The project is aiming at development of a new and innovative educational approach that is expected to be used in formal settings in primary schools and hence contribute in creating a more sustainable and environmentally responsible European society. This project will use the created learning modules for teachers and students in the previous SMILE project as a basis for development of an educational board game and a series of workshops in primary schools. The main objectives of SMILE and PLAY project are the following: - promote the topic of cycling and sustainable transport - through language based learning/teaching and adoption of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and Gamification methodologies in primary schools through an innovative teaching approach and non-formal education practices; - provide learning of a foreign language regarding the theme of sustainable development or particularly in sustainable transport and mobility; - raise awareness on sustainability issues and sustainable mobility; - introduce non-formal education approach in primary schools in order to create a positive learning environment and foster creativity and teamwork among pupils. The necessity for this type of project arises from the following social issues: -Low level of independent users of a first foreign language where according to EC survey (First European Survey on language competences, 2012) foreign language learning in Europe is quite poor: only 4 in 10 pupils reach the ‘independent user’ level in the first foreign language, indicating an ability to have a simple conversation, while only 1/4 attains this level in the second foreign language. The SMILE and PLAY project, through the development of an innovative approach, addresses this problem in line with the EC recommendations, such as that “pupils should start earlier in life to learn foreign languages”. The methodologies that will be used combine learning English language through board game and interactive workshops. Furthermore, the project addresses the theme of sustainable transport and mobility, in compliance with the EC’s recommendation: ”teaching should be improved with the help of innovative methods, including Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) where non-language subjects are taught through the medium of a foreign language”. Throughout its future development among Europe’s primary schools, the project SMILE and PLAY will contribute to achieving the Europe 2020 ET targets (Benchmark proposed by the EC: by 2020, at least 50% of 15 year-olds should attain the level of independent user of a first foreign language) on increasing the number of pupils learning the English language. - Lack of sustainable transport and mobility in urban areas where according to EEA urban traffic is responsible for 40% of CO2 emissions and 70% of other pollutants (European Environment Agency, Rojas-Rueda, 2012). On the other hand, in 2010 only 7,4% of European citizens used bicycles for daily displacements, as a primary means of transportation, compared to 52,9% of people that used a car (Eurobarometer 2011). European cities are facing with difficulties towards reducing the Greenhouse gas (GNG) emissions and the total impact of the transport sector, in order to improve citizen`s life quality. The promotion of healthy and sustainable lifestyles among European citizens, especially children will contribute to future change of their daily habits and also changes in urban mobility patterns in the European Cities. Recently the best practices showed that children’s learning performances increase and they have better learning results when they make practical activities and have fun doing it. In line with this, the SMILE and PLAY project promotes the use of CLIL and Gamification methodologies, while spreading the principles of sustainability among pupils, aiming at creating a better European society. The target groups of the project will primarily be primary school pupils of the partner countries for which the partner organizations have established connections and for which schools have agreed to test the project outputs and one public primary school which is partner in this project. The project SMILE and PLAY aims at strengthening the existing linkage among different European countries in order to widen the collaboration between organizations, educators and schools, improve the educational offer for pupils, enrich educators background with international experiences and intensify the learning language activities for staff involved, both from schools and organizations.
The project SMile and Play was implemented successfully in an extended timeframe due to the outbreak of the Corona Virus, SARS COV2. During the project's implementation, the main aim was achieved - development of a new and innovative educational approach that is already available and used in formal settings in primary schools. This project used some of the resources from the initial SMILE project, implemented by ReBike in consortium with Eco Logic and Zali (plus other EU organizations) back in 2017. The resources served as a base for further development of the main product of the current SMILE AND PLAY project - the educational game, which was initially planned as a physical and podf version, but due to the shut down of educational institutions, the game was produced also as an online/digital version. The main objectives of SMILE and PLAY project were fully delivered, as follows: - Obj. 1: promote the topic of cycling and sustainable transport - through language based learning/teaching and adoption of CLIL (Content and Language Integrated Learning) and Gamification methodologies in primary schools through an innovative teaching approach and non-formal education practices; / This objective was delivered through the actual production of the intellectual output - educational board game, as well as through its development process, where teachers and pupils from 5 elementary schools from 3 countries were actively involved. - Obj. 2: provide learning of a foreign language regarding the theme of sustainable development or particularly in sustainable transport and mobility; / This objective was delivered through the integration of cycling-related terms, situations and definitions in the content of the game itself. The game itself is designed around the topic of cycling, seen from a sport, healthy habits, family time and sustainable transport point of view. - Obj. 3: raise awareness on sustainability issues and sustainable mobility; / This objective was delivered through intensive dissemination and promotion activities on social media, email data bases of the project consortium, as well as through their networks, such as Eco Logic's network in Macedonia - "Velo Schools", consisting of 147 schools (30.11.2020) who were involved in raising awareness activities. - Obj. 4: introduce non-formal education approach in primary schools in order to create a positive learning environment and foster creativity and teamwork among pupils. / This objective was delivered through the development and integration of the educational game, and through the delivery of series of workshops with the teachers and pupils from the 4 participating schools within the project. During these workshops the teachers had the chance to be trained and informed on how to use non formal approaches in their daily work. The target groups of the project were primarily primary school pupils but also teachers from the partner countries (3 from Macedonia, 1 from Italy, 1 from Lithuania) for which the partner organizations had already established connections. The participating schools have been involved in the development of the intellectual output - educational game starting from the planning phase, going through the development, and continuing to the test phase and final integration of the game in their classrooms.