Friendship and fun for 20 years
In Finland, the eTwinning action has been, since January 2005, coordinated from the Finnish National Agency for Education. Three months before the action kicked off in January 2005, primary school English teacher and ICT coordinator Tiina Sarisalmi was contacted about participation in a pilot project run by the above-mentioned agency. The goal of the project was to create the school web pages in English to be able to connect with European partners and start eTwinning. This pilot was Tiina’s first step towards eTwinning.
Red balloons see the everyday lives of European children and youth
At the same time, similar things were taking place in another Nordic country, Iceland. The Office of International Education got the responsibility of running eTwinning in Iceland, and in 2013 that organization became a part of Rannís – The Icelandic Centre for research, that has administered eTwinning ever since. There and then, in January 2005, comprehensive schoolteacher and ICT adviser Kolbrún Hjaltadóttir, got a tip on a new European action, eTwinning. She got involved straight away. Her first eTwinning project was about a red balloon traveling around Europe. “It is still a brilliant idea, as a red balloon is easily available for all teachers everywhere. We took the balloons to the classrooms and to the homes. What the red balloon saw, became the themes of the eTwinning projects”, Kolbrún describes.
“We all were very interested in both ICT and the everyday life of our pupils. We made a survey on how ICT was used in schools and at home. The pupils also exchanged letters. “Today, twenty years later, writing traditional letters is still a popular way to engage students in eTwinning projects. The difference is that for the majority, writing a letter with pen and paper is a totally new experience, they might be doing it for the first time ever” Kolbrún tells smilingly.
Tiina found her first project partners from Poland and Greece. They looked at how ICT was used at that time, when barely anyone had mobile phones and even fewer had computers with an internet connection at home. The pupils were writing letters to each other on the eTwinning platforms discussion forums.
eTwinning projects give the pupils the possibility to use languages in authentic situations with friends around Europe in a safe space. “In cross border cooperation ICT tools are necessary and their usage is pedagogically meaningful”, Tiina continues. The everyday life of the pupils and their active involvement in the international work at the schools has been a strong motivator for both Kolbrún and Tiina.
How has eTwinning affected the way you teach?
Tiina is still working as an eTwinning ambassador, though she is not working as a teacher anymore. Since 2012, she’s been working full-time in pedagogical development projects. Kolbrún made her last eTwinning project in January 2024. She just got retired. “I have always been curious on finding new ways of teaching and learning and open to sending pupils to work outside classrooms. I also wanted to show my pupils how their friends in other countries are learning and living. eTwinning is a perfect tool for this, Kolbrún says. “It was fascinating to follow the enthusiasm of pupils meeting each other online. There was never any bullying, it was a social unity bubble”, she continues.
For Kolbrún, some of the most memorable feedback from pupils and fellow teachers were such: “It was the moments, when the pupils enquired if they could also do some project tasks at home, involving the whole family. Heartwarming calls were also the ones where fellow teachers asked for my guidance in getting started with eTwinning because the pupils wished to get involved”.
For Tiina, eTwinning with its possibilities for authentic interaction and communication between students was like a gift from heaven, as she was never that keen on teaching from textbooks. Her students made class magazines, performed plays, and made videos. She adapted the eTwinning project activities for different kinds of learners. “There was something for everybody, the students could use their strengths and discuss topics that interested them. In that way, eTwinning project work was immensely flexible”, Tiina continues.
“Please Kolbrún, can we participate in Schoolovision again?”
As an eTwinning ambassador and ICT consultant at her school, Kolbrún inspired and supported colleagues into hundreds of eTwinning projects. She herself has been involved in altogether about 70 eTwinning projects. Schoolovision, a primary schools´ version of the Eurovision Song Contest, is one of the activities she returned to year after year. It is still running at her school. In the beginning of the school year, pupils came knocking on my door asking “Please Kolbrún, can we participate in Schoolovision again!?”. “I enjoyed working with colleagues and always wanted to involve physical education and home economics teachers in the projects for a multidisciplinary learning experience. I loved taking the computer to the cooking and sports spaces at the school. It is very rewarding to work with several colleagues on projects as it strengthens the collaboration between both students and teachers”, Kolbrún remembers. The Schoolovision projects have been awarded many prizes through the years. Such awards give the work a momentum and encourage both teachers and students to get more involved, she continues.
The wonderful world of eTwinning
“eTwinning has changed my life”, Tiina tells us. At the eTwinning Yearly Conference in 2006 Tiina and her partner got the European eTwinning prize for the best eTwinning project in the pedagogical innovation category. During the conference she got a phone call from a publishing house. They wanted her to create content for an innovative English textbook series, which she did. The current Finnish national core curriculum for basic education was renewed 10 years ago. “At this time, I got another important phone call. This time I was asked to consult on internationalization projects and in the curricula work”. Tiina has been involved in many national basic education development projects on internationalization and internationalization at home with both the Finnish National Agency for Education and her regional authority.
After two decades, they both still find it valuable and inspiring to support other teachers and to organize local workshops at schools and national webinars online. “As an eTwinning ambassador I get to support teachers and school staff nationally in themes such as the pedagogical use of ICT tools, project based multidisciplinary learning, internationalization at home and blended mobility. I like to spread the word of wonderful eTwinning”, Tiina says.
Newbies - just do it
Both Kolbrún and Tiina learned eTwinning by just doing it. “In my first eTwinning project, our team made all the possible mistakes. After that, I had a perfect plan for the next prize-winner project”, Tiina says laughing. “But eTwinning is not about getting the official prizes. It is about not being afraid of making mistakes”, Kolbrún echoes. For eTwinning newbies, they both always recommend starting small and involving pupils already in the project planning phase. “Authentic learning is still the key in eTwinning. What you learn having fun, you remember the rest of your life. The teachers involved in eTwinning are positive, energetic, and inspiring people”, Kolbrún continues. Together you can make a difference. “Be real to your pupils and remember, when you as a teacher have made it possible for them to become friends, you can take the work to next level. We share both the pain and the hope. Together the pain will halve, and the hope will keep on growing”.
- What is eTwinning?
eTwinning is funded by the European Commission’s Erasmus+ programme. The European School Education Platform is the home of eTwinning. eTwinning is a digital platform and a network, which provides the European schools possibilities to work together online. Hundreds of thousands of teachers and school personnel have registered to eTwinning and daily make use of the platform’s many possibilities. - Celebrating 20 years of eTwinning in 2025
Over the past two decades, eTwinning has helped a generation of teachers to build enduring cross-border connections and collaborative projects. Over these 20 years, eTwinning has connected 1.2 million teachers from 295,000 schools in 46 countries, who have run more than 160,000 projects and reaching over 3 million pupils. But the impact of eTwinning goes beyond numbers – it’s about the friendships that have formed, the innovative methods shared and the thriving European community of teachers that has been created and continues to evolve. Join the celebration by exploring the dedicated video and podcast. More links
European School Education Platform
Finnish National Agency eTwinning web pages
The Icelandic Centre for Research eTwinning web pagesText and picture by eTwinning coordinator Riikka Aminoff (Finland)