SOCRATES/GRUNDTVIG 2
Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language www.pmp-europe.com The project examined how command of foreign language could help promote the intercultural awareness and active participation of European Citizens, and therefore, break personal, cultural and social frontiers. It searched for possibilities to put adult European students in contact, so they could practice the target languages authentically. The main objectives were:  -
To promote European citizenship and intercultural exchange between adult learners on local, national and European levels; -
To induce critical thinking about our own country, and tolerance towards other European ones; -
To establish a permanent transnational European network of electronic learning facilities in which cultural, historical, economical and geographical information can be exchanged by adult learners to promote their knowledge of foreign societies and cultures. - To offer learning opportunities to socially excluded groups;
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To improve spoken and written language use in local target community groups by authentic target language practice and encourage their personal development; The strategy involved the procedures of language practice, investigation and analysis of the impact of learning on the adult students, assistance to the students, implemented by modern ICT means: e-mails, chats, discussion boards, videoconference, also visits and exchanges, magazines and newspapers, leaflets.
Socrates/Grundtvig 2 Project "Practice Makes Perfect:Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice" was mentioned among the most successful Grundtvig projects. Read more about it here.
Project "Practice Makes Perfect:Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice" Final product - CD 
A supplementary material for teaching English language and for intercultural learning Final "Practice Makes Perfect:Promoting European Citizenship Through Language, Practice" meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania 27-29 April, 2006 the sixth and the final meeting of Socrates Grundtvig 2 project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice’(PMP) took place in Vilnius. SIH, the co-ordinator of this international project for the second time hosted project partners from Spain and Romania who were joined by their students. The meeting started with a conference on intercultural learning and culture awareness "Awareness and Skills that Make a Difference" with the participation of project partners, students and SIH teachers. The key speaker of the conference was Roma Jasinskienė, a teacher from the Institute of Foreign Languages, Vilnius University.Everybody was actively involved in discussions on cultural issues and tried to create an image of the „ perfect European". Then all the conference participants split into groups and discussions went on in different workshops which were run by moderators. The conclusions of the discussions in each work group were presented to others. In the afternoon project partners meeting took place. Partners summarised the experience gained in the project. A lot had been done in 3 years time: portal had been created for virtual meetings , all partner countries had been visited and students could meet their on line friends face to face. Materials for project final product CD had been collected. Partners agreed that it could be a good idea to run a Grundtvig 3 course for teachers to explain how to use the CD. Everybody agreed that it had been a good team‘s work and discussed the possibility of keeping the portal for one more year.It could motivate students to have extra lessons. Project coordinators prepared an intensive and exciting program from visiting interesting places to tasting Lithuanian national cuisine and listening to folk music   Virtual Conference "Become Global Through Your Identity" Project „Practice Makes Perfect:Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice" (PMP) organized a virtual conference „Become Global Through Your Identity" on the 20th of February, 2006.The chat room was specially opened for the conference.
The aim of this conference was to bring students into cultural discussion, to discuss how to become global through your identity. Participants: two students and a teacher from each partner institution. The students wrote short presentations in advance and were prepared to discuss on the following questions such as: Do you like using the pmp-europe site? Or has the course helped you practise your English? And in what way has the virtual trip enriched your life? Or what have you learnt so far about your partner’s country? ( What things have you discovered we all have in common or are completely different?) and others.
