eTwinning

School

Internationalization

About the Project

The eTwinning is an European project that promotes the creation of collaborative networks between European schools, so the spirit of citizenship, a multicultural and multilingual society is developed, with resources to the technologies of information and communication, providing support, tools and services. It also offers free and ongoing professional development opportunities for educators.

Created in 2005, as main action from the programe e-learning of the European Commission, and part of the Erasmus+, the European program for education, formation, youth and sport, since January of 2014. eTwinning is the greatest European school community, with more than 770.000 registered teachers.

We believe that, in Portugal, particularly in Escola de Comércio do Porto (ECP), eTwinning can fully contribute to achieving the competences set out in the end of Compulsory Schooling Pupil Profile, also contributing to the operationalization of Curricular Autonomy and Flexibility, recommended in Decree-Law no. 55/2018, of 6 July. In addition, etwinning provides an opportunity to promote inclusive education (Decree-Law n.º 54/2018, of 6th of July), responding to the excellent needs and potential of each and every student, through increased participation in learning processes and in the life of the educational community.

Operation

To create an eTwinning project, a partnership between the school and at least one other school in a different European country is required. The projects are intended to be co-constructed and developed in cooperation, and may consist of any pedagogical activity (or several), from any area of study that is relevant to the learning path of the students involved in the project.

Internationalization

ECP eTwinning's Projects

2021/2022

From the Spanish fields to the Portuguese markets

Project summary: We live in a VUCA world, characterized by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity, and these characteristics are even more evident in the commercial sphere. Local companies need to have a presence in the global market to become more competitive and, as such, proficiency in the English language is essential to effectively contact foreign consumers and suppliers. Aware of this reality, our school and the Spanish partner institution founded the eTwinning project “From the Spanish fields to the Portuguese markets”, involving students from the Technical Sales and Marketing and International Trade VET courses. This project will have as its starting point the simulation of a commercial operation. The International Trade students created fictitious companies for the distribution of regional products from Pamplona (cheese, wines, olive oil…) and the Sales and Marketing students represent stores in the city of Porto that sell these products. Throughout the project, the commercial transaction will be made in writing, in English, and will culminate in an online meeting, in which, among others, prices, discount percentages, payment methods will be discussed… In the end, the buying and selling contract will be sent and signed.

Goals:

Mobilize insights from other areas of knowledge attached to the course, integrating them transversally in the development of the project;
Develop negotiation and marketing strategies;
Strengthen communication skills in English (oral and written);
Consolidate soft skills such as the ability to argue, teamwork and creativity;
Demonstrate autonomy in research, understanding and sharing of results, using accessible, creative and appropriate ICT tools;
Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, tolerance and openness towards other realities and express interest in knowing them;
Know the consumption habits and local products of partner countries;
Consolidate the internationalization strategy of the schools involved and the partnership established in other international projects;
Increase the attractiveness of VET courses, conferring them more practicability and an international dimension.

Partner countries: Portugal and Spain

Link for TwinSpace: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/221770/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

Euroteen Future

Project summary: sharing good practices among all EPAS (European Parliament Ambassador Schools) partnering this project. The unifying theme is “European Citizenship”, branching out into areas as diverse as “Environment”, “Green Cities” or “Sustainability”, in a truly collaborative, friendly and therefore European spirit!

Goals:

Establish greater communication and proximity between the various national and international EPAS schools;
Foster collaborative work between teachers and students from the project’s partner schools;
Develop skills (oral and written) in foreign languages;
Identify Europe’s core values and explore ways to include them in everyday life;
Contribute to the development and strengthening of the European identity;
Perceiving European diversity as an added value inherent to all citizens;
Sensitize students to the experience of responsible citizenship.

Partner schools: AE de Albufeira Poente, AE João de Deus, AE Francisco Simões, Colégio Minerva, AE de Arouca, Colégio de Gaia, AE Alcaides de Faria, Escola Profissional Artística do Alto Minho.

Link para o TwinSpace: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/206024/home

This is us! – European friendship

Project summary: it is intended that students actively and critically reflect on their own identity and cultural affiliation and introduce it to other young people from partner countries. Through this process of reflection, as well as the exchange with other cultures, they develop their own personality and consolidate a true European conscience.

