PROJECT ERASMUS+ KA229

“DEVELOPING LITERACY AND LANGUAGE SKILLS OF STUDENTS”

PROJECT CODE:2018-1-IT02-KA229-048061

COORDINATOR : ITALY

PARTNERS: TURKEY, POLAND, PORTUGAL, BULGARIA.

START OF THE PROJECT: 01/09/2018

END OF THE PROJECT: 31/08/2020

EXTENDED TO 31/08/2021

As the year 2018 has been stated the European Year of Cultural Heritage, we decided to create the project which aims at promoting and raising awareness of Europe's cultural heritage among pupils aged 7-11.

“DEVELOPİNG LİTERACY AND LANGUAGE SKİLLS OF STUDENTS” project comprises schools from 5 European Countries –Portugal, Bulgaria, Turkey, Italy and Poland.

The project is based on the needs which were identified by all the partners. The most important ones include the need to reduce students' tendency to stay withdrawn and introverted as well as the need to overcome aggressive and antisocial behaviour and to increase cultural knowledge and emphasise the meaning of freedom of thought and speech. It is our aim to provide students with the essential knowledge that will enable them to integrate into a multi-ethnic society and we also want to encourage interest for self-development and make the schools curriculum more international.

The project also aims at promoting the European cultural heritage among our students in the form of a link between things that fascinate children and the need to get them improve their success at school. Stories will stand for a key element by means of which students’ interest in the project topic will be raised in a safe way and that is why they will be motivated to take part in the project activities. It is students’ nature to love stories, fairy tales and myths. Stories have been created to pass universal values and show the world in an enjoyable and memorable way. They will help develop children’s creativity, imagination, empathy, respect, tolerance and appreciation for people from different countries and cultures.

Our goals include:

– developing literacy competences and creativity of students from 5 European schools

– improving awareness of similarities and differences of 5 European cultures

– increasing students' willingness to express their thoughts and feelings

– encouraging using the storytelling technique in all fields of the curriculum

To attain the project goals, we plan to carry out the following activities which are based on the VARK model and address all types of learners:

-visual learners: logo, Erasmus+ corners digital stories, questionnaires, bookmarks and wrist bands

-aural learners: group discussions, chat on Facebook page and eTwinning Platform, exchanges of emails.

-read/write learners: presentations (PowerPoint), scripts for Puppet plays, stories for the magazines, dictionary, brochures, flyers.

-kinaesthetic learners: carnival, materials made during the Stories Arts & Crafts workshops.

The above-mentioned activities will motivate our students to succeed at school and it will involve students from migrant backgrounds; we also will strengthen the collaboration schools-families and schools-external stakeholders.

50 teachers who will increase their awareness of the importance of adjusting teaching materials to different learning styles represent the direct target group. Students, families and local communities stand for the indirect target groups.

The tangible results we plan to produce include:

-questionnaires

-the project logo

-Erasmus+ corners

-presentations of the partner schools, cities and countries

-presentations of national legends, fairy tales, stories and myths

-5 digital stories

-1 exhibition promoting the materials made at the Stories Arts & Crafts workshops

-5 scripts for 5 Puppet plays

-1 thematic carnival (with the characters from the stories, fairytales, myths, etc.)

-dictionary

-2 project magazines

-10 lesson plans

-3 project webpages

-promotional materials: bookmarks, flyers, wrist bands

-the project e-brochure

-the project DVD/movie.

The project methodology aims at producing teaching materials that will increase teachers' motivation to use digital and non-digital innovative practices, enhance their teaching methods promoting literature and help pupils to develop the key competences useful for living in multicultural societies. Due to the activities, social cohesion will be fostered by developing literacy skills, creativity, innovation, ICT skills, social cultural competences, civic spirit, intercultural skills and the competence-based learning.

The project website will include the project results that everybody will be able to access and download for free. The dissemination plan will reach a larger audience and it will make an impact on a local, regional, national and international levels.

All the partner schools were selected according to the profile of the school, the students’ age, their interest in the project topic, common needs and relevant experience that can contribute to built a successful partnership.

The project comprises schools from Portugal, Italy, Bulgaria, Poland and Turkey. There are both experienced partners as for international projects and partners who never took part in such enterprises. The Bulgarian partner has no previous experience in Erasmus+ projects, however they have a wide experience in other international projects as Matra, Grundvig etc…. The Polish, Turkish and Italian partners have no experience in international projects, but they are very experienced in organizing local and national contests and events. The Portuguese partner is experienced very much with Erasmus+ projects.

