“Drama, an inclusive tool in the classroom” Erasmus Project

Project Title

“Drama, an inclusive tool in the classroom”

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: Access for disadvantaged; Creativity and culture; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

“Drama, an inclusive tool in the classroom” is a project designed for a group of 16 senior level students (8 from Spain and 8 from Ireland). All activities will enable students and teachers to experience and compare other learning methodologies through drama. Drama is an expression of art; a fictional and creative representation of feelings and emotions. A tool that can help students to express themselves through a character, which in this project will be the fruit of their own personal creation. It helps with communication skills, memorisation, creativity and empathy, just to mention some of the many benefits that can provide. All the aforementioned are exercises that contribute and boost the learning of a foreign language. As an alternative methodology and combined with the Erasmus exchange, the experience is expected to impact the participants and trigger curiosity showing them what a foreign language can contribute to their lives. The learning process will move from the idea of “They HAVE TO DO IT” to “They WANT TO DO IT”. Once curiosity is triggered, the learning process will take its natural course of action.
The exchange enables good practice and improvement of the foreign languages involved: Spanish and English. Attending some lessons and events at the host school will provide teachers and students with new good practice and ideas to improve school life.The possibility of living with host families during the visits will make participants experience real daily life. The exchange encourages parent involvement and increases their expectations on their children’s abilities, consequently the students through the self fulfilling prophecy, will improve their learning abilities.
Tourist activities will make participants enthusiastic about the exchange and promote each other’s cultural life.
Theater games in drama lessons will contribute to teambuilding. Individual and team work will help students to find out their own multiple intelligences. Collaborative work will be developed by writing scripts and character creation. The idea of helping each other and learning from each other is a two-way street towards inclusion.
Working in group will provide them with assertiveness but also tolerance, support and responsibility, critical approach to their own work and to the work of others, and with the ability to accept criticism and transform it into self-improvement.
Students with learning difficulties and high-capacity students, will benefit from the many advantages of project pedagogy and collaborative work:
* Opportunities for self-induced learning
* More time for continued attention in class
* The length of the duration of the project invites reflection between exchange visits
* Greater emotional involvement and responsibility in class work
* Self-esteem and lack of inhibition are enhanced
* More situations in which to put oral and written language skills into practice
* Students seek information and develop a sense of well-done feeling
* Social skills and teamwork are practiced
* Imaginative thinking is stimulated and mental laziness is decreased
* Students learn to ask and to listen.

The exchange project can become a life experience to students, that without the funding support, might never have the chance to open this door of opportunities. The students involved in this project are eager and enthusiastic about the possibility of enjoying high quality learning in a European environment.All Students, with learning difficulties and high capacity students, share a common denominator, they are all highly motivated students with good attendance record and good academic results. The students with learning difficulties have achieved that, because of their endurance and also because Colaiste Na Riochta is a student oriented school , and all effort made by the students is regarded with high pride, therefore results come along. Ramón Llull shares a very similar ethos, where tolerance and respect are the main description of the organisation. They have a very strong connection with parents and they try to keep their class sizes small the same as Colaiste Na Riochta.
Confidence in this type of endeavor, will encourage all students involved, to venture in other similar projects in their academic and professional future. It will also give them the view of the European Union as a land of equal opportunities for all its members, where no only all citizens are taken care of and nurtured, but they are provided with the opportunity to fulfill their ambitions and create responsible and global citizens.
The project can educate, future and possible crucial European members, that can help and change the world problems that we are facing nowadays. They will achieve that, not by working individually, but by cooperating locally and globally and they will learn dissemination is a powerful tool to shift erroneous ideas and behavioral patterns into creative and prosperous ways of making our world a better place to live.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 17209 Eur

Project Coordinator

Colaiste Na Riochta & Country: IE

Project Partners

• IES Ramon Llull