​The 4th student exchange of the second project year took place in April 2017 in the Italian partner school with the participation of 12 teachers and 32 students from the five partner schools. During the mobility students stayed at host families therefore they got an insight into Italian culture and way of life.
The students visited lessons with their hosts, therefore they got acquainted with the Italian educational system and had the opportunity to compare it with their own. Prior to the meeting each country conducted a research on their national theatre history and also visited their most important theatrical institutions. Their collected knowledge and experience was summarized in the form of presentations and films. During the first day of the meeting students presented their findings to the other teams and they also had an opportunity to take part in a discussion about theatre led by experienced theatre people. They also cooperated on project activities in mixed-nationality groups. The main purpose of this event was to write the basis of the short stories that students will continue to work on and one of which will be the basis of the work during the third year of the project. Before the meeting each country created a short story plan using the same template. They had to choose the setting, the protagonists, the antagonists, the problem and the solution. Each team presented their story idea and students wrote these stories in teams of mixed nationality. The writing workshops lasted for two days so that each team could work on multiple stories. This way of cooperation provided them with the opportunity of getting to know each other better and learn to cooperate using the target language. As the student exchange was preceded by a joint teacher training event, the tools and techniques teachers shared with each other in connection with teaching and developing writing and drama skills were efficiently used during the activities.
Students also took part in a great variety of team games ranging from online quiz games through sport to treasure hunting games. All the activities were planned in a way that the participants could learn about each other’s cultures and also get an insight into Italian history and culture. They also had the opportunity to test their language skills in the form of interactive quizzes and comprehension activities. During these activities several different methods were used so the participating teachers could learn about new techniques and exchange good teaching practices.
Parallel to students’ activities, the participating teachers also had opportunities to get an insight into Italian educational system and the life of their Italian partner school. Teachers visited school departments and facilities and got acquainted with different teaching methods, programmes and project activities that Italian partners take part in.
 They attended a Latin class, where they could observe and discuss the methods used by the Italian partners. They also had an opportunity to develop as a team as they took part in various after-school activities.
During the last evening, the participants took part in a cultural event, where the project partners presented some traditional songs and the Italian partners exhibited a huge variety of traditional Italian dishes for tasting. It was really educational and contributed greatly to the cultural enrichment of the students and teachers alike.
During the project meeting many cultural programmes and field trips were organized, such as a visit to Ostia Antica, where students could gain first-hand experience on ancient history while visiting the beautifully-preserved archeological park. The visit was accompanied by English guided tour providing students with invaluable information on ancient Roman history. A visit to the most important monuments of Rome was also organized and Italian students served as tour guides giving information and guidance to their peers. The participants also visited the Vatican City and also watched a short theatrical performance by their Italian partners in order to learn more about Italian literature and theatre.
During the mobility teachers also had a meeting with a view to planning the forthcoming activities and setting up guidelines for finalizing the jointly-written short stories. They agreed on deadlines and responsibilities for these activities and they also decided on the dates of the next two meetings which are to be held in September 2017.  Teachers also discussed issues related to project management and duties were distributed among project partners.
By the end of the mobility the students had written the six short stories and this activity will continue until the end of this term, when the students will select the story they would like to dramatize through voting.  When participants returned to their schools they disseminated their findings to other project participants in the form of presentations, written reports and also by updating the “project corner” in their schools displaying their common work.
Events and experiences of the week has been published in the project blog, Twinspace, project website, the local newspaper and on the school website.
All in all it was an inspiring, informative, properly organized and enjoyable learning experience for both students and teachers.

All the presentations and photos can be found here:
 http://readineurope.weebly.com/4th-student-exchange-in-italy.html