It was interesting to see everybody writing their thoughts altogether.The students enjoyed mostly the fact that more of them could write to each other and see each other‘s opinions at the same time.Though not all the questions were discussed and it took some time to get things started the conference was an interesting experience both for students and teachers. To conclude, everybody would like to have one more virtual conference. 5th project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice‘ partners‘ meeting in Ourense, Spain The fifth project partners’ meeting was organized on 4-6th November, 2005. Project partners from Public Adult Education of Ourense, Spain, hosted it. The meeting’s agenda was presented and partners looked through all the items on the agenda together. Discussions on the renewed portal took place. A step-by-step presentation on how to update the portal with new information, create a new text, enlarge gallery on the renewed portal took place. The partners would be able to place the missing information about their institution, include local events like conferences, articles from the newspapers, pictures, prepare lessons on the portal by themselves. Partners were of the opinion that now it was more professional than it used to be and shared ideas on how to make it look more interesting. It was agreed to place all the missing info on the portal for others to read, so that public was constantly informed about what’s going on.  According to the work plan, a virtual conference "Impact of the Language Learning on Intercultural, Professional Levels of Adult Learners Including the Socially Excluded" was planned to be organized in February 2006.Partners discussed and shared ideas how they imagined the event. It was agreed to have virtual conference together with a couple of students from each partner institution who have good language skills and good computer literacy and to open a chat room for the event. Then the topic of the conference was discussed. Partners were of the opinion that the conversation has to be of interest both for students and teachers. So, following the aims of the project it was suggested to bring students into cultural discussion, not provoking them. It could be a kind of presentation with everybody ready to say something about him or her. After a discussion the title of the virtual conference was changed into "Become Global Through Your Identity" and the date fixed: Monday, 20th of February 5.30 Lithuanian and Romanian time, 4.30 Spanish time. Then project partners discussed different versions of the final product. There were a lot of interesting ideas and suggestions and it was agreed to have a supplementary material for developing students writing and reading skills. University professor Dr. Manuel Perez Cota, Computer School, University of Virgo gave a lecture on "Learning by Using Modern IT in Bringing the European Cultures Together". He spoke about the evolution of teaching from the classic to the technology and if computer programs can solve the problems of the people and that computers have to be used to inform, to educate, to evaluate, to motivate. When you teach you need a teacher and a student, then work and success. Begin using computer as a helping tool, create classes and slides and try to put some stimulation, and then try to use more complex resources. E learning is already past. Computer is only a tool, which helps a teacher. Will teacher be replaced by IT? Project partners not only worked, but also had some time for visiting sights. The majestic beauty of Santiago de Compostela Cathedral and narrow, picturesque streets of Ourense town impressed everybody.  Bridges to Co-operative Adult Learning in EuropeGrundtvig 2 Learning Partnerships Conference,
6th-9th October Hull „Together we will create a learning environment and...a link to the future" Participants from all EU countries took part at the conference which took place in Hull, UK.SIH project coordinator Violeta Mirinaviciute and the most active project „Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Languages" participant of the virtual meetings Saulius Kriksciunas attended the conference.Violeta introduced the project during the Open Space Methodology workshops, Saulius shared his ideas about the importance of adult education and experiences in virtual communications. The project aroused great interest among conference participants. The idea of the conference was to put people in touch with each other, to create opportunities to share work from their projects, demonstrate new ways of working together. Conference participants were introduced into Open Space Methodology which operates under four principles and one law. And the goal of the meeting was to create time and space for people to engage around issues of concern to them. A meeting room for Open Space had a circle of chairs in the middle, letters or numbers around the room to indicate meetings locations and there was a wall that became the agenda and a news wall for recording and posting the dialogue sessions. The European Fair, which took place on the first evening of the conference. It was set up by the delegates themselves to share information about their projects and to celebrate their achievements. The delegates brought with them display materials about their project / organisation / their country. A very important part of the European Fair involved tasting of typical food and drink (sweets, cakes, biscuits, cheese, wine etc) which delegates brought with them from their own countries. European Language Label Event 2005 Soros International House director Daiva Malinauskiene participated at the European Language Label Event 2005 in Krakow, Poland, 14-16 October,2005 .
