The year 2018 has been declared as The European Year of Cultural Heritage. Our heritage is very important in shaping the future of Europe. This is an important reason why we must introduce children from an early age to the country's heritage and encourage them to learn more about other countries. It is very important that children are not only aware of their state culture, history, geography, customs and traditions, but we must strive to disseminate as much information about our country as possible to others. The main idea of the project is to make children aged 3-7 years aware of the uniqueness of their country, at the same time finding common issues and strategies for preserving UNESCO's monuments, the European cultural heritage. The goal is to promote international cultural communication of children and teachers in educational institutions of different countries and to improve the English language skills by introducing the latest technologies, expanding the understanding of school communities about the cultural heritage of their country and other countries, and the cultural differences and similarities between countries. The project is divided into 6 sub-projects. WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MY COUNTRY, FOLK SONGS, TALES AND DANCES, A TRADITIONAL COSTUME-THE COUNTRY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROBE, CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS AND NATIONAL DISHES, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AND TINY HOMELAND, MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY. Three target groups will be included:children aged 3-7 years; teachers and other staff; school and community members. All the participants will have to carry out specific activities included in the project activity plan. Since the project involves 3-7 year old, and they are too young to go on learning visits, we are planning to have only teachers attending learning visits. 6 exchange visits have been planned in each partner country. Each learning visit defines the topic, the objectives of the visit and what general and professional competencies the participants will improve. The following themes will be included and developed: The use of ICT in the project activities; Innovative methods of teaching inspiring pupils' interest and learning motivation; The use of interactive and creative methods in the process of the project activities; Differentiation and personalization of the tasks and activities of the project;Development of children's emotional intelligence in the project activities; the use of theater and play method educating preschoolers. The IMPACT of the project on children will improve linguistic competences, raise motivation for learning, enhance their knowledge and skills, improve their self-esteem, increase their willingness to learn more about their country, and also other countries. Children will feel useful European citizens. The impact of the project on TEACHERS- the development of teacher leadership and personal development, innovation, innovative approaches will be increased. Teachers will develop teaching methods related to ICT teaching as well as competencies of pedagogy and didactics, management of methods, organization of activities; all these competencies contribute to the sustainable management of the institution, improvement of the quality of education and implementation of strategic goals. Teachers will broaden their knowledge of the diversity of education systems in Europe, improve linguistic competences, compare and discuss achievements and challenges with colleagues from other organizations, thus improving the quality of work. The sharing of good practices, teaching aids and activities developed and implemented through the project will strengthen the authority of the school among the country's institutions of comprehensive education. PROJECT PARTNERS- will gain valuable experience in implementing international projects, establish close contact with international partners, which will allow them to create new projects and use the products created. The impact of the project on A SCHOOL AS AN ORGANIZATION- The school will become more dynamic and receptive to change. Such a school will support initiatives, innovation, cooperation with foreign partners. The European dimension of the institution will increase, good practices will be shared across Europe. The impact of the project on SCHOOL COMMUNITY-the school-parent relationship will improve, school cooperation with the local community will be enhanced. After completion of the project, project activities will be organized with the schools of the city or country dwelling on the theme of European cultural heritage. The products created will be used in the educational process and will be promoted among educational institutions of the countries. The developed training aids and all the resources collected will be beneficial to introducing students to cultural heritage. After the project, teachers will continue to cooperate with each other not only in school but also at the international level integrating the project into different lessons and activities
Since the year 2018 has been declared as The European Year of Cultural Heritage we created a project to bring more attention into the matter. Our heritage is very important in shaping the future of Europe. This is an important reason why we must introduce children from an early age to the country's heritage and to encourage them to learn more about other countries. It is very important that children are not only aware of their state culture, history, geography, customs and traditions, but also other countries. We must strive to disseminate more information about our country to others. The main idea of the project wasto make children aged 3-7 years aware of the uniqueness of their country, at the same time to finding common issues and strategies for preserving UNESCO's monuments, the European cultural heritage. The goal was to promote international cultural communication of children and teachers in educational institutions of different countries and to improve the English language skills by introducing the latest technologies, expanding the understanding of school communities about the cultural heritage of their country and other countries, and the cultural differences and similarities between countries. The project was divided into 6 sub-projects. WHAT I KNOW ABOUT MY COUNTRY, FOLK SONGS, TALES AND DANCES, A TRADITIONAL COSTUME-THE COUNTRY'S MOST BEAUTIFUL ROBE, CUSTOMS, TRADITIONS AND NATIONAL DISHES, WHAT A BEAUTIFUL AND TINY HOMELAND, MY CONTRIBUTION TO THE COUNTRY. Three target groups were:children aged 3-7 years; teachers and other staff; school and community members. All the participants had to carry out specific activities included in the project activity plan. Since the project involved 3-7 year old, and they are too young to go on learning visits, we decided that only teachers will be attending learning visits. 6 exchange visits have been planned in each partner country. Each learning visit defined the topic, the objectives of the visit and what general and professional competencies the participants will improve. The following themes were included and developed: The use of ICT in the project activities; Innovative methods of teaching inspiring pupils' interest and learning motivation; The use of interactive and creative methods in the process of the project activities; Differentiation and personalization of the tasks and activities of the project;Development of children's emotional intelligence in the project activities; the use of theater and play method educating preschoolers. Our last visit to Estonia, to learn more about the use of theater and play in preschooler education happened virtually due to COVID-19, but nonetheless we still achieved our goal and learned about theater. The IMPACT of the project on children - they improved their linguistic competences, raised motivation for learning, enhanced their knowledge and skills, improved their self-esteem, increased their willingness to learn more about their country, and also other countries. Children became real European citizens. The impact of the project on TEACHERS- the development of teacher leadership and personal development, innovation, innovative approaches were increased. Teachers developed teaching methods related to ICT teaching as well as competencies of pedagogy and didactics, management of methods, organization of activities; all these competencies contributed to the sustainable management of the institution, improvement of the quality of education and implementation of strategic goals. Teachers broaden their knowledge of the diversity of education systems in Europe, improved their linguistic competences, compared and discussed achievements and challenges with colleagues from other organizations, thus improving the quality of work. The sharing of good practices, teaching aids and activities developed and implemented through the project will strengthen the authority of the school among the country's institutions of comprehensive education. PROJECT PARTNERS- gained valuable experience in implementing international projects, establish close contact with international partners, which allowed them to create new projects and use the products created. The impact of the project on A SCHOOL AS AN ORGANIZATION- The school became more dynamic and receptive to change. The school supports initiatives, innovation, cooperation with foreign partners. The European dimension of the institution increased, good practices were be shared across Europe. The impact of the project on SCHOOL COMMUNITY- the school-parent relationship improved, school cooperation with the local community enhanced. After completion of the project, the products created are now used in the educational process and are promoted among educational institutions of the countries. The developed training aids and all the resources collected are beneficial to introducing students to cultural heritage. After the project, teachers are still cooperating with partner countries.