The idea of the project was to compare our methods with those of the partner schools and to optimize our own concept. The principal method of the cooperative learning which has already been successfully implemented in our school, suits the heterogeneity of our classes. Also the interdisciplinary classes with projects (p.e. bilingual and sciences projects) should be supported. The methods of cooperative learning (group puzzle, Think, Pair, Share) are useful in integrating children with little language skills because the group and pair work focuses on the interactive exchange and teamwork. We chose our partnerschools because we wanted to compare their methods and the structure of classes with our ones. As a result of this we hope to share good practice with each other.
Due to the migration crises in 2015 we started this project. We had more and more students accepted in our school who didnt speak German but who did have enough knowledge in Maths and Science. For this reason we created preparation classes with the main subject German as a foreign language with a time limit of one year. The aim was to prepare these students to be able to participate in regular classes and to follow the lessons. We came to the conclusion that one year was not enough time to prepare the students well enough. After one year we allowed these students to participate in regular Science and Maths lessons. The rest of the time the students continued with their German language lessons. This method seemed to be very useful because our foreign students were quite successful.