The official opening speech was delivered by the Minister of National Education and Sport, introduction and welcoming speech from organizers by: European Commission represented by Luca Tomasi, Polish SOCRATES NA represented by dr Witold Sienkiewicz and Pawel Poszytek and Jagiellonian University (Sheraton). All the delegates took an active part in workshops in different thematic groups (Young learners, Adult language education and CLIL), prepared presentations of results of the work in a group and recommendations for future development (posters, power point presentation, etc.).European experts were invited to comment on the recommendations from the chair persons. After the break delegates participated in plenary session on the report on Label Activities 2003-2005, European Commission. Daiva Malinauskiene presented the project "Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Learning", which was awarded European Label in 2005, as the most innovative language teaching project in Lithuania. On Saturday delegates were take on a sightseeing tour to Wawel Castle. Virtual meetings On 25 th of March, 2004 the first virtual meeting of students from Lithuania and Spain took place in especially for this purpose designed virtual classroom on the project portal www.pmp-europe.com. The first meeting was an introduction to the program, where participants got a chance to meet adult learners from Spain Ourense and Lugo and get acquainted with them. Soros International House and project partners have regular meetings of English language learners from Lithuania and Spain.Virtual meetings in the morning were also launched, even though it was not easy to find a group of adults at SIH, who are available during the day, as most of them are working people. Participants of virtual communication are very enthusiastic about having this excellent opportunity of intercultural learning.They enjoy talking to people from Spain about a variety of things, and practicing their English at the same time. The aim of these meetings was getting to know each other, to find out information about the students at the other end, including such topics as their country, town, family, jobs, free time, traditional food, etc. Students found that life in these two countries is strikingly different in a lot of ways. 4th project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice‘ partners‘ meeting in Timisoara, Romania 19-20 May, 2005 the 4th partners’ meeting took place in Timisoara, Romania, hosted by International Forum. It was an intensive two days working session combined with sightseeing activities. The meeting started with welcoming words and presentation of the meeting agenda. The participants of the meeting presented themselves and their institutions and introduced their students. Then the students briefly introduced themselves and shared experience in virtual communication. Meeting host Liana took all the meeting participants on a school tour. When meeting agenda was overviewed, students and project partners split into separate groups. Students participated in a workshop, where they had to present their country, make a display, draw, answer questions. It was the first time that students could meet their on-line friends face to face. They all had fun. Project partners working agenda comprised many areas of project work. Partners evaluated project progress. They discussed the situation on the portal, virtual communication, portal buttons. The possibility of using Skype program was suggested because it offers a good possibility to communicate using telephoning and writing messages. It was agreed to prepare 8 topics for the next year of the project activities and to start Spanish classes between Romanian and Lithuanian students from the next academic year. Partners discussed once again different versions of the final product (CD): Supplementary material for language teaching (lesson plans, roles, the description of the course), lesson plans, program, roles for the students, guidelines how to use it (methodology),questionnaires and surveys. Partners were asked to think over the following issues and share the ideas in another meeting. A virtual conference was discussed. The idea was to have teachers and students in one place and prepare short presentations and some reflections of the students virtually. Impact and language learning on intercultural knowledge, tolerance and intercultural learning should be stressed in these presentations. The most active students and teachers should be involved in this activity. 20th May, Friday was a conference day All the partners and their students were presented to conference participants- language professionals, adult educators. Then the conference’s "Practice Makes Perfect -Language Practice for Self-development as Part of Life Long Learning" agenda and the speakers were introduced. The aim of the conference was - to discuss and share experience on how to involve in language learning process people from small places and motivate them - to disseminate the ideas of the project. European Label for the Socrates/GRUNDTVIG 2 project "Practice Makes Perfect: European citizenship through language learning". On 12th November, 2004 the award of the European Label to language teaching projects took place at the Ministry of Education and Science of Lithuania. SIH was awarded the European Label for the Socrates/GRUNDTVIG 2 project "Practice Makes Perfect: European citizenship through language learning".
3rd project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice‘ partners‘ meeting in Lugo, Spain 2-5 November, 2004 the third partners‘ meeting, which was hosted by project partners Official School of Languages in Lugo, Spain took place. Partners‘ meeting agenda was overviewed. Virtual classes that have already taken place were discussed. Partners talked about further expansion of the project portal by introducing new buttons and including information about new partner countries (Romania and Italy), their culture, tradition into the portal. Partners agreed to have virtual meetings not only in English, but in Spanish too during the second year of the project activities. A detailed schedule for virtual classes was made and partners shared responsibilities of writing particular lesson plans. After the discussion the project team met with EPA-Ourense Headmaster, Felipe Garrido Lamas and Lord Mayor of Lugo and went sightseeing in the old town of Galicia. 
