Can you tell me the way to…? Tracing our European identity on foot. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Can you tell me the way to…? Tracing our European identity on foot.

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; ICT – new technologies – digital competences

Project Summary

For thousands of years a network of roads, routes, paths and passes have criss-crossed our continent allowing great numbers of men and women from various cultures to come into contact with each other and communicate, thus shaping the cultural, economic, religious and political bases of modern Europe. They paved the way for our Founding Fathers towards a common identity. Walking along these paths today, we can re-trace the memory of those who, long ago, left their influence and traditions on the places they visited and brought together fragmented territories under one common denominator: Europe. It is a journey into the past, which unravels ancient history and connects it to the present. The journey is a unifying symbol of historical trade routes, roads of emperors, kings, tradespeople, soldiers, pilgrims as well as routes of immense cultural and historical heritage, connecting all corners of Europe.
Partners from nine European countries, whose schools are strategically located near important arteries, set off, on foot, on a journey of their regions in search of ancient, medieval and modern routes which they explored, finding links between the itinerary’s historical heritage and all the aspects of the area´s natural and cultural aspects as well as the changes these roads have undergone over the centuries and the reasons for them . Together, we learnt to read historical maps and documents, classify the various types of routes, discover their peculiarites and compare their functions in the past to nowadays. As a result of this study, our field work took us to museums and natural parks, let us speak to historians, archaeologists, tourist and nature guides, local people, etc.The information gained from these experts were included in lesson plans. Our trails were registered by GPS coordinates, enriched with information about nearby accommodation, photos and videos and eco- friendly activities which were uploaded to the collective etwinning project website as examples of ecotourism. By doing that, we guide Europeans in their discovery of our countries´ culture,heritage, society and wildlife.
Since English was the working language of our project and all coordinators possess language, ICT and/or science skills, our main aim was to promote, develop and improve language competences through transversal skills. Many of us had worked together before and we were aware of the abundance of related information to be found on the Internet, some of which is valid, much of which is a waste of time. Applications include the Etwinning project website, Wikiloc, Joomag, Noah project app., Google docs and maps, Google Earth, school radio, Skype.Therefore, we continued our dedicated search for open-source digital tools and educational resources, selecting only those applications which have been truly tested among our pupils and received their positive feedback as well as didactic success.
Our intention was to transform all the information gathered while walking along the routes together into interactive, learner-centred, multi-disciplinary lesson plans, which could be re-used in the CLIL classroom, as an independent learning tool or, in a simplified format,for peer teaching. Each school prepared at least one lesson plan per school year,which was taught by our students to local primary schools. The information include references to science, history, geography and citizenship and are presented in English.The open source applications used in the lessons are compatible with an interactive white board and encourage pupil participation and involvement.
Pupils were accompanied through an exciting itinerary oriented towards a multi-faced appreciation of their immediate environment, which could be applied to different career paths, as well as an understanding of their own talents and possible areas of improvement. They were encouraged to reinforce their language, ICT and European citizenship competencies and combine their resources and talents to collaborate and suggest new directions and interpretations to the project .
Each participating school involved as many members of its teaching staff as possible, encouraging a mixed participation of both experienced and newly-qualified colleagues. This allowed a fruitful exchange of innovative and time-tested methodologies as well as a multi-disciplinary approach to everyone’s teaching. Final products include innovative, transversal and interdisciplinary CLIL materials, lesson plans, didactic units, which we hope will be shared and used in various teaching environments.
All actors in the project are made aware of the European dimension and far-reaching advantages of an Erasmus+ experience on individuals, schools and the community as a whole. All partners , from the outset, for the duration of the project and beyond, have the responsibility of informing the community of Erasmus+ actions and activities. Diseminaion activities continue up to now.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 184305 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sukromna stredna odborna skola & Country: SK

Project Partners

• Gimnazija Metkovic
• Kaunas Santara Gymnasium
• Zespol Szkol Nr 1
• Fondazione Liceo Linguistico Courmayeur
• Institut Montbui
• Agrupamento de Escolas Professor Paula Nogueira
• Särö skola