Application
Summary from the application:
Name on project Creative Language Learning through Cultural Activities
Project number NPJR-2015/10036
Institutions: Nästegårdsskolan
Märjamaa Gümnaasium
Radviliskio Lizdeikos gimnazija
3.3. Summary
Give a short summary of the project (250 words max)
We want to combine basic language learning with cultural activities in this project. Teachers and
students involved will learn some basic words and phrases in the other countries’ languages.
When cooking, we will learn words for food and cooking, when dancing, we will learn words
about dancing, when singing in our different languages we will learn the meaning of the songs.
We will also start by learning words for greetings and asking about how you feel. We also want
the students to find words that are similar in our different languages.
Proverbs are part of our languages and we will find proverbs that we have in common and try to
learn how to say them in our different languages.
All words we will have in an e-book on the internet written in English as the common language
and then both written and with the sound in our three different languages, so that everyone can
learn the words and how to pronounce them.
On our project webpage we will put everything we do, both in our schools and in our project
meetings, so everyone will have access to everything such as words, films with the dances and
the singing of songs, recipes and so on.
During the meetings we will practice our different languages and cooking, singing and dancing
and when the meeting participants will come back home, they will do the same with the students
at home, so that everyone is involved, not only the travelling ones.
Project period 09/2015 - 06/2017
4.1.1. Specific aims of Nordplus Junior:
Strengthening the Nordic languages and promoting knowledge and understanding of Nordic and
Baltic languages and cultures
4.1.2. Purpose
We are the Baltic and Nordic countries and we would like to know each other's cultures and
languages better and compare them. Estonia and Sweden have had several projects before.
Estonia and Lithuania established the contact during the folk dance festival.
The project idea focuses on learning our languages through cultural activities, such as e.g.
singing, dancing, cooking, so it corresponds to the aim of strengthening the Nordic
languages and promoting knowledge and understanding of Nordic and Baltic languages and
cultures.
In the first part of the Swedish curriculum it says that creative activities are important parts of
the active learning and that dance, music and creative activities in the form of art and texts
should be part of the school’s activities. It also says that both intellectual and practical,
sensuous and the esthetic aspects should be acknowledged. The students should be able to
interact when meeting other people by using their knowledge of similarities and differences in
lives, cultures and languages among other things. They should also have a knowledge of the
heritage of the Nordic cultures and languages. An international perspective is important to
create an international solidarity and prepare for a society with close contacts over culture and
nation borders.
But also in different subjects there are aims to be fulfilled such as different food traditions and
cultural differences in Food Technology. In Sports it is important with dancing and moving to
music and in Music it says that music should contribute to the understanding of different music
cultures and students should be challenged in the meeting with other people’s musical
experiences. In Handicraft it says that mix of working with your hands and thinking will develop
creativity. It is also an expression of ethnic and cultural identity. In languages it says that the
knowledge of several languages can give new perspectives on the surrounding world,
increased possibilities to contacts and a greater understanding of different ways of iving.
In the Estonian curriculum it says that students should develop every kind of competences,
among them Foreign Language competence with help of which they can learn about other
nationalities' culture, their people, customs and traditions as well as in written or spoken
variations. As a result of it students become more tolerant to different behavior and
traditions in the society and treasure the other nations' cultural heritage. In terms of Food
Technology our curriculum aims at healthy eating and using local foods which can be enriched
with traditional foods from our partner countries. In the area of Health and Physical activities
the curriculum concentrates on cooperation, doing together to learn team-skills and initiative.
It says that everyone should find him/herself a physical activity he/she can enjoy. Dancing
to music- ballroom dances and folk-dances are a couple of examples. Dancing to music is
a perfect combination to make yourself understandable and express your feelings even without
saying a word.
Later it can be the basis of mutual communication. Music as a competence is personal and
international at the same time. It introduces the traditions of our culture. In Handicraft our
curriculum says that it is a form of expressing a personality, to study the cultural heritage
and to understand the cultural diversity in the world. All these competences support students
when developing their creativity, they can share their experience with their peers, parents and
community.
