The significance of second language acquisition and intercultural communication for EU citizenship​ Erasmus Project

Project Title

The significance of second language acquisition and intercultural communication for EU citizenship​

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Globalization is still an influence across Europe during these years. In a future Europe without borders, continued integration of the European countries there will be more movement across the national states’ frontiers. Therefore, learning more about languages and others’ identities is even more important than before.
The main scope of this project is for the students to acquire new skills and competences, knowledge about languages as a part of one’s identity, and an enhanced awareness of our shared European cultural heritage and European citizenship. This will be achieved through the exchange of best practice and engaging in understanding similarities and differences in the approach to different relevant topics (oral language, written language and identity).
The idea of the project stems from the challenges that teachers meet in contemporary classrooms and through the work with the national curriculums. A goal in this project is to create an awareness among the students of the fact that languages do not only belong in the classroom, but are essential means to understand and communicate with each other across borders.
These three schools also have internationalization as a common strategic aim. In this context the three schools would all like to strengthen their capacity for a better organization in connection with internationalization and developing importance of recognition of learning periods abroad – for students, teachers and the local communities (i.e. especially the parents). The idea is to promote acquisition of skills and competences such as language skills (especially English, French and German), critical thinking and perspectives, the power of joint efforts and finding shared solutions.
It is an important pedagogical resource to reflect and understand ourselves through the encounter of others, which makes exchanges an integral part of this project. At the same time the project aims at developing an innovative approach to language acquisition by creating original new products (video, brochures, theatre plays, games etc.) which may be useful for the participating students and for other schools not directly involved in this project. This will be done by developing new pedagogical and didactical methods in connection with the project.

The main topics dealt with in this project are:
1) Oral language
2) Written language
3) Identity and language

It is the key objective of this project that the students acquire new skills and competences, understanding a shared European cultural heritage and being a part of the European citizenship. The project will include three classes or course groups – one from each country. The groups will consist of app. 20-25 students in each country and the participating teachers (two from each country). The classes or course groups are selected according to their interest in internationalization and European citizenship.
The main reason for building the project around existing classes or course groups is the topics and aims of the project are naturally integrated in the national curriculum in each country. In preparation for each activity, the students will learn about the topic, find material and create a suitable product.
In the process of creating their own material (for example videos, brochures, theatre plays, games etc.), the students will work together in intertwined groups consisting of students from all three countries. The aim for the students is to acquire new skills and competences. An integral part of the activities is on-site learning: The students will through interviews with native speakers, visiting relevant places, talking with different capacities concerning relevant topics etc. acquire new competences and at the same time enhance their knowledge of language and the shared European heritage and identity.
The aim of each activity for the students is to be able to produce shared material concerning the topics as well as acquiring new skills and competences.
The results from the project will be publicized in the respective countries, so it will also have a wider scope for other stakeholders interested in language, and not only (but definitely also) for the students and teachers and the schools who participate in the project. At the same time the project will also use eTwinning and therefore spread the results on a European level. The schools’ long-term value of this project will be the development of new approaches to learning and teaching, building capacity for further expanding their international work and continuing working with the project’s ideas. The project leads to a better understanding of both the students’ own local environment as well as Europe in general and how to interact, through culture and language, with the European community.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 82175 Eur

Project Coordinator

Greve Gymnasium & Country: DK

Project Partners

• Johanneum zu Luebeck
• MASSENA