From February 8th to 15th tenth 22 students and 5 teachers English teacher Jolanta Antanavičienė, geography teacher Irena Kusaitė, Lithuanian language teacher Jūratė Skomantienė, economics and crafts teacher Laura Stašauskienė, Russian language teacher Natalija Trofimova carried on a mobility of ERASMUS+KA2 Strategic Partnerships PROJECT “HERIT APP“. Lithuanian students were able to get to know peers and work in multinational plurilingual teams with participants from Hungary, Czech Republic and Spain. The mobility lasted 5 days and students were involved in different activities which helped them improve English skills, develop social competences, have deeper insight in cultural similarities and differences of the countries, gain experience working in teams in order to accomplish assignments on time.
Sunday the 8th of February was the welcoming day of the partners 9 students and 2 teachers from Czech Republic, 9 students and 2 teachers from Hungary and 12 students and 3 teachers from Spain. The participants were welcomed by the headmistress of Vilniaus Gabijos gymnasium Mrs Vilija Klimavičienė. The coordinator Mrs Patricia Martinez presented the aims of the project “Herit App“ and shared her expections of the mobility in Lithuania.
The goal of the first day was set to check the background knowledge about Lithuania so students complete Kahoot, get to know the partners better and to start teamwork in multinational plurilingual teams, therefore team building activities hab been prepared to get to know each other and to feel relaxed and comfortable. Teachers as well as students were engaged in starting learning flashmob . This dance should have been learnt to dance in five days to show the cooperation of the prticipants, to boost their self-esteem and to improve social competences.
Students were eagerly waiting for the following day to start off carrying on activities in multinational plurilingual teams, checking “Herit App” they had been working hard on (translating and recording the texts) and exploring the outstanding sights of Vilnius strolling along the cobbled, winding streets of the Old Town.
To obtain a deeper insight into the similarities and difference of Heritage of Lithuania, Czech, Hungary and Spain, students undertook a group work on national dances, traditional meals, languages, Unesco sites. It was really amazing that all the moments were captured by a special journalist who created the video about the mobility which covered multinational plurilingual activities, sightseeing tours, flashmob.
Participants really enjoyed the guided tour in Gediminas Tower and stunning view of Vilnius. During the mobility partners were provided with the opportunity to visit Trakai, admire the beauty of Trakai castle, try special dish Kibinai. Participants even tried to make Kibinai themselves and it was really a fascinating experience as it made students and teachers cooperate, have fun, gain and share positive emotions. Another significant point was that every evening they were dancing flashmob to make a perfect final performance to show the unity of the four countries.
Friday was the last day of mobility and multinational plurilingual teams presented the final product of their assignments:
Mobility is great opportunity for students to improve their productive and receptive communicative competences in English as their foreign Language. They also developed social competences by working in multinational plurilingual teams at all time, gained experience in learning how to cooperate, set goals, seek final solutions, upgrade IT skills, broaden knowledge of Geography, History and even learn some words in Czech, Hungarian, Lithuanian and Spanish languages, get a deeper insight into the other three countries’ cultures involved, helped them all feel more European than before the mobility.
The most significant aspect of the mobility is full peer learning as students from all four countries were at the centre of the learning process and were guided by Lithuanian students the whole week. The outcome, of the tasks they presented everyday was the proof that they could manage the whole process very well.
For teachers the mobility has turned out to be a chance to also learn from other teaching styles, set common goals and agree upon the expected result.
Teachers’ roles were more guidance, observation and feedback and it was a valuable experience we gained.
