The project brings together 3 European schools – in Latvia, Estonia and Italy, to experience the benefits of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and ICT in different contexts to enrich partners' mastery and effective use of innovative teaching-learning methods supported by technologies. The project is enhancing teachers’ and students’ opportunities to share knowledge and learn new skills through collaboration. In whole about 480 students will be directly involved in the project by participating in joint lessons (using Skype in the classroom), about 40 teachers will collaborate to prepare and provide 18 joint lessons, 60 gymnasium level students will participate in the short-term learning activities (and creating a movie) and about 50 teachers – in joint training activities during mobilities. The project combines online and face-to-face learning activities for both students and teachers. Online: 18 joint Skype in the Classroom lessons will be prepared and provided in different subjects using CLIL methodology (monthly); all meetings will be online (no traditional Transnational project meetings). Face to face mobilities are targeted on students and teachers learning activities separately: three exchange mobilities are planned for 5 students from each visiting country and 10 hosting students (20 students directly involved in each 5-day Mobility). They learn together in CLIL classes and make a movie; three joint training mobilities are planned for a subject teacher and an English teacher from each visiting partner and at least 6 hosting teachers (5-day training), attracting even more teachers from the particular country. Each partner will provide training for teachers in CLIL and ICT according to their strengths and capacity to attract professionals who contribute teachers' proficiency. The project is innovative for all 3 schools involved in the project because of regular collaborative lessons via Skype in the Classroom that provide an opportunity for many students to learn together with students from different countries and for teachers - to collaborate with partners on daily bases, develop teaching methods, materials and experience. Use of technologies break down barriers between both students and teachers. Use of Skype in the Classroom is a relatively new pedagogical practice in Europe (and new in all involved schools) and is lacking strong methodology that will be develop during the project. Creative activity - movie that will be jointly made by students - is targeted to develop students' potential to use English in real situations and shared responsibility that is crucial for 21st century learning. This will foster student centered learning and will strengthen students' media competence. Creating movies, participating in workshops, traveling gives teachers and students better possibilities to develop European mindset, learn new cultures, share best practices in digital cooperation, learn about different career opportunities and also about migration issues and culture. The desired impact of the project is increased national and European understanding of the potential of CLIL for education and purposeful integration of ICT in schooling. By introducing CLIL methodology education process at school will become more modern and dynamic, related to real learning and life situations, students’ skills and abilities will be developed in compliance with labour market needs, much more teachers will have a clear vision how to implement CLIL in their classes. Besides, increased awareness of students, teachers and communities about capacity of schools to contribute 21st century learning and network of schools that are able and willing to share learning and progress will be created during the project. The project’s objective is in line with ‘Europe 2020’ Strategy promoting synergies of experience and know - how among three EU countries and different types of institutions involved in education and training.
The project brought together 3 European schools – in Latvia, Estonia and Italy, to experience the benefits of content and language integrated learning (CLIL) and ICT in different contexts to enrich partners' mastery and effective use of innovative teaching-learning methods supported by technologies. The project was enhancing teachers’ and students’ opportunities to share knowledge and learn new skills through collaboration. In whole about 500 students were directly involved in the project by participating in joint lessons (using Skype in the classroom), about 40 teachers collaborated to prepare and provide 18 joint lessons, 60 gymnasium level students participated in the short-term learning activities (and creating a movie) and about 50 teachers – in joint training activities during mobilities. The project combined online and face-to-face learning activities for both students and teachers. Online: 18 joint Skype in the Classroom lessons were prepared and provided in different subjects using CLIL methodology (monthly); all meetings were online (no traditional Transnational project meetings). Face to face mobilities were targeted on students and teachers learning activities separately: three exchange mobilities were planned and organised for 5 students from each visiting country and 10 hosting students (20 students directly involved in each 5-day Mobility). They learned together in CLIL classes and made a movie; three joint training mobilities were planned and organised for a subject teacher and an English teacher from each visiting partner and at least 6 hosting teachers (5-day training), attracting even more teachers from the particular country. Each partner provided training for teachers in CLIL and ICT according to their strengths and capacity to attract professionals who contributed teachers' proficiency. The project was innovative for all 3 schools involved in the project because of regular collaborative lessons via Skype in the Classroom that provided an opportunity for many students to learn together with students from different countries and for teachers - to collaborate with partners on daily bases, develop teaching methods, materials and experience. Use of technologies broke down barriers between both students and teachers. Use of Skype in the Classroom was a relatively new pedagogical practice in Europe (and new in all involved schools) and was lacking strong methodology but it was developed during the project. Creative activity - movie was jointly made by students - was targeted to develop students' potential to use English in real situations and shared responsibility that is crucial for 21st century learning. This fostered student centered learning and strengthened students' media competence. Creating movies, participating in workshops and traveling gave teachers and students better possibilities to develop European mindset, learn new cultures, share best practices in digital cooperation,learn about different career opportunities and also about migration issues and culture. The desired impact of the project was increased national and European understanding of the potential of CLIL for education and purposeful integration of ICT in schooling. By introducing CLIL methodology education process at school became more modern and dynamic, related to real learning and life situations, students’ skills and abilities were developed in compliance with labour market needs, more teachers had a clear vision how to implement CLIL in their classes. Besides, increased awareness of students, teachers and communities about capacity of schools to contribute 21st century learning and network of schools that were able and willing to share learning and progress was created during the project.