urban – rural – river Erasmus Project

Project Title

urban – rural – river

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 2020

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Ten years ago, Carina Altenriederer and Marie-Louise Lubbers, both in possession of a bachelor’s degree in education, met each other while they shared an unforgettable Erasmus-experience in Zürich Switzerland. Today, with a few years of professional experience, colleagues and friends Carina and Marie-Louise would like to provide their students the same experiences and chances as they had had themselves ten years ago. The idea about an exchange for their own students arose from the professional exchange Carina and Marie-Louise had throughout the years. The difference between learning in two countries has had their interest from the moment they met and it has already led to great lesson ideas and memorable conversations about education. In this proposal, much emphasis is put on the ability for students to get in touch with foreigners, in the safety of their own homes and school in one week and with the excitement and the defiance of a new and unknown environment in the other week. Another motive for the idea of this exchange is the opportunity for the Dutch students to provide an environment to apply the language skills they have acquired during German class in a real-world-situation. The Dutch students who will attend to this exchange are the only students in their year group that have chosen to study the German language. They chose it as an extra, because they want to broaden their future chances in the internationally oriented job market we face nowadays.
Carina and Marie-Louise would like to grant their students the ability to think bigger than their current social lives and they are convinced that students need experiences that are motivationally expanding their language skills as often as possible. Some of the Austrian students are not yet sufficiently skilled in the German language because of their complex backgrounds. For those students, it is highly important to experience success in using the German language. This is a struggle the Dutch students are facing, too. This exchange will force all the students to use the language and hopefully therefore, it will give all students more confidence in using a second or maybe even a third language.
This exchange should enrich daily work in Deutsch als Fremdsprache / Deutsch als Zweitsprache-settings as well as German lessons in German. In this exchange, a common European identity will be created, which extends to language skills in German and English (both for teachers and students). Speaking of teachers: the exchange will extend the professional knowledge of the teachers. Moreover, the exchange enables personal development experiences for both students and teachers. The common European history (World War II / Imperial Period), political education (monarchy then (AT) and today (NL)) and country-specific cultural differences and similarities will also occur in this project. The teachers will create an eTwinning-account where all participants of the project can share different inputs according to the project. The created materials for the German lessons, made because of or during the two separate weeks will also be published on the official eTwinning-platform. This platform is already known to the teachers for previous exchange-purposes. The chosen topic “urban – rural – river” refers to the differences and similarities between both schools. The Neulandschule is a small school in a European metropole. Hendrik Pierson College, on the other hand, is a large school, located in a rural area. Both towns are located near rivers, which represents the differences and similarities. The personal, cultural and linguistic conditions of the students can be compared through the topic. The project aims to discover these similarities and to understand the differences. The primary objective of this project is to show the pupils that many doors can be opened when we engage in new things and to show that language is the key to most of these doors.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32243 Eur

Project Coordinator

Private Mittelschule Institut Neulandschule Grinzing & Country: AT

Project Partners

• Stichting Christelijk Voortgezet Onderwijs Over-en Midden-Betuwe