Goals: Improve students’ linguistic and intercultural skills through:

critical reflection on their own culture and the presentation of their cultural affiliation, in a creative and interactive way, to other students;
formulating questions, opinions, and feedback on other student’s presentations;
active and constructive dialogue on the cultural differences of each partner country, with all students involved.

Partner countries: Germany, French Guiana, Portugal, Bolzano (Autonomous Province of Bolzano – South Tyrol)

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/217993/home

The Formula of Happiness

Project summary: firstly, to help students discover and express what makes them happy. Secondly, students are expected to do research work at school, in the family and in the community in order to understand what makes other people happy. And in a third moment, carrying out activities that make students and all those who are part of their community (school or otherwise) even happier. One of the end results of the project will be a (periodic) table of happiness.

Goals:

Develop students’ emotional intelligence;
Promote critical thinking and creative thinking through feelings expression;
Improve oral and written expression in the working language (Portuguese or English or French or Spanish);
Stimulate reflection (on activities we can develop to make ourselves and others even happier) and the creation of life projects.

Partner countries: Portugal, Spain, France, Ireland, Croatia, Poland, Turkey, Romania, Germany

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/189803/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

BREAKING (fake) NEWS!

Project summary: We live in an era in which information is disseminated almost immediately, thanks to a technology that allows the dissemination of data in all means of communication. However, the information disseminated is sometimes false, there is an urgent need to raise awareness of this reality and the damage caused by the production of fake news.
It is intended, with this project, consequent objectives and the promotion of our students of key competences that their students will learn as a role in sensitizing others to a problem of misinformation.
Gamification will be one of the methodologies used throughout this project due to the positive impact it usually causes on the motivational levels of our target audience.
A final product will be a digital escape room dedicated to the theme, developed collaboratively with the partner country, which will later be implemented by the entire school community, thus increasing the potential impact that this final product may have.

Goals: raise awareness of the problem of fake news and disinformation

Develop strategies and skills to identify them and prevent their use and dissemination
Promote the development of soft skills, such as communication in the English language, teamwork, critical thinking, creativity and digital skills
Raise awareness of cultural diversity, promoting values of tolerance and respect for it
Promote interdisciplinarity through the development of a project that involves different skills
Reinforce the internationalization of the schools involved and strengthen their collaboration

Partner countries: Germany and Portugal

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/245866/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

Your consumption, your impact!

Project summary: Your consumption, your impact” analyzes the problems associated with consumerism and asks students to consider their own consumption decisions in their daily lives, namely around food, clothing and “gadgets”.

Goals: make students aware of responsible consumption, taking into account the impact of their consumption decisions on the environment, society, family and their well-being.

Partner countries/schools: Turkey and Agrupamento de escolas de Carcavelos.

Link for TwinSpace: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/188584/home

!Vamos que nos vamos!

Project summary: The theme of the project was a digital journey through the autonomous communities of Spain, in which their culture and characteristics were worked and discovered. The theme was developed by the students, creating a 3D world by groups composed of students belonging to the 3 schools involved. Students had the opportunity to exchange ideas, negotiate and decide together the contents of the presentation, create the digital tour of their community and present it together. The result translates into 3D trips through the different Spanish autonomous communities, focusing on what makes them unique from a cultural and tourist point of view. The project was carried out at Unit U18 – Communication in Spanish in the Tourist Operations service, in the Technical Course of Tourist Operations. The Spanish language has always been used as a form of communication between group colleagues and as a metalanguage.

Goals:

Promotion of European and international identity in the active use of a foreign language (Spanish);
Acquisition of specific regional and social cultural knowledge; secure use of digital platforms and various applications for digital exchange;
Effective and reflective research on the Internet;
Application of basic programming principles in the creation of 3D presentations;
Ability to work successfully in a team through the realization of an international project and ability to give constructive feedback.

Partner Schools: Escola de Comércio do Porto (Porto, Portugal); Max-Weber- Berufskolleg (Dusseldorf, Germany).

