1. Concrete aims of the Partnership
The aim of this project is to deepen students´ interest in environment protection and conversation on the forest biotope and to try practically real fieldwork. Further project aim is getting new knowledge about forest fauna and flora; to be able to elaborate and sort all new information electronically. No less important thing is to know woods and forests of partner’s country, their composition, protection and keeping. All information will be made into materials and conclusions. Students will work on this “research” collectively with the help of teachers and school workers. All communication will be in English and the rudimentary knowledge of Norwegian and Czech that students should learn during the project duration will be used as well. Also all final products will be made in trilingual versions. There will a use for teachers as well. They can enlarge their pedagogic and didactic knowledge by cognition of the educational system in the partner ´s country and at school of the similar focus. They can know new ways of teaching, they will be more motivated to study and learn foreign languages. The final products can be offered to the local schools as a teaching tool.
2. Impact of the the Partnership
During the whole project work young people will have to communicate with each other so it can also “bring the fruit” in the area of the languages learning. It does not mean just English practising that is going to be the working language but also mother tongues of both partner groups. The main students´ work results – the herbarium and the animal atlas are aimed not just for them and teachers but also for the public and other institutions as a presentation of their work within the European program or a teaching tool for the local schools. They could see that it is possible to cooperate successfully on the international level even the topic is special and even without the worries of other nationality or race. Students can learn a lot of about partners´ country forests and their protection, conservation, ecological and agriculture conditions, but they will also know something about partner’s country culture, habits (forest legends, beings and creatures, myths), school system (classification, school curriculum, education, lessons, students´ relations, languages learning – especially English and its use), cuisine and at not least they can make beautiful friendships. There will also be the cooperation between our school and the local huntsman association during the whole project work and during the exchange. It can be very good motivation for students to help the Huntsman Association, to make some suggestion within environmental area etc. All this experience will also be very useful for the teachers who are going to work on the project with students.
3. Evaluation of the Partnership
The project work should develop according to the month plan and each partner will be responsible for the exact stage of the project. The results of work will be monitored by teachers responsible for the project and discussed at the teachers´ and students´ meetings as well as with a partner on-line. The main aims mentioned above would be fulfil according to the plan (see at the bottom of the page). The project tasks will also be discussed within the Huntsman Association that will evaluate students´ work, their activities and research of forests. When the final products are ready their quality and usefulness will be assessed and they will be offered to the cooperating associations and also to the local schools if they are interested in them. They can evaluate our project work made within the European School Partnership program. The project work is very important for pupils’ communication, cooperation, tolerance during the common work. It is very useful for languages learning, in this case not just English but apart it there is also Norwegian and Czech. It will be included into Czech and English lessons, but also into Biology, Chemistry, Planting and Breeding, History and ICT lessons. English teachers should monitor if some language progress is done at the end of the project as well as the other teachers. During the students´ exchanges teachers of both schools will sum up the acquired information and adjusted work, that students have done.
4. Dissemination and use the results, experience and end products
The all products will be used as a kind of school presentation during the “Day of Open Doors” and the other school advertising, exhibitions and parents´ meetings (the Day of School, school exhibitions, school notice boards), the final products can also be presents for children’s asylum in our local community, local schools (kindergartens, primary schools, the Grammar school and the Technical School). The reports about the whole project work and its importance and use within EU project participation will be published in the local and regional newspapers (Lanskrounske listy; Orlicke noviny, Svitavsky denik).There will be a short introduction about School Partnership program on the product covers. The electronic form of all products will be accessible on the school internet websites as well as all information about the project and its progress so that young people visiting these websites and interested in ecology could find out worthwhile information about the project and this subject matter. The final products will be used as presents for foreign partner schools and organizations that we have been cooperating with.
5. The roles and tasks of all involved institutions
The both partner institutions must guarantee the space for all activities during the both exchanges, to include the preparation into school curriculum, to enable photoduplicating, using of the internet, fax and telephone. There will be teachers responsible for fulfilling plans and activities. They also must guarantee the presentation of the project products to public and local institutions as it was described above. The coordinating school will be responsible for the project duration and all the activities, exchanges planning and organizing, it will make conclusions and will be the main force in the creation of the final products. The partner school will help with the exchange planning and coordinating, they will send all collected and needed information and material to the coordinating school so that it could finish the final products. They will plan common discussion with the students of coordinating school and enable their communication via Internet and the e-twinning space (chat, e-mails, ICQ, videoconference, forum, Skype etc.). Municipal authorities should help with the performance, exhibitions and forum about the project work, products presentation and preview. The local Huntsman Association will help with the forest research (information, material, students´ fieldwork). The role of these institutions is to offer advice, to provide materials, to help in the search of information and the establishment of contacts.
