Student exchange programme Spain-Germany to improve the students’ cultural and language skills Erasmus Project

Project Title

Student exchange programme Spain-Germany to improve the students’ cultural and language skills

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: Pedagogy and didactics; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Project Summary

The Sophie-Brahe-School (SBG) is a school from 1st-13th grade, located in Treptow-Köpenick, Berlin. The school is a colourful mix of 992 students from different cultural and social backgrounds, who are educated by a staff of 87 teachers, educators and social workers. Students start learning the first foreign language (English) in 3th grade and the second foreign language (French or Spanish, optional) in 7th grade. The school has not participated in any Erasmus+ projects yet.

The San Francisco de Asís Colegio is a school teaching students from 1st-10th grade, located in an old convent from the 17th century in Lorca, Spain. The school was founded by a group of nuns in 1860. Since 1995, the school has been a teacher-run cooperative. Currently, it is a partially private and public primary and secondary school attended by 707 students with 49 teachers. The San Francisco de Asís Colegio clearly is focused on foreign language teaching. Starting in 1st grad students start learning the first foreign language English. The second foreign language (French or German) is optional from the fifth grade on. The school also offers bilingual learning (CLIL) in different subjects. Since 2018, the school has participated in two Erasmus+ projects with regard to CLIL (KA101 and KA229).

Both schools believe that the development of European projects is a crucial step towards successful teaching and learning. They are also convinced of the need to promote European thinking and open-mindedness among the students. Since the beginning of 2017, two teachers have started developing a project concept. They teach German at the Spanish school and Spanish at the SBG respectively. Both of them have participated in an Erasmus programme as part of their studies and, thanks to the acquired skills, both of them are truly convinced that European exchanges are enriching experiences that encourage a lifelong learning. The project started with an exchange of different school tasks and first contacts among students. The project has been very well accepted at both schools that both partner schools are really interested in the further development of the project. In this sense, both sides realised that the financial resources for the further development of the project were missing, as an example, the financial support for short trips can be guaranteed only by a few parents. Therefore, the Erasmus+ funding should serve to further develop, establish and expand this project, which once started small and on a personal level.

The schools’ goals for this project are the following: 1) improving language teaching, 2) increasing student motivation to learn a foreign language and their enthusiasm for the foreign culture, 3) promoting the skills requested by the school system, and 4) internationalising both schools at a European level.

The participants attend the middle school and are between 12 and 16 years old (for short trips a number of 12 students from Spain and 17 students from Berlin are taking part). Moreover, all students interested in this project and in out of school activities or hosting a foreign exchange students are mostly welcome to join this project. For this purpose, a German teacher from the Spanish school and two Spanish teachers from the SBG will participate in a mobility for further education. All Spanish students from the middle school have the chance to take part in the short-term exchanges who accompanied by two teachers. For that purpose, students will have to apply, since the vacancies are limited.

The cooperation is based on an exchange of different school tasks in each grade. These tasks are integrated into the yearly teaching plans, whose content and competences are based on the respective school curricula. In addition, one teacher mobility and two student mobilities are planned per school year. The teacher mobility will focus on the acquisition of competences in project management and the use of eTwinning within the project. The project will be developed through regular communication between the participating teachers, the use of eTwinning, the preparation of materials and the use of new media.

The expected results are the following: 1) the implementation of a good, open foreign language teaching in which new media are regularly used, 2) dedicated students who enjoy learning, 3) the improvement of the foreign language and its related competences (writing, speaking, text, media and intercultural skills) with a greater understanding of other cultures and European consciousness, and 4) a higher attractiveness of both schools and both foreign languages, German and Spanish.

As far as long-term benefits of the project are concerned, we would like to: 1) build up further advanced language courses, 2) offer a broader range of topics, methods and projects in the classroom, and 3) establish further cooperations in other subjects.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 65490 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sophie-Brahe-Gemeinschaftsschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• S.COOP.ENSEÑANZA SAN FCO. DE ASIS DE LORCA