The project „Two rivers, Two countries - One Europe“ represents a new level of the school partnership between Middleschool Oberschule Trebsen in Germany and Secondary School Aizkraukles Novada Vidusskola in Latvia. The objective of the project „2R2C-E“ is to raise young people's interest in another European country, in the schools and in learning, in one's own native country, culture and traditions. English project groups as well as the planned mobilities to Latvia and Germany will contribute to this goal. The rivers Mulde in Germany and Daugava in Latvia are an integral part of the local landscape. Both rivers and their influence on local economy and culture play the key role in the project. The first contact, the aim of which is to develop pupils' social und language skills, will be the exchange of self-made pupils' profiles written in English language. To strengthen the spirit of community and to discover more facts about project partner's culture, history and geography, project groups will develop their logo ideas for the project „2R2C-E“. Created logo ideas will be displayed on eTwinning platform for voting, which will be a further step to developing pupils' learning skills. The next topic after getting to know one another and promoting the spirit of the project will be "Power of Water – Curse or Blessing". Project groups will focus on economic, historic and cultural aspects of both rivers during their mobilities. Before presenting their research results to the partner school, pupils will find out more about local enterprises and some typical industries located near the rivers. An object of particular interest in Aizkraukle is Water Power Station which as the largest of the three in Latvia, is capable of providing electric energy for the whole country. Similarly, there is a unique historic ship mill on the river Mulde in Höfgen as well as two modern companies, the paper factory „Julius Schulte Trebsen GmbH& Co.KG and Mondi Trebsen GmbH. Pupils will get acquainted with paper processing, a booster of local economy in Trebsen. Project groups will actively participate in a paper making workshop in the premises of historic manor Trebsener Rittergut. As the counterpart to the benefits of the power of water pupils will also explore the negative aspects of it. They will analyse the floods' negative impact on local surroundings as well as the means of flood control which plays an important role in both countries. The topic City on the river, in this case the cities Riga and Dresden, will be another key point of the project. Before their stay abroad, pupils will exchange their presentations of both cities' most important sites. They will be able to choose their own preferred form of presentation in English. Host project partners will develop a city rallye "Follow the tracks of water" for the visiting pupils. Personal competence and learning skills of the pupils will be trained through giving them enough space and time to creatively set their own objectives, to develop, and finally, to successfully present their product to the guests. These could be photo collages, videos, wall newspapers or other forms of a product. The project „ 2R2C-E“ continually focuses on language learning and teaching. Almost all created materials and means of communication during the project will be in English. Moreover, during mobilities, both target groups will have plenty chances to improve their conversational skills in English and in this way to develop their social skills. Interesting and essential to this project is the set horizontal priority the professional support among the teachers. The chance of getting to know one another, comparing the learning and teaching environment of both schools, encountering other culture widens the horizons. The school life, school buildings and interior of the project partners differ in many ways. Teaching programmes and clubs for the pupils vary considerably which can be seen as an chance for enriching and intensive exchange of ideas. Aizkraukle Secondary School is one out of hundred Latvian schools participating in the national pilot project that focuses on strengthening pupils' selfcompetence. Promoting pupils' competences and skills has been playing a central role in Germany for some time now and can therefore become an inspiring and productive exchange of teachers' know-how. All the materials which will be created during the project (Power-Point, collages, city rallye, films, etc.) can claim to be used in lessons and in extracurricular activities afterwards. They will be able to motivate course supervisors and class teachers and serve as a pool of ideas for both schools in the future.
A new partnership of Oberschule Trebsen and Aizkraukles Novada Vidusskola came to life thanks to Erasmus + project. The projet topic “Two rivers, two countries – one Europe“ extends as the major thread throughout the entire project period. August 2019 became the starting point of the first activities in the preparation of the project. Both schools completed the project groups. In order to attune themselves for the new project, our students did their first online research for the basic information of the new partner’s country. They got acquainted with the foreign culture and typical national characteristics. In order to find out more about one another, students created individual profiles of themselves in English. Skillfully designed letters were sent to by the traditional mail to the partners. Latvian students received an additional quiz „German challenge“, a small task in German language for the partners in Aizkraukle. In October 2019, a preparatory meeting was fixed with our Latvian colleagues. We set the further objectives and their implementation. A rough outline of the first mobility was arranged. The exchange of the students’ profiles at the beginning awoke the first deeper interest in the project partners. Further contacts via social media followed between the students in a natural way. A common project logo was chosen by the participating students after several votings in a democratic way. The main activity in November was to get a short insight into the school life of the partner. Students took detail pictures of their school and sent these to the partners who created a wall newspaper in a collage technique. The next step was to prepare the first mobility. The students worked out the route of a sightseeing tour in their school town Trebsen located on the banks of the river Mulde. Our students prepared themselves for the role of the guides. The main topic of each sightseeing tour was our connection to the river Mulde. Our direct location close to the river made it easy to implement. December was the time for creating individual Christmas cards. The students worked highly motivated and included short stories and anecdotes in their greetings. At the same time, there began the work on the presentations about the central topic of the project – the valley of the river Mulde. The activity lasted until February 2020. Devided into five groups, our students did the research in the following topics: the local plant life and animal life, culture, economy and the sights of the region in Muldental and near the Daugava. February was intensively used to rehearse the presentations and the sightseeing tours. Each group worked out a short additional quiz for the visitors. It was March and the time had come. The Latvian partners visited Trebsen. It was an unforgettable week full of action. All the students checked in at the youth hostel Grillensee in Naunhof. The ice was quickly broken and a very active language and cultural exchange took place. Additionally to the common leasure time activities such as outdoor games, board games and the party night, there was a range of cultural highlights. We visited Dresden and its landmark the Frauenkirche on a sightseeing tour and found out more fascinating things about our human senses at the Hygienemuseum. Our visitors gained an insight into the school life of Trebsen by attending several lessons and spending the breaks together on the schoolyard. The hosts showed their hometown and their school. In order to deepen the project topic, we organized a geological workshop at the manor Rittergut Trebsen. After having listened to the fascinating history of the volcanic origins of the local area and particularly the valley of the Mulde, students designed a „friendship stone“ in a form of a pendant. Our students had gathered the pebbles on the banks of the river beforehand. It was a wonderful and highly educational week with emotional farewell tears for many students. In the time period between April 2020 and August 2021, due to the new hygiene regulations our students cooked some traditional and beloved German and Latvian dishes. The students cooking videos and a cookery book. The slow Internet connection at our school in Trebsen made it impossible for us to meet online with our Latvian friends. Luckily, the social networks Instagram and Snapchat did the job. All in all it was a fantastic experience. The students and the teachers gained a lot through the project, even if it could not be fully realized. All participants widened their knowledge not only about one’s own countrie’s culture, history and economy. In the same way they deepened their knowledge about the partner’s native country. As for the language and communication skills, there was a noticeable positive impact on the self-confidence of the students. It was interesting to compare the differences in the learning process and learning environment in both schools and generally in both countries.