With the development and availibility of the Internet, information of all kind is easily accessible. High school students are able to look up a piece of information but they do not try to work with it any further, examine it or put it into context. However, working with a piece of information, its processing and interpretation are essential skills demanded by future employers. That is why the high school students from five countries and their teachers will take part in this project. The aim of this project is to arouse students' interest in UNESCO cultural and natural heritage, even in other than homeland countries. The students should understand the value of such heritage, learn about it, and work with information about the heritage. The other goal of this project is to improve the students' basic skills and competences in critical thinking, communicating in a foreign language, and giving presentations. Moreover, the project also aims to widen the students' and teachers' cultural and inter-cultural knowledge, and to develop their social empathy. By using workshops, the students will have a chance to try out selected activities connected with arts and crafts oe preservation of nature, and gasp the importance of their work. Thanks to this practical approach , the students will realize how vital their further self-education is, and the teachers will be able to develop professionally.
With the development and availibility of the Internet, information of all kind is easily accessible. High school students are able to look up a piece of information but they do not try to work with it any further, examine it or put it into context. However, working with a piece of information, its processing and interpretation are essential skills demanded by future employers. That is why the high school students from five countries and their teachers took part in this project. The aim of this project was to arouse students' interest in UNESCO cultural and natural heritage, even in other than homeland countries. The students could understand the value of such heritage, learn about it, and work with information about the heritage. The other goal of this project was to improve the students' basic skills and competences in critical thinking, communicating in a foreign language, and giving presentations. Moreover, the project also aimed to widen the students' and teachers' cultural and inter-cultural knowledge, and to develop their social empathy. By using workshops, the students had a chance to try out selected activities connected with arts and crafts or preservation of nature, and gasped the importance of their work. Thanks to this practical approach, the students realized how vital their further self-education is, and the teachers were be able to develop professionally. Schools from five different countries took part in this project: Italy, France - Réunion, Portugal - Madeira, Bulgaria and Czechia. The students were between 13 to 19 years old. Following products were made: Guide book - a booklet about UNESCO natural and cultural heritage. It consists of 25 texts about 25 different UNESCO sites, 5 from each country, written in English. PowerPoint presentations - a CD with 25 presentations of 25 different UNESCO sites, 5 from each country, written in English. Documentary - a movie about each meeting of the project participants. The documentary consists of 5 short movies, 1 from each country. Websites - consisting of photos, program of each meeting, and things about the project. Logo of the project. Calendar - with photos taken by participants of the project Exhibition of 5 posters made by students, consisting of photos of UNESCO sites from 4 countries each. Each short-term exchange of group of pupils activity had basically the same schedule: 3-phase method was used, i.e. 1. Theory: Presentations of UNESCO sites (one from each country) were presented, the texts were used as texts for the guide book. 2. Experience: Participants visited at least one (but usually more) UNESCO site. 3. Workshop: Participants did some practical activity connected with arts and crafts,or preservation Durig the meetings video was shot and photos were taken to make the movie and calendar. Also logo was chosen, because the participants prepared some in their home countries. All participants also got certificates confirming their taking part in the project. The project influenced all the people who took part in it, the students now love EU programs, are more interested in foreign languages and culture, and are more motivated for their studies, travelling, learning history and architecture.