A Unique Learning Opportunity For All During Lockdown

Hands of the World (HOTW) is unique in that it enables learners of all ages to come together and learn from one another.  When I originally created HOTW,  my goal was to create an inclusive project that pupils of all ages could preserve their linguistic identities and learn from one another.

Intercultural learning is not confined to a specific age and stage of learning in life; it is a never ending journey of learning from one another.  Today, this special learning journey happened across three stages of learning: pupils at OU Hristo Botev Comprehensive School in Bulgaria, their class teacher Marina Tomova and one of my final year student primary teachers at the University of Dundee, Emily Gunn.

Due to lockdown, Marina and her pupils were unable to record their line of the collaborative HOTW song.  This was not going to be a major problem for Marina as she is in daily contact with her pupils and uses a range of technologies to communicate with them.  Rather than give Marina additional work, where she had to learn the Makaton signs for the line of the song and teach her children, I thought this would be a wonderful learning opportunity where a very enthusiastic student teacher could become involved.

Emily, has been following the HOTW project through being a member of the project's Facebook group and has attended all the music and Makaton sessions that I have run.  Emily is also has a very good knowledge and understanding of using sign language as a communication tool due to undertaking BSL courses and completing her dissertation on the use of signed languages in primary classrooms and student teachers' perceptions of the use of signed languages.

Emily and Marina first met online to go through what and how Emily would teach Marina's children to ensure that it was pitched at the correct level alongside ensuring that Emily could access and use the technology that Marina was using with her pupils.  It was agreed that Emily would teach the lines of A Million Dreams that had been assigned to Marina's class alongside some additional lines in the song.

The meeting went very well where learning took place on different levels.  Emily undertook two learning experiences: teaching children where English is not their first language and teaching in group of children online.  Marina's pupils also undertook two learning experiences: learning from a teacher who can not speak their language and learning how to sign and say specific words.  Marina was also part of the learning experience, which was similar to her pupils in that she was learning how to sign specific words.  The recording of the online learning can be viewed here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1n_6mTcKPD0laGZHJGw1P3JxubnDBsAyj/view?usp=sharing.

The outcomes of today's unique learning experience, that came about due to lockdown, is that the children can now sign and sing their lines of the collaborative song.  Emily has now been connected to an experienced eTwinning teacher who she will hopefully be able to engage in intercultural projects in the future.  The same goes for Marina, who can hopefully include Emily in future learning experiences with her pupils.

Here are some videos of Marina's pupils signing their lines from A Million Dreams.

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYfUoQBlsc?fbclid=IwAR3CVaR043rfVNF-VYLLd45la4EZiZcA1l5AFJa74we_pD21ye5LM6R-Y1g

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYfUo2BlNA?fbclid=IwAR1Ao0AyLGTFSqKgtAyc-7XiCpedpRvD-jO4X1LYjtSenLc2XhYR28OmQU8

https://screencast-o-matic.com/watch/cYfUoFBl9E?fbclid=IwAR0TGy_PAPzjtCIdUFaa-pVh8Wu-tikCZDvMJ0JOFbvIAF-h3hkLaW59oSo