Abstract:

Collaborative learning helps students to build their own knowledge and to create new learning environments together with the others, from the discussion at the moment of exploring new concepts, being each student responsible for his/her own learning. The main aim is to create environments rich in possibilities, serving not only to organize the information, but also to promote the growth of the group. We are in a constant search for spaces where the students feel motivated and they can express their ideas, where they can freely express their thoughts and worries, where they can feel recognized and discover their great potential. Spaces where they can meet their peers, be coprotagonists and share their experiences. A place where they can develop and improve their communicative skills, giving a practical use to the language as a useful tool by means of reading and writing. An environment where they can learn how to organize their ideas and communicate the information in both their mother tongue and second language, while they learn with and for the others. Thus, they can apply the knowledge they have acquired throughout their life and express those ideas they find most interesting. Exchange spaces where they can assume responsibilities, live the team spirit and feel themselves an important and active part of the Educational Community they belong to. This project achieves all these goals with the realization of a virtual school magazine in the English classroom, using collaborative learning and the second language as the main communicative means. At the same time, the students’ personal abilities are developed and improved, since they will be working in a group, progressing in their written and oral skills and increasing their motivation to learn English.

Keywords:

Collaborative learning, communicative environments, oral and written skills, language, exchange spaces, Educational Community.