Hands in Hands project aims at developing a game-based learning approach to teaching different subjects like Sciences, Foreign Languages, History, geography, Arts by incorporating traditional games and computer-based games in the classroom so as to foster pupils’ motivation to learn. Playing games allows students to interact with the material in a hands-on fashion, instead of simply being presented with the information and asked to retain it. It is widely recognised that play has an important impact on children’s healthy growth and development as it promotes learning and concentration, in addition to encouraging the development of social skills and an ability to manage risk. Children learn through trail and errors which will make them aware of their limitations and abilities.

During this project participants from Croatia, Germany, Poland, Portugal, Romania and Turkey will be collecting, learning and teaching each other’s folk dances and traditional games which children used to play outdoors with their friends or at home with their families. Pupils will learn them cooperatively and will teach them to their European partners.

As not all pupils have same level of English, they will manage to explain the games by ‘talking with their hands’, miming the rules of the game. In doing so they will be able to socialize with each other and they will realise that using a same language is not fundamental to learn from/with those who don’t share a common language because we can all use other strategies and body language to convey meanings.

Workshops will be organised involving the participation of special needs and multiple disabilities for whom reaching out to form relationships can be difficult. Socialization and playing with other children and adults, both with and without disabilities, can help them apply the skills they’ve learned in therapy and apply them to everyday situations they will encounter. HIH pupils and teachers will interact with them in their classroom under the monitoring of the Special Need Education specialist.

Overall, the project aims at stimulating pupils’ creativity and communicative skills and fostering inclusiveness through a wide range of activities that will be developed and implemented before, during and after the workshops organised for the 6 Transnational Teaching Learning Activities (TTLA) that will be held along the school years 2016-2018.

Furthermore, taking part in the TTLAs will allow pupils to experience the life in the host country by sharing daily routines in a hosting family and at the hosting school. This will contribute to widen their knowledge of the world and to adopt an attitude of respect and value linguistic and cultural diversity.

HIH project webpage on Twinspace:

https://twinspace.etwinning.net/14587