Lithuanian curriculum states the importance of multilingualism and intercultural competences
to young people. The project activities will help students to gain these competences and in this
way will develop students' ability to communicate effectively with people of other nationalities
and increase tolerance towards different cultures. Lithuanian curriculum also includes the
theme of folk culture which can be integrated in school subjects as well as in non-formal school
activities. By implementing project activities ( i.e. cooking, dancing, handicraft) students will
strengthen their national identity, deepen knowledge of their own folk culture, get to know
Swedish and Estonian customs and traditions, appreciate Nordic cultural heritage. All project
activities aim at developing students creativity and aesthetic feelings, which are also
emphasized in school education in Lithuania.
4.1.3. Aims and contribution
The students and teachers will increase their intercultural competences. The teachers will share and
learn from each other new language teachings methods and the students will enjoy creative language
learning process. Estonia will be responsible for the wordlist with common words and phrases; selecting
the proverbs. Lithuania will be responsible for starting the e-book; the wordlist for dance and music
words. Sweden will be responsible for setting up the webpage; logo competition; evaluations after the
visits; half-time report; final report.
Every country is responsible for the project meeting in their countries; putting their information on the
website; dissemination in their countries, creating a project logo. The management in each country
encourages and supports the project ideas to full extenct and will join project meetings in their countries.
4.2.2. Activity plan
Autumn 2015:
• SEPTEMBER
Start webpage where we put everything we do and all results, Sweden responsible for
starting one
• SEPTEMBER
Write on the webpage about our schools and our towns, school terms, everyone
responsible for their own country
• OCTOBER
Making wordlists in the different languages. Estonia is responsible. This wordlist will contain
words and phrases that are useful when you meet each other, like Hello, My name is…, How are you?
• OCTOBER
Lithuania starts an e-book with the words from the wordlist. The e-book will contain all the
words and phrases we learn in our different languages during the project, both in writing and with the
sound
• NOVEMBER
Choosing proverbs, Estonia writes a list of proverbs in English and shares with the others
and then we pick the ones we have in all our languages and would like to work with. We put them in the
e-book in all our languages.
• DECEMBER
Logo competition. We let the students suggest different logos for the project and every
country picks one suggestion. We put the three suggestions on the webpage and all students can vote
for the logo and the winner we will use on the webpage and the things we write.
Spring 2016
• JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
(not full months, because of holidays) Preparing, rehearsing and filming
folk music and write about unusual instruments in our countries and put on the webpage. Evaluation of
the autumn activities. Every country responsible for their part
• MARCH
We write dance and music words in our different languages. English words first and Lithuania
is responsible for them. Then all countries put the words in the e-book
• APRIL
Estonia prepares the wordlist for food and the recipes we are going to use in Estonia and put
them in the e-book
• APRIL
(Easter holiday) Preparing for the trip to Estonia and Estonia prepares for the visit
• MAY
Visit in Estonia – last week in May
• MAY
Sweden and Lithuania write articles in their local newspapers about the visit
• JUNE
Evaluation after the visit. Sweden responsible
• JUNE
Lithuania and Sweden make presentations about the project meeting in the classes when they
come home (and put on the webpage) and also teach the words from the e-book for all students involved
• JUNE
Put pictures from the Art lessons on the webpage - all countries responsible. This is to show
what the students do in the different countries and to compare. What do we work with? Similar things or
not?
• JUNE
Write the half time report
Autumn 2016
• SEPTEMBER
Sweden prepares the wordlist for the recipes in Sweden
• SEPTEMBER
Everyone prepares the visit and Sweden the programme in Sweden
NPJR-2015/10036 Page 5 (11) Draft - 25-Feb-2015
• OCTOBER
– the first week -visit in Sweden.
• OCTOBER
Evaluation after the visit. Sweden responsible
• OCTOBER
Lithuania and Estonia write articles in their local newspapers about the visit
• NOVEMBER
Lithuania and Estonia make presentations from the project meeting for the classes in their
schools about the visit in Sweden (and put on the webpage) and also teach the words from the e-book
for all students involved.
• DECEMBER
Put pictures from the Art lessons on the webpage again to show what have been done
since June.
Spring 2017
• JANUARY AND FEBRUARY
Preparing the Recipe book for printing. The Lithuanian recipes and words
will be put in later. The Recipe book is for all students involved (not only the travelling ones)
• MARCH
Lithuania prepares the words for their recipes
• MARCH
The students choose modern music they are interested in and put links to Youtube on the
webpage so that they can listen and compare.
