Five schools from five different countries from extreme parts of Europe from the farthest west (Funchal ,Madeira, Portugal,) to Latvia and Lithuania, in the far east, to the south (Italy and Spain) have met on ETwinning and have cooperated to write down and carry on a two year project, in which pupils will work on interesting topics related to being “greener”, to global warming, to climate changes, to the protection of the environment, to respect and other valuable topics, uniting compulsory curricula to day-to-day subjects and using foreign languages (English as the official language of the project), and technology as a fundament for working out their project. The project will involve about 1600 students and will focus on the production of a series of TV news about important environmental issues during each short-term exchange of groups of pupils (supported by research activities and meetings with local experts from universities and educational centres) . Contents, curricular and extra curricular subjects of the project and its concrete aim of producing Tv news documentaries, will give the teachers , the students, , the families and the communities of these school institutions, the opportunities and stimuli to apply and research new (nonformal) and inclusive teaching methods, to improve basic skills and raise pupils’ motivation, by making the learning process more interesting and effective, providing a great visible benefit, preferably on disadvantaged learners - who are the weakest target group which suffers from early school leaving and absenteeism. In so doing the project will allow the five educational institutions to offer students with special needs more attention and greater motivation to reach those learning outcomes which can be obvious for others. Participating in an international project will help these students in growing up and to feel to have the same rights to be active members of the ongoing project. The mobilities will increase in the students the will to acquire and improve new skills; the experience of living in another country mingling with other cultures and realities will improve a behaviour based on being open-minded, flexible, tolerant and skillful in English and ICT, as well as deepen the consciousness of being a responsible and active European citizen.
Five schools from five different countries from extreme regions of Europe from the farthest west (Funchal ,Madeira, Portugal,) to Latvia and Lithuania, in the far east, to the south (Italy and Spain) met on ETwinning .They collaborated to write and conduct a two year-project, in which pupils have worked on interesting topics related to being “greener”, to global warming, to climate change, to the environmental protection, respect and other valuable topics, linking mandatory curricula to day-to-day subjects and use of foreign languages (English as the official language of the project), and technology as the basis for project design. The project has involved about 1600 students and has focused on producing a series of television news items about important environmental issues during each short-term exchange of groups of pupils (supported by research activities and meetings with local experts from universities and educational centres) . Contents, curricular and extra curricular subjects of the project and a concrete goal of producing TV news documentaries, have given teachers , students, families and communities of these school institutions, the opportunities and incentives to apply and research new (non formal) and inclusive teaching. This has improved basic skills and increased pupils’ motivation, making the learning process more interesting and effective, providing a great visible benefit, preferably on disadvantaged learners - the weakest target group which suffer from early school leaving and absenteism. In so doing the project has allowed the five educational institutions to offer students with special needs more attention and greater motivation to achieve learning outcomes that may be obvious for others. Participating in an international project has helped these students to grow up and feel to have the same rights to be active members of the ongoing project. The mobilities have increased in the students the will to acquire and improve new skills; the experience of living in another country mingling with other cultures and realities have improved open-minded, flexible, tolerant and skillful behavior, skill in English and ICT have been increased as well as it was deepen the awareness of being responsible and active European citizens.