This project involves the collaboration of three partner organisations based in three differentEuropean countries, organisations which work in different ways and with differing targetaudiences, but ultimately similar goals. We have identified an opportunity to capitalise upon thediverse approaches being put into practice by having each partner select and share their mostvaluable experiences with the others. Thus partners can simultaneously contribute their provenmethods to the others and learn from the novel expertise of the others.This collaboration grew out of a mutual desire to strengthen our teams and diversify and expandour skills bases to cater for the broadening of our respective fields of activities and increase inthe number of tasks we are each dealing with.One such shared goal among the partners is the reestablishment of dedicated teams oflecturers to teach Esperanto to older/disadvantaged citizens who have not learnt a secondlanguage. The teams will work primarily among towns and villages to teach this easy language,the main strengths of the project being how quickly and easily it can succeed on the scale ofsmall communities.A key component of the project will be to augment the language specific skillset of the lecturerswith skills to teach and encourage community involvement and social activism. This additionalinput will mean that budding centres of international communication can also develop intoeducational and cultural centres in their own right, where until now TV has been the dominantmedium for entertainment and the sharing of knowledge.Such places simply require the arrival of people who can open up the world to them throughcommunication and assistance, for example in running social activities, courses, educationalevents etc. as well as in founding their own organisations. As such, we require individuals thatare socially engaged as well as intellectually able.We are already drawing up a list of potential partner organisations to receive them, where theycan provide the educational and organisational help required. This will help previously insularrural communities to recover and become more dynamic. In the long run, it will have the addedbenefit of improving the prospects of the Esperanto movement as a generation of new speakersdevelops and becomes active in the wider community.Any and all materials created/used during the course of the two year project will be made freelyavailable online at the close of the project, meaning not only the partner countries can accessand benefit from the experiences, discoveries and novel approaches of the lecturers. Theseplans, materials, experiences and recommendations will serve as a fantastic resource fororganisations working in the fields of formal and/or informal education of adults.Classified as a small project, there is a team of 13 lecturers who will take 3 courses in total tocomplete preparation for the project. Language, societal and communitybasedgoals are all important to each of the partners, but each will contribute to the training according to theirspecific field of expertise: the Polish partner, the management of community/social events; theGerman, the matter of teaching; and the Slovak, the introduction and utilisation of elearningresources, as well as the publication of results.Each partner organisation has it’s own weaknesses and needs as well as strengths, so allparties serve to benefit from the collaboration in it’s own right. The ongoing need for mutualsupport will mean that the completed project will be a general model for the process of buildingan international team to achieve a goal, not only in the spheres of language education andsocial participation.Planned publications for the close of the project include written guidelines for teaching plansand the utilisation of e learning platforms, and a brochure reflecting on the delivery of languagecourses augmented with the teaching of other topics and skills. The participating lecturers willfinalise their training with an international examination with ORIGO, leading to a certificate fromthe ELTE University in Budapest, signed in 4 different languages.The new teachers, esperantists and socially active citizens produced by the project will have theopportunity to further develop their abilities through other activities, events and internationalprojects as a part of current and future partnerships. They will have the opportunity to participatein the Esperanto movement in many interesting and satisfying ways, ranging from the scale oflocal communities all the way up to international projects.
This project involved the collaboration of three partner organisations based in three different European countries, organisations which worked in different ways and with differing target audiences, but ultimately similar goals. We identified and made use of an opportunity to capitalise upon the diverse approaches being put into practice by having each partner select and share their most valuable experiences with the others. Thus partners could simultaneously contribute their proven methods to the others and learn from the novel expertise of the others. This collaboration grew out of a mutual desire to strengthen our teams and diversify and expand our skills bases to cater for the broadening of our respective fields of activities and increase in the number of tasks we are each dealing with. One such shared goal among the partners was the reestablishment of dedicated teams of lecturers to teach Esperanto to older/disadvantaged citizens who have not learnt a second language. The teams worked primarily among towns and villages to teach this easy language, the main strengths of the project being how quickly and easily it can succeed on the scale of small communities. A key component of the project was to augment the language specific skill set of the lecturers with skills to teach and encourage community involvement and social activism. This additional input meant that building centres of international communication can also develop into educational and cultural centres in their own right, where until now TV had been the dominant medium for entertainment and the sharing of knowledge. Such places simply require the arrival of people who can open up the world to them through communication and assistance, for example in running social activities, courses, educational events etc. as well as in founding their own organisations? As such, we require individuals that are socially engaged for their local community as well as intellectually able. We count on their disponibility and are already making use of their new skills and their voluntary help in the fields of education, organisation and collaboration in the partner countries. The plan for rebuilding potential realised during the project made the community more dynamic, created conditions to improve the Esperanto movement today and in the next years thanks to new adepts that have begun or will son begin activities.. Any and all materials created/used during the course of the two year project can be used for further groups of lectors (not necessarily connected to Esperanto) because they have been made freely available in the online resources of the pedagogical libraries of the Herzberg Cultural Centre and Edukado.net in The Hague that treat and preserve educational materials for the teachers of the International League of Esperanto Teachers. Now they will be diffused for general use, including among non-partner countries. The open educational resources elaborated during this project will remain on the Internet. The plans, materials, experiences and recommendations will serve as a fantastic resource for organisations working in the fields of formal and/or informal education of adults. The goals of the project have been reached thangs to a programme of trainings in all 3 partner countries (three 7-day courses) for 13 people, because only this amount of people could fit a “small” project. Language, societal and community-based goals were all important to each of the partners, which is why each of them contributed to the training according to their specific field of expertise: the Polish partner, the management of community/social events; the German one, the matter of teaching; and the Slovak one, the introduction and utilisation of e-learning resources, as well as the publication of results. Each partner organisation had its own weaknesses and needs as well as strengths, so all parties benefited from the collaboration in its own right. Therefore they needed support, i.e. an exchange of practices between project partners. The completed project can be a general model for the process of building an international team to achieve a goal, not only in the spheres of language education and social participation. The material results of the completed project include written guidelines for teaching plans and the utilisation of digital tools. The participating lecturers completed their training cycle with an international examination with ORIGO, leading to a certificate from the ELTE University in Budapest, signed in 4 different languages. The new teachers and active citizens produced by the project have the opportunity to further develop their abilities through other activities, events and international projects as a part of current and future partnerships. They received the opportunity to participate in the Esperanto movement in many interesting and satisfying ways, ranging from the scale of local communities all the way up to international projects.