In different groups we posted two questions about the project.

2nd.- Then we created, again, groups of 3. With a computer we posted different notes related to TEPBLL: what we had learnt? What we know on that moment, etc. This activity was really interesting because it allowed us to organise that amount of information we had from September to last week of October.

3rd.- Peer assessment related to the implication of each student, during the discussion.

TEPBLL is a magnificent approach to improve second language learning speaking and fluency. Through telecollaboration we are able to create meaningful activities for our students. The reason is very simple: via exchanges with other schools, communities or cultures in which we have to speak for a real purpose.

Trying to guess future second language learning methodology, in a short but also long time period, we bet that Technologies such as Virtual Worlds, Skype or Google Drive (among others) are going to be future keys to learn easily but also meaningfully.  We should be prepared to teach competences that we still don’t know now, related with technology.

Mireia's group:

We believe that using TEPBLL approach when doing a project with students can help them be more motivated and engaged in the process of language learning. Nevertheless we would like to highlight that in some way the language is not the key element that is going to make the project real or not. A good and meaningful project is going to be so no matter which language you teach it through. However, we do understand that using telecollaboration can be a motivating input for students; for instance, healthy lifestyle topic cannot be extremely real to be taught in English, but if we need to use that language to communicate with some foreign kids it become a very meaningful activity.

In other words, the reason why we may need to use telecollaboration in class is to achieve real and meaningful communication in the target language, in a way that will engage students in the learning process. As the text says “technology become the integrate component of the project for students who don’t have daily access to the target language, it also allows them to build a shared construction of meaning”.

And Marina's summary:

TEPBLL (Technology-Enhanced Project-Based Language Learning) can be defined as an approach that is based on communicating and working with other people from different locations in order to get a meaningful outcome for students. Apart from this general definition, it is important to highlight different aspects that we need to consider.

First of all, we believe that it is important to plan pre and post tasks, apart from the telecollaborative task itself. In this way, students can get used to the vocabulary and target language used (pre-tasks), and also consolidate what they have learnt (post-tasks), especially when we are working with low-level language learners.

Secondly, and following the previous idea, we have to take into account that not only does telecollaboration refer to synchronous activities (e.g. videoconferences), but also to asynchronous tasks.  We think that asynchronous activities are necessary because they give students the chance to formulate and reformulate their thoughts, helping them, in this way, to consolidate their knowledge of the language, and also to reduce learners’ anxiety, due to the potential for delayed communication.

Moreover, technology helps us to enhance motivation, but this is not enough to keep students motivated during all the project. That’s why we also need to propose little challenges to the students by diversifying the types of activities. It is also important to make them work for a real purpose, because they should feel that what they are doing has a real function.

But we don’t have to forget that all these activities have to be inside a careful planning of the entire sequence. In other words, TEPBLL is time-consuming and needs a lot of work, since you have to take into account different factors (to select technological tools and their use, to create purposeful activities, to create a schedule with all the synchronous and asynchronous tasks...). What is more, it is necessary to keep in contact with all the teachers and material developers that are involved, so as to follow all the same direction and to solve the problems that might appear while the implementation of something planned at the beginning. So, we can conclude that students’ collaboration is as important as the collaboration between the teachers and researchers of the project.

-Travelling through arts.

-Healthy habits.