REPORT Artmile International Collaborative Learning 2023
Country/Region [ Estonia ]School[ Tamsalu Gymnasium ] Teacher [ Reena Curphey ] Grade ( 8 ) Member ( 18 )JP School [ Yuda Junior High School ]Teacher [ Daisuke Takenaka / Ayumi Sugano ]# Subjects, Activities and Hours of the lessons
Subject
Conception of the lesson
English, Art

Hours

Learning about Japanese culture (making posters about Japan)

2Art

Learning about SDG´s – discussions, watching videos, independent work

4Art

Mural painting

8# Theme and Message of the muralThemeSDG 11 Sustainable cities and communities

MessageUnited thoughts toshare with the world.

"Let's care for our limited resources and take responsibility for consuming and oureveryday actions. Let`s build a community where we want to live, where everyone
is involved in creating the better life for themselves. Let`s seek connections withthe world and create a beautiful planet together. Happiness for all. Let`s treasure
everything. "# Effects and Problems
Effects your students have gained
Every year new Year 8 class takes part of this project
and for many students it is the first international
project at our school. They have gained a wider
knowledge of the world, different cultures and all thechosen SDGs. Their English skills have improved andthey are more confident to share their ideas. Manystudents realized that at the moment we already have
many important parts of our ideal world andcommunity in our local town and that is worth to value.

Points for further improvement
This year we had students from two different Year
8 classes attending, so at the beginning it was harder
to plan and organize the work as they had notworked together before.
Students needed more time for painting, so have tobe better with the time management. As every groupis different, it requires different approach forteaching and learning. By the time of the painting,they were much better team to work together.

# How has your impression toward your partner’s country/region and the world changed?
Changes in the students
Changes in the teachers
It was very interesting and exciting to learn about
After taking part of the Artmile project for many
Japanese culture as geographically Japan is so far years, I still find new interesting information aboutfrom us. As Japan is so different with its size and Japan every single time. Every year we have chosen
culture, it was interesting to find similarities and new SDG`s and that gives us a different point ofdifferences in our communities. Their understanding view to learn various aspects of Japanese cultureof the Japanese culture and society has deepened and society.
during the project.

# Flow of the Activity
Content
MonthRESEARCH
the theme

SHARE
with thepartner

UNITE
the thoughts

SeptOct

SeptNov

NovDecWhat you did
Introduction of the country,
school and students withpresentations, videos. SDG
research through classroomactivities–posters,presentations, videos.

Your students’ attitude/reflection
Students were excited about working inteams and making introductions about
themselves. They enjoyed learning
about Japanese culture and making
posters about it. They were interested
in the chosen SDG`s and happy to do
the research individually and in groups.

We posted our researches in
the 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. They were
happy to discover the similarities of ourvalues for future communities.

We
had
very
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 of
the chosen topics for the mural fromtheir research ideas.

Subject

English,ArtArtArt

Studentsmural.

CREATEthe muralcompleted

JanMarch

Students filled
evaluation form.
APPRECIATE
the wholelearning

theMarchintheStudents were very independent with
their design ideas, they finally worked
well together as a team. They learnt toexpress their ideas through art project.
Their teamwork and painting skills
improved as well. They learnt to plan
their work, divide tasks and manage
their time better next time.

Art

They felt grateful to be part of thisproject as it was the first international
project for most of the students. They
have learnt that they need to appreciate
their community with its various parts,
which make our community the goodplace to live.

Art# 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 learning

4

Critical thinking

4Collaborating withdifferent people

3

Expressing in words,in shape

4

Scenes and reasons that teachers felt the effects
Students were very interested in making the posters about Japaneseculture. They asked about the forum updates and were happy to see
Japanese students` videos and introductions. They also learnt a lot
from the Japanese side of a mural after receiving it.
Students made posters about Japanese country and culture, climate,food and traditions. They created presentations about SDG`s and cameup with different ideas for the joint mural. They worked in teams andthey really enjoyed it. They learnt to value their community and tocomplain less.
Students tried to find solutions for the chosen SDG problems, but it
was hard to come up with the solutions as many society and community
problems have to be fixed on a higher level. At the same time they tried
to think about the SDG`s from the point of view where little changes
start with individuals.
As these students were from different Year 8 classes, it took time atthe beginning to learn to work with each other. They also did a lot ofteam work, what they really enjoyed. They learnt to work with new teammembers and now they are more brave to express their ideas with eachother. By the time of the painting, they learnt to work together better.
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!