In this article, Olga Isac, German teacher at Heritage International School, Moldova, shares 12 activities that she has used in a cross-border sustainability project in German, which is taught as a second foreign language at her school
The duration of this project was 3 months, a time during which my grade 8 pupils were involved in a wide variety of activities. It is imperative to set the goals of the project from the very start. My goals were:
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learn new vocabulary in the target foreign language
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make my pupils more conscious of the environment
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develop interpersonal and intercultural skills
What prompted me to include a Project in my German class? This quote: “One of the major advantages of project work is that it makes school more like real life. It's an in-depth investigation of a real-world topic worthy of children's attention and effort.” Sylvia Chard, Educational researcher.
So, here are my Top 12 activities that can be implemented in a Sustainability Project:
Introductory stage
- Activity 1: Make a class poster
There must be a pupil in your class who is good at arts and will definitely volunteer to draw a poster, with the name and the motto of your team. In such a way, the pupils learn how to achieve a common goal together.
- Activity 2: Letter writing
How can your pupils introduce themselves to the other participants of the project? They could write emails to each other, introducing themselves and writing what their expectations of the project are.
Research stage
- Activity 3: Inform Yourself
If you teach a foreign language, the vocabulary must be learned thoroughly and I had to make sure the pupils were well acquainted with the new terms in the target language, such as recycling, water pollution, air pollution, deforestation, climate change, and so on.
- Activity 4: Interview the teachers
Working in an international school, my pupils had the chance to interview several international teachers about Environment Protection in their home countries. My students prepared a set of questions to ask each teacher and then wrote articles in the German language based on the answers.
- Activity 5: Make a survey
Ask your pupils to make a survey with different classes and at the end make a pie chart with the final result. My students felt enthusiastic about going as a group from class to class, introducing themselves, and explaining the purpose of the survey.
- Activity 6: Make a field trip
We made a field trip to an Eco-Village, a place where the pupils learned lots of new things about the environment, ecological gardening, wind turbines, solar roofs, and eco-food. Not only did the pupils explore a new environment, but also became more ecologically conscious.
- Activity 7: Record a podcast
We recorded three podcasts with two pupils from our school, who both lived in a German-speaking environment and another one with an expert in environmental issues. We thought of the format beforehand, prepared the questions and the result was great.
Practical stage
- Activity 8: Volunteering
How can you learn about environmental protection without being part of this process yourself? So, with the other project partners, we gathered on a dull March Saturday to clean a piece of territory next to a park. We felt so proud we could contribute to environmental wellbeing.
- Activity 9: Plant a tree
My 8-graders planted linden trees in the schoolyard and were so proud of it. The pupils held speeches about the importance of preserving nature and contributing to it. Planting trees was fun and great collaborative work.
- Activity 10: DIY
DIY is always a good idea. Our idea was to make new cotton shopping bags out of old T-Shirts. We named this action: “No more plastic bags for shopping.”
Sharing stage
- Activity 11: Share with your project partner
We shared our results and practical activities with our project partners. If there is no possibility to meet physically, do it online. My pupils were proud to present their hard work and efforts during the three months. It was a very rewarding feeling.
- Activity 12: Make a digital book
In the end, we made a digital book, in which the pupils shared their impressions, they uploaded photos or videos of themselves throughout the project.
I hope these activities will help you in your future sustainability projects! Good luck!
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