Touropean Erasmus Project

Project Title

Touropean

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

People have always been curious. We have always been eager to get to know new and exciting things. To compare and find similarities as well as differences. It is part of human nature to explore neighboring countries with all their new and ancient sights and culture. Never in history has it been easier to travel around Europe, to travel around the globe. Not only travelers but also countries and cities have discovered the value of tourism which in some regions has become a major economic pillar. But how can tourists get attracted to a country, a city or an area? And more specific: How can young people get attracted to a specific place? With this project we want our students to explore their own as well as their partner school’s surroundings and assess how to improve the touristic attractiveness for teenagers. We also want them to look into various jobs in the European market connected to tourism to make them aware of how much tourism and economy is connected.
This is the reason why five schools from the following countries want to start the project “Touropean”: Germany, Norway, Spain, Greece and Romania.

Germany: Thaleischweiler-Fröschen (Pfalz): famous for climbing on the sand stone rocks in the palatial forest
Norway: Lillesand: historical city center, maritime activities and the coastline
Greece: Koroni (Messinia): ancient sights, beach
Spain: Málaga (Andalucia): historical city, beach, museums
Romania: Craiova: historical and cultural sights

All of the five schools participating are secondary schools. So the age of our four students (of each country per visit) will be 14-17. We will select the students not by their grades or social background, but will open the project also to students with fewer opportunities.

In our project young people will learn to respect divergences and consequently that will bring freshness and innovation and make Europe’s social cohesion a reality, based on tolerance, diversity and equality.
We will also put their focus on economical benefits of the tourist industry which provides a wide range of jobs. The students will be exposed to various career options. They will have the chance to deal with different people and mentalities and that will open their eyes to ideas, opportunities and possibilities beyond what they may know exist. This can inspire and motivate our students to do well at school and help combating failure in education and early school leaving.

The students will be involved in an open education and creative use of digital media when solving their task of evaluating different touristic sights from a teenager’s point of view. In today’s digital era all sources of innovative practices such as creating a video clip, making interviews, a podcast, a radio show, a slide show or a presentation as well as video channel are welcome. All of the results will be put together. So the final product will be a diverse Travel Blog which will be published on our website.

We want to focus on the following touristic fields of interest:

History and culture:
Culture, heritage and the arts have long contributed to the appeal of a tourist destination.

Sport and health:
Those individuals who travel to participate in sporting events make a difference with the concept of tourism. They can participate in games and sports activities.

Nature and environment:
Teenagers are an important force for current and especially future world heritage protection. The activities planned aim to travel to natural areas to appreciate the cultural and natural history of the environment, taking care not to disturb the integrity of the ecosystem, while creating economic opportunities that take conservation and protection of natural resources into account.

Before each project transnational meeting the students will prepare a presentation of the touristic attractions of their region. A program of the visits to the local cultural and historical places will also be prepared. In each field of interest the participants will assess the attractiveness of the sights from their point of view. They will comment on it in different ways using different media. The product of “Touropean” will be a Traveling Blog with presentations, short movies, leaflets, and any other thing that the students may envisage, considering that the targets are teenagers like themselves. Travel isn’t just about new places; it’s about new perspectives. We would like to encourage teens to step outside their comfort zone, get immersed in the history and culture of a new place.

To this end, the Erasmus+ project “Touropean” can be a huge source of inspiration for their future plans and may be a real turning point for their future career. Giving students the chance to take a break and step off the beaten track of their home town, in order to help making a change, might be the best investment for the future.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 141002 Eur

Project Coordinator

Integrierte Gesamtschule Thaleischweiler-Fröschen & Country: DE

Project Partners

• GYMNASIUM OF KORONI
• LILLESAND UNGDOMSSKOLE
• Scoala Gimnaziala Elena Farago
• IES Núm. 1 Universidad Laboral