[email protected] is a project between secondary schools from Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Turkey, that addresses secondary students of 15-19 who are studying English as a foreign language. The aim is to develop students’ literacy skills with reading, writing and acting out literary pieces of participating cultures, by exposing them to natural and meaningful foreign language environments. The main goals are to develop reading habits of students through international partnership, promote EU dimension of the school and contribute to the needs of teachers and students that the schools have recognized - new methods of teaching, learning best practices, activation of students in learning and development of language competences and literacy skills, learning about new cultures and the elimination of prejudices. Our project will last for two years. Firstly we will present each other our nations' origins and heritage, carry on with deeds that we interpret by our curriculums, and complete with the most popular literary works of our time. The idea is to present a spectre of national literature of six European countries, and to get wise which books are popular between students in these countries. Interpretation is based on creative work, and improving various types of literacy, ICT skills and modern methodology. That will accomplish students' intellectual, social and emotional development, aided by teamwork and peer by peer education. BookPals is interdisciplinary project in which the school subjects of Language and Foreign Languages, but also History, Geography, Religion, Music and P.E. have a large impact. To carry out the activities envisaged in our project, teachers will learn new teaching methods. Through trainings, a forum on eTwinning and social networks, and direct contact and cooperation, teachers will exchange good practices to help them implement these methodologies at their organizations, merging traditional teaching methods based on developing and improving basic literacy with a 21st century literacy skills. They will strongly cooperate to share good practices of teaching with a view to strengthening their teaching profession. Throughout the two project years they will continuously take part in 6 joint teacher training sessions, lesson observation, micro teaching and peer-teachig sessions. Topics of those meetings will be Basic Literacy, Media Literacy, Language Learning Literacy, Cultural and Multicultural Literacy, Technology Literacy, Visual Literacy, as well as methodology of Multiple Intelligences, Visible Thinking, Critical Reading and Writing, etc. Participants bring their experience and expertise into this multicultural community. Portugal has great knowledge in technology literacy, Polands' library organizes events that aim to promote reading and attracting students to borrow books, Turkey is experienced in a literature-related competitions, Hungary is experienced in adapting different literary works into stage plays, Cyprus has an adviser for literature in their team, while Croatia is close and long-term cooperating with local library and theatre. All of partners have experience in eTwinning. During these two years, students will create and edit a literary corner, record short films and plays, take photos, write newletters and blogs on Twinspace, creat book covers, posters, picture books, illustrations, participate in competitions and contests. Both students and teachers will take part in several activities including reading and discussing selected books, writing drama scripts and acting out their play. Other areas of art such as design, illustration, taking photos and shooting films are incorporated in the tasks to deliver. They will also connect via videoconferences and penpals (by email) and the students participating in the exchanges (mobilities to other countries) will learn about European literature and its influence in the culture, and after arrival, will present results to the rest of students, teachers, families and wide public. The final products will be Picture books of our origins, Book recommender brohure, a drama script and performance, a literary corners at schools and the establishment of a student volunteer system to ensure the longevity of project after the completition of the project activities.At the end of the project, participants will have developed different kind of literacy skills, both teachers and students will have improved their communicative skills using the English Language and their digital competences through the use of web2tools. They will also have developed social and intepersonal skills and a sense of European belonging. Schools participating will be more open-minded to the European neighbours, and apart from the participants's impacts already mentioned, they will be updated organizations, where innovative teaching methodologies will be implemented and integrated in their curriculum.
[email protected] was a two-year interdisciplinary project between secondary schools from Croatia, Cyprus, Hungary, Poland, Portugal and Turkey which addressed secondary students aged 15-19 who studied English as a foreign language. The participating schools brought their previous experience and expertise into this multicultural community in order to fulfill the objective of the project, i.e. to develop students’ literacy skills with reading, writing and acting out literary pieces while exposing them to natural and meaningful foreign language environments. The main goals were to develop reading habits and literacy skills of students through international partnership, promote EU dimension of the schools, strengthen teachers with new teaching methods and through exchanges of best practices, activate students in learning and development of language competences, learn about new cultures and the elimination of prejudices. Partners presented each other their nations' origins and heritage, literary works included in their curricula and the most popular contemporary works of their national literatures. It was determined which books were popular among students in these countries and the interpretation was based on creative work and improving various types of literacy, ICT skills and modern methodology which affected and enhanced students' intellectual, social and emotional development, aided by teamwork and peer by peer education. To carry out the activities envisaged in our project, teachers learned new teaching methods. Through trainings, a forum on eTwinning and social networks, and direct contact and cooperation, teachers exchanged good practices which helped them implement these methodologies in their schools, merging traditional teaching methods based on developing and improving basic literacy with the 21st century literacy skills. They strongly cooperated to share good practices of teaching with a view to strengthening their teaching profession. Throughout the two project years they continuously took part in 6 joint teacher training sessions, lesson observations, micro teaching and peer-teaching sessions. Topics of those meetings were Basic Literacy, Media Literacy, Language Learning Literacy, Cultural and Multicultural Literacy, Technology Literacy, Visual Literacy, as well as the methodology of Multiple Intelligences, Visible Thinking, Critical Reading and Writing, etc. Throughout the project, students created and edited their literary corner, recorded short films and plays, took photos, wrote newletters and blogs on Twinspace, created book covers, posters, picture books, illustrations, participated in competitions and contests. Both students and teachers took part in several activities including reading and discussing selected books, writing drama scripts and acting out their play. Other areas of art such as design, illustration, taking photos and shooting films were incorporated in the tasks. They also connected via videoconferences and penpals (by email) and the students who participated in the exchanges (mobilities to other countries) learnt about European literature and its influence on the culture, and after mobilities they presented results to the rest of students, teachers, families and wide public. The final products are Picture books of our origins, Book recommender brochure, a drama script and performance, literary corners at schools and the establishment of a student volunteer system to ensure the longevity of the project after the completition of the project activities. At the end of the project, participants have developed different kinds of literacy skills, both teachers and students have improved their communicative skills using the English language and their digital competences through the use of web2tools. They have also developed social and intepersonal skills and a sense of European belonging. The participating schools are more open-minded to their European neighbours and they strive to update their teaching and learning environments by implementing and integrating the innovative teaching methodologies in their curricula.