The Italian coordinator posted a brief description of the project using eTwinning and several Facebook groups to advertise the project idea and find suitable partners. To select the final group of the partners, the Italian coordinator asked them to fill in an online questionnaire that illustrated the percentage of common needs and goals. Having done it, all partners compared the SWOT analysis of their institutions to make sure that all of them are ready to get actively involved to achieve the project objectives. The contact with the Bulgarian and Turkish partners was established by means of eTwinning website. The contact with the Italian and Polish partners was established thanks to Facebook groups.

The Italian coordinator was the leader of two Comenius projects and was a partner in the other one. All three projects were successful and led to awards and recommendations for their great ideas and dimension. The main coordinator of the present project, is a great leader and motivator. His personality and skills will help to organize the project team and support them to work closely and help each other. Due to the fact that the Italian school has very hi tech IT system and facilities, the staff will help create majority of the project products that require the use of ICT.

The Portuguese and Bulgarian partners have key contact people who are experienced in youth projects and international school exchanges. Their rich experience in running European projects, in encouraging the project teams on a schools level, their knowledge on the necessary stages to be followed in planning and organising international meetings will be very of great value to the project team.

The Turkish and Polish partners are experienced in running activities at a local and national level. Their skills in organising events will help in organize international project meetings. The visits to their countries will show the other partners how to organize high-quality meetings so their experience in organising international project meetings will be shared.

We want to emphasise that our partnership is based on tolerance, flexibility, understanding and mutual cooperation. All project tasks are fairly shared among the partners, so as they all could contribute to the implementation of the project and could help one another. The tasks will be revised and double checked during the first project meeting.

A to-do list will be written by the coordinator and shared via email, so as all partners are informed about the steps necessary to be done prior to a project meeting. Online feedback forms will be created, so as the participants of each meeting can express their opinions about how things were performed and give suggestions about what aspects can be improved.

There will be a constant on-line communication to talk about the project tasks.

The cultural diversity, common needs and a diverse range of experience stand for the key elements that will help us succeed in achieving our objectives.

In order to increase the visibility of our project and as a result of our online discussions via e-mails and Facebook, all the partners agreed to use well known platforms.

At each school, the project team will select the participants and they will be chosen in accordance with transparent selection process made by each group including such aspects as interest in the project topic, motivation to be involved in the project, their availability, personal contribution as well as their ability to promote and disseminate the project.

SUPPORT OF PARTICIPANTS

-host teachers will be in charge of providing the guest teachers with all necessary information

-project meetings will be held before the meetings in all the partners country to ensure that all participants are well-informed about the details of the mobility (travelling days, duration, objectives, materials to be prepared, logistics, cultural and useful information about the country visit)

- if necessary, the participants will be offered a language support

VISA AND SOCIAL SECURITY

Prior to the meetings, all partners will receive the Invitation letters.

INSURANCE

Before the meeting, the participants will be asked to purchase a health and travelling insurance and they will also have to have the European Health Insurance Card to be used where applicable.

TRAVEL

It will be the host schools responsibilty to advise the participants how to choose the best way of travelling to a place of a visit and back. They will also have to provide information about the aims of the meeting, the names of participants, basic information about the meeting venue, a timetable of the meeting, the weather forecast and a currency of a country to visit. There will be also basic language phrases prepared by a host country and sent in advance to all the partners.

SAFETY OF PARTICIPANTS

The hosting schools will organize the logistic part of the meeting. They will prepare all necessary materials and equipment they will make sure that the project will be visibile in local mass media.

SAFETY AND PROTECTION OF THE PARTICIPANTS

Each partner must have a list with the phone numbers and contact data of their embassy in the country to visit.

An ongoing evaluation process will be carried out, after each stage to assess if the project objectives have been met. Together, we will revise the evaluation reports and make all the necessary changes to implement the project in a better way.

The complete evaluation of our corporation will be performed on three levels – participants, institutions and the partnership itself.

Participants

A. Evaluation of the effects on students will be carried out by monitoring the following aspects:

1.Transferable skills:

a) communication and literacy competences

-activities: non-formal meetings, workshops, team work, visits, organizing cultural workshops in teams after each exchange, exchanging letters

-indicators: the number of participants taking part in the meetings, their active participation in the progress of the activities, the quality and success of the cultural workshops, the number of letter exchanged

-instruments: observations, analysis of documents

b) digital skills

- activities: making the project web pages and relevant e-products, searching information on the internet about the partner schools/countries

- indicators: the number of students and teaches involved, the impact of the project products, the graphic quality of the products, the self-confidence of students as far as using of digital tools is concerned

- instruments: observation, questionnaires

2.Interpersonal skills

- activities: all activities have been designed to develop team skills, making-decision skills and any other cooperation ones.

