According to the Council Recommendation of 22 May 2018 (2018 / C 189/01), Member States should promote the acquisition of skills in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM), taking into account the links with arts, creativity and innovation, and motivate young people more. However, international surveys such as the PISA or the OECD PIAAC indicate that a constantly high proportion of adolescents and adults have insufficient basic skills.This project's main objective is not only to improve the scientific expertise of the teacher and the pupil, but also to provide an educational tool of high pedagogical value that is versatile and able to satisfy the requirements of the teacher. This requires not only stimulating the discussion of scientific topics, which are often difficult to convey in the classroom, but also encouraging schools to reinvigorate how they organise the teaching of the natural sciences, using inclusive and integrative didactic strategies to actively involve all pupils and to improve the quality of the lessons.To achieve this goal, teaching aids have been prepared to help primary school teachers to design and implement Wild Gardens where pupils can experiment, observe, and become directly acquainted with the mechanisms that regulate natural ecosystems. The plants and animals in the small ecosystem of a Wild Garden achieve a balance similar to that found in nature: these living things carry out their lifecycles under the curious gaze of the young pupils, giving teachers the opportunity to make learning about the natural sciences more engaging.The project foresees the development of four Intellectual Outputs:1. The Wild Garden and Science Education: the State of the Art. An analysis of the state of the art in raising primary school pupils' awareness of environmental and scientific issues, with particular reference to the Wild Garden. It will report the results of the extensive research that will be carried out relating to both environmental education and pedagogy.2. Teaching in the Wild Garden. A comprehensive 100-page training manual to enable teachers to approach teaching activities in the Wild Garden more effectively, divided into two sections:- Teaching the Natural Sciences;- Nature Pedagogy.3. Educational Proposals for the Wild Garden: a Handbook for Teachers. This handbook will be a practical guide and a solid basis of support for the teacher who uses the Wild Garden as a teaching tool. The handbook will outline the basic principles of the project, and provide step-by-step instructions for the implementation of the Wild Garden, detailing strategies and opportunities to encourage pupil engagement and involvement.4. E-course for Teachers. An e-learning training course aimed at teachers, to be created using the Moodle platform, providing a virtual classroom for teachers who want to start a Wild Garden project with their class. The training will go over the sections and topics covered by IO 01, IO 02, and IO 03, using established distance learning techniques.Preliminary versions of the Intellectual Outputs will be prepared for initial trials in partner schools, involving some 400 pupils and 40 teachers, following which the final versions will be produced.All the results of the research and trials, as well as the Intellectual Outputs themselves, will be uploaded to the project website. The site will be accessible and monitored throughout the course of the project, and for at least three years following its conclusion.Furthermore, information, materials and links will be published and publicized on the websites of partner organisations and through their distribution channels. This will ensure a good spread of the project, offering constant support and making sure the materials continue to be made available.After the conclusion of the project training, seminars will be organized for teachers, where the project will be exhibited and all the materials produced will be made available to participants.The Wild Garden offers an opportunity to promote practical activities that allow for total individual involvement, encompassing the heart, the senses and the mind. The project provides a firm foundation for the development of good citizenship, encouraging sensitivity to environmental issues and a wider knowledge of how to engage with nature more sensitively and consciously.This project aims to create an educational tool that can facilitate the teaching and socialization of pupils. Beyond this, the Wild Garden project has the potential to have a 360° impact, galvanizing a sense of civic duty and respect for nature in general, and for public green spaces in particular, not only among pupils, but throughout the community as a whole. For this reason, the activities will be diffuse and on-going, encouraging the involvement of parents and local residents, eventually establishing international connections that will potentially evolve into a European network of best practi

"The main aim of the ""CLIL for Young European Citizens"" (CLIL4YEC) Project is to promote the use of Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL) in Primary School, in order to develop European citizenship, Environment Preservation, Basic Financial Education, three relevant issues for a better european integration and wellness. In this project, CLIL moves a step forward, from integration of language learning and curricular subjects to cross-curricular and intercultural education for European Citizenship and the development of key competences and basic skills. There are broad, universally relevant topics that are closely tied to the intercultural dimension. In this field CLIL can open up new possibilities for Primary Education, e.g. virtual exchanges and on line peer-to-peer collaboration across countries and cultural spaces, monitored by teachers and families.CLIL4YEC is deeply linked to the enhancement of digital skills. In fact the project will: i) enable teachers to find, share, and reuse Open Educational Resources using a dedicated original online OER repository concerning European citizenship, Environment Preservation, Basic Financial Education; ii) help teachers to adopt innovative practices - designing original lesson plans - that will involve both schoolchildren and parents in the learning process. Several analyses underline that CLIL leads to greater intercultural awareness (Coyle, D., Hood, P., and Marsh, D. 2010, CLIL, Cambridge, CUP; Coyle, D. Holmes. B. and King, L. 2009, Towards an integrated curriculum: CLIL national statement and guidelines, London, The Languages Company.) and is “a tool to explore and construct meaning” in a “a meaningful context”. With CLIL “learners can engage in deeper learning about themselves and others, and, at the same time, experience the process from the perspective of their counterparts” (Ena Harrop, Content and Language Integrated Learning (CLIL): Limitations and possibilities, Encuentro, 21, 2012; Coffey, S. 2005 Content-based learning, in Cerezal, F. (ed.) De la Práctica a la Teoría: Reflexiones sobre la enseñanza y el aprendizaje de inglés. pp.49-62. Alcalá de Henares: Universidad de Alcalá). CLIL4YEC adopts CLIL to support and enhance cross-curricular education on three topics linked to each other and correlated with wellness and growing in the EU: educate schoolchildren to become European