Philippe. It was decided that a visit by the English teachers to the French schools was essential to enable the teachers to get to know each other personally. Furthermore, the hospitality kindly offered by our French partners helped cement the links and the friendships which have developed have proved a key feature in the smooth running of the projects.

Teachers from the six Devon schools visited Finistère in June 2006 . They each spent a day planning with their partner schools and a day with all the English and French teachers, inspectors and advisers working together, sharing information about the French and English curricula and planning how best to use videoconferencing to support and enhance the learning and teaching.

The visits to the French schools and involvement in a community celebration of the links helped the English teachers to appreciate the educational and cultural differences between the two countries. This too helped mutual understanding when issues arose during conferencing.

Continuing the Project

Once back in England the videoconferencing began in earnest with each partnership developing their own way of working as suited individual situations. Two follow up meetings for the whole group were arranged during the year to discuss progress against our aims, issues arising (whether technical, linguistic or cultural), and next steps.

The case studies illustrate each school’s experiences and chart their journey over the first year of the project. At the time of writing, the success of this initial group and the benefits for the pupils have led to plans for expanding to a second group of schools, with a further possibility of starting a group to link with Germany.

Jenny Smith, Primary Languages Consultant

September 2007