We are Europe! Erasmus Project

Project Title

We are 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 : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Youth (Participation, Youth Work, Youth Policy) ; International cooperation, international relations, development cooperation

Project Summary

Context:
We are Europe! This thought is going to be quite new for many of our students, who surely have come across the term “European Union” before – but most likely only briefly and rather superficially. What does the EU have to offer to its young members? This is what we are going to find out. Even though the countries of the participating students are very different, they are all members (or aspirant members) of a greater organisation: the EU. The students are going to experience what Europe means for them for probably the first time in their lives. It´s something the adults often talk about, but what does it actually mean? This is what they are going to find out by participating in this project. Also, the contact with other cultures is essential when learning a foreign language, it helps students to develop an open mind and, in that way, it allows a critical reflection of one’s own culture.
For our students, the project will help to consolidate relationships among each other and with students from their partner school, together with the unique opportunity of getting to know the way of life in another country and how another school works.
There are many people of Turkish descent in Germany and the German coordinating school has a high number of these students. Since Turkey has long been a candidate country for the EU, the young Turks also get in touch with this topic at home. We want to help them understand what the EU means for the people who live here, and in Turkey, what opportunities it provides for members and candidate countries and if and how people in our project countries are aware of them or other benefits. We also want to shed a light on globalization by looking at Turkish and other communities in our region (i.e. in the EU). In Lithuania, there are hardly any immigrants from Muslim countries, so some may experience diversity for the first time. All students will benefit in terms of tolerance towards people with different religious backgrounds.
For teachers, the project will require direct communication and cooperation by working together and learning from each other – all using the English language.
For the participating schools, the development of an Erasmus+ project will create a greater sense of the European dimension in the educational field, the idea of collaborative work and, of course, an opportunity to practice English, a language they can use globally.
For the communities, the project will reinforce the idea of a multicultural approach on education and enrich their background through the schools, teachers and students being in contact and, not to forget, it will strenghten ties with new European partners.
The results of this project will be made available not only to students aged 15-18 but also to younger students who have even less information on what “Europe” means for them and who will be inspired by the older students who they naturally look up to and who will inspire them with their experiences.
Objectives:
Our students will make videos about the relevance of the European Union (e.g. in our lives): including interviews and/or other ways to explore what it means to live in the EU,
Students will write texts (blog entries, articles, diaries) about partner countries and/or project experiences and make them accessible for a broader audience,
Students will take photos about the topic “diversity” and discuss this topic while the key word will be “tolerance”.
Students will organize an exhibition where the results will be displayed.
All of these products will support our students in acquiring and developing key competences, which they need for their own personal development, their future employability, social lives and, last but not least, active citizenship in a democracy – which is a very important aspect in our project “We are Europe”. But also their basic skills and digital competences will be trained when they work on their products.
Participants:
There will be 78 students (age 15-18) and 9 teachers participating directly in the project.
activities:
Not only will the participants get to know the countries of their partner schools and strengthen their English language skills but they will also work in international groups on the perception of Europe in these countries and work on their project results. The focus will be on improving their basic skills and key competences while working on the products.
Results:
The students will learn that “EU” is a lot more than a mere word they have vaguely known before. They will broaden their horizons as to include the European perspective into their lives and this means having enough background information as well as being aware of opportunities and perspectives Europe has to offer as a result of the existence of a EU. They will carry these results and their experiences with them for the rest of their lives. Democracy, active citizenship and tolerance are more than just words and our students will experience all of them.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 14415 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnasium Königsbrunn & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Klaipeda’s Vydunas gymnasium
• Haci Sabanci Anadolu Lisesi