Partner countries: Germany and Portugal

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/224230/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

2020/2021

European jobs for you(th)

Project summary: This project on employability in the European Union emerged as a response to clearly identified needs, such as the high rate of youth unemployment in Portugal and, at the same time, the potential for employment in the field of Tourism in other European countries. The Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) is the 8th (Decent work and economic growth) and is being developed, at ECP, by final year students of the Tourism Operations Technical course and two English teachers. The project methodologies used are Project-Based Learning (PBL) and Inquiry-Based Learning (IBL). This project will have as final products, among others, a creative CV and an e-book with information about employment and skills valued in different European countries (hard skills, soft skills and marketable skills)

Goals:

Critically reflect on your academic career and the possibility of developing a career in Portugal or in another European country;
Know the process of applying for a job in different countries of the European Union;
Prepare a job application, creating a creative CV, in digital format;
Know and respect the different ways of living, thinking and working in EU countries;
Conclude on the connection between the learning developed in the classroom and the different professional contexts;
Improve your digital skills;
Develop oral and written skills in the English language.

Partner countries: Portugal (Escola de Comércio do Porto), Germany, Spain, Croatia, North Macedonia, Poland.

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/121944/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

Distinguished with European Quality Label:

Let´s share our cultural heritage

Project summary: This project, developed by Professor Joana Freitas, within the scope of the English Language subject, with students of the Education and Training Course “Restaurante/Bar” has the collaboration of students and teachers from two European schools, one in France and the other in Italy. It provides for the creation of posters about UNESCO monuments in Portugal and videos about the personal, local and/or family cultural heritage of each of the students. The interaction between students and teachers will be done through the eTwinning and Zoom platforms.

Goals:

Work on English content applied to tourist information in the region, in a playful way and with an interactive and international component;
Fostering students’ knowledge of the monuments and traditions protected by UNESCO in Portugal;
Awaken interest in Portuguese and European cultures, especially in the countries involved (France and Italy)

Partner countries: Portugal (Escola de Comércio do Porto), Italy and France

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/120881/home

Distinguished with European Quality Label:

Holidays without borders

Project summary: This project had the participation of the entire educational community of the Escola de Comércio do Porto, together with 6 partner schools of the ECP, partnerships formed within the scope of other projects, namely Erasmus+. It was created to celebrate the Christmas season/festival season and the beginning of the year 2021 in an intercultural way, with the exchange of postcards with messages, by digital means, and their printing, and the participation in the Amnesty International Letter Marathon.

Goals:

Raise awareness of the diversity of traditions and celebrations in this season, whether at the level of different countries or different faiths;
Provide the educational community with contact with a tradition (writing and receiving postcards) and with the outside world, despite the pandemic context;
Work on written skills in the English language;
Raise awareness of humanitarian actions to which we can contribute through simple gestures, such as signing petitions, promoting respect for Human Rights.

Partner countries: Portugal (Escola de Comércio do Porto), Spain, Germany, Romania, Malta, North Macedonia and Italy.

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/139202/home

Evidence:

Distinguished with Quality Label:

Opening Foreign Markets

Project summary: We live in a VUCA world, ruled by volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity. These characteristics are even more evident in the commercial sphere. Local companies need to have a presence in the global market to become more competitive and, as such, proficiency in English is essential to effectively contact foreign consumers and suppliers. Aware of this reality, our school and the Spanish institution founded the “Opening Foreign Markets”, involving students from Commerce and Marketing. This project had as its starting point the simulation of a commercial operation. Commerce students exchanged emails for the presentation of stores and products, placing orders and negotiating prices, clauses of the purchase and sale contract and payment terms. The deal was “closed” in an online meeting. Marketing students made a comparative study of the 2 countries and presented the data at the meeting.

Goals:

Mobilize knowledge from other areas of knowledge attached to the course, integrating them transversally in the development of the project
Develop negotiation and marketing strategies
Strengthen communication skills in the English language (oral and written)
Consolidate soft skills, such as the ability to argue and solve problems, teamwork and creativity
Demonstrate autonomy in research, understanding and sharing of the results obtained, using accessible, creative and appropriate ICT tools
Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, tolerance and openness towards other realities and express interest in knowing them
Know the consumption habits and local products of partner countries
Consolidate the internationalization strategy of the schools involved
Increase the attractiveness of professional courses, giving them a more practical and international dimension.

Partner countries: Portugal and Spain.

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/149427/home

Distinguished with Quality label:

2019/2020

International Trade Deals

Project summary: The students involved in this project are in their final year of the Technical Marketing Professional Course. Throughout the study cycle, they understood that, nowadays, local companies need to have a presence in the global market to become more competitive and, as such, the command of the English language is essential to contact foreign consumers and suppliers, naturally and effectively. This project had as its starting point the simulation of a commercial operation, during which emails were exchanged for the presentation of the stores they represented and the products sold and/or services provided; placing an order; and the negotiation of prices, terms of the purchase and sale agreement and terms and conditions of payment. The deal was finally “closed” in a meeting via Skype and the subsequent sending and signing of the contract.

