Stories All Over Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Stories All Over Europe

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: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Context
Stories represent holistic approaches to teaching and learning that allow children’s involvement with rich, authentic material.
Stories are an essential communication tool for experiential learning because they have the power to safely move participants from
their comfort zones to encounter something totally new. They offer a whole new imaginary world created by language that children
can gain access to and learn to enjoy, while also acquiring language on the way. More than anything, our children need something
to spurt their creative capacity.
The project idea was developed as a result of the needs identified in all partner schools – that of helping students to get to know
their cultural heritage and the European cultural heritage, while also boosting and exploring their creativity through the medium of
stories.
Our students come from a wide variety of backgrounds – mainstream, minorities, students with SEN, students with behaviour
problems, high achievers, students in orphanages. The main priority of our initiative is to create a culture of acceptance and respect
among these. By involving them in activities related to stories, they will be able to acquire values and principles in a non-threatening
environment. The world of stories is a world without boundaries or frontiers.

Participants
The target group consists of 200 students aged 13-15 in all the 5 schools. Among the students in the target group, there are students
at risk of dropping out, students of Romani ethnicity, abandoned children, students with disabilities, immigrants, students with
integration problems and, of course, mainstream students. Those who face difficulties represent almost one quarter of the TG. There will be 68 students who will attend the meetings, among whom 16 with special needs/financial, social or economic obstacles, cultural differences.
The participating teachers are English and literature teachers, who will work to create the project outputs, but also teachers of other subjects who will be involved in the organisation of project activities. There will be 2 teachers per country accompanying the students in each exchange.

Objectives:
1. to involve students in their own learning and motivate them; (minimum 50% of target group)
2. to develop students’ language skills, literacy, critical and creative thinking, personal and social capability;
(min. 60% target group)
3. to develop intracultural and intercultural understanding; (minimum 70%)
4. to promote European values and develop cohesion among European citizens. (measurable by analysing students’ and teachers’
attitudes to other cultures, as seen in the post-LTTA discussions)
5. to create an atmosphere of non-discrimination and mutual acceptance in each partner school.
6. to produce sustainable materials which will be used on a regular basis in the schools – collection of materials for teachers, set of
adapted materials for SEN students, collection of stories illustrated by children.

Activities
M1 – coordinator meeting (planning) – Hungary- Oct/Nov 2017
C1 – Bulgaria – Feb/Mar 2018; Topic: Stories from around Europe
C2 – Romania – May/Jun 2018; Topic: European stories to develop interpretive skills
C3 – Italy – Oct/Nov 2018; Topic: European stories to develop critical thinking skills
C4 – Hungary – Mar 2019; Topic: Developing creativity through stories – Creating the story map of Europe
M2 – coordinator meeting (evaluation and sustainability) – Turkey – May 2019

Results and impact
Project results include the website, eTwinning account, Facebook page, CDs, calendars, initial and final evaluation documents, progress and final reports, dissemination materials, certificates of attendance, Europass certificates, collection of stories from all around Europe, collection of activities for developing interpretative skills (special activities for SEN students), collection of creative activities starting from stories around Europe (special activities for SEN students), collection of activities and tasks developing critical thinking skills, map of European story characters.
The impact will be observable at the level of students (cultural awareness, acquisition of European values, development of skills, acquisition of knowledge, improvement of school results, self-confidence), teachers (better cultural awareness, improvement of leadership, communication, presentation skills, experience in projects), institutions (improvement of human resources, increased group cohesion, positive image).

Long-term benefits
The results will be used during current class work by English teachers and the schools will also set up story clubs, in which students will cooperate with their peers, read common stories, discuss them, create artwork based on them. Schools will improve material basis and will earn Erasmus+ management experience, so that they can apply for new project in the future years.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 91340 Eur

Project Coordinator

Nyíregyházi Arany János Gimnázium, Általános Iskola és Kollégium & Country: HU

Project Partners

• 41 school Patriarh Evtimiy
• Remzi Dogan Ilkokulu
• Istituto Comprensivo 1 Chieti
• Colegiul National