Colegiul National “Vasile Alecsandri” Bacau, Romania

Colegiul National "Vasile Alecsandri Bacau

Colegiul National "Vasile Alecsandri" Bacau

We are a secondary school in the east of Romania with 1200 students aged 11-18 and 65 teachers. A high proportion of our students commute from rural areas around Bacau and some of them face economic and social difficulties. Around 25% of students are living with grandparents as a result of the massive emigration that occurred in our country in the past decade, and a lot of them face serious difficulties in adapting to the situation.

Our school emphasizes the learning of foreign languages and more than 600 students study English intensively (4 classes/week) or bilingually (6 classes/week). There are 9 EFL teachers on a permanent contract. However, our students’ level of motivation has dropped dramatically in the past years. They have the tendency to reject formal lessons and would much rather opt for alternatives that are more dynamic and motivating. This is partly due to the fact that the methods we are currently using are rather outdated, as our teachers have not participated in any courses in methodology for quite a long time, so most of us are still very much connected with the old methods. This produces a clash between students and teachers and leads to an increased feeling of demotivation, both on the part of teachers and of students.

In order to make sure we are in accordance with students’ needs, we have conducted a survey among bilingual and intensive students in which they were asked how the language classes should change in order to become more meaningful to them and a striking 87% of them chose using technology and dynamic games as a way to increase their motivation and engagement. Another problem we are facing is that our school is not properly equipped with technological devices that we could have explored so far.

Given this situation, we believe that the least financially challenging way to introduce technology in the classroom is through mobile phones. Our past experience in Erasmus+ projects indicates that participation in such projects gives students a boost of interest and motivation. We are all eager to create through this project a more meaningful, intercultural context for students and teachers to share ideas, observe school practices in other EU countries, learn from one another and discover new opportunities for teaching and learning English creatively.