Goals:

Develop negotiation and marketing techniques and strategies
Strengthen communication skills in the English language (oral and written)
Consolidate soft skills, such as communication skills, argumentation and problem solving, teamwork, creativity, initiative and digital skills
Demonstrate autonomy in research, understanding and sharing the results obtained, using technological supports
Knowing the habits, culture and local products of partner countries
Mobilize knowledge from other areas of knowledge attached to the course, integrating them transversally in the development of the project
Demonstrate intercultural communication skills, tolerance and openness towards other realities and express interest in knowing them and learning about them
Build and/or consolidate one’s own identity as a global citizen in relation to others
Reinforce the school’s internationalization strategy with this partnership and the possibility of implementing other international projects

Partner countries: Portugal and Spain.

Partner Schools: Escola de Comércio do Porto and Centro Integrado Cuatrovientos (Pamplona, Spain)

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/107251/home

Distinguished with Quality Label:

2018/2019

Visual by sidecar

Project summary: Collaborative project that involved Commerce students and professors responsible for Visual Merchandising UFCDs. It consisted in the development of visual communication exercises and the social network Instagram was used for a more effective dissemination of the students’ work. The final result reflected the skills that were intended to be reinforced: creativity, collaboration and communication.

Goals:

Understand the positive impact of visual communication (windows) on commercial purposes;
Know the specificities of trade and consumers in the project’s partner countries;
Develop oral and written communication skills in English;
Promote contact with other cultures and make participants aware of its richness;
Develop soft skills related to creativity, verbal and non-verbal communication and teamwork.

Partner countries: Portugal and Spain.

Partner Schools: Escola de Comércio do Porto and Centro Integrado Cuatrovientos (Pamplona, Spain)

TwinSpace Link: https://twinspace.etwinning.net/68283/home

Internationalization

The eTwinning in our school

The implementation of eTwinning at Escola de Comércio do Porto began with a training action for teachers, in the 2017/2018 school year, with Professor Daniela Guimarães, eTwinning Ambassador of the Northern Region (see photo).

This year, ECP had its first experience with the “Merchandising by sidecar” project.
In the following school year, Professor Dora Rodrigues developed the “International trade deals” project with Centro Integrado Cuatrovientos, in Pamplona, Spain, involving the students of the Marketing finalist class.

In 2019, the head of the Department of International Relations was present at the eTwinning Regional Meeting, in order to understand, more fully, the functioning of this program and its potential for the consolidation of the ECP Internationalization Project. In order to train more elements to use the eTwinning platform, two teachers concluded MOOCs promoted by the eTwinning ambassadors, in collaboration with the DGE, and, in 2020, one of them was also present at the Regional Meeting, fundamental for the collection of new methodologies, digital educational platforms and current information about eTwinning.

The results of this training work are reflected in the academic year 2020/2021, with the ECP having, in January 2021, four projects in progress: as a partner school, it collaborates in the project “European jobs for you(th)”, together with schools in Germany, Croatia, Poland, Spain and North Macedonia; as founder, it is, together with a school in Spain, developing the “Opening foreign markets” project, a 2nd edition of the “International trade deals” project; the “Let’s share our cultural heritage” project, developed collaboratively with partner schools in Italy and France; and the “Holidays without borders” project, bringing together partners from schools in Spain, Germany, Romania, Malta, North Macedonia and Italy. By the end of the term, at least 2 more projects are planned, to be developed in the English course and in interdisciplinarity with other areas.

It should be noted that the “International trade deals” project and the teacher responsible for it were awarded the National eTwinning Quality Seal in July 2020. It is intended to maintain this recognition of excellence in future projects. Also, in 2020/2021, in order to increase the quality of its eTwinning projects and train more teachers for their development, ECP developed a new internal training action with the theme “eTwinning integrated in the curriculum”, with the friendly and helpful presence of Ambassadors Daniela Guimarães, Ana Pina and Miguela Fernandes. Still this school year, it will present its application to the eTwinning School, reinforcing its commitment to this programme.