Citizens, help them become aware of the main Environmental issues (using a an international language to describe enviromental issues: it is not irrilevant that Greta Thunberg is a Swedish young girl using english to promote her ideas), and develop basic financial skills (important to make schoolchildren aware of the elements necessary to create and produce work). To reach its goal, the project produces seven IOs in direct connection with European priorities (Promoting a comprehensive approach to language teaching and learning; Open education and innovative practices in a digital era; Supporting individuals in acquiring and developing basic skills and key competences): 1) CLIL and Young European Citizens. How to use Content and Language Integrated Learning to develop European Citizenship, Environmental awareness, and Basic Financial Education in Primary Schoolchildren – A Report on the State of the Art; 2) Census of OERs to be used for CLIL in Primary Schools for Cross-Curricular Activities on the Topics of European Citizenship, Environment preservation, and Basic Financial Education; 3) Development of a CLIL OER Repository with Sharing & Rating Functions; 4)A Guide Addressed to Teachers on how to Use CLIL in Primary Schools for Innovative Activities on Cross-Curricular Topics: European, Intercultural and Global Citizenship, Environment preservation, Basic Financial Education; 5) A Guide Addressed to Teachers on How to Involve Pupils’ Families in CLIL Activities for European Citizenship, Environmental awareness, and Basic Financial Education; 6) e-Course(s) Addressed to Teachers and Families on How to Use CLIL to develop European Citizenship, Environmental awareness, and Basic Financial Education in Primary Schoolchildren; 7) CLIL Materials for Teaching on Cross-Curricular Topics: 18 lesson plans on European, Intercultural and Global Citizenship, Environment, Basic Financial Education.The project’s target groups are: Primary School's Teachers; Primary Schools; Primary School's Pupils; Parents & Families of Primary School's Pupils; Trainers of Primary School's Teachers; Universities, Language Schools and other organization that specialize in training Primary School's Teachers.The project has been defined by the already established partnership between Applicant Organisation, 7 organisations that participated to the previous Erasmus+ Project ""CLIL for European Children"" (2015-2018), 2 new partners from Spain, a country where CLIL has been used since a long time. The partners are representative of both primary and tertiary education in four countries (IT, PT, RO, ES)."

Multilingualism is at the very heart of European identity, since languages are a fundamental aspect of the cultural identity of every European. Language acquisition and language enhancement gets more and more important for an intercultural dialogue in our society and for increasing job chances of individuals. Multilingual language skills are important in a cosmopolitan society and, as children are especially receptive to learning languages at an early age, linguistic competences and a multilingual education should be implemented since primary school and earlier. The promotion of linguistic diversity in education and training has always received important consideration by the European Commission, for example communication in foreign languages is one of the eight Key competences for lifelong learning (2006). CLIL stands for Content and Language Integrated Learning. It refers to teaching subjects such as science, history and geography to students through a foreign language. This can be by the foreign language teacher using cross curricular content or by the subject teacher using English as the language of instruction. Both methods result in the simultaneous learning of content and of a foreign language. Over the past two decades an increasing body of research has demonstrated that CLIL can enhance multilingualism and provide opportunities for deepening learners’ knowledge and skills, however effective use of CLIL requires a specific methodology and specific training of teachers. The aim of this project has been to support primary school teachers in filling this gap by providing them with a comprehensive training program and a set of 15 lesson plans developed by the Consortium. Materials visually attractive to children and easy to understand connecting subjects such as Science, Mathematics, Geography The project has carried out a Survey on the state of the art on using CLIL on primary schools including good practices and difficulties experienced by teachers and a census of existing web based Open and Educational Resources for CLIL to be used in primary schools. Based on these the project partners have developled Guidelines on development and use of CLIL in primary schools, a set of CLIL materials and lesson plans for teaching science, mathematics and geography in English in primary schools, a Guide and a E-course addressed to teachers on how to use CLIL methodology in primary schools. The consortium is made of organizations active in research and/or training of teachers such as The Language Center coordinating the prooject, Giunti Psycometrics, an important and leading publishing house in Italy with expertise in the school world, Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco in Portugal, The University of Lodz in Poland, the University of Pitesti in Romania, all active in research and teacher training and with expertise in CLIL. The partnership was then made up with partner schools involved in the development and pitoting of the lesson plans created by the project. Direzione didattica Todi and Direzione didattica Aldo Moro in Terni were chosen as partner by the project coordinator because of previous cooperations on both EU funded and national projects and because they are in the same Region, so easier to coordinate during the piloting.The other schools were involved by the University partners as being schools with which other projects had already been implemented.The Coordinator, The Instituto Politécnico de Castelo Branco and the University of Pitesti had already cooperated together in the project Alpha EU, The Alpahabets of Europe (www.alphaeu.org) and the idea of the project came out since these partners decided to continue cooperating in the filed of L2 teaching Thanks to the project 238.962 people have been informed and reached through dissemination activities as it is detailed in the follow-up session. The goal for this project was 59.000. This number is particularly high in Italy where the Partner Giunti Psychometrics belonging to Gruppo Editoriale Giunti, one of the most important publishing house in Italy and in Europe for the school sector, has been able to exploit its potential for dissemination among teachers, in service and pre-service and with school directors and /or regional school offices. The website of the project www.clil4children.eu has registered more than 22.500 visits (Google Analytics Data updated at October 20th, 2018) with 34.000 sessions. Page views account for 85.000. 1.800 people have registered to the multilingual online course and 340 teachers have already completed the course and received their certificate. Other dissemination channel have produced an important impact and this will be futher detailed in the follow-up session.