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“We usually only talk/chat in class and not outside of the classroom during the week. Because of that, we don't get to know each other very well on a personal level and just have "task-talks". What can be done about that?”

If your partners are okay with it why don’t you just use social media. This is the best possible way to stay in contact throughout the week in order to get to know each other a little better. Of course, you are not supposed to text each other all the time, but If you just leave a message once or twice a day your relationship should change automatically. Especially, if you focus on natural aspects of life.

Another possibility could be to just tell your partners about the problem in a nice way. Maybe they would also like to get to know you a little better… If that is the case, you could just use the last couple minutes of our lessons to talk about each other instead of completing the tasks we are supposed to finalize at home anyways.

Technical problems. What can be done about that?

Nowadays, almost everyone have access to the Internet, but it is always work? I always try to do my homework when I have good connection to the Internet when I am at home, but when I move with my laptop to the city where I study, strange things happen and I often lose connection. What can be done with that? Always try to find place where you know can be WIFI or another computer with access to the network.

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1. Agreement:

For me the most difficult issue in our group is to reach an agreement in preparing tasks. What can be done about it?

We discussed that we are all coming up with great ideas and that we give our best to develop these ideas. We thought that there might be a different way of teacher training in Germany and Poland through which our approach to task development is so different. Thus, we could start to negotiate more about our ideas and also spend more time on it instead of merely giving another idea right away - even though we know that this is more time consuming.

2. Ways of working:

Our ways of working on a task are quite different. Our group just starts to write right away before we even brainstorm together. Afterwards it’s difficult to change things. How can we combine our different ways of working?

We discussed that it might be helpful to talk about the strategy which you want to use to develop the task, before you start working on it. Then, you could define that you want to brainstorm before you start to develop the task. It even helps to focus on one or two particular points which you want to use for your task after the brainstorm.

3. Ideas:
Several comments or ideas are ignored. Sometimes you have (good) ideas but the group simply never ends up talking about them. How can you get the chance to appreciate all ideas?

When your ideas are ignored we agreed that you should simply repeat your idea, maybe we just forgot to deal with it. Moreover, one may simply not notice the importance and relevance an idea had for you. Maybe the description of your idea way not clear enough… There can be various reasons why forgetting to talk about ideas happens. Then it is important to openly mention the forgotten task.

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1. Working as a Team
Usually we do not have enough time to finish the tasks in class. Thus, we are forced to finalize them at home, However, I mostly end up doing them without the help of my group members.
This can be very frustrating...

The team should be open about how they feel. Working on tasks you are supposed to work on in groups is (just like it has already been mentioned in the question) frustrating. No matter if the group members neglect their duties consciously or not, if the group does not work together it will most likely affect the relationship between the partners negatively sooner or later. Therefore,  it is crucial that you make the other group members aware of the situation. Remind them that you are a group and that, unfortunately, the work in your group does not seem to work out equally well for all of you. Distribute the work in a fair way, set some conditions that protect all of you from working on your own.

2. Time
Sometimes we have not got much time to finish. It can be very annoying.

There may be various reasons for not being able to finish a task in time. First, you should ask yourselves what exactly leads you to not having sufficient time to finish a task: does it take a long time until you come up with a topic? Is agreeing on a topic hard for you? Are there difficulties when it comes to preparing and evaluating a task? In order to find out, you need to be honest with each other and communicate frankly. Everyone should have the opportunity to express his/her thoughts, feelings and ideas. Like that, you can hopefully figure out why there is not enough time for you to finish a task.

3. Ideas
Several comments or ideas are ignored. Sometimes you have (good) ideas but the group simply never ends up talking about them. How can you get the chance to appreciate all ideas?

The group maybe needs to find a different way to communicate. They should find a platform where everyone can hear or read everything. (If there is a problem in communication.)
The group could also create some sort of rule. They could write all suggestions in a list and every member of the list should answer the questions with at least one sentence. Thereby it is clear what everyone thinks about each idea.

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1). Time is precious

We don't have much time to meet and accomplish the task . From time to time it's very difficult to arrange the meeting and and come up with some solutions as well as agree or disagree with some of them.

