Our aim is to have our students/citizens get to know their partners better with a view to a better communication and acceptance of each other in their future life. It involves learning about cultural heritages, acquiring cultural competences but also getting a more critical mind so as not to fall prey to manipulation and prejudices. The 50 high-school students (25 Latvian and 25 French) will exchange, meet, work together, discover history and traditions, attend classes, live in their partners' families, experience another way of life and last but not least improve their command of English ! They will be sensitized to European current issues and become aware of what being a European means. As for the Latvian and French teachers, they will also develop their intercultural competences and learn from each other by observing different teaching practices, reflecting and exchanging on them with a view to improve their educational skills. In today’s Europe there are many threats to democracy and our youth must be made aware of the value of being able to express themselves freely. The freedom of a democratic country is often taken for granted and if our European students/citizens fall behind in essential qualities needed to be able to take part in and contribute to a democratic society, democracy is endangered. We would like these young people to take a more active part in society. The experiences gained throughout the project will trigger the students' reflections on who they are, their place in Europe and in the world. The improvement of such a general "European Competence" prepares them for living and working in Europe. Our project has a long-life learning dimension.
Our aim was to have our students/citizens get to know their partners better with a view to a better communication and acceptance of each other in their future life. It involved learning about cultural heritages, acquiring cultural competences but also getting a more critical mind so as not to fall prey to manipulation and prejudices. In the second year of the project, one mobility took place since the French could go to Latvia in December 2019 but the pandemic unfortunately prevented us from welcoming again the Latvians in France. However, over the 2 years of the project, a total of 88 high-school students (44 Latvian and 44 French) exchanged, met, worked together, discovered history and traditions, attended classes, lived in their partners' families (in the first year) or stayed at a hotel (in the second year), experienced another way of life and last but not least improved their command of English ! They were sensitized to European current issues and became aware of what being a European means. As for the Latvian and French teachers, they also developed their intercultural competences and learnt from each other by observing different teaching practices, reflecting and exchanging on them with a view to improve their educational skills. In today’s Europe there are many threats to democracy and our youth must be made aware of the value of being able to express themselves freely. The freedom of a democratic country is often taken for granted and if our European students/citizens fall behind in essential qualities needed to be able to take part in and contribute to a democratic society, democracy is endangered. We hope that thanks to this project these young people will take a more active part in society. The experiences gained throughout the project will trigger the students' reflections on who they are, their place in Europe and in the world. The improvement of such a general "European Competence" prepares them for living and working in Europe. Our project has a long-life learning dimension.