This "Europe in motion" project aims to encourage pupils to work together on the basis of their common European heritage. The interdisciplinary project of bilingually taught subjects (Drama, Art, Music and PE) is the development of a sports competition and a play entitled "Europe in motion". Choral, dramatic, artistic and sporting performances deal with the theme of the new mobility in Europe and the world. The participating pupils are in the 9th - 11th grade. In preparation, the participants receive impulses through various workshops planned and carried out by the teachers of the participating countries. Our Swedish partner school is responsible for the workshop "Entrepreneurship". The workshop "Competitive sports" with the project experience of the traditional UNESCO Run in Ptuij is carried out by the partner school from Slovenia. The German school is organising a workshop on "European History" and the Lithuanian school is holding a workshop on "Similarities and Differences of the countries in Europe". At the beginning of the project, pupils in multinational groups will first develop a project plan (theme, material, time management, model). The sports and musical support in the implementation of the ideas will be provided by the sports, drama and music teachers or, if possible, by local clubs and theatres. Before the first meeting, the participants from all partner countries, together with teachers, parents and possibly partners from the region, collect ideas, visual material, etc., which they then contribute to the development and design of the course or an artistic performance. In the planned international exchange weeks, the pupils develop their ideas in international groups. In the first year of the project, the focus will be on sports. The participants (aged 15-18 years) from 4 different partner countries will jointly develop concepts for a "Parcour around Europe". The parcour will be designed sporty with different challenges, which deal with the project topic "Europe in motion" in contemporary history or thematically. This can be the current political topic of international understanding, inner-European differences and/or the growing together of Europe on different levels. The visual design of the course can be a journey through the cultures of Europe. The individual stations and hurdles lead the students through the political, sporting, artistic and cultural traditions of Europe. It would be conceivable to implement country-specific aspects (e.g. an Olympic/European course through the buildings of Europe). At the end of the 1st project year, a joint course developed by all participants with a sporting orientation will be created. The result of the first project year is the mutual testing of the course by project participants. It is also possible to involve active sports teachers, parents, guests, classmates or partners in the testing. The course will then be made available to other schools or regional institutions at various levels of difficulty. In the second year of the project, the focus is on the subjects of performing arts and music. The students approach the topic "Europe in Motion" through acting and music. Cultural differences and similarities are worked out in multinational groups as in the first year of the project. As an introduction to the topic, the individual participants introduce themselves with short commercials and the pupils exchange ideas on existing stereotypes of their countries. These can be typical national dance performances, cabaret performances, small plays or talk shows with famous European (historical or contemporary) personalities. Students with instrumental and vocal training will be separately prepared for the project by the music teachers by developing a joint piece of music. The school bands of each school will be involved by accompanying the performance. The result of the second year of the project is a joint performance in which the individually developed genres are brought together. These performances take place in smaller regional theatres in the respective host country. The video recordings of the performances will be uploaded to the school websites of the participating partner countries and can be used as suggestions for further projects.
The "Europe in motion" project supported the cooperation between students based on their common European heritage. As a cross-curricular project, students engaged with their common cultural heritage and the new mobility in Europe and the world through various activities within the framework of Drama, Music and PE, which are taught bilingually in some of the partner schools. The shared media for this project were a shared Dropbox, different apps for creating digital games and Padlets, where the students could upload their contributions, videos and photos. During the exchange weeks, the students used English as a means of communication and were supported by the accompanying teachers and hosts. In preparation for the project work, the participants received impulses through various workshops that were created and conducted by the teachers of the participating countries. At the Teachers' Pre-meeting in Rostock (Germany), the workshops "Entrepreneurship" and "Compete vs Co-operate" were presented, which provided very practical methodological and content-related support for the design of the exchange weeks. Before the 1st student exchange week in Kinna, the students from all schools created a video in which they introduced their group, their school and themselves through individual contributions. In addition, the students filled in a so-called T"student profile", which the teachers used to organize the matching of two partner students each. The partner students stayed together for the entire duration of the project. With the help of social media, they were able to quickly get in touch with each other. The first exchange week took place in Kinna (Sweden). The content of the cooperation in multinational groups was the creation of a "Parkour around Europe", an acquaintance with traditions and cultures of the partner countries based on a sports challenge for all participants. At the end of the exchange week, the results were practically tested by all participants in the form of a parkour by passing through the individual stations with various sporting, exciting, intellectual and humorous requirements. The 2nd exchange week in Rostock (Germany) could unfortunately not take place due to the COVID-19 pandemic. So the teachers organized some digital activities to keep the contact between the students. The students prepared videos in which they presented their work in the home office, described specifics of their own digital work in the classroom, and reported on difficulties and opportunities in the daily routine. The schools sent each other seasons greetings for the common holidays and presented cultural traditions, e.g. in the form of recipes for regional food or activities that the countries' traditions have at certain times of the year. The following two exchange weeks could not take place physically due to the ongoing pandemic situation and the regulations of the schools in the individual countries. In preparation for the second exchange week on the theme of "Parkour around Europe", the teachers organized a sporting challenge in which all participants of the project could participate - the "Erasmus+ Distance Challenge". The goal was to symbolically "visit" each other and cover exactly the distance that our schools are from each other - 2651 kilometers. This could take the form of sporting activities such as running, hiking, climbing, cycling, skateboarding, longboarding or swimming. On a padlet, the students recorded the kilometers they had covered by documenting them via various apps (screenshots). They were also introduced to different places in their area, regional activities and stories. In the second digital exchange week, organized by Rostock (Germany), there was an award ceremony for the achieved kilometers of each country. The students used the information gathered to create digital games based on both the distance between the countries and the new knowledge gained about the places found during the sports activity. Multinational groups created kahoots, board games, virtual tours or escape games. The virtual encounter days started with joint morning work-outs. The third (digital) exchange week was organized by the Lithuanian partner school. The students created and presented virtual educational tours, e.g. to Vilnius, followed by tasks to test their newly acquired knowledge. In a very practical way, poems and stories were written in multinational groups on this content. Following a Lithuanian tradition, a so-called "Straw garden" was then made in partner work in all countries, the creation of which could be followed via video link. Through the joint practical work, the students learned to appreciate the unique cultural traditions, handicrafts and customs. The evaluation of the week was done through Mentimeter. Fortunately, the fourth exchange week could again take place as a trip to Slovenia. All students were very happy about this and especially enjoyed the direct exchange with their partner students. Many friendships were made and the farewells took place with tears. During this week, according to the tradition of each country, legends and stories were told and used as a basis for the joint preparation and performance of a play. In the following e-book all activities are described and supported with photos and videos: https://t1p.de/4icwh. The cultural values, the different customs and the common European roots of each partner country determined the atmosphere and were the basic idea of all exchange weeks. The students worked very closely together and learned from each other. They conducted analyses, discussed and also dealt with their own cultures. Through shared experiences, workshops, and hands-on experiences, they learned to appreciate each other's different cultures and, along the way, practiced the use of English.