I would like to thank GRETA teaching association for inviting me to speak at their recent 3-day conference in Granada. The theme of the conference was "Tips of the trade for challenges ahead in ELT and bilingualism" with sections on using technology and a focus on practical classroom ideas. I decided to give a session on Collaborative Digital Stories, as it seemed the perfect opportunity to share some of the ideas from last year's EVO session Digital Storytelling for Young Learners which I co-moderated along with Shelly Terrell, Dave Dodgson, Ozge Karaoglu, Barbara Hoskins Sakamoto, Jennifer Verschoor and Esra Girgin.
In the workshop I introduced participants to several freely available online tools that are especially suitable for using with young learners. We also discussed some of the benefits for children of working together, and other ways in which the tools could be used. Finally, participants received some ideas on how to contact other teachers for wider collaborative projects, including joining the EVO session in 2013.
Apart from a slight technical hitch at the beginning (there is always one!) and starting late, the workshop seemed to go well and I think most people took away something useful to use in their classrooms.
For those that are interested in learning more, I will be giving a similar talk in Seville at the ACEIA conference on 17th November. I would also strongly recommend joing our 2013 EVO session "Digital Storytelling with Young Learners" where you will be able to try out lots of different tools and meet (virtually) hundreds (hopefully!) of other teachers from around the world. Registration will begin in January here.
Thank you to all those that attended GRETA on Saturday. I hope to see you all again next year!