-indicators: the number of students involved in voluntary work, the efficiency of communication with teachers and students, the number of participants from other countries, the number of students who can perform simple conversations in the languages of the participating countries

- instruments: reports, observation feedback forms

3. European citizenship and intercultural awareness

-activities: visits, workshops

-indicators: the number of products made reflecting the sense of belonging to the European community, awareness of democratic structures

-instruments: questionnaires, observation, informal discussions

B. Institutions and the local communities

-activities: making Erasmus+ corners, monthly reporting, dissemination of promotional materials, blog and website development, the number of educational materials produced

- indicators: the project visibility and distribution of its products, the number of people visiting the project web pages,

-instruments: observation, website reports, feedback forms

C. Partnership:

-activities: the project meetings, quarterly reporting, dissemination activities, organizing meetings

-indicators: the number of contributions from partners, the transparent division of tasks and responsibilities, the efficiency of meetings, the consistency of communication, the regularity of evaluation and reporting, the presence of feedback procedures

-instruments: questionnaires, project portfolio, reports

The participants' learning experiences will be reflected by the results of our strategic partnership. We want to encourage other people who are willing to organise topic-related events to take advantage of materials made by us and adjust them to their own needs.

Due to our international cooperation, the schools’ institutional development plan will be enriched and the schools curricula will be made more international since we would like to keep on applying the teaching materials and instruments which were used at the implementation of the project.

The school magazine will be published after the end of the project and it will transfer our cooperation to the Internet by means of the eTwinning platform. We are convinced that this partnership will offer us a great opportunity to extend our system of contacts with other European schools and we hope to be involved in other projects in the future.

It will be each partner’s responsibility to make the project and its outcomes visible on a local, regional and national level. At least, one informative meeting will be held per semester during which the teachers who took part in the mobilities will share their experiences and present their level of the project products implementation in their everyday teaching. They will also present cultural aspects of the countries visited and will answer the project-related questions.

When the project is over, each partner will keep on developing cooperation with minimum 5 local/national educational institutions and sign relevant protocols. These partners will be given the DVD of the project and a group of students and teachers will organise workshops for the partner institutions. Provided both partners are interested in it, we will renew the protocols.

The results of our strategic partnership will reflect the participants' learning experiences. We also want other actors of the educational system and other people interested in organising events on the topic to take advantage of our materials and adapt them to their own needs.

Each partner has to make our project and its results visible on a local, regional and national level.

As a result of our communication on the internet, we have agreed to apply an active on-going dissemination and exploitation of results strategy to reach the following target groups:

-inside the institutions: students, teachers, families, visitors, Department Heads, school staff, guests.

-outside the institutions: educational institutions, educational advisors, inspectors, school boards, local authorities, stakeholders, curriculum advisors and wider public.

We will organize at least one meeting per term during which the current project information will be presented - the teachers will share their experiences from mobilities and they will present how they integrated the project in their daily teaching. They will also present cultural aspects of the countries they visited and will answer any project-related questions asked by their fellows and students.

The informative sessions for communities will be held at each partner school.

Leaflets and newsletters will be applied to reach the target groups outside our institutions.

DISSEMINATION PLAN

Activity no1

Aims: promoting the project on a school level, raising awareness of the project topic

Result: encouraging people to be part of the project team

Target groups: students, teachers, school staff, families

Methods: face to face meetings, teachers’meetings, questionnaires, Erasmus+ clubs

Indicators of performance: number of people who take part in the sessions, results of the questionnaires, number of students who participate in the Erasmus+ club

Responsible/s: each partner

Activity no2

Aim: better visibility of the project in the media

Results: encouraging other people to benefit from the Erasmus+ program and of the outcomes of our project

Target groups: students, teachers, families, wide public

Methods: articles in published in traditional media as well as posted on online media

Indicators of performance: number of articles published

Responsible/s: each partner

Activity no3

Aims: engaging stakeholders and target groups, ensuring the impact of Erasmus+ school partnerships

Result: sharing best practice results, encouraging innovation in daily practice

Target groups: teachers, trainers, policy makers, wider public

Methods: networking, the project website, audiovisual materials, the project DVD, partners social media channels;

Indicators of performance: number of people visiting the project's website and watching our videos

Activity no4

Aim: sharing the project's results and getting to know the project- related strategy

Result: enlarging and internationalizing the schools curricula

Target groups: pedagogical staff, policy makers, educational advisors, wider public

Methods: Open-Days events, leaflets, conferences

Indicators of performance: number of people taking part in the events

Activity no5

Aims: influencing policy and practice and developing new partnerships

Result: increasing the sustainability of our project results

Target groups: teachers, policy makers, external education personnel, eTwinning users, EST Database followers, teachers associations, trainers

Methods: Erasmus+ project results platform, eTwinning, participating in conferences and seminars on a local, regional and national level, mailing lists newsletters, e-brochure of the project

Indicators of performance: the number of contracts signed with other educational institutions.