6. Communication and cooperation between the participating institutions
New technologies will be used during the project duration especially for the communication and electronic forms of final products. The both partners will communicate mainly via Internet by e-mails, ICQ, Skype, chats, forum and videoconference. The teachers will also use the phone and fax to change the urgent information. The both partners will send their research results to each other so they could be completed and controlled. For this the e-twinning space is going to be used as a great way of students´ cooperation. There blog web pages could be used for articles and results within the project work. We will take advantages of the communication technologies during the whole project duration not just for the exchanging information but also for making electronic forms of the final products. Students also must use language programs and software to be able to translate texts from language to language to be able to make final products and the basic dictionary of the key and special words.
7. Active involvement of pupils and staff
The students will be involved into the project as much as possible and to all activities. The teachers involved into the project will be responsible for the whole project progress; they will help students with their work on the final products and communication between Czech and Norwegian students. They will coordinate all work as well as the fieldwork; they will check fulfilling of the project plan that students should make together with their teachers. The pupils will help with making of the program for exchange visits; they will prepare the exhibitions, notice boards, presentation during the Day of open Door and the Day of School, write articles about their experience to the above mentioned newspapers. Students will make a trilingual dictionary with the basic thematic vocabulary and from everyday life. They will prepare questionnaires and quizzes and mainly they will make forest research, collector’s hunt and documentation by camera and video camera that is essential for the successful project work. They will prepare the legends and their translation to the photos, pictures and dried herbs and plants.
8. Integration of the Partnership
The activities planned in the project will be integrated into the curriculum of both schools according to the subjects that are thought there. Biology, Chemistry, Planting and Breeding, ICT, Geography, Hunting and English teachers will integrate the project topics into their subjects’ curriculum so there would be a link between the subjects and the project. Biology – our environmental policy in the area of forests conservation, their fauna and flora, research on the biotope of wood, plants and animals that occur in our forests etc.; Chemistry - soil in our woods and its structure, what is biomass and other special terms; Planting – plants, trees, flora of our forests, making of herbarium; Geography – rain forests in the world and their importance; ICT – communication, electronic forms of final products, e-quizzes about forests, finding useful information on the Internet; Hunting – the album of animals of our forests; English – the communication between both partner schools and students (also via e-twinning space), the dictionary of special terms connected to the project topic (Czech-Norwegian-English)
9. I intercultural dialogue
Although the theme of this project’s topic is from the special course of study (especially environmental theme) there will also be some tasks from the intercultural field. As we will cooperate with huntsman and gamekeeper association, students and their teachers will be acquainted not just with huntsmen’s and gamekeepers´ work but also with some hunters´ ceremonies and festivals, rituals, folk customs and traditions, hunter’s tales (St. Hubert ´s ride etc.).
10. Partnership specific activities -concrete measures:
There will be female and male students and teachers in both teams working on the project. It means that project participants of different sex, race and abilities will have equal opportunities to work on it.
Our school lies in the area of quite high unemployment and a lot of students also come from social- economic disadvantaged families. These project activities are a great possibility to know new people and their lifestyle, new country and its culture; students can learn how to work in team. They will be encouraged to trust themselves and to work in team, to use foreign language in a real situation without shyness and restrains. All mentioned above can help them to find a job in the future and to adapt in it, to work in the team etc.
11. Language preparations prior to each exchange:
Both schools will arrange extra lessons (at least 20 lessons) for learning Norwegian and Czech language. Because neither school has partner’s language in its curriculum, it is necessary so that students and project teachers would learn key phrases, idioms and vocabulary. Pupils will learn partner’s language by way of extra lessons (two lessons a week before each exchange) and they will use elementary textbooks with their competent teacher as a lector. Students will be taught by the partner’s language lector if there is a chance to get him. Students should prepare a basic electronic dictionary with the key vocabulary and phrases of everyday life as well as special vocabulary that they need for they final products (forests, animal atlas and herbarium). The students should learn elementary and basic language with the focus on the vocabulary of everyday life, special words and terminology useful for the project topic.
12. Practical terms collaboration during the visit to the partner school
Even if this project is aimed in languages learning, students will collaborate in the whole process of work. Each students´ group will have the concrete assignment and task that they should work on not just during the exchanges but also during the whole project duration.
Students of both countries will start communication via internet and e-twinning space to introduce each other and to use foreign language.
They will start to exchange useful information, translate special words and terms about the forests and explain the terminology of this field according to the plan of activities.
During the visits they will help with the whole organization (working on the timetable, serving the guests, helping them if they have some problems or requests etc.).
The students will attend the school lessons to know the partner school´ s educational system, school life and curriculum (English lessons, Geography, Biology, Chemistry, Planting and Hunting).
They will partake in “collector’s hunt” in the forest to find interesting things there, to take photos etc.
They will work together on the Animal Atlas and Herbarium
They will plant their “national tree” in the garden of the partner school
They will prepare a quiz competition: e.g. How the tree helps people? What do you know about rain forests?
They will make together an interview for the local mass media.