The Heroes, Castles, Legends and Learning Gamification project aims to test and develop innovative teaching methodologies in an international background to improve our Contents and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL)/English as Foreign Language (EFL)/Deutsch als Fremdsprache (DaF) lessons and learning outcomes. All of our schools share as issue the need to motivate the pupils to use English in CLIL/EfL/DaF classes to make them effective, and we are looking forward new teaching approaches. Teambuilding strategies both for teachers and pupils will be key in the project as well, and gamification can boost its potentiality. We aim to prevent absenteism and decrease the ratio of early school leaving through attractive and enjoyable teaching approaches.The motto are the legends existing around most of the castles in Europe and the similarities they show even in very different countries. Nearly all of the legends and mythologies are based in The Journey of the Hero pattern and archetypes, exactly the same as in most of high-end videogames. Storytelling is an essential part of a good game, and most of the strategies, tests, trials and problem-solving of the videogames can be reproduced in living size games to be played in real castles. In games there are heroes and villains, clans and groups -even international at online videogames- who collaborate to overcome risks and trials. There is conflict, there is an imaginary world. We need to provide players/pupils with stories to give them context as to what they are doing. The importance of learning a second language will be highlightened for the students during the project as they prepare products and play the game. Challenging activities will make students learn subconsciously while having entertainment. Learning through gamification strategies will give the influence to the pupils that they can learn while playing and having fun. This will provide them new methods to use in other lessons as well while learning. Collaboration among teachers and pupils from different countries, educational systems and learning backgrounds, and our different styles and points of view about teaching/learning strategies will offer a wider and richer perspective to fulfill a more motivating approach to develop better lesson plans and teaching ideas. A secondary outcome will be a better understanding of European traditions and folklore from first-hand experience, and the awareness of the traditions as background of every human creation, even in videogames.
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