A Powerpoint for the staff of KMRBJL about the Comenius Project - CHIEF

1. COMENIUS

2. What is Comenius? The Comenius programme was set up by the EU in 1995 as part of the Socrates initiative with the objective of supporting teacher training, establishing school partnerships across Europe and funding multilateral education projects on issues relating to language learning, intercultural education, environmental and science education. In May 2007 the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) was launched. Comenius is a major strand of the programme along with Erasmus (for higher education), Grundtvig (for adult education), Leonardo (for vocational education) and the Transversal Programme, which includes elements like ICT, language learning and study visits.

3. Comenius seeks to help those learning and teaching in schools to develop a sense of belonging to a broader and outward-looking European community – a community characterised by diverse traditions, cultures and regional identities, but rooted nevertheless in a common history of European development. What is Comenius?

4. Our school's project: C.H.I.E.F 'Celebrating Happiness in European Families'

5. Austria, Greece, Italy, Lithuania, Poland, Portugal, Scotland & Spain Our partners:

6. C.H.I.E.F This partnership aims at raising awareness on the similarities and differences among the existing family celebrations in European countries. Nowadays the reinforcement of the family bonds is a matter of the utmost importance and the family should be playing a crucial role in children’s education and their mature life, where happiness should be an essential element. The activities in this partnership will be important to foster our students’ knowledge both in their mother tongue and in foreign language(s). In order to improve ways of “learning to learn” as well as extending social and civic competences among our students we will develop cultural awareness and intercultural dialogue by transnational cooperation and exchange .

7. This will be achieved through the intensive use of communication and information technologies. By promoting and creating multimedia contents for e-learning units, both teachers and students will gain digital competence. The joint outcome of this partnership through interactive creative work and cooperation will give students the opportunity to participate in innovating experiences as well as in a multinational network. On the other hand mobility activities will contribute and encourage students to use foreign languages and the contact with students, teachers and parents from other countries will start an intensive intercultural exchange. C.H.I.E.F

8. Benefits of C.H.I.E.F Students will: • reflect on family celebrations to become aware of their own culture by producing multimedia materials comparing different family situations and reasons for celebrations in different cultures and countries • exchange their products using an internet platform (Moodle) = distance learning • learn to contact foreign partners using foreign languages to establish a communication structure and develop a network, making language learning more relevant to them • carry on activities based on cooperation that allow them to improve their language and concentration skills, their knowledge, their motivation as well as awareness of their European Citizenship

9. • broaden their sense of European citizenship and intercultural dialogue through contacts and respect for other nations, traditions and languages • understand the meaning of being a European citizen • learn how to use modern ICT - methods and techniques Benefits of C.H.I.E.F

10. What is Moodle?

11. "The achievements of an organization are the results of the combined effort of each individual." Vince Lombardi