About Our Project
This project aims at the cooperation of teachers and pupils across Europe in order to transform everyday classroom practice by embracing innovation. It aspires to address 21st challenge for differentiated instruction in order to cater for the diverse needs of learners of mixed ability, learning styles and tempos from different ethnic and linguistic backgrounds.
It starts off with the paradigm of Suggestopedia, also known as the Lozanov method, an innovative approach to learning and teaching based on interdisciplinary research in neuroscience and communicative suggestion. The teachers will exchange expertise to accommodate Suggestopedia within the broader spectrum of contemporary didactics and so update their pedagogical knowledge and methodological inventory.
Pupils will be encouraged to cooperate with their teachers and design innovative courses inspired by Suggestopedia to peer-teach their languages to the pupils from the other schools becoming so active agents of change.
Aims
The pupils are expected to benefit from this project in several differentiated ways; each according to their interests and needs. Particularly, they will communicate and cooperate with other European pupils – as in similar projects - and become equal partners with their teachers and teachers from the partner schools abroad in designing their own language courses.
In addition, they will develop their thinking skills and creativity because Suggestopedia is based on culture and art. On top of all, they will have their interest in school and self-confidence boosted while making their schools more inclusive.
Since, peer-teaching is the most effective way to learn, our pupils are expected to develop their basic literacy skills in their own language as well as in English. Moreover, the courses they will design will incorporate knowledge across the curriculum, which they will consolidate developing cross-curricular literacy. Last, by using TwinSpace they will develop their digital skills.
Work Process
Teachers will be introduced to Suggestopedia via demo lessons recorded and shared on TwinSpace. This will initiate a forum discussion to which all partners will contribute their ideas and experiences of classroom problems and how Suggestopedia and other innovative approaches can help them deal with them. Each school will present at least one such approach for discussion. Meanwhile, pupils will use TwinSpace to get to know themselves and exchange views on classroom practices from their own perspectives. They will be exposed to the same approaches dealt with by the teachers. Depending on the number of the partner schools this phase could last from 3 to 4 months.
Then, pupils will design their own language courses to peer-teach their languages to their partners from the other schools respecting the principles of the approaches they will have studied. The virtual lessons will last from to May when the peer-teachers will assess the learning outcomes and added value of their courses.
Expected Results
A public TwinSpace will host our innovative language courses which will include textbooks, peer-teacher’s manuals, posters, flashcards, worksheets, quizzes, handouts with songs and other cultural resources.
We also intend to create a tool kit for each language and make it available to the whole eTwinning community accompanied by brief explanations of methodological choices for peer-teachers.
We do envisage the improvement of everyday classroom practice and its transformation from teacher-/ to learner-centered, from exclusive to inclusive and from meaningless and exam-oriented to meaningful and life-oriented. Our project will attempt contribute to this change by encouraging teachers and pupils revisit and embrace good practices according to their needs.
