On the way to a healthier lifestyle with our European friends Erasmus Project

Project Title

On the way to a healthier lifestyle with our European friends

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2016

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; Creativity and culture; Health and wellbeing

Project Summary

The title of our project is, “On the way to a healthier lifestyle with our European friends.” We have been interested in a project like this for a long time now. For a number of years we have personally and professionally engaged with the themes of healthy eating, movement and sport, and we have now tried to tie this in with our interest in student exchanges. Thanks to this opportunity presented by Erasmus, we have been able to put together a long-term project with specific goals and planned outcomes.

There are four intertwined themes in this project:

– multicultural education towards the elimination of racism and xenophobia
– the development of language skills as a way to break down barriers between people
– the discovery of healthy eating habits as a way to live a more healthy lifestyle
– the enjoyment of sport and movement

We managed to cooperate with similarly oriented schools in France and Poland, both of which already had experience with projects. The Polish school undertook many projects which are in line with our goals.
Activities:
– Creating a project logo – the logo was designed by the children; its final improvements were done by a teacher; the Polish school prepared the graphics.
– Videoconference – Various conferences on a previously agreed topic; the children prepared their reports (in English) as part of their English lessons.
– Mail – The children created Christmas and Easter greetings, and sent postcards from their summer holiday destinations.
– The Czech Lion Cup Competition (medals and cups) – We created an obstacle course with specific stations and tasks and prepared a list of necessary sport equipment which was then purchased by the partners. The partner schools received medals from the coordinator and a cup for their own activities.
– Project presentation for parents and directors of small schools – A preparation of the meals listed in the project cookbook, with the children presenting the project activities in a power point presentation. There was also a dissemination of the information in the local newspaper.
– Herb garden
– T-shirts were created with a project logo.
– We created a project magazine with the children´s texts.
– Cookbook – we gathered favorite recipes from all the partners and videotaped the preparation in English and took pictures. The final design and graphics were done by a local graphics secondary school.
– Picture dictionary for the cookbook – the children drew pictures for words relevant to the selected recipes; a teacher prepared the format of the dictionary.
– Methods for movement games – we gathered different games from all partners and prepared instructions how to play them in English.
The impact of the project on the children:
– An increase in detailed knowledge about certain specifics of culture for two EU countries
– A respect for the culture of these two EU countries
– An increase in knowledge of EU geography
– An improvement in IT and media skills
– A use of modern communication technologies
– The development of personal and social skills
– An improvement of cooperation on group tasks
– More experience in communicating with people from different countries
– The children realized the necessity of learning foreign languages.
– The children are more motivated to learn English.
– The children were directed towards healthy eating habits.
– All the children participated in sport and movement activities. Even less “sporty” children experienced success (Czech Lion Cup Competition – all children who completed the obstacle course repeatedly got a medal which supported their participation in sport activities).
– The project activities fulfilled elements of the school curriculum and increased the competencies of the children.
Project impact on the teachers:
– An increase in motivation to work as a teacher in the future
– An improvement of relationships within the team of teachers (we held regular project meetings during the project period)
– The teachers gained experience with cooperating with international schools, as well as a clear picture of the life in the respective EU countries.
– New experience with running an Erasmus+ project was gained
– The meeting of new international colleagues
Project impact on the parents:
– The parents became more willing to participate in a EU project and realized the value of speaking foreign languages.
– The parents overcame their fear to let their children travel within the EU.
– They have a more open attitude towards healthy eating, as well as active movement and sport activities in families.
Project impact on the coordinator and partners:
– Cooperation of the coordinating school with partners was very useful because of age differences and the opportunities for the children’s development. The participating schools differ from each other, as do their geographical placement, cultural output, social conditions and expectations. These differences enriched us and moved us further regarding respect and tolerance.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 35740 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zakladni skola a Materska skola Polevsko, okres Ceska Lipa, prispevkova organizace & Country: CZ

Project Partners

• EEPU Ecole René Beaujean
• Szkola Podstawowa Integracyjna nr 11