The Green Hearts Erasmus Project

Project Title

The Green Hearts

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

In October 2019 the teachers from our partner schools from Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland and Cyprus took part in a contact seminar called “Building Partnerships for a Learner-Centred Approach“ in Bratislava. The teachers met there and decided to start a KA229 project concerning environmental education. Later we found another partner from Croatia on the eTwinning Partner forum platform. The school from Croatia has been a part of the Eco-schools programme for 10 years and this year they are going to receive a Gold Certificate for promoting education for environmental sustainability. Five countries will participate in this Erasmus+ project (three of them are newcomers: Poland, Cyprus and Slovakia). They will enhance the environmental education at their schools and incorporate it into all subjects as a cross cutting theme. Tasks and responsibilities will be divided among the partners as follows: CZECH REPUBLIC – transport and air pollution, POLAND – food and healthy lifestyle, SLOVAKIA – responsible consumption, CYPRUS – waste, sustainable cities and communities, CROATIA – clean energy. Each participant country will create presentations, quizzes, various games, sport activities and a dictionary containing vocabulary associated with a given topic. They will present their work at individual meetings which will be held according to the Timetable. The students will develop their positive attitudes towards the environment, they will do this with regard to the differences of the specific locality and country. All students will develop their talent, creativity and imagination while decorating cloth shopping bags, making a model of a wind turbine, preparing an e-magazine, videos, a scenario of an eco-play and crafts from recycled materials. They will organize expert talks, surveys, quizzes, workshops, visits to local recycling facilities, a “Ban the bag!” campaign, School Clean-up Day, Bike to School Day, Waste Free Snack Day, Swap me Toys and sports equipment fundraising day. They will participate in Earth Hour. They will map illegal dumping and look at the levels of air pollution in their area and research about different actions that they can take to keep the environment free of pollution.
Students will have the opportunity to work with modern ICT tools like Kahoot, Padlet, TwinSpace, PowerPoint, Madmagz, Google Docs, Microsoft Teams and Zoom. The project aims at the acquisition of four key competences, communication in foreign languages, ICT, creative thinking and collaborative learning. It encourages schools to help teenagers study their environment, local recycling habits, sustainability development goals, valuable ecosystems and exchange this knowledge with others through multiple communication methods and new technologies. It will help us to fight against indifference and passivity regarding the environment. The project aligns with the UN Sustainable development goals.
The teachers will develop and improve their language and ICT skills, multicultural thinking, European project creation, usage of new methods in teaching, especially the Learner-centred approach. The project will influence not only the teachers and the students (they will be more open to innovation, changes, eager to work in multinational groups), but also their parents, local educational institutions, local primary and secondary schools, regional, national and European environmental organizations that will be informed about the activities and results of our project. The students will gain new competences in the area of the environment protection and multiculturality. They will become more self-confident and responsible for their future. They will learn how important it is to refuse products that they do not need and things that they cannot recycle. They will learn how to reduce consumption and food packaging. They will be encouraged to think of sharing, renting or borrowing instead of buying. To reuse and extend the life of a product by repairing, refurbishing, and repurposing things. To recycle and recover things like metal, paper, plastic and to use renewable energy to decrease dependence on coal and other fossil fuels.
Some project activities will continue even after the project is finished, because the learning and teaching materials created will be further used in teaching. The project will promote the continuous professional development of staff and the strategic development of the schools. The Green Hearts project will be an ideal way for schools to embark on a meaningful path towards improving the environment in both the school and the local community while at the same time having a life-long positive impact on the lives of young people, their families, school staff and local authorities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 140510 Eur

Project Coordinator

Zakladna skola s materskou skolou Karola Raposa & Country: SK

Project Partners

• Szkola Podstawowa nr 1 im. Mikolaja Kopernika
• Osnovna skola brace Radic
• Thekleio Gymnasium Limassol
• Zakladni skola a Gymnazium Vodnany