Let´s learn foreign languages through games and interactive activities.

"<< Background >>English is the most common language to be used in international communication in all areas – education, media, arts, science, politics as well as entertainment and socialising. Having a good command of English helps our students to have more opportunties in life. Apart from English, some of our students are taught German, Italian, Spanish, Russian and Chinese. We wanted to give a chance to students who don´t learn them at schools to understand the basic principles of those languages as well. Foreign languages and digitalization go hand in hand, that´s why our project was focused on both sides of education. The target group were students at the age of 15-18 years old with the level of English B1, B2. There is always a need for students to improve their languages in a written and spoken way as well as their motivation towards learning and being independent users of foreign languages in every day situations. We applied this project to enable our students broaden their language skills in real communication situations and create opportunities for our teachers to share good practice examples and inspire each other to develop their educational materials to be used during lessons. << Objectives >>We wanted to promote and implement digitalisation in foreign languages and raise awareness of all languages taught in our schools. In addition we wanted to improve knowledge and skills of management, staff and teachers so that they learn and implement innovative blended curricula in foreign languages. By implementing the project we wanted to develop students personalities and key competences Our aim was also to boost creativity, engagement,connection and empowerment through preparing materials, workshops and dissemination activities on a local andinternational level as well. Our intention was to promote and increase the quality of teaching and learning of foreignlanguages. We wanted to embrace digital opportunities, to be innovative, effective and to leave no one behind. We wanted to encourage inclusion and provide chances for all, our project provided opportunities for those who are lacking them from different reasons. We wanted to prepare our students better for all spheres of life in international surroundings. In addition we wanted to unite and follow the same approach in language learning and we wanted to strengthen the use of the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. << Implementation >>The main activity was developing lesson plans. We followed common methodology and ways of communication and cooperation among partners during the preparation, implementation as well as dissemination and follow- up. In the preparation phase, teachers were studying available materials relevant to language learning, eg. The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, Council Recommendation on a comprehensive approach tothe teaching and learning of languages and Council Recommendation on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning.Teachers focused on level B1-B2 in English teaching and they prepared basis of vocabulary, grammar, listening,speaking and reading comprehension recommended for those levels. Altogether we prepared 192 lesson plans to be used during English lessons and 33 additional lesson plans to be used in the lessons of German, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, Lithuanian, Slovak and Chinese. We organised three transnational project meetings - two in Slovakia and one in Italy. Besides, we organised four learning/teaching/training activities in Slovakia, Italy, Slovenia and Poland. << Results >>The expected outputs and project results were tangible and intangible and they had different levels and quantityduring each phase of the project. First of all the participants got new content related knowledge and gain experiences. They got life skills needed for the life and work in Europe and they improved their key competences (multilingual competence, digital competence, personal, social and learning to learn competence, cultural awareness and expression competence): When it comes to literacy competence, students expressed, created and interpreted concepts, feelings and opinions both orally and in a written form in English and other languages. After mobility they boosted this competence in their native tongues, on a local level, while preparing workshops and dissemination activities. Multilingual competence was boosted by communication in foreign languages in both oral and written form. They improved listening, speaking, reading and writing in societal and cultural contexts. Interaction in foreign languages also boosted intercultural competence. Students used digital technologies in the preparation phase for the mobility, during and after it. They created digital content (presentations, videos, posters, leaflets). And they also perceived and used digital content created by teachers. Personal, social and learning to learn competence was encouraged when students cooperated with their peers and they learnt how to adapt to new situations. They also learnt how to reflect on themselves, evaluated themselves, managed their time and information from different sources. Students boosted their cultural awareness and expression through presenting their culture to their peers from abroad. They also learnt about other cultures of European countries and their ways of life. Secondly our schools became more visible, recognisable and they improved the quality of education and language teaching in particular. We innovated educational material focused on participatory approach and digital methodologies in language learning. We integrated digital technologies into daily activities of our schools. We improved management competences and increased the capacities and professional development of language teachers. The results and outcomes directly related to the project work and implementeation were: logo, website, FB page, presentations and videos about our countries, towns, organizations, presentations, videos, picture collages from the face to face, mobility meetings. Our most relevant result was ""Learning is fun“ a collection of digital interactive materials, lesson plans covering 24 topics. It is an innovative and user friendly material for language teachers and every learner of foreign languages. Altogether we made 192 lesson plans from English language. Additionally we made 33 lesson plans from Spanish, Italian, Russian, French, Lithuanian, Chinese, Slovak and German. Lesson plans are complemented by a dictionary."