Let’s teach Europe! How everything started.

By Kasia Skrzypczak, KONTAKT CJO, Poland 

KONTAKT CJO is a private language school, located in a very historical Polish city, Poznan. We offer language courses for adult learners and believe that teaching languages is much more than practicing grammar structures and new vocabulary. That is why, apart from traditional language courses, we offer  our students lots of additional events and activities, promoting European culture and developing important intercultural skills.  Our students find it interesting and motivating. And it seems that this attitude toward teaching and learning culture is gaining popularity in Europe. According to the Special Eurobarometer Report, 88% of respondents agree that Europe’s cultural heritage should be taught in schools, as it tells us about our history and culture. We believe adult education has a key role here. That’s why we decided to exchange experience and good practices with 3 other adult education organizations from Italy, Spain and the United Kingdom. We created a strategic partnership and applied for Erasmus+ funds for a project “Let’s teach Europe! European Heritage as a pedagogical and integration tool in adult education”. The project was highly rated by Erasmus+ experts and reached the second position on the ranking list. That is how everything started.  

KONTAKT is the leader of the project.The partner organizations are:Centro Privado Plurilingüe Liceo “La Paz” from Spain, JUMP – Gioventù in riSalto from Italy and Eurospeak Language Schools Ltd from United Kingdom. We have already started working on the idea of treating European heritage as a pedagogical and integration tool. We decided to create a project website with 4 digital Heritage Routes and with a virtual teachers’ guide and lesson scenarios, instructing educators how to use the heritage materials in the classroom. We’re looking for the moment where travelling will be easy and safe again as we planned 4 international learning mobilities: staff training events in the UK, Spain and Poland and 1 blended mobility of our adult learners in Italy.