Schools in Germany, as well as in Poland, have switched to the distance learning. Students receive sets of tasks to solve them at home, sometimes communication with teachers is supported by chat or video conferences.
The isolation order has enormous consequences not only for the operation of the schools but also for school exchange projects. International meetings are canceled, students and teachers must stay at home. This is obviously a huge loss for everyone who was eagerly awaiting meeting young people from other countries. Certainly some meetings will be postponed, others may never take place.
However, on the other hand, a global pandemic forces everyone - including teachers and students - to find creative ways to cope with such an unusual situation. It is therefore worth asking yourself to what extent the current experience will change the face of international cooperation of schools. This new situation may result in new methods of using many interactive tools. It is to be hoped that remote communication methods will diversify and enrich traditional school exchanges in the future.
Videoconferences or meetings in chatrooms have long been an element of cooperation between schools. They are enabled by platforms such as eTwinning or numerous commercial portals. In addition, just as teachers currently propose tasks for students and use numerous applications, such as Kahoot, Quizlet or Testmoz, exchange supervisors can develop quizzes or virtual games based on language animation or sensitize to intercultural diversity to prepare students for meetings.
Of course, a virtual offer cannot replace a real meeting. But when the current emergency situation comes to an end, perhaps the virtual continuation of youth exchanges will become the standard and thus contribute to increasing the impact of exchanges on the lives of individual participants.
Joanna Szaflik-Homann - Chairwoman of the Council of the International Youth Meeting Centre
