The project is based on intercultural and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, experience and knowledge. Studying water in its various aspects will provide opportunities for complex researches including the meaning and importance of water to life, the environmental aspects of the problem, investigating the social and anthropological aspects of water (establishing settlements and the influence of water on their development) and searching for water connotations in arts. All the institutions involved in the project preparation are situated by a significant body of water – rivers, lakes, seas. The teams expect to show the students the complexity of such an essential thing like Water hoping that continuous examining the aspects, and especially in an international context, would reflect in a more responsible attitudes of the young people as well as the adults to the environment and the cultures. Furthermore, using English language as a communication means should raise the students´ interest in studying English and possibly other foreign languages. The work on the project and the partner meetings will enable the children to improve their foreign language skills gained at school as well as to acquire new ones in practice while working on the project (either on the outcomes delivery or directly during the partners´ meetings). The interdisciplinary study and intercultural exchange of ideas on a topic of a global meaning and importance provides opportunities for the implementation of a wide variety of activities – firstly, part of the project work will be concentrated on activities held in order to elaborate project outcomes and results: 1) locally at the individual schools (including some pre-teaching and preparation work, conducting the researches themselves and the work on the products as well as dealing with their final completion and presentation to the other partners by means of ICT or directly on partners meetings), and 2) in transnational cooperation including comparative surveys based on the individual approaches from the local researches, complex issues involving works of all partners gathered at one (such as exhibitions of arts and crafts works of all the partners, studies comprised of the contributions of each of the partners, i.e. the mapping of the biodiversity in the regions represented by the institutions involved in the project, the various approaches in the presentation of a work of Arts with Water connotations etc.). Another important part is the short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and transnational project meetings which will involve teachers and students where the representatives from each of the institutions will work on common outcomes during workshops and other activities, visit places in relation to the project issues in order to get acquainted with the specifics of the host partner´s country, region and school, exchange ideas about the problems and issues addressed by the project, promote different approaches and share different experience. The partners expect to release: Multilingual Dictionary – a cross-project outcome; presentations, booklets, guidebooks to deal with the particular project sub-topic, performances, exhibitions. The partnership involves 4 schools: Základní škola Fr. Křižíka Bechyně is a primary school situated in the south of the Czech Republic and is attended by about 200 pupils providing education into two levels: primary (pupils aged 6 to 11) and secondary (11-15) with about 20 teachers and other staff. IES”Albaida” is a comprehensive school located in Almería -Andalucía- , in the south-east coast of Spain near Granada. It is attended by about 1,000 students and offers secondary education to students aged 11-18, secondary education for adults and intermediate and advanced vocational training in audiovisual studies, nursing, and health studies - clinic laboratory, dental hygiene, radiology and environmental health. "Sandoros" progimnazija is a small Catholic school located in the south part of Siauliai city. The type is called pre-gymnasium and it has got 38 teachers and 556 students, aged 7-15, when 200 of them are Lithuanian emigrant students who live abroad but study in our school via a distant learning. There are also some students with special needs. Agrupamento de Escolas José Sanches e São Vicente da Beira is located near the border with Spain, in a village named Alcains, near the city of Castelo Branco. It has 1270 students from kinder garden until secondary. It has lots of projects for all the students, aiming to improve our students’ experiences, including sports (swimming, chess, football, basketball, adventure, mountain bike), Europeans club, eco school, theatre, etc.
The project was based on intercultural and interdisciplinary exchange of ideas, experience and knowledge. Studying water in its various aspects provided opportunities for complex researches including the meaning and importance of water to life, the environmental aspects of the problem, investigating the social and anthropological aspects of water (establishing settlements and the influence of water on their development) and searching for water connotations in arts. All the institutions involved in the project preparation are situated by a significant body of water – rivers, lakes, seas, the ocean. The teams hopefully managed to show the students the complexity of such an essential thing like Water hoping that continuous examining the aspects, and especially in an international context, reflected in more responsible attitudes of the young people as well as the adults to the environment and the cultures. Furthermore, using English language as a communication means raised the students´ interest in studying English and possibly other foreign languages. The work on the project and the partner meetings enabled the children to improve their foreign language skills gained at school as well as to acquire new ones in practice while working on the project (either on the outcomes delivery or directly during the partners´ meetings). The interdisciplinary study and intercultural exchange of ideas on a topic of a global meaning and importance provided opportunities for the implementation of a wide variety of activities – firstly, part of the project work was concentrated on activities held in order to elaborate project outcomes and results: 1) locally at the individual schools (including some pre-teaching and preparation work, conducting the researches themselves and the work on the products as well as dealing with their final completion and presentation to the other partners by means of ICT or directly on partners meetings), and 2) in transnational cooperation including comparative surveys based on the individual approaches from the local researches, complex issues involving works of all partners gathered at one (such as exhibitions of arts and crafts works of all the partners, studies comprised of the contributions of each of the partners, i.e. the presenting of the biodiversity in the regions represented by the institutions involved in the project, the various approaches in the presentation of a work of Arts with Water connotations etc.). Another important part were the short-term exchanges of groups of pupils and transnational project meetings which involved teachers and students where the representatives from each of the institutions worked on common outcomes during workshops and other activities, visited places in relation to the project issues in order to get acquainted with the specifics of the host partner´s country, region and school, exchanged ideas about the problems and issues addressed by the project, promoted different approaches and shared different experience. The partners released: Multilingual Dictionary – a cross-project outcome; presentations, a booklet, videos, performances, exhibitions. Profiles: Základní škola Fr. Křižíka Bechyně is a primary school situated in the south of the Czech Republic and is attended by about 200 pupils providing education into two levels: primary (pupils aged 6 to 11) and secondary (11-15) with about 20 teachers and other staff. IES”Albaida” is a comprehensive school located in Almería. It is attended by about 1,000 students and offers secondary education to students aged 11-18, secondary education for adults and intermediate and advanced vocational training in audiovisual studies, nursing, and health studies - clinic laboratory, dental hygiene, radiology and environmental health. "Sandoros" progimnazija is a catholic school in Siauliai. It has got 38 teachers and 556 students, aged 7-15; 200 of them are Lithuanian emigrant students who live abroad but study at the school via a distant learning. There are also some students with special needs. Agrupamento de Escolas José Sanches e São Vicente da Beira is in Alcains. It has 1270 students from kindergarden to secondary level. It has lots of projects for all the students, aiming to improve the students’ experiences, including sports, Europeans club, eco school, theatre etc. The project had a great impact on all participants such as perfecting the language and social skills, teambuilding, interdisciplinary approaches and gaining new knowledge, raising the intercultural awareness, enhancing civic competences. As long as the long-term benefits are concerned we hope the students are motivated to study languages and approach different cultures; after two years of studying water in its various aspects the students are more environmentally conscious and have implemented the ecological aspects into their daily lives. Thanks to the project realisation the children and the teachers are still in touch due to the social media and ICT.