• APRIL
Preparing for the visit in Lithuania, both the ones who travels and the Lithuania people who will
prepare the programme.
• APRIL
We print the Recipe book
• APRIL
The last week we meet in Lithuania
• APRIL
Evaluation after the visit. Sweden responsible
• APRIL
Sweden and Estonia make presentations from the project meeting for the classes in their
schools about the visit in Lithuania (and put on the webpage) and also teach the words from the e-book
for all students involved.
• APRIL
Sweden and Estonia write articles in their local newspapers about the visit
• MAY
Evaluation for students and teachers involved to see to what extent we have fulfilled the aims of
the project. Sweden is responsible
• MAY
writing the final report - Sweden responsible
Visits:
• Spring 2016: Estonia
• Autumn 2016: Sweden
• Spring 2017: Lithuania
Things to do during the visits:
1. In every visit we will show our folk dances and all of us practice together and we film it and put it on
the webpage (Every country responsible during the visit in their country)
2. We will cook and eat the national food (Every country responsible during the visit in their country)
3. We will sing songs from the country (Every country responsible during the visit in their country)
4. We will ”write” the proverbs we have chosen in different handicraft techniques (Every country
responsible during the visit in their country)
5. We will visit the town and the neighbourhood (Every country responsible during the visit in their
country)
6. We will visit lessons and compare the educational system
7. We will have games after school for everyone, not only visitors (Every country responsible during the
visit in their country)
8. We will have a Quiz about things in the world, sports, about each others’ schools, what we have learnt
during the visit (Every country responsible during the visit in their country) (In Sweden Tipspromenad)
9. We will have activities for getting to know each other (Every country responsible during the visit in their
country)
10. We will have a competition in groups trying to find words that are similar in our three different
languages and put them in the e-book
11. We will ave visits from the local papers so that they write about the visit (put the articles on the
webpage)
12. We will have language lessons where we learn the words from different topics (food, dance,
music...)– one topic each day and on the fourth day we have a competition to find out what we have
learnt. On each day we try to teach in different methods and then we as teachers learn at least nine
different methods of teaching words to use in future language lessons. The students are teachers in this
exercise.
13. The teachers will write evaluation questions for the meetings in Estonia and then we use the same
questions in the other countries, so that we can compare the evaluation results and see what we have
achieved
14. In Sweden we will prepare questions for the final evaluation – for all students involved and teachers
to see if we have fulfilled the project aims
15. In Sweden we will discuss how to print /make the recipe book
16. In Lithuania we will produce the recipe book in a creative way - we have printed the texts Before and
now we will put the book together.
17. In Lithuania we will have to prepare the final report
We have looked at what we want to do/achieve and then seen to that we have about the same work
amount in each term. We have also chosen to have the first visit the second term, so that we have
started the work already and have some knowledge of each others' schools and languages.
In all activities there will be both teachers and students involved.
4.2.3. Anchorage
In Sweden all students in form 7-9 will be involved in the Project and many teachers will be actively
involved. Working with the other countries' words and working with English will give the students
new perspectives on the surrounding world, increased possibilities to contacts and a greater
understanding of different ways of living as it says in the Swedish curriculum. The work with music
contributes to the understanding of different music cultures and the students will be challenged in
the meeting with other people’s musical experiences and this is important in the Music curriculum.
Cooking and trying our different kinds of food fulfills the aims in Food Technology about the
knowledge of different food traditions and cultural differences. In Sports it is important with dancing
and moving to Music. These are the main aims from the curricula.
In Estonia all students in forms 7-9 will take part in the Project and all teachers of different subjects
involved in the project (food technology, foreign languages, IT, handicraft, music, physical
education, our deputy head and headteacher) All the activities planned are directly connected
with our curricula in the above mentioned subjects.
Curriculum:in Foreign Languages they can develop their English-language skills- both oral and
written and learn Swedish and Lithuanian as a bonus to compare and experience learning another
language, at the same time finding similarities.
In Music students study the traditional and contemporary Estonian music and get some
examples of the music of our partners and can fee land experience them.
In Food technology in addition to our traditional food and healthy eating habits which are stated
in the curriculum all students in forms 7-9 can try out the traditional foods from our partner countries.
