In-service TEM

Welcome to the online course on Virtual Exchange

Welcome to the teacher training course on virtual exchange in the early language classroom. This course was developed by the INVITED project. You can see the consortium in the photo on the right. Members of four different universities (University of Education Freiburg, Germany, University of Murcia, Spain, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia and University of Warsaw, Poland) worked together with the feedback of practitioners to create this professional development course for EFL teachers of young learners, who are interested in developing their Virtual Exchange skills.

Before you read the goals of the course, think about your learning expectations – what would you like to learn/achieve by the end of this course?

1 Goals of the course

With the help of this course, you will:

  • get familiar with the concept of virtual exchange (VE) in the early language classroom,
  • explore different competence areas that can be developed through VE in the early language classroom,
  • understand the relevance of appropriate VE tasks,
  • get to know a variety of digital tools for VE projects with young learners,
  • learn how to start a VE project.

2 Overview of the course

Since VE offers so many exciting opportunities for young learners, we have a lot of information to share with you. This course is your step-by-step guide to bringing Virtual Exchange (VE) into your classroom. It’s divided into six engaging modules, each filled with practical learning activities designed to build your confidence and skills.

  • Module 1 introduces the key concepts of Virtual Exchange and sets the foundation for your learning journey.
  • Module 2 explores why VE is so valuable for young learners and how it can enrich their classroom experience.
  • Module 3 helps you discover effective, age-appropriate tasks you can use in VE projects.
  • Module 4 shows how VE supports the development of digital competence and presents a range of useful digital tools.
  • Module 5 guides you through the process of launching your own VE project using the eTwinning platform.
  • Module 6 gives you the opportunity to reflect on your completed project and start planning for future VE collaborations.

By the end of the course, you’ll feel prepared and inspired to create meaningful, collaborative learning experiences for your students.

We hope you will enjoy our course on virtual exchange for young English language learners.

The INVITED consortium

Abe, M., & Beecroft, R. (2024). Fostering primary students’ competences for democratic culture in EFL: The PEACE project. Language Teaching for Young Learners. https://doi.org/10.1075/ltyl.00055.abe

Botturi, L., Kapler, D., & Negrini, L. (2018). Digitally-supported language exchanges in primary school: The AlpConnectar project. Studies in Second Language Learning and Teaching, 8(4), 795–843. https://doi.org/10.14746/ssllt.2018.8.4.5

Kim, S. (2020). Engagement beyond a tour giude approach: Korean and US elementary school students' intercultural telecollaboration. Intercultural Communication Education, 3(2), 99­–117. https://doi.org/10.29140/ice.v3n3.291

Okumura, S. (2020). Design and implementation of a telecollaboration project for primary school students to trigger intercultural understanding, Intercultural Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2020.1752546  

Peiser. G. (2015). Overcoming barriers: engaging younger students in an online intercultural exchange, Intercultural Education, 26(5), 361–376. http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14675986.2015.1091238

EVOLVE was conducted as a project to mainstream virtual exchange as an innovative form of collaborative international learning across disciplines in Higher Education institutions in Europe and beyond.

Visit EVOLVE website

Another project on virtual exchange worth mentioning is TeCoLa, which uses virtual world interaction, video communication, and gamification to support virtual pedagogical exchanges between secondary students throughout Europe.

Visit TeCoLa website

E-LIVE (Engaging Languages in Intercultural Virtual Exchange) project is a follow-up project to TeCoLa contributing to enhancing digital pedagogical competencies of language teacher trainers, trainees and school teachers through virtual exchange. 

Visit E-LIVE website

VALIANT aimed to test the efficiency of Virtual Innovation and Support Networks as an approach which would contribute to overcoming teachers’ sense of isolation and low motivation in rural areas and isolated contexts and also to developing teachers’ ability to operate effectively in online international networks of professional collaboration.

Visit VALIANT website