Picture taken from the free high quality images website Pixabay.com (www.pixabay.com) 

Project Vision

To encourage young learners (YL) across the EU countries to read in order to promote their personal development

The main aim of the project is to encourage extensive reading (ER) among young learners (YL) across the EU countries and strengthen cooperation between schools and exchange of experience. ER improves YL’s literacy, knowledge, creativity, awareness of other cultures, appreciation of own culture. In a long run it will increase social mobility and increase the prospect of employment. 
The idea of the project originated as a response to a strong need for primary students to read more in mother tongue and in English in order to facilitate the transition between primary and basic level of education. The number of English as Foreign Language (EFL) classes in primary schools is often insufficient for effective foreign language acquisition and literacy developing. The learners face language difficulties when they pass to the next level of education where they are supposed to have quite a high level of English. ER program will compensate the insufficient number of English lessons. 
The innovative, interactive, digital ER materials for YL will be developed in the frame of this project to motivate learners to take part in ER program.
The multinational project will give an opportunity to project partners to create international ER materials, to develop innovative ER activities suitable for European YL, to bring an international exchange to partner schools and to extend the European transnational dimension through peer learning, improved communication, collaboration and ICT skills.

The defined project aims are:
- to implement ER program developing a motivating and innovative didactical materials containing a digital element and appropriate pedagogical approaches to reading in digital era;
- to make a research on the benefits of ER program for students aged 6-14 in order to find out whether ER is beneficial for primary level students in the same way as for secondary level students;
- to share good practices of partner schools;
- to facilitate an active participation of students and teachers in European projects.

The general long-term aims are:
- to improve the quality of teaching and learning foreign language skills;
- to incorporate ER  in partner school curriculum more widely;
- to improve transition between primary and basic stages of education due to ER program implementation which will lead to the improvement of learner’s English level and other skills in all aspects (reading/writing/speaking/collaboration/presentation/autonomy/self-independence, etc);
- to promote modernization of partner schools, particularly of their libraries.
- to gain experience in international cooperation and strengthen partner school capabilities of teaching;
 - to increase students’ competitiveness, reading, writing and speaking skills in English;

The specific aims are:
- to make a collection of short stories written by primary pupils containing some cultural elements and to create an audiobook for English foreign language students with special educational needs (SEN)  made up of these easy to read and understand stories;
- to promote ER with the use of e-readers;
- to develop innovative didactical materials to increase reading motivation among primary level pupils.

Objectives:
- to support teachers and learners to deliver effective high quality teaching using ER program;
- to promote reading for pleasure, for deeper meaning among the YLs,
- to teach students to appreciate and value languages and literature of other nations;
- to engage bilingual/multilingual children in the process of learning;
- to make ER inclusive for all the children, even with specific needs too;
- to promote the understanding of cultural heritage of each country,
- to promote collaborative and holistic approaches to teaching using ER for inclusive and interdisciplinary purposes.