The background of LURE is both schools' shared belief that Erasmus Plus projects are unique in igniting and spreading positive EU citizenship values, that the immense social and cultural value of the EU cultural heritage has to be appraised and participated with concrete actions to promote peaceful international living together and EU citizenship in schools, the local environment and our nations and, finally that communicating in the foreign language is key to successful Eu contexts. Indeed the chosen achievable and sustainable objectives of our project are 1. enforcement of EU citizenship skills, 2. implementing of the social and cultural value of the EU cultural heritage, 3. appraisal of the empowering value of language learning as a process to develop abilities not only for communication but also for critical thinking and aesthetic growth. The Project includes 100 students ( aged 15-18) and at least 20 teachers from both schools who will implement the different activities at different levels. Delegations of 40 students and 12 teachers out of the total number of participants will take part in 10 short-term mobility events in the course of two years. However, the preparation, implementation, assessment and dissemination activities will involve many more participants indirectly at both schools in addition to other students and teachers ( 2700 students in total and 250 teachers) : families, administrative and technical school staff, the larger local environment. The activities are going to include: 6 short term LTTA for teachers consisting in project management meetings and job shadowing, and 4 short term exchanges of groups of pupils. All activities will be characterized by the appreciation and communication of the social and educational value of the EU cultural heritage present at a local level and international, with a focus on oral language activities in the first year leading to the students’ practice of debating and role-playing concerning different aspects of European culture and democracy including EU Parliament role-plays, and a focus on written language activities in the second year leading to the collective writing of a poetic text related with the objectives of the project, for a long lasting mural in each school. The methodology will be person-centered, hands on and will be shaped by cooperative learning and open pedagogy. The most relevant results of the project will be: the two permanent artworks in the two schools, a hosting and a “guesting” protocol to be used in future exchanges, a methodological booklet containing the rationale, description of procedures and sample materials of tasks and activities done and observed in both schools, journals and diaries of the mobility events both in writing and in posters. All written works will be posted on the schools’ websites and the Erasmus Plus results platform, the posters will be used as a memento of the project and to embellish respective school premises. The two school institutions with their teachers and students with respective families, the two local communities, directly and indirectly, will receive multiple benefits. By this project the international stance is going to be strengthened, the appreciation and practice of EU citizenship skills increased, and the appreciation of the social and educational value of the EU cultural heritage -in its celebrating year- shared in respective communities. All these results will promote proactive behaviours in front of the common issues currently challenging Europe, such as globalisation, rise of populism and the refugee crises- also in view of responsible choices needed for 2019 EU elections.
The background of LURE was both schools' shared belief that Erasmus Plus projects are unique in igniting and spreading positive EU citizenship values through the exchange of good practices- indeed the two schools had started collaborating inside previous Erasmus Plus projects. The underlying shared conviction was also that the immense social and educational value of the EU cultural heritage has to be appraised and participated with concrete actions to promote peaceful international living together and EU citizenship in schools; finally, another shared belief was that communicating in the foreign language is key to successful Eu interactions. Indeed, the chosen achievable and sustainable objectives of our project were 1. enforcement of EU citizenship skills 2. implementing of the educational and social value of the EU cultural heritage 3. appraisal of the empowering value of language learning as a process to develop abilities not only for communication but also for critical thinking and aesthetic growth. In the end, despite Covid which blocked the last two mobilities, the Project directly included 80 students (aged 16-18) and at least 20 teachers from both schools who implemented the different activities at different levels. Besides, overall, delegations of 36 students and of 14 teachers out of the total number of participants took part in 8 short-term mobility events in the course of two years ( the last 2 mobilities were replaced by us with online meetings). However, the preparation, implementation, assessment and dissemination activities involved many more participants indirectly at both schools, in addition to the schools’ students and teachers (for a total of 2700 students and 250 teachers): families, administrative and technical school staff, the larger local environment. The actual (because of the covid crisis) mobilities were: 5 short term LTTA for teachers consisting in one project management meeting and 4 job shadowing weeks, plus 3 short term exchanges of groups of pupils. All activities were characterized by the reinforcement and practice of the chosen Eu citizenship skills and by the appreciation and communication of the social and educational value of the EU cultural heritage present at a local level and international. As for the experience of English as Lingua Franca, in the first year the focus was on oral language activities, leading to the students’ practice of debating and role-playing as first steps towards European democracy; in the second year, the focus was on written language activities, leading to the collective writing of poetic texts related with the objectives of the project in the Swedish school in October 2020, and to the selection of 6 lines from renowned contemporary authors after a shared reading itinerary, for a long lasting mural in the Italian school for the activities of the last students' mobility. The methodology was always person-centered, hands on and shaped by cooperative learning and open pedagogy. The most relevant results of the project were: permanent artworks in the two schools- especially in the Italian given that the Swedish premises impose precise restrictions, printed photo journal posters of the students’ mobilities, a methodological booklet containing the rationale, description of procedures and sample materials of tasks and activities done and observed in both schools, journals and diaries of the mobility events. Most written works were posted on the schools’ websites and on the Erasmus Plus results platform, whereas the posters were used both as a memento of the project and to embellish respective school premises, like the 5 mt mural at the Ita school. The two school institutions with their teachers and students with respective families, the two local communities, directly and indirectly, received multiple benefits: reinforced friendship among partner teachers; reinforced friendship among partner students; positive atmosphere of exchange of good practices; appreciation of what it means to work together, on behalf of students; appreciation of civic competences; appreciation of the , EU cultural heritage also in the activity of reading poetry; appreciation of the use of foreign languages also for aesthetic growth. In general, thanks to this project the international stance has been strengthened; therefore a positive attitude to Eu has increased among different school members: f.e. students would like to be involved in other Eu projects and indeed another shared application has been submitted by the partner school and won. All the positive results have promoted proactive behaviors in front of the common issues currently challenging Europe, not last the disquieting Covid crisis which instead saw the two groups realize, even if online, that they were ‘on the same boat’ and could communicate experiences and views, possibly also becoming more hopeful by the inspiring poetry lines they had been working on.