Life on stage! – Performing to learn, learning to perform. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Life on stage! – Performing to learn, learning to perform.

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 2016

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Context of the project

The project arises from the impulse given in the Spanish center to the search for new forms of teaching. In particular, in the English area, the theater has been used during two courses as a way of creating communication situations and working other aspects of the language such as expression, pronunciation or non-verbal communication.

For its part, the Lithuanian center has been working for many years successfully with theatrical performances, being a center of reference in the country, and not only in this area.

This common interest in the theater, together with the possibility of combining it with the teaching of English and the opportunity to know a geographically distant country, was decisive for the formalization of the association.

Goals;
Proposed objectives:
– To improve the linguistic competence in the learning of a foreign language (English) of the students through real communication situations designed by the teaching staff.
– Use theatrical representation as a tool to improve linguistic competence, as a means of linking students from different countries, as a way of sharing cultural contents and as a generator of intra-group experiences.
– Increase the awareness of cultural diversity (differences and similarities) between very different European spaces; In this case a southern urban environment with a rural – industrial north.
– Promote the use of ICT as a tool for communication and teamwork.

Number and profile of participating organizations;

Only two centers participate in the project:

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart, concerted center of Madrid that teaches the levels of 2nd cycle of EI, Elementary and ESO. It has two lines per course, bilingual teaching until 1st of ESO at the time of developing the project. Located in the Alto de Extremadura (Latina). He belongs to the Franciscan Educational Foundation of Montpellier (FEFMONT)

Naujosios Akmenės Ramučių gimnazija, non-compulsory secondary school located in the town of Naujoji Akmené in the Siauliai region in the north of Lithuania. The center was created in the 90s with the merger of previous ones.

Description of the main activities carried out;

FIRST STAGE
Project announcement: The project communicates to the educational community (parents, students, teachers) through meetings and brochures.
Choice of logo: Student teams design and choose the project logo together.
Bi-weekly contacts: Face-to-face contacts via Skype in which teams exchange information to make presentations about the country, geography, history, art, the city and daily life.
Presentations: Presentations to teachers’ cloisters.

SECOND STAGE-
Weekly contacts: The students selected for the exchange write small theatrical representations on the migrations, the equality of opportunities, of gender, the environment and the democracy.
Preparation of exchange visits: Spanish students not selected for the exchange prepared information for cultural visits.

THIRD STAGE
Student mobilities are carried out in which the works and planned visits are represented.

Results and impact achieved;
The objectives set by the project have been met and sometimes exceeded expectations. The impact achieved has been felt in:
The students participating in the project, especially the one who had the opportunity to travel to Lithuania.
Families who welcomed Lithuanian students into their homes, who were able to interact directly with them.
The teachers and students of the Our Lady of the Sacred Heart center, who had the opportunity to attend the theater performances and spend time with the Lithuanian students.
The 3ºESO group of the Montpellier school in Madrid and some of their teachers, who were also presented the work created by Lithuanian and Spanish students.
Finally there is a group difficult to quantify that also enjoyed the work when it was performed outdoors in Madrid (Parque del Retiro and Templo de Debod). We saw how many of them stopped to contemplate the show and even some were encouraged to participate in it. The teachers were able to inform the people who were interested in the show from the Erasmus + project.

Long-term benefits, if any:

It helps the implementation of theater as a pedagogical tool in the center.
Improvement of audio systems in the center’s auditorium.
Creation of a collective awareness (among teachers, students and families) of the importance and benefits of language exchanges.
Creation of a Department of Exchanges in the center to definitively implement linguistic exchanges in the different courses of secondary education.
Coordination of future Erasmus+ projects

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 19160 Eur

Project Coordinator

NUESTRA SEÑORA DEL SAGRADO CORAZON & Country: ES

Project Partners

• NAUJOSIOS AKMENES RAMUCIU GIMNAZIJA