The Fritz Winter Gesamtschule Ahlen is Europe! Being part of the European community and actively keeping it is the goal of this project. The students of our upper secondary school deal with a common Europe in different teaching contexts and finally in practice: a student exchange with pupils from a school in Barcelona. We would like to achieve the following goals with this project: - Language learning with the goal of individualized multilingualism in the light of Europe's political, cultural and economic development and globalization. - Access to the Spanish-speaking world, especially in the European context, to their values, social systems, economic forms and cultures. - Building an intercultural communicative competence: through the exchange, the pupils open up information, offers of meaning and calls for action in the European context and reflect on their own cultural and social background. - Living and experiencing a common Europe. The pupils, as well as the accompanying persons, know and appreciate the European community by experiencing, reflecting and actively participating in the community consciousness, informing others and encouraging them to be part of this community as well. Above all, the promotion of a comprehensive approach to teaching and learning languages is at the heart of this cooperation between our school and the school in Barcelona. Not only the students benefit from this experience, but also the participating teachers, attendants and also the schools as a whole can gain important experiences, contacts and friendships. The social and pedagogical value of European cultural heritage, its contribution as a job driver, to economic growth and social cohesion, are also an important component in the long term and are particularly valuable for the development of Europe and its society. First and foremost, however, the joint commitment, the shared experiences, the contact and strengthening of the European youth should be in the foreground. A strengthening and appreciation of the youth through trust and confidence.
Fritz-Winter-Gesamtschule (comprehensive school) Ahlen is Europe! It was the goal of the project to be part of the European community and to help actively creating it. Due to the Corona-pandemic the originally planned meetings could only take place digitally. There was a lively digital exchange between students of our upper secondary school and students of Salesians Sarrià School in Barcelona. Most essential goals we were striving for in the context of the project, could have been achieved. The digital exchange and the preliminary activities created authentic language learning through speaking and writing, which intensified individual multilingualism. Moreover, the young people gained insight in the life and environment of same-aged students and also learned about moral values, culture and topical challenges. As a result of that, they have widened their intercultural communicative competence. Despite the distance, the connection between both partner schools could be strengthened and for the students Europe has moved a bit closer together as also their “European consciousness” has been enhanced. In order to achieve this consciousness, many authentic writing and speaking activities have been created during the preliminary planning phase, as well as during the term: personal contact, writing a curriculum vitae, presentations about the school system and the production of videos about the school and twin town. By means of democratic negotiation processes and adoption of several responsibilities, the students could strengthen their democratic abilities and they could gain skills which will be helpful with respect to their future professional career. They will definitely benefit in a Europe, which moves closer together. The participants of the project could experience that there are common interests even beyond borders of the countries. As a consequence of that, they have actively adopted their role as citizens of the European Union and gained knowledge the outstanding meaning of Europe for them (as young adults). This will definitely have an effect on their future way of thinking and acting. The products they have been working on, will be available for future participants and could be of use for further visits. The mutual overlap with respect to sustainability, as well as social, economic and political effects of the Corona-pandemic are an enormous challenge. In view of future cooperation with our partner school, those might be aspects which are worth working on so that young students can profit from their mutual engagement on a European level. Despite impairments because of the Corona-pandemic, both partner schools are looking forward to the future and many further years of reliable cooperation.