Foteini Tsirli, 7th Kindergarten Thessaloniki, Greece

 Celebrating e Twinning Day

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European eTwinning Day: celebrating collaboration and innovation in education

Every year, European eTwinning Day is an opportunity to celebrate the huge contribution, this has established  e Twinning as an invaluable tool that allows teachers, pupils and schools to collaborate across borders, exchange ideas and implement innovative educational projects.

eTwinning offers a wealth of benefits for kindergarten children, as it exposes them to an international and innovative learning environment. While they may not be able to take advantage of all the technical aspects of the platform, the benefits are age-appropriate and contribute significantly to their holistic development.

What kindergarten children gain from participating in eTwinning projects:

Developing social and intercultural skills

Communication and cooperation: children learn to cooperate with their peers from other countries, even if communication is mainly through pictures, videos, drawings and simple words (translated by teachers). This helps them to develop cooperation skills and to understand the concept of cooperation.

Getting to know other cultures: They come into contact with children from different countries, learning about their habits, games, songs and traditions. This fosters cultural awareness and acceptance of diversity from a very early age.

Empathy: Through interaction with children of other cultures, they develop empathy and understanding of the world around them.

Empathy and understanding of the world around them.

Digital literacy (at an early level): although toddlers, they become familiar with the use of digital tools (e.g. tablets, interactive whiteboards, simple applications) under the guidance of their teachers. They may be involved in creating digital books, collages or simple videos.

Creative Thinking and Innovation: eTwinning projects often include activities that encourage creativity, such as painting, making, singing, storytelling. Working with others to create a common product fosters ingenuity.

Problem solving: through fun activities (e.g. educational robotics with Bee-Bots), children learn to think logically and solve simple problems.

Pedagogical and Cognitive Benefits.

Increased interest in learning: Participating in international projects is exciting and differentiated from the daily classroom routine, which increases children's motivation and interest in learning.

Getting to know other cultures: They come into contact with children from different countries, learning about their habits, games, songs and traditions. This fosters cultural awareness and acceptance of diversity from a very early age.

Empathy: Through interaction with children of other cultures, they develop empathy and understanding of the world around them.

Empathy and understanding of the world around them.

Developing language skills (at an early level): even if they do not speak the foreign language, children are exposed to sounds, images and simple words in a foreign language, which can help to raise their awareness of languages.  Even if a language can be used to communicate in a language that has a certain amount of sounds and sounds that can help to make them more sensitive to sounds and sounds that can be used in the language: Participating in such a large and important project, and interacting with children from other countries, builds their confidence and self-esteem.

This helps to increase their confidence and self-confidence: Many kindergarten eTwinning projects use educational robots such as the Bee-Bot, which introduce children to the concept of programming in a fun and playful way.

Overall, e Twinning turns the kindergarten into a small "European window", allowing children to develop important skills and gain experiences that will be valuable for them in the future.