The basis of the partnership of 6 high schools from Poland, Germany, Italy, Hungary, Sweden and Bulgaria is practical knowledge and active learning in order to broaden the mind, acquire knowledge and new skills, gain essential experience and form social and civic attitudes based on intercultural dialogue. The traditional learning in the classroom will be complemented with active participation in local and European space. For the sake of multilingualism, project participants will be working in German and English. The project lasts 2 years and is carried out on 2 levels. The aim of students’ projects (level 1) is to increase the level of basic skills and acquire intercultural competences by the students, especially in terms of their usefulness for the labour market and their contribution to the cohesion of society. By overcoming cultural and social differences, students (aged 15-19) and teachers participate in building intercultural dialogue in TwinSpace on current challenges and trends in the development of the world. They present their visions, perceptions, assumptions, expectations and fears, together searching for the best solutions for both the man and mankind. The discussions on literary forums as part of successively implemented eTwinning projects 1. "Going with the times" (living in harmony with nature, the limits of civilization progress, globalization process, media power and conquering the universe) and 2. "Yours - mine - our future" (value system, interpersonal relations, virtual and real world, life in a multicultural society, tradition and modernity) will be based on the jointly developed set of books "On the way to the future" (at least 10 books, 1 for each issue) and other chosen literary works. In this we will show the informative, educational, social and intercultural value of a book. The love of reading will also be developed through the 'Literary Cafe' sub-project. Participants will create different literary forms themselves (e.g. poems, Fun Fiction works), collect aphorisms about books and reading, discuss film and theatre adaptations, make book covers and bookmarks, recommend books and encourage each other to read. This dialogue will take the form of active and practical measures during 6 international meetings (M). During intercultural week-long classes, students and teachers will be learning and working on the project together, discussing different issues in the context of "Situation today and concerns about the future" (M 1 and 4) and "Visions of the future and best solutions" (M 3 and 6) or creating campaign materials and lesson plans based on the books from the project canon (M 2 and 5). For a better mutual understanding, it will be essential to learn about the cultural heritage of the regions represented by the partner schools. The climax of each of the two eTwinnning projects will be a reading campaign, developed in synergy with the partner schools and with the support of the institutions concerned on a daily basis with the project topics. We will join the World Book and Copyright Day (April 23) with our campaigns, which each school will carry out in its school and local community. The materials used in the campaigns will be collected in the guidebook “Reading is worthwhile. Part 2”. Articles and comments published in the TwinSpace will become the basis for two successive editions of the international school magazine "Miteinander", founded during Comenius project 2013-2015. The paramount aim of level 2 is to develop efficient strategies and effective techniques for working with students, leading to a better development of intercultural competences, considered today as key competences, as well as increase the number of teachers who understand the need for such educational activities and already have some experience in this area. As part of implementing the intercultural dialogue in didactic and educational programmes, and perfecting the methods of teaching intercultural competences and adapting them to contemporary world challenges such as the need to teach students to be critical and responsible users of information and communication technologies, we plan to write an additional chapter of the Intercultural Dialogue Curriculum defining eSafety policy in international projects. The materials developed within the project will be used for didactic and educational purposes and be made available to other interested users. The project will help to create a school environment better adapted to the realities of the 21st century, based on a committed, professional, dynamic team of teachers open to interdisciplinary synergy and international cooperation, as well as on innovative and attractive educational programmes. The project will strengthen the potential of each school to work at international level, raise its prestige, and in the long run it will provide more students with professional teaching and better preparation for the European labour market and living in a globalized world.
The basis of the partnership of five secondary schools from Poland, Germany, Italy, Hungary and Bulgaria was practical knowledge and active learning in order to broaden the mind, acquire knowledge and new skills, gain essential experience and form social and civic attitudes based on intercultural dialogue. The traditional learning in the classroom was complemented by active participation in local and European space. For the sake of multilingualism, project participants worked in German and English. The project lasted 3 years and was carried out on 2 levels. The aim of students’ projects (level 1) was to increase the level of basic skills and acquire intercultural competences by the students (aged 15-19), particularly in terms of their usefulness for the labour market and their contribution to the cohesion of the society. By overcoming cultural and social differences, the participants built an intercultural dialogue in TwinSpace in relation to current challenges and trends in the development of the world. They presented their visions, perceptions, assumptions, expectations and fears, seeking together the best solutions for humanity as a whole and the individual, and acted practically to help those affected by the war in Ukraine- the project ‘For Ukraine, against the war!’. The discussions in literature forums as part of consecutive eTwinning projects 1. ‘Going with the times’ (living in harmony with nature, the limits of civilisation progress, globalisation process, the power of the media and the conquest of space) and 2. ‘Your, mine- our future’ (value system, interpersonal relations, virtual versus real world, life in a multicultural society, tradition and modernity), based on the jointly developed book canon ‘On the way to the future’ (50 books) and other chosen literary works, demonstrated the informative, educational, social and intercultural value of books. A love of reading was also fostered through the sub-project 'Literary Café', in which the participants created various literary forms themselves (e.g. poems), collected aphorisms about books and reading, discussed film and theatre adaptations, produced book covers and bookmarks, recommended books and encouraged one another to read. This dialogue took the form of active and practical action during six international meetings: one online and five face-to-face. During week-long intercultural classes, students and teachers studied and worked together on the project, discussed individual issues in the context of ‘Situation today and concerns about the future’ and ‘Visions of the future and best solutions’) or created lesson plans based on books from the project canon and other campaign materials. For a better mutual understanding, it was essential to learn about the cultural heritage of the regions represented by the partner schools. Each of the two eTwinning projects culminated in a reading campaign, developed in synergy with the partner schools and with the support of the institutions involved in the day-to-day running of the project.As part of these campaigns, Erasmus+ students conducted lessons in German, English, their native language and a literary evening at their schools. The materials used in the campaign were collected in the guide ‘Reading is worthwhile, part 2’. The articles and comments collected in TwinSpace formed the basis for two successive editions of the international school magazine 'Miteinander', founded in the Comenius project 2013-2015. The paramount objective of Level 2 was the development of effective strategies and efficient techniques for working with students, leading to a better development of intercultural competences, considered today as key competences, as well as increasing the pool of teachers who understand the need for such educational activities and already have some experience in this area. As part of the implementation of intercultural dialogue in didactic and educational programmes, perfecting the methods of teaching intercultural competences and adapting them to contemporary world challenges, such as the need to teach critical and responsible use of information and communication technologies, we have developed another chapter of the Intercultural Dialogue Curriculum- ‘eSafety Policy in international school projects’. The materials developed will be used for didactic and educational purposes and made available to other interested users. The project has made yet another contribution to building a school environment better adapted to the realities of the 21st century, based on a committed, professional, dynamic team of teachers, open to interdisciplinary synergy and international cooperation, as well as innovative and appealing educational programmes. It has strengthened the potential of each institution to act at an international level, raised its prestige and, in the long term, will provide more students with professional teaching and better preparation for the European labour market and life in a globalised world.