Our suggestion is to just use other technical devices or platforms (e.g. messenger or whatsapp) to communicate with each other. You can can send a text and everyone can reply when it is the right time for them, if it is hard to arrange one time-frame to meet up or to be online at the same time. This way you can e.g. inform the others that you have worked on a task on a different platform. But to make communication happening, both parties need to put a little bit of effort in it, otherwise communication cannot happen.

2). Communication

We usually only talk/chat in class and not outside of the classroom during the week. Because of that, we don't get to know each other very well on a personal level and just have "task-talks". What can be done about that?

We think that the time in which we had the opportunity to get to know each other personally was too short. But we think that if you try, and if all of the partners try, it is possible to keep contact and to chat in the freetime, via Whats App or Facebook or other platforms.

3). IDEAS

Several comments or ideas are ignored. Sometimes you have (good) ideas but the group simply never ends up talking about them. How can you get the chance to appreciate all ideas?

Our suggestion is to make the “ideas list” in a written form thanks to which  each person can read it and decide whether he/she thinks it is good or not. After analising the list, there need to be some feedback just to let people know why their idea was not chosen. It is rude just to ignore someone else’s ideas and suggestion even if you do not like it.

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1. First problem:

Differences in our personalities sometimes lead to wasting time on unnecessary discussion:

Everybody is different and each of us has different personality but if we want to do our assignments, we should cooperate and try to reach an agreement. Everybody should have a  chance to express own opinion. I think that the best solution is writing some suggestions which are connected with the topic and then choose one which is accepted by each of the members. That way, everybody takes part in cooperation and feels needed :-)

2)  Second problem:

Different ways of working: Our ways of working on tasks are quite different. Our groups just starts to write away before we even brainstorm together. Afterwards it’s difficult to change things.

I understand that everybody is different and has his own, favourite manner of doing tasks but I think that we should try to communicate and do our tasks together. Taking part in this kind of project demands it from us. Those tasks are based on cooperation. We should find at least a moment during the week and communicate via social media. Besides we should take the advantage of the opportunity that we can meet each other and find out something about our cultures etc.

3) Third problem:

Difficulties to reach an agreement to prepare a task.

Agreements always need a draft. This draft is, of course, the result of a discussion. In a group work, which needs to come to an agreement, it is always very helpful that one member of the group transcribes and formulates the ideas during the exchange. An open discussion without making any written notes will make the situation more complicated. Therefore, it is always wiser to charge a group member to transcribe the discussions beforehand.  If there is no possibility to agree on a certain point, then one can apply voting system on a draft resolution so that the work can be carried out according the time table. In order to be able to carry out an effective preparation, it is also very pivotal to make a division of work among the group members too.

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1st problem: Ideas

“Several comments or ideas are ignored. Sometimes you have (good) ideas but the group simply never ends up talking about them. How can you get the chance to appreciate all ideas?”

Well, maybe every member of your team should start your work on the task by listing your ideas one by one (for example, each of you uses different colour)? We all work on Google docs, so it’s easy to write them down so everybody can see them, and also to delete them quickly when it’s necessary. When your group ignores you, you may politely tell them that you feel neglected and ask them to look at your list of ideas and think about them. Maybe using at least one idea from each individual list would be a good compromise?

2nd problem: Relationship

“I guess in our group it is difficult to get to know our partners better on a personal level. We all don’t have much time to chat with each other. We mainly talk about our tasks and therefore only have a work relationship. How can we change this?”

You could start communicating through Apps like WhatsApp or Facebook messenger because it is easier to communicate this way. You don’t need to answer the messages immediately and can answer whenever you have enough time.
Maybe you could start talking about easy things like “How was your day?” “ What did you do at the weekend?” ... After that you can talk about other things that are more personal.

3rd problem: Working as a Team

“Usually we do not have enough time to finish the tasks in class. Thus, we are forced to finalize them at home, However, I mostly end up doing them without the help of my group members. This can be very frustrating…”

It is important to properly organize your work during classes. If it doesn’t work, you should try to meet online to work on the task together. You could split your work to make sure that everyone has the same work load, therefore you won’t be left alone with the whole task. You can also simply tell your partners about your concerns and ask them to work together during the week, not only during classes.