Susanna's Erasmus+ Experience in Malta

Class was especially fun today, since we worked with different kind of quizzes. A little competition can motivate quite a lot. I intend to integrate quizzes much more into my lessons, as it is such a useful and engaging tool.     Quizlet live is very nice, since it offers the possibility of group work and students have to discuss their answers within the group.  Plickers I like a lot, because apart from the teacher, no one needs to have a gadget, it works with individual QR-Codes and you can just hand each student a piece of paper, that can be used again and again. In the afternoon I went to Sliema. It is a really lively, noisy town with lots of shops and malls, but there are some streets with older buildings and beautiful squares when you look for it. St. Julian

Today we did an off-site day in Mdina and Rabat. Mdina is the former capital of Malta and feels like a really sacred, special place. No car traffic is allowed in the narrow streets. In Rabat we visited St. Paul's Grotto, which was used as a bomb shelter in WW II. After the class trip we went to Mosta to visit the impressive Rotunda. In WW II a bomb was dropped in the church but did not go off, which was considered to be a miracle naturally.

Today's class was especially interesting to me, since lots of the presented activities are suitable for primary school students. We learned many useful tools in the Active Inspire Classflow software. Moving around pictures, connecting items and so on, children don't even have to know how to read in order to complete the tasks.  In today's afternoon I decided to take a trip to Valetta. The bus ride took about 50 minutes, but the busses all have air conditioning, so it wasn't that unpleasant.  I still struggle with the constant and humid heat😵, hopefully I'll get used to it in the next days. The bus ride was totally worth it: Valetta has swept my off my feet😍😍! Valetta is such a beautiful city with lots of old buildings, colourful streets, international cuisine and lively bars. Spectacular views wherever you go!!

After a nice breakfast with such a lovely sea view at the hotel, I quickly walked to Alpha School.  My classmates come from Poland, Croatia, Bulgaria and Hungary, which I quite enjoy, since I have not personally met that many people from these countries before. Here at Alpha School I hope to improve my skills working with Interactive Whiteboards and creative technology in the classroom.  Today we focused mainly on Nearpod. That's an application that I personally like a lot since it combines many elements. For instance , instead of doing a powerpoint presentation in MS office, a quiz in Kahoot and and a drawing activity in Paint, I can simply use Nearpod. What I also really enjoy about it, is its simplicity. It doesn't take too much time to create a lesson. Also I got to know Google classroom, which was also quite interesting to me as we are working with Microsoft Teams at our school.  After school I strolled around St. Paul's Bay and watched the beautiful sunset. ...

Hello! My name is Susanna Vogel. I come from Germany and I work at the Bilingual Primary School "Altmark" in Stendal. I am currently doing a two-week Erasmus+ program on the topics of creative technology in the classroom and teaching on the interactive whiteboard. It is taking part at Alpha School in St. Paul's Bay in the first two weeks of August 2022. Not having been on a flight for quite some time because of Covid, I must admit to being a bit nervous. New airport in Berlin, unknown airport on Malta ... but everything went totally fine =)! When I arrived at Buggiba, St. Paul's Bay offered a warm welcome with a nice firework because of a Feast. I am staying at Gillieru Harbour Hotel which is just 250m away from Alpha School. It is surrounded by the sea and so, so many boats.    Gillieru  A quick walk around the harbour was all I was capable to do after the long journey.