Description of the Project

What is the rationale of this project, in terms of objectives pursued and needs and target groups to be addressed? Why should this project be carried out transnationally?

By analyzing the needs of our school and the partner schools we came to the conclusion that we need to develop methods which raise the quality of English language teaching and increase the students’ motivation in this field.

In all the schools involved in the project English is the leading foreign language. We compared the methods of teaching, problems, learning outcomes and defined the common points:

1. English is taught only during language classes.
2. Modern technologies are used insufficiently.
3. The majority of the students do not like to learn the English language saying that it is unusable.
4. No possibility to use English in practical situations.

Our project refers to all of these problems and a variety of related issues and specific objectives. As a result of the overall project we plan to:

• improve the quality of language education through the use of modern technologies and CLIL. The use of modern technologies does not apply only to foreign languages. Acquired skills and knowledge, thanks to the wide dissemination, will serve other teachers, not participating directly in the project. The aim of CLIL is to improve the results of language education, but due to its innovation and attractiveness should also have a positive impact on students’ motivation to learn.
• increase the level of knowledge of foreign languages ​​among teachers of all subjects. All planned activities will be conducted in English, which on one hand is a motivating factor for self-education, and on the other, significantly expands existing knowledge and skills. Achieving this goal will improve the status of the teaching profession in society.
• increase the level of knowledge of other cultures, languages ​​and countries among teachers and students. The project participants come from different European countries. Working together, talking, exchange of experience foster broadening horizons and build an attitude of openness. Also other students will benefit from this knowledge during planned cultural lessons.
• develop international contacts, so that both teachers and students feel citizens of Europe. Established contacts and joint activities with other European schools will result in further cooperation of students and teachers on the eTwinning platform and perhaps will lead to next Erasmus+ projects.

These objectives can only be achieved through international cooperation. Exchange of experience, the search for the best solutions, working together on lesson plans are some of the project activities. Especially valuable is the ability to conduct CLIL lessons in a multilingual environment where the only way to communicate will be English, which is one of the assumptions of this method. Joint meetings of students and teachers from different countries are not only an attractive opportunity to learn, but also to show that English is useful, and in some cases even indispensable.

In what way is the project innovative and/or complementary to other projects already carried out?

CLIL method itself is no longer a novelty. It is used in many countries and although its popularity is still low due to the necessity of good methodological preparation of teachers, the number of schools implementing this method is growing steadily.

What is new is our plan to prepare and conduct CLIL lessons in various subjects in multilingual environment. „Normal” CLIL method allows for partial use of the mother tongue in the classroom. The environment in which we conduct our lessons prevents such action. The only tool of communication will be English. From the linguistic point of view it is advisable. We will try to develop such techniques, so as the content of the subjects taught will not suffer.

New technologies will play a significant role in the project. The contact via the Internet between the partner schools is now being established. We are going to set up a section on our school’s Moodle platform where the students will be able to present themselves and their schools. There will also be a course dedicated to CLIL method. Teachers from partner schools will present their current activities in the field of language education. Everything will be done in English.

Planned CLIL lessons, which will be carried out during the mobilities, will be prepared based on the most efficient use of modern technologies. Each school will be able to present their ideas, and all of us will benefit from the exchange of experiences.

Our school already has some experience in the area of ​​the project. In the years 2014-2016 our English teachers participated in training sessions devoted to the methodology of the use of ICT in teaching English. Thanks to the gained knowledge, computer equipment and internet is used in English classes to a greater extent. Our platform Moodle is one of the results of that project. Now it’s time to use and develop these experiences and share them with other schools in Europe.