Living in the City – Living in the Country Erasmus Project

Project Title

Living in the City – Living in the Country

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 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Rural development and urbanisation; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Country or town – which region offers better quality of life.

For the Erasmus+ – project “Living in the City and living in the Country” the rather monocultural Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium (GSG) in Daun in the rural Eifel region united with the multicultural Eltham Hill School (EHS) in Greenwich in the metropolitan area of London to find out which place young people consider the best to live in.
The project invited more than 100 members of the school communities to actively take part in diverse project activities to give them the opportunity to have a close look beyond their own sphere and, through exchange visits, allow them to step into another world. The inquisitive, uninhibited and enthusiastic students from years 7, 8 and 9 at GSG and years 7, 8 and 9 at EHS were chosen to take part which also ensured the students have the same age. Peer teaching and learning was promoted since all of them study English or German as a foreign language and yet the language skills varied because of the different amount of lessons being taught. Students of all socio-economic and cultural backgrounds joined the project activities.

The thematic objective of the project was to draw comparisons between the different ways of life, to identify, discuss and propagate merits and to present the students’ suggestions for improvement to policy makers. All this was done in both languages and very often in mixed groups greatly improving the linguistic and intercultural competence of the learners.

The various project activities greatly advanced the students’ media and presentation skills: The participants tried to answer the questions on the (hidden) merits of living in a rural or urban environment by taking a close look at their own life and habits. After having reactivated the relevant vocabulary by collaboratively creating wordnets online, their findings were published in blog entries and discussed in different groups. By conducting online surveys in peer groups data were collected to validate or rebut their own impressions. The evaluation of the survey results was followed by transnational discussions with other members of the school communities like teachers and parents. The local public was informed about the project’s proceedings and findings through articles written by the participants themselves. Apart from those press releases the students tried to convince policy makers of the necessity to improve the situation of young people in their area.

To address and motivate a large number of students the methodology varied in the different project phases: Besides working in local project clubs the participants cooperated via the internet, e.g. eTwinning’s twinspace including chat and video conference tools but also using relatively new websites like wisemapping and the InES online tool to cooperatively develop wordnets and surveys online. International project meetings of student groups ensured the development of the learners’ linguistic and cultural competence through total immersion. Throughout the project the teachers took a guiding and supporting position giving the right impulses at the right time to promote learner autonomy and motivation. The feedback received at various dissemination events (e.g. presentations to the transnational peer group, colleagues, parents or the public) and following press releases served as a corrective to the project.

Since the project addressed different groups, the results varied in scope and form: The blog entries, the surveys on the attractiveness of living in a rural or urban environment and the discussion of the results gave an impulse to regional pride and/or suggestions for improvement directed at local policy makers. Presentations were produced by the learners to make their point of view known to different audiences.
The manifold long term benefits for the learners include an enhanced linguistic and (multi-)cultural competence and the possibility of long-lasting connections to and friendships with their partners surviving the Brexit. The discussion, presentation and media skills fostered in project activities are of course transferable to other contexts. The policy makers can refer back to the findings of the project and compare the results to those of similar studies in the future. The outcomes of the project may well be transferable to other regions in Europe.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 58575 Eur

Project Coordinator

Geschwister-Scholl-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Eltham Hill School