2nd project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice‘ partners‘ meeting in Malta 15-17 April, 2004 the second partners‘ meeting, which was hosted by project IT partners Acrosslimits in Malta took place. Partners‘ working agenda comprised many areas of project work. Partners talked about the English language students, who were selected to participate in virtual communication on-line, which took place on www.pmp-europe.com portal.  Partners analyzed the first virtual meeting of Spanish and Lithuanian students, which did not achieve its aims to the full because of unexpected technical problems. Solutions to the problems were found as well as the ways to avoid them in the future. Project team compared the expectations of the selected students in different countries, which were expressed in their questionnaires, talked about launching virtual communication in Spanish, its program and student selection. Partners had a discussion on the pmp-europe portal, its development and improvements and agreed to introduce new buttons with reference to culture and traditions. Some information about the students participating in the project will be found on the portal too. Partners shared their experiences on dissemination issues and brainstormed on the new ways of dissemination in the future.  Partners had a chance to meet with Mayor of the town Mgarr, Mr. Paul Vella (the third on the left in the photo below), and discuss the possibilities of future collaboration in European projects. They also met with a representative of Malta Socrates National Agency Claudine Dalmas, who briefly visited the partners‘ meeting (second on the right in the photo below). 
Maltese partners prepared an intensive and exciting cultural program, which was very informative and exciting. Everyone had a wonderful opportunity to get acquainted with a strikingly different Mediterranean culture, which developed under two main influences- Arabian and European, with a biggest impact of the British culture. 1st project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice‘ partners‘ meeting in Vilnius, Lithuania 19- 23 November, 2003 the initial meeting of Socrates Grundtvig 2 project ‘Practice Makes Perfect: Promoting European Citizenship Through Language Practice’(PMP) took place in Vilnius. SIH, the co-ordinator of this international project, prepared a program for effective and intensive 3 days working session, combined with social activities and sightseeing. Project partners from Malta and Spain visited Lithuania for the first time, and came here ready for the worst imaginable weather conditions, but were surprised to find quite warm and nice autumn-like weather here . Our guest from Socrates National Agency was Edita Treciokiene, the Co-ordinator of Grundtvig and Minerva progams, who came to our initial meeting to give a short welcoming speech and wish all the best for the project. It was an outstanding intercultural experience for all of the partners to meet (for the first time) and not only decide on the main issues of the project, but also learn more about the partners, their countries, insitutions, families and lots of other things, that certainly promote intercultural awareness and improve knowledge about other cultures. During these three days of intensive work which was combined with exciting free-time, partners confirmed the activity table for the first year of the project, shared the tasks and responsibilities between the partners, set deadlines for the activities and planned for the development of PMP portal. This project is aimed at adult learners who wish to practice their language on-line with students from other countries, therefore during the initial meeting, partners decided on such course matters as level and number of the students in this on-line course, frequency and length of virtual lessons and free practice (chats). The questionnaire for students was negotiated and discussed between partners, and adapted to the use in any of the partner countries. It will help to assess students expectations, their attitude towards virtual communication, their computer literacy and language level, also, it will reflect their intentions about regular participation in the course. On the last day of the meeting, Lithuanian Association of Adult Education invited all the partners were to take part in a seminar by Professor K.Illeris, Denmark: Adult Education and Motivation, which was organised and held by the Lithuanian Association of Adult Education (LSSA) in the context of the annual Adult Learners’ Week in Lithuania. SIH is a member of the association and SIH Director Daiva Malinauskiene is a member of the board of LSSA, therefore all the team was offered to take this excellent opportunity to learn more about adult education from that interesting and informative presentation by Professor K.Illeris. Knut Illeris is Professor of Educational Research at Roskilde University, Denmark. He is well known to adult educators all over Europe as an excellent specialist of androgogics, and writer of quite a few books about adult learning. It was a very enjoyable and beneficial meeting comprising effective work, great team and intensive exchange of all sorts of intercultural information, starting with general information about countries and extending to food, drink, sports and free time activities. Overall, it was both a professional success and personal satisafaction, which was shared by all of the partners.
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