The project „Learning through understanding or new technologies for intercultural dialogue” came into being in ZSO number 3 in Wrocław. Our city, so called Venice of the North or the city of bridges (there are more than 100 of them). It will become a “bridge” between new technologies and culture. We are going to implement TIK, diffusing and making closer the European cultures thanks to the youth open to new ideas that want to broaden their horizons. The idea was conceived by the teachers of Spanish working in bilingual classes in our junior high school and high school. Therefore, Spanish will be the main language of the programme, while English will serve as the second one.3 partnering schools, selected out of many schools that are eager to cooperate with us. They are … I.E.S. Cardenal López de Mendoza z Burgos – Spain, I.E.S TEROR – Canarian Islands, and 44Secondary School Neofit Bozveli from the capital city Bulgaria. All the above mentioned junior high schools and high schools have bilingual classes similar to ours. About 200 students and 20 teachers will take part in our exchange programme and about 800 others will suport it.The idea for the project was the result of the needs that we noticed in our school but the international response to our offer made it clear to us that it was a good idea. Our project refers to two other initiatives implemented in our school. The former is a pilot programme based on the Project Method with the use of social networking sites and ICT tools. The latter, managed by local authorities, is called „Bridges”: our students are partially responsible for Spanish translations of legends which will be presented as Kamishibai (Paper Theatre). The aim of our project is to introduce new teaching methods and innovative language learning techniques based on ICT tools and in this way to outline new directions in education. We are planning to promote digital literacy among teachers and students in order to enhance motivation, efficiency and good practice in schools. The teachers will be trained in the following areas: methodology of teaching and learning with the use of ICTs, the project approach to teaching and learning, game-based learning, Acquired knowledge will be transferred to other teachers in order to spread and implement new methods.Through a combination of formal education in schools and informal learning outside the classroom with the use of ICT tools students can achieve their goals in a way that suits them (through the Internet). They are a „digital generation” so using ICTs is natural to them. The teacher’s role is reduced to showing them how to use these tools in a responsible and effective way.The methodology we applied is based on the project approach to teaching and learning (Project Method). It involves developing each phase of the project and determining the general objectives and the criteria for the evaluation. Final results are analyzed and evaluated by both the teacher and the students in a meta-cognitive and practical way.The objectives of the project will be based on topics related to culture. It is especially important now because in 2016 Wrocław will be the European Capital of Culture, promoting intercultural dialogue, tolerance and links between culture and education. In a spirit of these premises young people from the four partner countries will come together during the five seven-day visits and a number of joint actions being part of the programme. Some tasks will be accomplished within a month, e.g. logo and mascot contest (Logosea, Sumo Paint), e-gallery (virtual exhibition of art), e-story (Twitter, Google Drive), e-comic (Pixton), e-proverbs with illustrations (Wikispaces). The works thanks to which the final product will be created, are planned for the whole duration of the project. There will be for example website (Wix or Jimdo); Facebook, updated and upgraded constantly; Wikispace o publish materials; programs e-Twinning, RedIRIS serving the project communication, designed for the teachers and parents; publication of the movie pictures documenting project with the Editor’s help, Creaza Movie etc.; project newspaper (Joomago Glossi), video guides. All above mentioned elements will bring long-term benefits for the students and teachers from all the schools. They will open the youth to other cultures teaching them the tolerance and understanding/consideration. However, friendships that will arise during the project completion as well as unforgiven memories are the most important part.
‘Teaching through understanding – new technologies as a bridge of joining cultures’ was the mission statement of all the our activities during the two-year-long project financed by the funds from EU Erasmus+ Programme. The main objective of the project, which had been formed in the Group of Our Secondary Schools Number 3 in Wroclaw, Poland, was joining the two essential educational paths of new technologies and the cultural heritage of EU countries. Through the implementation of IT technologies in the educational process we converged schools that were involved in the project. It is worth mentioning here that the partner Spanish schools were themselves diverse in terms of culture and traditions due to their different geographical location ( the Iberian Peninsula and the Canary Islands). Another still major objective of the project was digitalization and education of the teaching staff in the field of using new technologies and innovative teaching methods and then their successful implementation in the course of language teaching in the schools. The positive effect of our actions was a significant raise of our students’ language competence in English and Spanish. As we all know the ability to communicate in various languages enables one to expand their knowledge. Thus, it broadens promotes the values of EU countries. The project, which came to an end in September 2018, was implemented thanks to the great youth from 4 partner schools and the great commitment of teachers. In the coordinating facility in Wrocław, bilingual units with Spanish are very active. That is why this language was the leading language of the project. The Group of Secondary Schools Number 3 in Wroclaw was also the coordinator of the project and as such it invited the following partner secondary schools: IES Lope de Mendoza of Burgos; IES TEROR of Gran Canarias and 44 Secondary School Neofit Bozveli of Sophia. In the course of the project 8 mobility visits were organised. 5 of them involved student exchange and 3 others were training courses for the teachers. Student exchange visits activated a great number of the students and made them use Spanish actively. About 200 students took part in the 5 exchange visits, however, still as numerous number of students was involved locally. 2 out of the 5 visits were organised in Poland. In order to familiarise the Spanish and Bulgarian students with Polish cultural and historical heritage we organised some events in our school and hometown as well as coach trips to Cracow and Warsaw. The other 3 student exchange visits took place in Burgos, Gran Canarias and Sophia. Each time the hosts showed us the most significant and beautiful places as well as culture and tradition of their country and region. We could also learn about the Spanish and Bulgarian educational systems and the way the lessons are led in these countries. The teacher part of the project was as fruitful as the one involving the students. 3 methodological courses whose topics involved methodology of TIK teaching, project work, g-learning, gamification (i.e. teaching based on computer games) were carried out. The teachers shared the knowledge with the other colleagues in their schools and implemented them successfully in their teaching methods. As mentioned above, we used project work in the course of the project itself in order to complete its main objectives such as cultural education and tolerance promotion. Each stage of activities, establishing overall aims and evaluation criteria were based on project work. Moreover, the projects which the students did during the classes have their final products in the form of a multimedia presentation, a virtual book or iconography. In order to complete their projects the students used the following IT tools: ganial.ly, storybird, prezi or padlet. Besides mobility visits, we also completed a number of tasks that involved our students’ participation in various topic contests, called e-contests as they meant completion with IT tools, too. Thus, the students were supposed to prepare, e-proverbs, e-christmas. a grand Euro-Chef competition. The students of each partner schools also created their logo and mascot of the project. We there are a number of websites: “Learning to learn” - https://erasmusliceoix.wixsite.com/learningtolearn devoted to all the partner school and www.erasmusplus.lo9.wroc.pl in Polish. All the activities undoubtedly brought in a lot of benefits to both: the students and the teachers, contributed to the significant growth in language and culture competence as well as motivation in both groups. We encourage everybody to use and apply all the opportunities that Erasmus+ Programme offer. The project was a two-year-long period of strenuous work which gave us a lot of satisfaction, brought in lasting results and left all the involved with unforgettable memories.