Due to their previous international mobility projects, the teachers of the Szegedi Tömörkény István Gimnázium és Művészeti Szakgimnázium (Tömörkény István Grammar School and Secondary School specialised in Fine Arts, Szeged, Hungary) and the Liceo delle Scienze Umane G. Mazzini di Locri also have positive experiences in this field. In both countries, the parents and children want their school to take part in international programmes and to provide several opportunities for their students to study in an international environment. That’s why we got in touch with the Italian school, where similarly to our institution, great emphasis is placed on teaching foreign languages. They are also looking for the opportunities to take part in international projects. However, neither of us has had experiences in cooperations, projects within the framework of KA 2 Erasmus. There are various opportunities to practice English, German and Spanish both in Italy and Hungary. The two countries are close to each other, there are lots of culture related things we can learn from each other. Both countries may attract language learners. Our main aim is to make students acquire new knowledge about culture, and to make them do different tasks and exercises together. These tasks will be created in a way to improve students’ cooperation, communication in foreign languages, creativity, and naturally, social and cultural awareness. In our current project, we employ and focus on learning methods based on real life experiences and the joy of discovery. Purposes of the project: 1. To improve and develop communication in foreign languages The language of the project is English, however we are going to encourage the students of both schools to use the second foreign language they study at school besides English (eg.: German, Italian, Spanish). It is very motivating to use a foreign language abroad, and to experience and practise in real life what we have learnt before. Another important outcome could be if our students realise that they can communicate even if their knowledge is not so good, and they are going to be less afraid of speaking and using foreign languages. 2. To improve cooperation and creativity These international cooperations are excellent opportunities to learn about other nations’ culture and to develop cultural awareness towards them. As the students will get to know each other’s culture and traditions through interesting, motivating and interactive tasks, they are expected to cooperate and work together, this way their skills of cooperation and creativity will also be improving. 3. To improve ICT competencies (Information and Communication Technologies) During the project we are working and communicating, preparing for the mobility and completing preliminary tasks on the platform offered by eTwinning, this way both teachers’ and students’ digital competencies will be improving. The students are expected to document their experiences, preparing reports, short films, articles which will be published on the websites of the schools. We hope these activities will become a part of our school routine. 4. Intercultural learning, being acquainted with the European cultural heritage Besides improving foreign languages and communication skills, we can focus on the development of social competencies as well. As the participants will stay with host families, they will face different customs, habits, values, which they must adapt. Besides speaking foreign languages, social and cultural awareness as well as individual resilience are also requirements to be able to make long lasting contacts. The programmes will offer the opportunity for students to get to know the traditions, habits, history, culture of the two regions, and some parts of their cultural heritage. This way they may have a better and deeper understanding of the two nations’ culture and life, probably they will not be able to get similar experiences during a normal visit/trip to the country. 14 Italian and 14 Hungarian students will participate in the project, together with 2 - 2 teachers from each school. The Hungarian students are going to travel to Locri in November, 2020, the Italian students are going to visit Hungary in April, 2021. They will spend 5 -5 days in each location. If our first international project with the Italian school finishes successfully, our cooperation may go on, and both schools will participate in international projects with various other foreign schools, which will make us more able to make more intensive and successful international relations.
Due to their previous international mobility projects, the teachers of the Szegedi Tömörkény István Gimnázium és Művészeti Szakgimnázium (Tömörkény István Grammar School and Secondary School specialised in Fine Arts, Szeged, Hungary) and the Liceo delle Scienze Umane G. Mazzini di Locri also have positive experiences in this field. In both countries, the parents and children want their school to take part in international programmes and to provide several opportunities for their students to study in an international environment. That’s why we got in touch with the Italian school, where similarly to our institution, great emphasis is placed on teaching foreign languages. They are also looking for the opportunities to take part in international projects. However, neither of us has had experiences in cooperations, projects within the framework of KA 2 Erasmus. Unfortunately, due to the second, third and fourth waves of the pandemic, we could not carry out the mobility project during the 2021/2022 school year. So we started the work online, and decided to make up an eTwinning project to prepare for the mobility itself. We began working together on Twinspace. Before the actual mobility, the students of the two participating schools had got acquainted with the places, locations with the help of some preliminary activities. The introduction of the places finished with a quiz. The other task was to plan a logo of the project. The students made plans for the logo, designed and uploaded them onto Twinspace. They were who voted for the best design, and the logo with the highest number of votes was put on T-shirts, which the participants could wear during the mobility. Due to the pandemic and the Ukrainian-Russian war, the mobility was finally carried out only in the last minute, in May, 2022. The purposes of the project have been realised: 1. To improve and develop communication in foreign languages During the preparatory work and the mobility, it was very motivating for our Students that they could try to use the foreign languages they have been learning at school. One of the most important results is that now our Students are not afraid of speaking in foreign languages, and their willingness to speak has been definitely increased. 2. To improve cooperation and creativity An international cooperation offers an excellent opportunity to learn about other nations’ culture and to develop cultural awareness towards them. As the students have got acquainted with each other’s culture and traditions through interesting, motivating and interactive tasks, they worked together, this way their skills of cooperation and creativity could also develop. They will undoubtedly be more inclined to and more active in participating in the life of a community in the future. 3. To improve ICT competencies (Information and Communication Technologies) During the project we were working and communicating, preparing for the mobility and completing preliminary tasks on the platform offered by eTwinning, this way both teachers’ and students’ digital competencies have improved. The students were expected to document their experiences, preparing reports, short films, articles which have been published on the websites of the schools. We hope these activities will become a part of our school routine. 4. Intercultural learning, being acquainted with the European cultural heritage Besides improving foreign languages and communication skills, we could focus on the development of social competencies as well, since the participants stayed with host families, they faced to different customs, habits, values, which they had to adapt. Besides speaking foreign languages, social and cultural awareness as well as individual resilience are also requirements to be able to make long lasting contacts. The programmes offered the opportunity for students to get to know the traditions, habits, history, culture of the two regions, and some parts of their cultural heritage. This way they could have a better and deeper understanding of the two nations’ culture and life, they could see and experience things they could not be able to during a normal visit/trip to the country. 10 Italian and 10 Hungarian students participated in the project, together with 2 - 2 teachers from each school. The Hungarian students hosted the Italian students in Szeged at the beginning of May, and they travelled to Locri at the end of May. Both Italians and Hungarians had a 5-day programme in each location. As our first international project with the Italian school has been finished successfully, this will create the opportunity for future participations in similar projects, with various other foreign schools, which will make us more able to make more intensive and successful international relations.