SUMMARY
We thought it was a very good option for our project when one of the partner schools suggested the Bridges Over all kind of Borders between countries, religions, races,
cultures, traditions, regional identities, natural landscapes, and so on. We had really understood the true aims of our project can be obtained only in a spirit of
cooperation, and joining in the diversity was without question the main characteristic of our partnership. In this way, all schools involved will promote inclusion of all
students regardless of socioeconomic background, gender, disabilities, ethnic group or religion. Intercultural dialogue will be addressed between the participants.
More than 1000 pupils will be actively involved ranging from 3 to 14 years old, and about 60 teachers.
The foreign language and the new technologies will be the main forms to communicate with the partners. Project meetings will be included to do the physical exchange
of products and works made by children, which will be used as teaching resources in every school, as well as different activities and events organized by the host institutions.
The cooperative products will include: web page for the entire project, the Comenius corner in every school, bundles of postcards and letters addressed to coeval students
from the partners, a digital photo album (CD) with pictures and description presenting a regional tourist route, a multicultural calendar for the year 2010 showing seasons
and geographic areas as well as important dates of culture of each participating country, story books for children, multimedia presentations containing a project of a cycle
path through attractive places in a local area, a recording (DVD) of pupils performing songs from our countries, recipe books, photographs and film of activities.
It will be very interesting for all of us to learn more about other cultures in our common European home. Bridges will be surely built between the nations of Spain, Romania,
Poland, Belgium and Bulgaria.
|
OBJECTIVES OF THE PARTNERSHIP
PUPILS:
- To promote foreign language learning to support intercultural dialogue and improve their language skills, developing confidence in their own linguistic abilities.
- To know themselves by studying their own cultural richness and showing it to partners.
- To develop curiosity and openness to the cultural and environmental diversity of other countries, learn about them, and respect the traditions, habits or regional
identities different from ours.
- To show attitudes for environment preservation and healthy lifestyle by participating in a project of a cycle path through diverse and interesting places in a local
area, such as nice gardens, riverbank landscapes, ecological routes, downtown of cities, cultural itineraries, etc.
TEACHERS:
- To develop skills and knowledge on new technologies (ICT) through information exchanges with the partners and induce interest of students at using them.
- To raise awareness of the need to learn languages in the integrated Europe as a way to understand other cultures, and reveal to pupils the advantages of the contact
with other students from the partner institutions.
- To meet and understand educational needs of all children, create new ways of motivation for improving their linguistic and communicative competencies, and promote
their participation.
- To make foreign language lessons more attractive at the early school education stage, and provide youngest children in pre-primary and primary schools with
a basis for the so-called Good Start in language learning.
- To promote mobility among teachers to provide pedagogical debate on curriculum as well as the use of research for improving academic results and enhancing
the quality of education.
- To discuss common features and differences regarding customs, interpersonal relations and the organisation of everyday life in the United Europe.
SCHOOL:
- To promote an intercultural dialogue between the partners by presenting our own heritage and getting to know the diversity of other European countries,
showing attitudes of respect and tolerance towards their involvement in the project.
- To open the school out and provide it with a European identity.
- To foster the new European citizenship, place emphasis on the common roots of European culture and combat racism and xenophobia.
- To help integrate the community of teachers and parents of pupils in a proper way through the activities undertaken within the project, and encourage parents
to take an active part in their children language learning process.
- To encourage the authorities, local people and institutions to get involved such as Town Councils, musicians, artists, museums, tourist offices, visitor centres,
the media, etc.
- To make this project transferable, that is enabling the use of outcomes in a new context or for other languages.
|
EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE
STAFF AND PUPILS will benefit from new experiences as well as linguistic and cultural exchanges, developing understanding in a meaningful and enjoyable way. The students will learn to appreciate highly their own culture and respect others. They will obtain from the teachers additional information on the diversity of other countries, and their feeling of affiliation will be brought up to the European values. Children will also become aware of the need to learn foreign languages for communication with pupils from other nations. They will have ownership of their learning programme and will be able to make appropriate and effective decisions about their progress, by improving their self-esteem and developing self-evaluation skills. The teachers will be given the opportunity to share additional activities and materials which are vitally necessary for the correct mastering of the educational content. They will gain confidence in using new technologies (ICT), will develop social skills through interaction with European partners and engage in professional and pedagogical dialogue. Teachers will be able to correlate language learning with integrated teaching.
THE SCHOOLS will become more aware of the range of cultural backgrounds within Europe and of the valuable contribution each participating country can make to a united Europe. They will build bridges between other Europeans and openness to intercultural dialogue in the society, implementing a model of cooperation and active participation of all actors involved in the project.
This Partnership will provide THE PARENTS the opportunity to take an active part in collecting and farming of the educational materials. They will develop a sense of responsibility for jointly undertaken activities, creating ways of full-value communication with their kids and teachers. This will strengthen the role of the school and will support its activity, so the confidence of parents in the educational institution will grow up.
THE LOCAL COMMUNITIES of the participating schools will benefit from visits from staff from a variety of European cultures. This will give them opportunities to show what their community has to offer travellers and meet new friends with our European neighbours. The local authorities will get more interested at the effectiveness of foreign language teaching, and will open their communities to a multilingual and multicultural Europe.
THE ASSOCIATED PARTNERS will feel valued and responsible for contributing to their local community.
|
|
