The project in Spanish is named "Una Europa, muchas historias", "One Europe, many (hi)stories": In Europe's cultural heritage one can trace back the local, regional and national histories as well as many other stories which are intertwined. This project is a consequence of the necessity of reinforcing the use of Spanish as a communication language among secondary education pupils aged between 15 and 18 who learn it as a second or third foreign language. Schools in France, Germany, Poland, Portugal and Sweden are involved. The project's aim is on the one hand that mainly Spanish is used for communication among the participants. It offers an additional and complementary scene to language courses at school. On the other hand the main topic is cultural heritage which intends to be the starting point for a reflection over the past, the present and the future of regions, nations and Europe. Pupils work in transnational teams both online as well as during four meetings at the schools throughout the project. As a result, pupils grasp the values and the scope of the European identity and at the end of the 24 months they visit the House of the European History in Brussels. An approximate number of 150 pupils will participate actively as well as more than a dozen teachers, whose subject mainly is Spanish but who are also in charge of other subjects like History, Art History or Social Sciences given the transdiciplinary nature of the project. By using digital tools, pupils reinforce their knowledge of Spanish and get motivated to develop their language skills (oral and written production and comprehension) within a context of intercultural communication with other European youngsters. Participants research, present and learn about Europe's cultural heritage, considered in its widest sense (tangible and intangible culture as well as natural heritage). The results of this project are to be shared inside and outside of the five partner schools. Among the expected results it is to highlight the exchange and improvement of good practices of teaching Spanish as a foreign language among the involved teachers. Besides pupils are to acquire an improved critical thinking on Europe's past, present and future through the study of the cultural heritage, are to cope with multilingualism in Europe as well as to improve their fluency in Spanish. In sum, the project enables pupils to communicate in other languages other than their mother tongue according to the "Barcelona objective" agreed in 2002.
The project “Una Europa, muchas historias” was set up for a period of 2 years and had the aim of bringing in pupils and teachers from 5 different schools in Europe (Portugal, France, Poland, Sweden and Germany) who should get to know both themselves and the European heritage in different ways. The means of communication should primarily be the Spanish language, the use of which should lead to an improvement in language skills. Due to the corona pandemic, we had to continue the project online. Despite the extension of the project which was based on short-term mobilities, not all goals were achieved. The project participants were able to visit Braga (Portugal) and Gdynia (Poland), but had to forego Lons le Saunier (France) and Waren (Germany). The last mobility to Brussels also had to be canceled. The coordinator meetings in Waren and Skövde (Sweden) took place, but mainly served organizational purposes and class visits. The evaluation of didactic materials - topic that was planned for the encounter in Lons le Saunier and Waren - did not come about for known reasons. Since class visits / observations took place in Braga, Gdynia, Skövde and Waren and were evaluated on site, we were able to achieve the goal of exchanging methodological and pedagogical information. One of the main aims of the project was to bring the students involved in the project closer to the Spanish language in authentic life situations. Personal communication at the meeting place (Braga and Gdynia), communication in the eTwinning twinspace or preparation of an activity led to the fact that the pupils were able to use the Spanish language more and were thus able to improve their language skills (At this point it should be mentioned that the activities that were planned for the stay in France and Germany had already been prepared in detail by the pupils in Spanish, but were not used because of the pandemic). In particular, the experiences with the host families in Portugal and Poland contributed to the fact that the pupils lost speech inhibitions and understood the Spanish language as a real means of communication. Through activities that were in preparation for a short-term exchange or that had an evaluative character, the pupils were challenged and encouraged by their teachers also outside of the regular Spanish lessons. The pupils developed not only intercultural skills, especially during the international meetings, but also social skills. According to the theme of the project “Una Europa, muchas historias”, the pupils got to know and understand the local, regional, national and European cultural heritage of their own homeland and that of their European classmates. This took place in international teams in the twinspace and on site during the two short-term mobilities. At the same time, the pupils became aware of their own identity and that of others as well as the values of the European Union and learned to appreciate them better. The knowledge that the pupils gained about themselves and others during the project will shape them for a lifetime. In addition to the language gain and knowledge of individual historical and cultural aspects of other regions and countries in Europe, the project has promoted understanding of the foreign, broken down prejudices and opened doors. Even during the corona pandemic, the pupils worked as best they as could under these circumstances to achieve the project goals. The teachers tried to formulate tasks that pushed the project forward and could be processed by the pupils despite quarantine or lockdown. So we stuck to the planning and dealt with the following topics before and during the school closings: Portugal - Roman heritage, Poland - World War II, France - gastronomy. By mutual agreement, the central topic for the short-term exchange in Waren was specified and should deal with the time in the GDR under the motto “My country after World War II”. Before each planned mobility, the pupils dealt with a topic that they should be presented at the beginning of a meeting. These presentations included not only the introduction of one's own school or hometown, but also dealt with topics such as the EU from the point of view of each country or commonalities of individual countries with regard to their historical heritage. After the two student mobilities that took place, these were evaluated in the TwinSpace using different methods. We were able to achieve some of our goals, others - due to the pandemic - only to a limited extent, and a few not at all. Despite Corona, we tried to bring our pupils the European idea closer and get them excited about the Europe.