This initiative starts from early opportunities of encounters between teachers of schools working together. It involves an approximate number of 170 European students from the Czech Republic and Italy over a period of two years. The so-called YOUNG EUROPE project is aimed to increase the spirit of European citizenship and to promote the development of "well-being", good relations and proper lifestyles.It also will provide a set of activities developed in English for CLIL methodology and in Italian as foreign languages. In addition, it is aimed to empower students entrepreneurship, at the lower middle school level. In the project, the core activities are four international meetings: two in the Czech Republic (First and Second International Spring Meeting - SIM) and two in Fiemme Valley-Trentino (Dolomite International Meetings - DIM). These meetings will give the students the opportunity to meet peers of the same age, and share with them experience and ideas about a common discussion focus, as a conclusion of a common distance work carried out in the previous months. The issues of exploration will be shared with the participants in order to increase motivation and they will be focused on active involvement, proper lifestyles, social relationship, awareness of cultural identity. They will reinforce the understanding of the encounter with different cultures and common European citizenship. The development of the activities will promote access to ICT, which are playing an increasingly predominant role in contemporary society. “Young Europe” includes teamwork strategies and active working methods aimed at promoting a sense of accountability and self-reliance. The process is aimed at the production of tools of didactic and cultural interest (CLIL units and a "Young Europe Guide") which will be shared in the area where the community belongs to, and in the wider national community The project includes public meetings (Parties) and the creation and the publishing of a trilingual handbook written in Italian, Czech and English, addressed to young students. The handbook provides a guide to specific features of the areas where participant members come from, and a depth on citizenship and other issues of common interest. The project is a great opportunity for individual and collective growth. The involved organisations will benefit from international partnership and cooperative working focused on CLIL methodology. English will be the common language in planning all the activities, whom evidence will be documented by format shared with Universities or research institutes. The lingua franca will facilitate the dissemination within the professional community and among the involved schools. Evidence of the project will be shown at the national school meeting called “Festival delle Lingue” and lead in Rovereto (TN). Participating teachers will share templates and working tools during meetings or by distance communication moments (ICT). In Prague and in Cavalese, university professors or experts of international certified training centres will provide professional growth to teachers, thanks to common training in CLIL and follow up activities. The project is also qualified by an inclusive perspective which allows the overcoming of linguistic barriers and difficulties and promotes peer interaction and knowledge of European cultural realities.
This initiative started from early opportunities of encounters between teachers of schools working together. It involved an approximate number of 170 European students from the Czech Republic and Italy over a period of two years. The YOUNG EUROPE project was aimed to increase the spirit of European citizenship and to promote the development of "well-being", good relationships and proper lifestyles. It also provided a set of activities developed in English for CLIL methodology and in Italian as a foreign language, for Italian and Czech students. In addition, it was aimed to empower students' entrepreneurship, at the lower middle school level. At application time, the project included four international meetings: one in the Czech Republic (First International Spring Meeting - SIM) and two in Fiemme Valley-Trentino (Dolomite International Meetings - DIM). The fore planned second Meeting in Prague wasn't possible, due to Covid-19 pandemic. As a substitute, we organized a Virtual International Meeting, in February 2021: "The Sustainable Development Week". For each year of the project, these meetings have given the students the opportunity to meet peers of the same age, and share with them experiences and ideas about a common discussion focus, as a conclusion of a common distance work carried out in the previous months. The in-depth topics were shared with the participants in order to increase motivation and they were focused on: cultural awareness, intercultural dialogue, proper lifestyles, social relationships, European citizenship and Sustainable development. As a result, the project activities have increased cultural and intercultural awareness and they reinforced friendship between young people from different countries and the understanding of the problems we are facing in the European Community and in the wider global world. The feeling of common European citizenship has been widely increased. The YOUNG EUROPE project widely involved the use of Information and Communication technologies, which are playing an increasingly predominant role in contemporary society. The project included teamwork strategies and active working methods, aimed at promoting a sense of accountability and self-reliance. It was aimed at increasing personal competences as well as communicative and interpersonal skills. From the point of view of the professional school community, the activities were aimed at the production of tools of didactic and cultural interest (CLIL teaching units and a "Young Europe Guide") which will be shared in the area where the community belongs to, and in the wider national community. The project included public meetings (in the cities of Prague, Litomerice and Cavalese) and the creation and the publishing of a trilingual travel guide - written in Italian, Czech and English - addressed to young students. The Guide provides an introduction to specific historical and cultural features of the areas where participant members come from, and a focus on citizenship and other issues of common interest. The project was a great opportunity for individual and collective growth. The involved organizations have benefited from international partnership and cooperative working. The activities involved using English as a means of communication in learning (CLIL). This approach was found to be effective. English was the main common language in developing all the activities. Each activity was planned with the help of experts from University of Prague (Pedagogy Faculty). The use of English facilitated the spreading of good practises within the professional community and among the involved schools. It also facilitated communication among students, teachers and the wider local communities. Evidence of the project was shown at the "Erasmus+ Day 2021- Knowing to grow together" in Trento (14 October 2021), as an exemplary experience of good international exchange practices. A short film produced in the context of the project ("The forest grows in silence and music") was selected by the International Festival Jury, in the "Trento Film Festival 2020". Participating teachers shared templates and working tools during meetings or by distance communication moments (ICT). In Prague and in Cavalese, university professors or experts of international certified training centres provided professional training activities to teachers, in relation to CLIL approaches. They also gave guidance in follow-up activities. Finally, the project was characterized by inclusive methods, to overcome linguistic barriers and personal difficulties, and to promote peer interaction and knowledge of European cultural realities.