We are Europeans, but do we really know each other? What do we know about the other countries of the EU? What do we have in common? Where do our families come from? Who are we? Those were the questions we had in mind when we started developing our project. Our students are keen on getting to know the other European. There were several things we found out: 1. We do not learn much about our European neighbours in the news on TV. 2. The popularity of student exchanges, the open borders in the EU, the EU itself and the free movement of workers show that the knowledge of foreign languages is an essential condition for a successful career. 3. We need a trigger to increase our student’s interest in learning languages. These three aspects were the ones that we started our work with. The students/youngsters (between 13 and 16 years of age) show a higher motivation for learning languages if they are able to get into contact with young people from other countries and to discuss problems they are of interested in. The students will present their countries to the others. They will make presentations on the following topics: My school and me; the region/town I live in; media; food and nutrition; what is important about my home country; migration; environmental protection. Several subjects will be involved in our project: Biology, Geography, History, Arts, Music, Science, Technology, Economics and off course the language departments (German, English, French and Italian). The above-mentioned topics will be used for producing short films (capsules) in several languages (German, subtitles in English and in the mother tongue). The films will be sent via our e-twinning platform to the other participants who will use them in their lessons. At the end of the project all of the capsules will be used to produce a film titled “Insights in modern Europe” which will show the life of young Europeans from their point or view. Producing this film will also be a new and unconventional means of tuition. It is intended that the film will be used by other teachers after the end of this project, too. We have planned to involve regional Television broadcasting stations (eg. Hessischer Rundfunk, France3, Omütz TV) in the production of “Insights in modern Europe”. In addition to making the film, there will be five meetings, too. During those meetings the students of the different countries will present their favourite subjects, favourite actors, favourite films and TV-series, the fashion they like, their favourite books and favourite artist to the others and will participate in discussions on various topics. The educational system of each country will be introduced to the teachers and all of them will be sitting in on lectures, too. Quizzes about the countries visited will be developed. Workshops and visits of cultural sights (they will be used to produce the capsules) will be organized by the host countries. The students will investigate the lives of the families they visit. At the end of our project, the students and teachers will have learnt about different means of teaching, the culture of the partner countries and will have made new acquaintances. They will have learnt about the cultural differences regarding family life, and will be able to understand the people of the other countries better. While working on the project the young people will increase their interest in other countries and cultures, they will become more tolerant towards other cultures and will know their own country much better. They will improve their abilities to use other foreign languages than English and they will manage to use new technologies, too. They will also learn a lot about the European Union. All in all they will be motivated to learn more, will become more independent, will have learnt to work in an interdisciplinary manner. They will have been confronted with different means of teaching. Their knowledge of English and other foreign languages will have improved as will their ability to use computer technologies. The teachers will have deepened their knowledge of their own subject as well as their ability in managing projects. The teachers will also have got a better knowledge of the EU. In the partner schools changes will become obvious, too. Teachers will do more teamwork, the teachers and the administration team of each school will improve in working together. New subject contents and new methods will have been developed. Students and teachers will have formed a new community. Our schools will have learnt to work together on a European level, which will have an impact on the reputation of our schools. Maybe we will reach the standard of becoming an e-Twinning school. Those improvements will have an influence on the way we will teach, plan terms etc. (competence groups, interdisciplinary nature etc.)
Our project brought together five countries: Germany, France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia with schools that are attended by pupils aged 11 to 17. These students wanted to get to know other European countries. We have noticed that we learn very little about the daily lives of our neighbours through our media. Moreover, the global expansion of trade, the opening of borders and European integration show that the knowledge of a foreign language is essential. Students shared what they knew with other young people. They introduced their country through the following subjects: their school, their city, their region, their use of the media, culinary specialties, the charm of their country, environmental protection and emigration (“my origins”). The students made short films (referred to as “capsules”) and presented them on the E-twining platform. Several capsules were made on the same subject. The platform was also used for exchanges between students and teachers participating to the project (photos, short films showing our working meetings or our visits, quizz). In addition to this work, five one-week-long meetings took place involving the students in partner countries during which they lived daily in a host family, discovered a cultural program and a different school system as well as teaching methods in each country, they met the school administration staff, they were greeted in the town halls. What is more, four four-day-long working meetings took place involving the teachers (harmonization of the results and their evaluation, progress of our learning practices and our capsules, preparation of our reports). The exchange of digital and interdisciplinary skills has been reinforced by this international cooperation. Students, especially those who came from less educated and socially disadvantaged families, had the opportunity to meet their counterparts from other countries and to learn more about how they think and live. The E-twining platform “Twin Space”, a safe and innovative learning resource, has been used by all the countries for this very purpose. We tried to put down prejudices, to practice open-mindedness, to promote self-esteem and to reinvent the endeavour of learning. The students involved had to behave in an impeccable manner and had to show the progress of their knowledge. Parents were also involved in the project since they remained in constant touch with their children. At the end of each year, an activity report was drawn up. After 26 months of collaboration a film “Einblicke in Europa / Regard sur l’Europe / An Eye on Europe” showing what the students of each country have made was produced in France. A book exposing our project and its conclusion was also published. Our interdisciplinary project was a form of unconventional and modern teaching in which the students participated with great motivation. Students rarely have the opportunity to use foreign languages outside of teaching classes. During the meetings, they talked to other young people, to host families and to teachers. In this way, they could check their language skills. Of course, even teachers have deepened their methodological and language skills.