Eliška Dlouhá
Swieqi

In September 2019 I had the unique opportunity to participate in a two-week course in Malta under the auspices of the Erasmus+ programme. The course, entitled "Practical Use of ICT in the Classroom", was scheduled from 2 to 13 September and promised to deepen my knowledge in the use of ICT in the classroom.

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However, the first week of the course did not take place as planned. As I was the only registered participant, I was offered an alternative course focusing on "Skills of the 21st Century". Here I met two other participants from Finland - a Finnish teacher and a maths teacher. This week was mainly focused on English language, but unfortunately the lecturer did not provide enough support or create space for sharing experiences with each other, which I consider crucial in an international context. After an intervention with the headmaster, we started to work more together and try different teaching methods. The main benefit of this week was the establishment of cooperation with the Finnish school Haukiputaan lukio in Oulu.

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The second week of the course was already marked by the originally planned programme. As the only participant, I had the advantage that all lessons were adapted to my individual development. The lecturer gave me her full attention, showed me various useful applications and websites and taught me to use the full potential of the interactive whiteboard. I was given the space to try out new tools practically and whenever I needed advice, the tutor was ready to help. She was a great support in using new methods and applications in real lesson planning. As an assignment I had to prepare several consecutive lessons, using something new in each lesson. This hands-on preparation greatly increased my motivation and led to close collaboration with the lecturer, which reminded me of tandem preparation. I chose Thanksgiving as a common theme for the lessons, so I could teach them a few weeks after the course and really try everything out.

In conclusion, even though the first week was not that beneficial in terms of new teaching methods, I view making contact with a foreign school as invaluable. The second week, on the other hand, opened the door for me to explore new technologies and provided ample time to try them out in practice and integrate them into the curriculum.