The project teams in the partnership want to meet the challenges of teaching digital brains and decided to introduce content-based language teaching (CBLT), improve their methodologies, techniques and exploit the wonderful possibilities that technological devices provide. We believe in the potential benefits of CBLT and CLIL methodologies. Educational and scientific research prove the effectiveness of CBLT and CLIL, that is why they are also supported by the European Commission. We are convinced that synchronizing the work of language and subject teachers, using these methodologies and ICT devices we can improve the education standard in our schools. Second language lessons will support students’ academic acquisition in different subjects while improving their language proficiency as well. Students are actively engaged in the learning process and much more motivated to learn history, biology or geography, etc. in the second language with IT apps. Furthermore, language teachers have more freedom to choose topics, texts and activities to adjust them to the students’ needs and interest. Teachers involved in the project will attend a joint staff training where they can acquire a wide range of digital applications that they will use in their practice. They will enrich their knowledge about CBLT and CLIL methodology and learn a lot from each other about how to improve students' cognitive skills. The international cooperation of teachers in the partnership and short-term exchanges of students make the best opportunity to understand and feel what it really means being a European citizen. We would like to show everybody the magic roles of languages: obtaining knowledge and making friends.
PROJECT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVES: The teachers in the partnership tried to adjust their teaching methods to the new challenges of the digital era where our students were born. We also introduced content-based language teaching and included some materials of different subjects (Biology, Geography, Maths, History, Literature, PE and Economics) in the foreign language lessons. ACTIVITIES 1) Three teachers from each partner school took part in the joint-staff training organised by the Spanish partner, IES Hispanidad. We learnt about several useful applications, ICT tools for communicative competence improvement: video, image, podcast, cartoons, digital books, presentations, posters, mindmaps, infographics and gamification. 2) We tried a lot of them in our lessons and our students got used to them easily and were much more motivated and active in the lessons. The most popular activity was the Kahoot quizzes and students still keep asking the teachers to do them. They even created their own Kahoot quizzes and conducted them with their peers. A lot of students who were involved in the project work learnt how to edit videos and made their own project work with that. 3) Students also appreciated when they learnt some materials in Biology, Geography, History, wrote Haikus or did Pilates exercise in the French lessons. They carried out biology experiments in English, learnt Economics in French, Geography in Spanish, ITC in English. We have changed our methodology and techniques a lot. Although we still use course books, the students use their mobile phones or the school tablets in the lessons. By the end of the project, it has become routine to use ITC in the lessons both for teachers and students. 4) We had mobilities in Hungary, Poland and Italy, but we had to cancel the fourth mobility in Spain due to the coronavirus pandemic. The most enjoyable and popular activities were during the mobilities, where students were working with their foreign partners. For some students, it was the first time to go abroad and travel by plane. They were sent their boarding passes to their phones which they used at the airports. They learnt about the history and the sights of the visited towns in Hungary, Poland and Sicily and did their project work at the schools with great enthusiasm. Students who made friends with their Spanish partners were very disappointed that they couldn't meet in Santa Fe. 5) The Spanish partner organised virtual mobility activities, which attracted the most students at the schools. This kind of mobility can also be regarded as the dissemination of our project, as in each school, there were a lot of students involved in the project work and whole classes followed the programmes. They took part in the book trailer and photography contest. Creating book trailers and Kahoot quizzes also provided a great opportunity for them to improve their cooperative skills and digital competencies. RESULTS: The partners created videos and other project work - presentations and quizzes - which can be seen on Youtube, the schools' websites, TwinSpace and in the Erasmus+ Project Results Platform. LONGER-TERM BENEFITS Teachers at the partner schools regularly use ITC and several useful applications to improve the efficiency of their work and motivate their students who can achieve higher academic results. They are also convinced that it is worth teaching some materials from other subjects in the future and regard foreign languages as a tool of acquisition. This is the magic role of languages: obtaining knowledge, spreading and exchanging ideas.