It was a great pleasure to engage my students in the international iEARN projects, discovering the best efficient teaching strategies ever. First of all I want to mention that I was very glad to work and collaborate with other iEARN teachers from around the world, having thus the possibility to involve my students in iEARN projects: "My Hero" and "One Day in the Life" which encouraged them to become global citizens since iEARN tackle important global issues and seek for definite solutions from the youth part across the globe. Furthermore, it was a strong basis for students in communicative skills and in improving their English language skills as they were engaged in cross-cultural dialogue with their peers from different parts of the world. They also got valuable insights into various cultures. Inviting my students to participate in "My Hero" Project, convinced me how useful l it was, because it helped to develop the abilities of writing a coherent text in English, applying their knowledge of vocabulary and grammar, arranging a text and images on the page, reading and recording a text using the digital tools, learned how to formulate and express their opinions, both orally and in writing, took photos, created a movie, selecting the suitable images; learned how to use a blog. All these activities contributed to the development of linguistic, communicative, cultural, interdisciplinary, civic and methodological (digital) skills, increasing students’ imagination, creativity and critical thinking. Involving my students in the Project "One Day in the Life" they received the chance to exchange photographs/images describing days in their lives, and then make cross-cultural comparisons. Students had the opportunity to discuss aspects of a typical day (like visiting the market or going to school) or document special days (like vacations, birthdays, celebrations, or holidays.) Although writing is often an important component of student participation, in this case, English proficiency was not required, a thing that encouraged students to participate and that allowed them improve their English.
Mariana Gorbuli, iEARN Master Teacher, "Access Microscholarship Program", Balti