“Entrepreneurship and language matters in life. Developing resourcefulness among students; learning how to set up a business” Erasmus Project

Project Title

“Entrepreneurship and language matters in life. Developing resourcefulness among students; learning how to set up a business”

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: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Entrepreneurial learning – entrepreneurship education

Project Summary

The title of our project is “Entrepreneurship and language matters ​​in life. Developing entrepreneurship among students; learning how to set up a business”. We decided to implement this project mainly because entrepreneurship and resourcefulness are features that are desired among young people nowadays. The Polish school coordinating the project is located in the Silesian Voivodeship. Silesians are not entrepreneurs and they easily accept their fate. Silesia is a place where the coal mining industry dominates and coal mines are the hallmark. For decades, the people of Silesia did not need to think about how to be an entrepreneur because it was the coal mines that ensured stable work and existence. However, nowadays the situation is changing drastically, just like Silesia is changing its face. The mines are gradually closing down and young people, now in high school, can no longer count like their fathers did for a secure job in the mine. This situation is closely related with the general situation on the European labor market. Young people struggle to find a job. There is a very high unemployment rate among young people across the European Union and this difficult situation is typical of each of the 5 partner countries: Spain, Greece, Italy, Latvia and Poland.
Hence, the main goal of our project is to make our students aware of the importance of an entrepreneurial attitude in life and to show the direction how to become a successful entrepreneur. The lack of a professional perspective causes the students to lose the sense of meaning and agency in their lives, which directly affects the motivation to learn. We wanted our students to understand through the project that they have an impact on their future and that its quality depends mainly on themselves. Western culture does not pursue entrepreneurship, but through the media it creates a false sense that everything in life can be achieved easily and quickly. Entrepreneurship is responsibility. This is what we wanted to show to the participants through the project. In today’s labor market, it is crucial to search for employees who have well-developed key competences and the so-called soft skills such as communicativeness, assertiveness, openness, ability to work in a team, high personal culture or good work organization. Thanks to participation in the project, participants could also improve in this area.
Through the implementation of this project and related activities, i.e. workshops, lectures, study visits, meetings with specialists and mobilities, we were able to develop entrepreneurial skills among students and emphasize the importance of foreign languages ​​in every area of ​​life. By participating in the project, students improved their language skills, mainly in the field of English, but also Spanish. An important assumption of the project was the emphasis on the development of communication in foreign languages ​​and the expansion of language skills in the field of entrepreneurship, economy and business.
Through international cooperation, the participants of the project significantly increased the level of motivation to act and faith in their own abilities. Students developed social skills, acquired knowledge about European countries and learned about their culture, and had the opportunity to face and overcome stereotypes.
The programme of the project was planned in such a way as to be based on the acquisition of practical skills by participants, i.e. self-presentation, advertising, sales techniques, etc. Activities also included problem solving and teamwork. In order to involve project participants, we invited experts in the field of entrepreneurship, visited local entrepreneurs and learned the secrets of their operation and work. We also created conditions for students in which they could see and practice their creativity many times.
Apart from the visual products created and advertised by students, which are the effect of their participation in both, the local and the international project activities, the result of our project is also the development of a positive attitude to entrepreneurship among the participants, creativity in thinking, development of social skills, teamwork as well as planning and organization of work.

Project Website

https://entrepreneurshipandlanguagemattersinlife.wordpress.com/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 119591,74 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zespół Szkól Ponadpodstawowych w Wodzisławiu Śląskim & Country: PL

Project Partners

• 2nd Lykeo of Kalamata
• Istituto di Istruzione Secondaria Superiore FEDERICO II – APRICENA (FG) ITALY
• Kalnciema vidusskola
• IES L’ELIANA