Raising up bilingually in nowadays European society has long stopped being an exception. Most European capitals and big cities are cosmopolitan ones, where a walk on the streets automatically relates to contact with diversity, either in the form of culinary experiences or the sounds of more or less exotic languages. In such societies the emergence of bilingual schools is imminent. There are indeed numerous bilingual schools in Europe and there is even an online exchange platform made by and for parents of students attending those schools. Still there is no exchange platform for the teachers and students of the European bilingual schools. Our aim is to set up a network of various European bilingual schools, so that we can learn from and with one another. We are aiming to achieve three main objectives. The first one is the understanding and improvement of the European bilingual school systems with focus on strenghtening the European identity, best practice in different types of bilingual schools, school life in different bilingual schools and the future of he bilingual students in Europe. We also aim to improve our methodology, use of resources and assessment criteria when teaching bilingually. Furthermore, there will be improvement of the students`communicative skills in different languages as well as the improvement of the students`skills in ICTs. The material result we aim to achieve is an online exchange platform for bilingual European schools meant to connect participant schools, so that we can learn from and with one another. Our main priority is the social and educational value of European cultural heritage, which will be achieved by expanding the cultural knowledge we already have on one of the European country whose language we teach bilingually to a broader knowledge on all other cultures involved in this project. We are four European bilingual schools eager to expand the European dimension our schools already have, we wish to extend our cultural knowledge and intercultural competences and knowledge of other bilingual schools, to learn how schools and society work in our partner countries. Our second priority, the developement of relevant and high-quality competences is linked to the improvement of our students`communicative and ICTs skills. At the same time the setting up of the exchange platform itself is an innovative practice in the communication between the European bilingual schools, as our third priority refers to open education and innovative practices in a digital era. The understanding of the European bilingual system will be achieved through the getting-to-know-one-another presentations, the videos on our home towns, our schools and students themselves. Through these videos and the visits during which we attend classes, extracurricular and after school activities we will be able to compare the way other bilingual schools function, how they disseminate the European dimension and which specific resources and methodology they use to teach a common bilingual subject. We will understand, for example, how the Polish and Spanish schools see France in Europe and they will understand in which way the German school transports the Spanish cultural values. We will all learn in which way Germany, Spain, Poland, Holland and France contribute to Europe and in which way their cultural values are transported in school. All the activities planned require the use of the teachers`and students` (age 12-15) communicative and ICT skills. Right in the beginning, by making the videos on the home town, own school, individual presentations the students will have to operate with new media and use their foreign language skills. The same applies to the video reports and writing the news reports every 4 months. Furthermore, the students will compare a common favorite subject and visit a foreign school. They will attend classes, extra-curricular activities and give presentations on their bilingual school and compare it to the one visited. Another activity involves the teachers wiriting short articles on the the methodology and resources used when teaching in bilingual schools and similar topics. These articles will be shared on the internet site, together with the video reports and presentations the students do. Besides the platform will include a chat forum for teachers, one for students and information on the project and the links of the schools involved as well as useful links on bilingualism. WEBS is the headstone of the innovative cooperation of a great many European bilingual schools.
Raising up bilinguallRaising up bilingually in nowadays European society has long stopped being an exception. Most European capitals and big cities are cosmopolitan ones, where a walk on the streets automatically relates to contact with diversity, either in the form of culinary experiences or the sounds of more or less exotic languages. In such societies the emergence of bilingual schools is imminent. There are indeed numerous bilingual schools in Europe and there is even an online exchange platform made by and for parents of students attending those schools. Still there was no exchange platform for the teachers and students of the European bilingual schools. With WEBS we accomplished our aim of setting up a network of various European bilingual schools, so that we can learn from and with one another. Thus, the understanding and improvement of the European bilingual school systems with focus on strengthening the European identity, best practice in different types of bilingual schools, school life in different bilingual schools and the future of the bilingual students in Europe was accomplished by working together, visiting each other’s schools and comparing our bilingual systems. We also aimed to improve our methodology and the use of resources and assessment criteria when teaching bilingually, which we did by creating a common data base for all interested teachers of bilingual students. These materials are also gathered in an e-book shared with all our partner schools inside and outside of the WEBS partnership. Finally, there has been a massive improvement of the students` communicative skills in different languages as well as the improvement of the students` skills in ICTs. The material result we achieved is our online exchange platform for bilingual European schools www.bilignualschools.online . That being said, the educational value of European cultural heritage has been achieved by expanding the cultural knowledge we had on one of the European countries whose language we teach bilingually to a broader knowledge on all other cultures involved in this project. In doing so and completing our project activities, we contributed to the development of relevant and high-quality competences is linked to the improvement of our students` communicative and ICTs skills ad language skills, since most of them speak at least three languages and they made use of all of them. All the activities completed required the use of the teachers`and students` (age 12-15) communicative and ICT skills. Right in the beginning, making the videos on the hometown, own school, individual presentations the students have operated with new media and have used their foreign language skills. The same applies to the video reports and writing the news reports every 4 months. Furthermore, the students compared a common favorite subject and visit a foreign school. They attended classes, extra-curricular activities and gave presentations on their bilingual school while comparing it to the one visited. Another activity involved the teachers writing short articles on the methodology and resources used when teaching in bilingual schools and similar topics, which were shared on the internet site and in the e-book we created with all teaching materials and which is shared with all our school partners inside and outside the WEBS project. To continue, the understanding of the European bilingual system was achieved through the getting-to-know-one-another presentations, the videos on our hometowns, our schools and students themselves. Through these videos and the visits during which we attended classes, extracurricular and after school activities we compared the way other bilingual schools function, how they disseminate the European dimension and which specific resources and methodology they use to teach a common bilingual subject. Besides we understood that a new hybrid bilingual identity has emerged, as bilingual students feel they do not belong anywhere but at the same time everywhere. Actually, based on this realization we have started a follow-up project of WEBS with new bilingual partner schools, which focus exactly on this cultural dimension our bilingual roots have on our identity. Finally, WEBS Erasmus has enjoyed a huge impact and echo among all participants, who have shared their experiences with their families, friends, students` meetings and teachers` conferences. Proposals such as the implementation of foreign language assistants in classes have been brought up and the participants were able to compare systems, learn from the new schools and at the same time appreciate what their own school has to offer. That being said, the friendships started have proven so strong, that students have been visiting each other with their families outside the project, too and some are even planning a student exchange for a longer period of time. WEBS is indeed the headstone of the innovative cooperation of the European bilingual schools.