Talking About My Generation – Past, Present and Future of a Generation in Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Talking About My Generation – Past, Present and Future of a Generation in Europe

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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation; ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Our project “Talking About My Generation – Past, Present and Future of a Generation in Europe” was planned for 24 months, but after a corona-related extension it ran for 30 months and united students and teachers from four European countries: Germany, France, Poland and Norway. It served the cultural exchange and helped getting to know different as well as common ideas, ways of life and cultures in Europe. Both the project topic itself and the work in international student teams and, last but not least, the direct encounter between the students and teachers were used for this purpose. When dealing with the topic, the students were able to research which cultural, social and age-typical values and ideas, which country-specific traditions and ways of life shape their generation and other generations (e.g. parents) and how young people of their age reflect their perspectives, goals and ideas about the future and define it for Europe. Especially cultural and regional aspects were of interest to the students. When working on the topic, foreign languages, especially German, English and French, were used very intensively for communication and thus improved and further developed. The use of modern and traditional communication and information media was also an important focus of the project, from which the participating teachers in particular were able to benefit for their lessons and other projects. Ultimately, the switch to a virtual, digital format has achieved this goal in a special way.
The goal was the conception and creation of a multilingual, digital, cooperative European game on the topic, which will later also be used in different contexts and subjects, e.g. foreign languages, social and community studies, history or politics, in the classroom and in European education. Eventually, several games, both analog and digital, of different formats and with different Europe-related content were created.
The evaluation of one’s own work and the results and goals achieved was another focus of the project, in which the students were actively involved and which was an integral part of the project work. This also included good public relations and the presentation of the project and its results in various formats. The participants took part in internal school as well as public events.
76 pupils and 14 teachers from the four European schools took part directly in the project. At the beginning of the project, the students were between the ages of 15 and 16 and are currently about to graduate from school. They worked in international student teams on various areas of focus and were able to get to know each other well, form friendships and deepen their foreign language skills through communication. During their work, they developed a number of different skills, both in terms of content work on the topic, but also in the use of digital tools and communication media.
In addition to the work of the student teams, the activities naturally also included student encounters and video conferences, as well as a meeting of the project teachers. During the student meetings, on the one hand, work was concentrated on the project; on the other hand, this work and the ERASMUS+ project were presented in the schools by using various school events (Day of Languages, project weeks, etc.). The plan was for each student to take part in two trips. Unfortunately, the fourth planned meeting in Germany could not be realized. We also involved the families of the students and other host parents as hosts. The students experienced the culture and the way of life of the host country directly and experienced the European idea very intensively.
Instead, we set up a virtual replacement program and continued to work in virtual teams. The final meeting was rescheduled as a video conference.
During the student meetings, other students and the colleagues, as well as parents and other partners of the schools, were involved in the project, so that a broad impact was created, for example through the participation of the students in the central event commemorating the end of World War II in Bourges.
We also succeeded in establishing and deepening the school partnerships between the participating schools and thus strengthening international cooperation. The teachers involved benefited from the exchange of good practices in project work, decisively improved the use of digital resources and teaching and communication tools, and increased the interest of other colleagues in the European work. The project strengthened the international, European dimension of the participating schools.
We are very happy that we were able to achieve all our goals and that the project became a success story for everyone involved.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 113979,98 Eur

Project Coordinator

Landesschule Pforta & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Lycee General Alain Fournier Bourges
• Zespol Szkol Ponadgimnazjalnych im. Adama Mickiewicza w Lubaniu
• Narvik videregående skole