In Sport the curriculum says to find an activity which suits every student, it teaches team-work and
communication skills which can also be done on international level between students from our
partner schools- we can learn from each other.
In Handicraft the curriculum suggests to develop everybody's creativity and personal experience.
With help of the project working in teams with students from other partner countries these both aims
can be fulfilled.
In Lithuania all 9-10 form students will participate in the project activities and also the teachers of the
subjects which are related to the project will take part (music, dance, IT, foreign languages, handicraft,
physical education). The headteacher will support all the project activities and will create necessary
conditions for the project activities to take place during project meetings.
The project activities are directly related to school curricula. Students study music, dance, IT,
handicraft, physical education and project activities can be integrated into these subjects. Besides,
the project language is English so students implementing project activities and communicating to
each other will develop their knowledge of English and also learn Swedish and Estonian. Thus the
project will develop students' and teachers' linguistic, intercultural, communicative competences,
which are all strongly emphasized in Lithuanian curriculum.
In music lessons all school students involved, not only the visiting ones, will sing the songs from the
other countries. In cooking lessons all school students involved, not only the visiting ones, will cook
the national food of the participating countries. In PE or dance lessons all school students involved,
not only the visiting ones, will learn the steps of folk dances from participating countries.
The students who have participated in the project meetings will give presentations from the
meetings including items that they have created with the proverbs and teach other students the
words from the ebook using different teaching methods they have tried out.
Since the activities involve music, cooking, dancing, language learning and art, those teachers will
be involved. The head teacher will be involved in the meeting in the own country. The students will
make presentations after the meetings and then both teachers and students at home will know
about the meetings. There will also be posters with the webpage address on the walls in the school,
so that everyone will know where to look for information about what is going on.
Responsibilities:
The mutual benefit is that we all will get intercultural competences - both students and teachers -
and will learn some basic Swedish, Estonian and Lithuanian language.
Sweden is responsible for starting a webpage as soon as we have started the project and there we
put everything we do and all results; Logo competition in December 2015; Evaluation forms after
all the three visits; Writing the half time report in June 2016; The last evaluation form for students
and teachers involved to see to what extent we have fulfilled the aims of the project in June 2017 ;
Writing the final report in June 2017
Estonia is responsible for making a wordlist with useful words for the meeting in the different languages
in October 2015; Choosing proverbs to work with in November 2015
Lithuania is responsible for starting an e-book for the words from the wordlists in October 2015; Writing
words for music and dance in English and put them in the e-book, so that the others can fill in their own
Words in March 2016
All countries are equally responsible for writing on the webpage about our schools and our towns, school
terms; Putting the proverbs in the e-book in our own language; Preparing, rehearsing and filming folk
music and write about unusual instruments; Putting the music and dance words in our own language in
the e-book; Preparing the wordlist for food and recipes in our own languages and put them in the e-book;
Preparing for the programme during the visit in our own country and fulfill it; Writing articles in their local
newspapers about the visits in the other countries; Making presentations about the project meeting in the
classes when they come home (and put on the webpage) and also teach the words from the e-book for
all students involved; Putting pictures from the Art lessons on the webpage; Preparing the Cooking book
for printing; Choosing modern music they are interested in and put links to Youtube on the webpage so
that they can listen and compare. These things we do when they occur in the Activity plan. Since the
responsible people in all three countries are in contact with each other at least every fortnight they will
together see to that these things are done.
4.3.2. Effective communication
The contact persons will share information at least every fortnight or more often if needed via email.
Since everything we do will be put on our common webpage and the address will be known to both staff
and students in our schools everyone will be up to date with what we do. We will also encourage both
students and teachers who meet each other during the visits to keep in contact with each other.
Through the contact persons in each country it will also be possible to find a mail friend in another
country and in that way the students and teachers that don't travel can get a personal contact too.
4.3.3. Evaluation
We will evaluate the meetings in each country to see that the visit fulfilled the aims both according to
the programme and the stay in families for the students and the accomodation for the teachers. This
will be done through Google Docs and the results will be put on the webpage. The teachers will also
talk to each of the visiting students to see that everything is good during the stay. Some of the students
that won't be hosts in the visited countries will also be asked questions about how they feel that they are
involved in the project. A summary of that will also be put on the webpage.
