REPORT Artmile International Collaborative Learning 2022
Country/Region [ Estonia ]School[ Tamsalu Gymnasium ] Teacher [ Reena Curphey ] Grade ( 8 ) Member ( 20 )JP School [ Honjuku Junior High School ]Teacher [ Masashi Noguchi ]# Subjects, Activities and Hours of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson

Hours

Art

Learning about Japanese culture (making posters about Japan)

2

Art

Learning about SDGs – discussions, watching videos, independent work

4

Art

Mural painting

8# Theme and Message of the mural
Theme“Earth Peace”

MessageOur mural message grew out of our discussions about SDGs we covered in our learning
process. We wanted to share the different meanings about the theme “Earth Peace”.
Japanese students analysed the word “Peace” and found meanings for every letter – P(protect), E (earth), A (animals), C (care), E (everybody). They tried to express these
meanings in their part of the painting. Estonian students wanted to paint the ideal Earththrough our four seasons in Estonia.
Students tried to paint the dream life, where there is peace in the entire earth withbeautiful clean environment, nourishing nature, healthy habitats of species, caring andprotective people.

United thoughts toshare with the world# Effects and Problems
Effects your students have gained
Every year different class takes part of the projectand it is the first international project for many
students. They have gained a wider knowledge of theworld, different cultures and all the chosen SDGs.
Their English skills have improved and they are more
confident to share their ideas.

Points for further improvement
It was harder to add Artmile lessons into thecurriculum this year. Students needed more time forpainting, so have to be better with the time
management next year. As every group is different,
it requires different approach for teaching andlearning.

# How has your impression toward your partner’s country/region and the world changed?
Changes in the students
Changes in the teachers
They loved learning more deeply about Japanese After taking part of the Artmile project for four
culture as geographically it is so far from us. Japan is years, I still find new interesting information about
so different country with its size and culture. Their Japan every single time. I think it is a very big
understanding of the Japanese climate, culture, food country compared to Estonia and therefore culturaland mangas has deepened during the project.
traditions vary as well.

# Flow of the Activity
ContentMonthRESEARCH
the theme

SHAREwith thepartner

UNITE
the thoughts

CREATEthe mural

APPRECIATE
the wholelearning

Sept
Oct

Sept
Nov

Nov
Dec

What you did
Introduction of the country,school and students withpresentations, videos. SDG
research through classroom
activities,
posters,presentations, videos.

Your students’ attitude/reflection
Students were excited about making
introductions about themselves. They
enjoyed learning about Japanese culture
more and making posters about it. They
were interested in the chosen SDGs andhappy to do the research individuallyand in groups.

We posted our researches inthe forum and asked
questions about some topics
risen.

Students were interested to learn about
the differences of SDG problems in thedifferent parts of the world as Estonia
and Japan vary a lot in terms of thecountry location, size, climate, cultureetc.

We
hadvery
livelycommunication about themural ideas in the forum.

Students enjoyed the communicationand they were happy to be part of thedecision making process. They alsocame up with lots of interpretations ofthe chosen topics for the mural.

Studentsmural.

Students were very independent with
their design ideas, they worked welltogether as a team. They volunteered tospend time after the lessons to finish
the mural. They learnt to express theirideas through art project. They havelearnt that the mural needed to have
deeper message to share with the world.
Their teamwork and painting skills
improved as well.

completedtheJanMarchStudents filled
evaluation form.
MarchintheThey felt grateful to be part of thisproject. They have learnt thatcooperation
andlistening
toeverybody`s ideas was extremelyimportant.

SubjectArtArtArtArtArt# Effect and evaluation gained through the collaborative learning
Evaluation: Rank 5 to 1 (5: very effective / 4: effective / 3: so- so / 2: not so effective / 1: not effective at all)

Expected effectEvaluation

Cross-cultural
understanding

5

Active learningand action

4

Critical thinking(objective, logical views)

3

Collaborating withdifferent people

4

Expressing in words,in shape

4

Scenes and reasons that teachers felt the effects
Students were very interested about the forum updates, Japanesestudents` videos and introduction. They said that they knew so much
more about Japanese culture now. Quite often they pick up theJapanese books in my classroom to find out more information aboutJapan.
Students made posters about Japanese country, climate, food andtraditions. They created presentations about SDGs and came up withdifferent ideas for the joint mural.
Students tried to find solutions for the chosen SDG problems, but it
was hard to come up with them. Some of the problems are global and it
was hard for them to think about these on the individual bases. They
were very interested in the mental health issue as it has been important
subject after the Covid-19 time.
Students wanted to video call with Japanese students, but it was notpossible because of the different time zone and lesson times. They
communicated more with each other in a group, which was a very goodoutcome as of our SDG`s were mental health problems. They said in
their evaluation that they learnt that when they worked together, they
could achieve so much more.
Students skills to make presentations in English improved during theproject. We had a good communication about the mural ideas in theforum and they managed to get their ideas across. They seemed to be
proud of the finished mural!