Spanish Secondary School “Miguel de Cervantes” is located in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was the first education center in Bulgaria with focus on the Spanish language and culture. Next to Spanish as a main foreign language, the students learn a second one which they can choose from between English, French, Italian and Portuguese. Currently, the school is involved in further developing and modernizing its bilingual program. The main focus lies in the development of innovative and international teaching practices and methods. Based on the experience we have gained while participating in previous projects, for the first time, we are taking on the responsibility of managing a project related to the patron of the school, Miguel de Cervantes. Our initiative received the support of: IES Miguel de Cervantes, de Sevilla, España; IPSSS Paritario "Sacra Famiglia”, Verona, Italia; Agrupamento de Escolas Latino Coelho, Lamego, Portugal; IES Las Salinas, Arrecife, Lanzarote, Islas Canarias, España, who are our partners. The Project named “The @dventures of Knowledge along Cervantes’ path” was born out of the necessity to create new teaching and learning environment, which promote social values while developing the communication and digital skills of students and professors alike. Taking into consideration each participating institution, its needs and the objectives of the “Europe Strategy 2020”, we have decided to use the topic of values, which Cervantes discuses in his main work and are fundamental in the context of European culture, as basis of our activities. The virtual group-works and the students’ meet-ups will happen in four stages, each of which is dedicated to one stage of Cervantes’ life and to one of the values we will work with: kindness, bravery, perseverance and honesty. The idea behind is to work with a classical work from the 17th century in the new digital era, using innovative tools and to engage students into creating digital learning material. The planned activities aim at showing students the rich and diverse European cultural heritage and at the same time engage them in its preservation and conservation. Innovative tools of work will enable the students to create original pieces of work throughout the project. The project’s products will be translated into the mother tongues of the students and used as commonly accessible learning material. Students and professors will collaborate through the eTwinning platform using various IT tools. Our plan includes a wide range of creative and artistic activities that aim at sparkling students’ interest and improving their inter-disciplinary competences. The project will benefit the professional development of the professors with the aim to improve the quality of teaching in an innovative way. At the same time, giving digital access to the results of the projects enables us to share our work with the rest of the educational environment throughout the whole European society.
Initial project planning was condemned in the following circumstances: - the refusal of the Italian partner school to work on a project due to the departure of the teacher involved in the project and the inability to find one instead. It is not necessary to note the S3 mobility to Italy and redistribute planning activities among the other partners and mobility. - The Covid-19 pandemic makes it impossible to verify C5 mobility to Portugal. As compensation, in the most difficult months of the unknown / May-June 2020 /, in case of maintained contact through regular virtual meetings. At the end of the planned 24 months, the Spanish school decided to include the project. The Bulgarian and Portuguese schools are looking for an extension of another 12 months, provides a condition for epidemic establishment is not checked mobility C5, providing for the participation of students. Replacement with virtual mobility in the last months of the school year also proved impossible, as the students were twelfth graders. In these circumstances, maximum efforts were made to realize the planned activities. We work together, in close communication through the eTwinning platform and social networks. Project activities were integrated into learning journals through design-based learning methods and collaborative learning. The implemented 2 mobility for staff training / C1 in Seville and C6 in Sofia / and 2 mobilities with student exchange / C2 in Seville and C4 in Sofia / were the result of good communication, joint planning and streamlined organization. The meetings were held in the spirit of friendship and hospitality. The students joined with interest and enthusiasm and as a result of the results of the efforts they achieved significant results, among which we will mention the musical "The Man from La Mancha", a performance on stage at NATFA in front of a full hall of parents, teachers and students; videos with excerpts from "Don Quixote", shot with participants from three countries; presentations on the life of Cervantes and collections of works inspired by his novel Don Quixote; special issues of the "Small School Gazette" of 164 GPIE; videos and presentations used to disseminate the results. The benefits of the project for all participants are indispensable and are highly appreciated by them and their families. Actions are recommended to interest students and their similar interdisciplinary and personal competencies. Teachers working on the project reporting the benefits of professional development and improving the quality of teaching in an innovative way. The project helped to establish lasting links between partner teachers with a view to future initiatives.