How do you make twinning part of the curriculum?

We have asked some of our linking experts to give us their top tips on embedding a school link in the curriculum so that it becomes part of everyday school life. Introducing aspects of your partnership into the classroom can bring deeper understanding of projects that already exist, rather than being an add-on feature.

Here in the first of the series are some Top Tips from Liz Hitchcock at the Global Gateway.


If you are not already twinned, decide if your project will be a substantial link and needs funding. If so, Comenius, Global School Partnerships, Connecting Classrooms can help and the programme teams can give you more advice about embedding the link into the classroom.

• If your link will be online, eTwinning, Rafiki, iEARN are all organisations that facilitate online linking. Use the helpful project templates and network with other teachers for advice.
  
  
• If you just want to share resources online, go to www.elanguages.org, a free international programme for teachers to collaborate online and ask a facilitator there to help you set one up.
  

Embedding is not about extra work. You can often refer to the partner shcool in other lessons without needing to make any additional arrangements or plans.


Example: your partner school is in Senegal and the project is about fair trade and the history of trade. In a French lesson you can prepare a questionnaire for your partner school, but this is not a joint activity.

Example: your partner school is in Ghana and the project is about fabric design, printing and the contrast between modern and traditional. In an art lesson you can use information from your partner school and from research to create Ghanaian fabric designs in different media.

Example: your partner school is in China and the project is about river gorges. In a literacy lesson you can study a Chinese fable and write it in simple declarative sentences to understand grammar structure. A great resource to send to your partner school later, and see what comments they make!

Example: your partner school is in France and the project is focused on language learning and speaking via video conference. In a history lesson you can put together a list of reactions to the Norman Conquest, or to the French Revolution. Try to imagine the way that your partner school would study the same period of history and compose a questionnaire for them in English. They can reply in simple French and you can view the responses during a French lesson.


As well as the curriculum subjects, you can work with your partner school on whole school themes such as Community Cohesion. Two or more British schools can work together to create material on British identity to share with a partner school in another country.

This can create a network of three or more schools and offers opportunities to consider other viewpoints and approaches to what identity in Britain and identity in other countries means – and how each views the other.

Visit the Global Gateway for more information about curriculum guidance

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