‘Travel broadens the mind’, duration-24, involves 7 schools from 6 countries- Bulgaria (coordinator school) and partners: Turkey, Romania, Portugal, Poland and Portugal. The idea of the project is related to consolidation of knowledge and skills acquired at school, building up on them and gaining new ones. As the title suggest knowledge in different areas such as geography, history, culture will be gained, including traditions, folklore, the way of life, culinary and the correlation between them. Thus, the project will broaden students’ mind, develop their skills to a higher level and reach sustainability of basic knowledge and skills. They can lay the foundation of their personal development, easier realisation on national and European labour market. It will strengthen social inclusion, give access to quality education and lifelong learning. All participants will observe the principle of equal opportunities and non-discrimination. The project will focus on a strategy providing qualitative and balanced program for all participants.General objectives: elaboration and applying of methodology, rules of understanding and communication with the different; live contact between people; communication with people from different countries, traditions and cultures; a students’ survey on possibilities, ways and habits of socializing and understanding the different; establishing partnerships to exchange knowledge and good practices; visits to other countries to increase chances for development. Specific objectives: attempts for communication between people from different countries, style of living, traditions; regular contacts between them; knowledge and skills to avoid risk behavior; enhancing teachers’ personal and professional skills; new ways of communication.Participants: students (aged 12-18), including 19 with fewer opportunities teachers, families, stakeholders. Mobilities: (M1) Bulgaria, October 2016 ; (C1) Italy, 2017 (M2) Poland, May 2017, (C2) Romania, October 2017, (C3) Portugal, February 2018, (M3) Turkey May 2018. Methodology: teamwork and collaborative work; compliance with students’ opinions; encouraging students participation by contributing ideas and doing project work; adopting and applying critical thinking, creativity and innovative approaches of learning, developing oral and writing skills by giving presentations/acting out dialogues, priority to intercultural communication and integration, respecting linguistic, cultural and social differences. Products: a questionnaire about the difficulties we face when we communicate with people from different nations, cultures, religions; Exhibition ‘Travel without boundaries’; CD Common picture dictionary; CD Travel literature; CD Mini-films shot during transnational meetings; CD cards , photos and paintings with peace messages; CD myths, legends, sayings, scenes with literary characters depicting national stereotypes; Festival "Nations sing and dance"; Mysteries at the museum; analyzes reporting, videos, film of the projects development, brochures and posters, project facebook page, email group. What we want to achieve: promote tolerance, social cohesion and solidarity; gaining experience in being tolerant and making common cause with their coevals; students to understand the different and their behavior; overcoming communication barriers; teachers to improve their communication with students, exchanging ideas about ways of communication; development of intercultural dialogue with colleagues and students; establishing better relations between teachers, students and the community; making schools more dynamic and attractive to all; opportunities and awareness on a European level; better communication with people from different countries. Influence: The acquired knowledge and skills will be shared with the students studying a foreign language, civil education and different professions; The public will get acquainted with high quality education and spread good experience. The project impact on students finds expression in enhancing general competences; strengthening students’ motivation to apply innovative methods, increasing their self-confidence. They will be equal to other citizens of the EU, the planned activities will contribute to development of a complex of competences.Their personal profile will become perfect, they will be more resourceful and organized in their future careers. It will place them in a better position on the labour market. They will pass on their experience to other students from our schools. The project results will contribute to reinforced collaboration with other educational institutions. Their experience is predetermined by geographical location, natural resources, economic development, conditions of life and culture. That is why partners from various parts of Europe have been drawn in the project as they have their own way of looking at things. ‘Travel broadens the mind’ applies a number of innovation characteristics.
‘Travel broadens the mind’, duration-24, involved 6 schools from 6 countries- Bulgaria (Vocational School of Agriculture-coordinator) and partners: Turkey (Secondary school), Romania (College of Economics), Italy (Secondary school), Poland (Primary, Gymnasium and High school) and Portugal (Pre-school to Secondary school). The idea of the project was related to consolidation of knowledge and skills acquired at school, building up on them and gaining new ones in different areas such as geography, history, culture, traditions, folklore, the way of life, culinary. Тhe project aimed at broadening students’ mind, developing their skills to a higher level and reaching sustainability of basic knowledge and skills. It helped their personal development, strengthened social inclusion, gave access to quality education and lifelong learning. All participants observed the principle of equal opportunities and non-discrimination. General objectives: elaboration and applying of methodology, rules of understanding and communication with the different; live contact between people from different countries, traditions and cultures; a students’ observation of possibilities, ways and habits of socializing and understanding the different; establishing partnerships to exchange knowledge and good practices; visits to other countries to increase chances for development. Specific objectives: attempts for communication of people from different countries, style of living, traditions; regular contacts; knowledge and skills to avoid risk behaviour; enhancing teachers’ personal and professional skills. Participants: students (aged 12-18), who took part in the project activities on a national level, including 9 students with special educational needs, teachers, families, stakeholders. Three transnational meetings(TM) were held: (M1) in Bulgaria, November 2016; (M2) in Poland, October 2017, (M3) in Turkey, April 2018. Methodology: teamwork and collaborative work; compliance with students’ opinions; encouraging students participation by contributing ideas and doing project work; adopting and applying creativity and innovative approaches of learning, developing foreign language skills, priority to intercultural communication and integration, respecting linguistic, cultural and social differences. Main activities: After the project approval all schools selected project teams. We created an email group, a Facebook page and made registration in eTwinning Portal. The participants agreed on the dates and set the tasks for each TM. Each school recruited and assigned the tasks to students and selected 2 teachers to present the implemented tasks at the TMs. We analysed the implemented activities and tasks, had discussions about difficulties and made decisions regarding the ways of resolving them. The participants exchanged information and products, had discussions on applying different methods for overcoming barriers in intercultural communication. After the meetings partners made school windows and familiarised their students and colleagues with the results. We informed the public through publications in the local media and on the school websites. The team regularly uploaded project materials in eTwinning and the Facebook page. We conducted surveys to find out how big the participants’ footprint is and the participants’ satisfaction from the project. We drew and included parents and local communities in the project activities. The teams did a preliminary study of companies providing travel services. The accountant organized the accounting and stored the project documentation. The proper implementation of the budget was monitored. We achieved: promoted tolerance, social cohesion and solidarity; gained experience in being tolerant; students understood why people are different and behave differently; it helped them to overcome the barriers in communication; teachers improved their communication with international students and colleagues, exchanged ideas about ways of communication; developed intercultural dialogues with colleagues and students; established better relations between teachers, students and the community; made our schools more attractive. Influence: The acquired knowledge and skills were shared with the students studying a foreign language and different professions. The public got acquainted with high quality education and spread good experience. The project impact on students found expression in enhancing general competences; strengthening students’ motivation and increasing their self-confidence. The planned activities contributed to development of a complex of competences. They became more resourceful, organized and shared their experience with other students. The project results contributed to reinforced collaboration with other educational institutions. Long-term benefits: All participants gained experience in working on European projects and have motivation to contribute to development of other projects in the future.