Crossing Borders with Modern Media and Drama (CBMD) promotes creative teaching and learning English though using modern media and drama. 72 learners aged 15-17 and 8 teachers from Poland, Romania, Italy and Bulgaria will each present their schools and countries, customs and traditions, work with English literature as well as national poetry with its English translations. Apart from drama, smartphones, various apps and the most common social media tools like Facebook, YouTube will be used as useful tools in the project. First, there will be emails exchanged between the pupils in order to get to know their projects partners. Then the pupils will make short presentations about their schools, towns and countries in order to make their partners aware of their roots, culture and everyday lives. The next step will be working on the drama productions which will be acted during the visits in partner countries. Besides, all the activities will be photographed and posted on the project webpage. The project is student-centered. The main objective of this work is not only to break down the prejudices among the students about not being able to use English in daily life, but also to create innovative methods and authentic materials to meet needs of today's learners. Another major goal of this project is to bring innovative perspective to English language teaching. Moreover, when the teachers realise the importance of innovative methods and creative materials in learning a foreign language, the teaching process will broaden students' minds. Through participation in the following project, students will become aware that they can use English as a communication language if they want. They will break down their prejudices about not speaking and understanding the foreign language. Students will further their personal development by working in a team, following the rules, and seeing the benefits of their hard work, which will culminate in the performances of plays and poetry. Students will have the opportunity to show and develop their creativity as well as to show their individual talents by participating in the creation of art products for each performance including brochures, posters, masks, and other dressing props. These works will be included in an art exhibition at each meeting prior to the plays. Traveling to different countries and living with host families will also provide new insights for students and will help them to develop their personal capabilities and self esteem. On the other hand, teachers will ensure that students can achieve success in English easier if the innovative methods and creative materials are used. Teachers will have the opportunity to compare the differences between teaching methods in partner countries. Besides this, they will all gain new experiences and create authentic attractive materials. We will be able to make precise assessment about the weaknesses and strengths of methods, techniques and materials to be used in language classes by the experiences of our colleagues in other European countries.
Crossing Borders with Modern Media and Drama (CBMD) promoted creative teaching and learning English though using modern media and drama. 72 learners aged 15-17 and 8 teachers from Poland, Romania, Italy and Bulgaria each presented their schools and countries, customs and traditions, worked with both national and English literature and participated in various workshops. Apart from drama, smartphones, various apps and the most common social media tools like Facebook, YouTube were used as useful tools in the project. Some of the planned activities included: - preparing performances: international play The Merchant of Venice, 5 short sketches, international play Women’s Kingdom, 4 scenes from Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; - active participation of teachers and students in different workshops: Folk workshops, Cultural and Historical workshops, Drama workshops, The Edutainment Workshops, Art and IT workshops, Crossing Geographical and Historical Borders workshops, Music and Dance workshops or Team- building workshops. The main objectives of Crossing Borders with Modern Media and Drama project were: - sharing of good practice examples and experiences- ice breaking activities, different workshops, language games, innovative methods of teaching, authentic materials, - improved English skills, cultural awareness, drama and IT skills, knowledge (of geography, art, history, customs, traditions, gastronomy etc.) among students and teachers involved, - the development of positive values (friendship, respect, dignity, responsibility, tolerance, solidarity) - facilitating openness to innovative practices regarding the teaching, learning and evaluation of English in each partner school, -the development of creativity, flexibility, cooperation, media literacy and awareness and interest in other European countries- their core values, cultural heritage, educational systems and lifestyles. Through participation in the following project, students became aware that they can use English as a communication language if they want. They furthered their personal development by cooperating in a team, following the rules, and seeing the benefits of their hard work, which culminated in the performances of plays and short sketches. Students had the opportunity to show and develop their creativity as well as to show their individual talents by participating in the creation of art products for each performance including brochures, posters, costumes, and other dressing props. Traveling to different countries and living with host families also provided new insights for students and helped them develop their personal capabilities and self esteem. Long-term benefits have involved several aspects of crucial importance: - enhancing positive leadership as a role-model among students, - implementing in everyday teaching the good practices shared from the partners, - further cooperation between the partner organisations.