This project application came up after the pandemic and through this project, I wanted to open my school to Europe and have students understand how richer we are together, opening boarders to a new thinking and learning about others. I teach in a school where there are lots of disadvantaged families, students issued of the late immigration, and I felt the need to give them the chance to see how is "abroad", how others live, how enriching other cultures are and to what extent tolerance must be a part of their daily life. Hence the priority we chose, that is to say, diversity, togetherness and inclusion. Throughout the project, the students had to develop their knowledge of English, overcoming linguistic difficulties (during discussions, activities and work on the etwinning platform or on mobility). They had to prepare presentations and materials by using ICT tools, which developed or enriched new digital skills, and a lot of autonomy. One of my key objectives was inclusion: motivate students with special needs and those with fewer opportunities in taking part into the school atmosphere, developing enthusiasm for learning by a different approach, and being involved by any means in the project. And it is a victory!
I had completed training on Erasmus projects before the pandemic, and I was already leading various Etwinning projects. I was looking for partners on Etwinning when a Turkish colleague suggested that we embark on Erasmus together. I immediately found this project stimulating and it met the expectations I had for my students: the need for this project lay in the need to strengthen their motivation for learning and to broaden the students' minds, to make them aware of the importance of diversity and conviviality, as well as our differences. Teaching and learning through the prism of Erasmus would enrich practices and exchanges (learning a language to communicate authentically, sharing one's life and journey, meeting peers from other European countries). Our students do not have the means to go abroad and this was also a way to introduce them to different countries through Erasmus, whether virtually or as part of a mobility abroad. I wanted them to develop their ICT skills and become more independent. Discovering Europe and its diversity, its commonalities and differences, is essential for accepting others and learning from them.