Implementation of ‘The Invisible Enemy: in Times of Crisis’ (SOI- GR-202)

This SOI is based on the learning scenario The Invisible Enemy: in Times of Crisis (LS-HU-322), submitted by Eva Toth on May 29, 2020. It was implemented in an EFL Upper High school class with no previous experience in using Europeana resources.

Why did I choose this learning scenario?

The reason for choosing this LS is the creator’s intention to help us cope with the current, unexpected, hard times we have been going through, due to COVID-19 pandemic. It focuses on the powerful influence of social media, as well as the importance of showing appreciation for what we have. It was also seriously considered the fact that the LS has not been implemented in a classroom yet; thus it gave us the chance to experiment on converting activities designed for a conventional classroom into those for an online (mostly synchronous) one.

Class profile and type of teaching/learning

The LS was implemented at a senior high school in Athens, Greece with 16-year old students of B1+ CEFR English level.

We used the Webex platform for two online 40 minute sessions. There was also needed some extra time for the Europeana online searching and the “letter to myself” activity, asynchronously. A ppt presentation was created as a supporting material for the synchronous session purposes, which is accessible here.

The implementation

The activity “Things we used to take for granted” was applied at the end just before the “email to your future self” activity; it was considered to stick together best as an optimistic ending of this learning procedure for my students.

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Regarding the activity “Invisible enemies” my students gave great, but general answers such as “myself”, “phobias”, “stress”, “my own mind”, “my ambitions” etc; so I thought it would be a good idea to tailor things to their needs and interests in order to focus on our current topic, using media: a YouTube video with a sports personality of international fame (coming from their district) urging people to stay safe nowadays. Interaction both orally and in the chat was rewarding for everyone.

Since we had no much time for introducing new tools, we used the ones we are most familiar with, so for the activity “Effect of media on our feelings” we used a “wall” (note.ly) to post our findings.

For the “Encourage good practice” activity we thought of collecting all the ideas on a jamboard in order to organize actions at a local level.

“Mailing to myself” was a really inspiring and highly motivating activity which urged students to look forward to the future (set for 7th May), when they will reflect on their thoughts as a part of self assessment.
Some of the students’ products can be seen here.

The learning outcomes

Searching the Europeana resources my students were able to link the way media worked in the past and the similarities with the impact they still have today. They spotted representations then and now. They also developed skills such as searching, filtering and evaluating information in a foreign language as well as using ICT tools to organize and present their thoughts.

Teachers’ remarks

I consider that the objectives were achieved. What is more, implementing this inspiring LS gave us the opportunity to promote the value of gratitude and cultivate a genuine appreciation for what we already have, thus to develop a more positive outlook.

I intend to implement this scenario with a different class audience; this time I will give some more time to guide my students on how to navigate Europeana, since they have no previous experience. I have also thought of combining these LS activities with activities from a similar-topic LS “Our Invisible Deadly Enemies : Pandemics”.

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? Why don’t you read about the related learning scenario?

The Invisible Enemy: in Times of Crisis (LS-HU-322)

Did you find this story of implementation interesting? You might also like:

• Implementation of ‘Don’t be afraid to be afraid’ (SOI-GR-136) by Andreas Galanos
• Implementation of ‘Letters and Postcards from War Times’ (SOI-FR-176) by Clara Donadio
• Implementation of ‘What Would They Say?’ (SOI-RO-89) implemented by Gratiela Visan

Do you want to discover more stories of implementation? Click here.

CC BY 4.0 the featured image used to illustrate this article has been found on Europeana and has been provided by the Finnish Heritage Agency .