We will also check with some students after each activity to see that we have fulfilled the aim. This will
be done through Google Docs. The result will be put on the webpage.
The participants in the meeting in Estonia will think of evaluation form questions, both for the visits and
the different activities. We will discuss the questions for evaluation of activities in the autumn of 2015 by
a shared document in order not to wait until the meeting in Estonia. Then we will have an evaluation in
January as well.
There will also be a final evaluation form and it will be discussed during the visit in Sweden. This will also
be through a Google Document. The result will be put on the webpage.
Using Google Docs is easy and you don't have to work too hard with finding out the results. Instead we
can use time to analyse the results and see that we fulfill the aims. If we see that something is not what
we intend it to be we can use the time to get it straight again. In that case we will communicate through
the contact persons and decide what to do.
4.4.Results and dissemination Results/outcome and dissemination
4.4.1. The expected outcome related to the aims of the project:
A. For those participating in the project
The students will:
• improve their handicraft, arts and music skills when they work together, share and discuss what they
do.
• improve their communication skills.
• get a basic knowledge of two new languages
• improve their IT skills while sharing things on the webpage and in the e-book
• learn about the cultures of each participating country and the visiting students will also experience it in
real life
• improve their intercultural competence
make friends with students from other countries
Participating teachers will:
• get a basic knowledge of two new languages
• share and learn from each other new teaching methods
• improve their IT skills while sharing things on the webpage and in the e-book
• learn and experience the cultures of each participating country.
• improve their intercultural competence
• learn how to teach a language through another subject
• learn new methods of teaching foreign language vocabulary
• learn about other school systems
establish contacts with teachers from other countries for the project and future cooperation
The school community will:
• improve the intercultural competence among all students and staff, not only the ones involved in the
project. Since the students and staff involved will share the work and results, everyone will learn from
that. The host families will also improve intercultural competence
The local community will:
• learn about the international work in the school through the local press articles and project webpage.
For the students, teachers and school community all these above mentioned issues are both on short
-term basis and long-term basis. The teachers will learn to work in a different way and continue to use
their knowledge with future students. Everyone involved will learn something for life and can also make
new friends to continue to keep in contact with.
B. For others - not participating in the project
Since we are going to share our experiences in different meetings with teachers in other schools and
head teachers' meetings, and in the local papers, other schools, head teachers and teachers will know
about the project and will hopefully get encouraged to start a project of their own. When we make
presentations about project activities, they will get to know about language teaching methods through
cultural activities and will improve their intercultural knowledge. If they start a project of their own, our
project will result in new Projects and it will thus be a long-term basis work.
We will have a webpage and through that a lot of people can see our work and the results and also get
an intercultural knowledge. We will spread the link to our webpage, so as many as possible will look at it.
4.4.2. Dissemination of results:
A. For those participating in the project
In school:
• Students presentations in all the other classes
• Staff meetings
• Exhibition
• presentations in parents' meetings
In both staff and parent's meetings the students and the teachers will inform about the project, show
the website and some photos on the website. The travelling students will give presentations and share
their experiences with the other school students who are involved in the project and then all the others
involved will try out project activities during music, handicraft, PE/ dance, food technology, foreign
language lessons.
We want to disseminate and share all the things we do within the project, so that everyone involved,
not only the travelling ones will be involved in all the activities. Since the things we do are done
during ordinary lessons it is easy to get everyone involved. If we want everyone to get intercultural
competences and learn some basic language skills everyone has to be involved.
B. For others - not participating in the project
Outside school:
• Articles in the local papers about the visits and about the project's aims. By doing this the local
community will know about our work together with other countries and cultures.
• Webpage. Here we will share everyting we do and hopefully get other schools, students and staff
interested in learning in this way. We will share the webpage address on the schools' webpages and e.g.
Facebook.
• E-book with the words and phrases on the internet - It will be linked from the webpage so that everyone
interested can try to learn some basic language skills in our three languages.
Headteachers' meetings - the head teacher can share our experiences in that group and encourage
other schools to work together with another country or countries.
• In Sweden – a group in the municipality where representatives from all schools meet, In Estonia and
Lithuania – English teachers’ meetings from different schools. Here we will share our experiences and
encourage others to work in the same way.
We want all schools to send some student representatives to the other two schools and there need to be
one teacher accompanying them.