Living in a digital revolutionary era requires that new methodologies and approaches must be used in the teaching field.In this regard, teaching English as a foreign language for seniors and adult learners makes necessary to upgrade adult teachers’ digital competencies to better use e-tools during their lessons.Indeed, many EFL (English as Foreign Language) adult teachers are interested in experimenting new methodologies suited for teaching to adults in their classes. One of the most useful techniques to attract adult and seniors students to learn foreign languages is Digital Storytelling (DST) method.Adult students enjoy listening to the stories since the narration has the power to stimulate curiosity and imagination.Therefore, since adult and seniors people choose to learn a language for different needs out of the schemes, digital storytelling combined with other e-tools could be a very useful tool to teach/learn foreign languages in adult classrooms in all educational contexts. Learning English as Foreign Language by E-tools (LEaFLEt) project is promoted by Fundacja Creator in Poland. Partners of this strategic partnership come from Poland, Italy, Spain, Estonia and Bulgaria and most of them have already gained experience in the adult educational field and in several Erasmus+ programs. The project aim is to strengthen the skills and competencies of EFL adult teachers, trainers and providers who work in different adult learning contexts, adult schools, senior clubs, and in Third Age Universities, with people aged 50+, minorities groups, unemployed adults, students and retired people.Thanks to the use of digital stories in English classroom we aim to:•Motivate and encourage active participation of adult students’ groups in learning English process.•Encourage the use of imagination and creativity.•Encourage the cooperative learning among students.Our Partnership specific objective are:-To improve English teachers’ digital competencies.-To develop students’ languages skills.-To develop a teaching methodology using e-tools such as digital storytelling.-To expand the lexicon using different words that come out of the story building process.-To improve the understanding and pronunciation using videos and audios as part of digital story play.-To create a stimulating and fun learning environment using fascinating and meaningful stories. -To promote the DST as learning tool to promote and develop an intercultural language education not taking into account the context and the language level.During the one planned short-term joint staff training event, participants will have the chance to achieve the project objectives in learning e-tools which are useful to motivate and update adult students in the English learning process.Our partnership aims also to produce the following tangible learning outcomes:- Didactic materials elaboration for training course. - LEaFLET dedicated FB page and social media resources implementation.- LEaFLET virtual toolkit for adult English teachers. - Video stories made by adult groups of learners in each partner country. - LEaFLET Vademecum (brief guide-line handbook) for English teachers. According to the target group identified by each partner, the different levels of impact are expected in this project on the following participants : English teachers, partner organizations’ staff, adult and seniors students, adult educational organizations in partner countries and all around Europe. In a long term perspective, through the creation of a new European network among partners’ organizations we will guarantee the evolving of our work after the cycle-life of the project promoting Erasmus+ programs among all European citizens that can benefit from our project. Seniors and adult learners lead by English languages’ teachers can improve their English using e-tools.

"Our publics are digital natives, borned in the digital era. The use of social media, applications, and edutainment games is part of their everyday lives. As a result, everyone is experimenting with ""gamification"" in order to increase the involvement, motivation, autonomy and self-confidence of young people. The partners's respective experiences confirm the conclusions of 2011’s European study of the European Commission's JRC-IPTS research center on the potential of digital games for the empowerment and social inclusion of young people, groups at risk of social and economic exclusion. Main pedagogical advantages of the use of serious game are commonly considered to have impact on ""learner motivation, trial and error learning, taking into account differences in learning rhythms, stimulating pedagogical interactions between learners ""(Djaouti Damien, Serious games : advantages and limits, 2016). Edutainment limits would be the choice of relevant games, the lack of integration of this new approach into the work of the teacher, the constraints of accessibility, material and logistical. In order to better understand how the serious game works and what is the added value in the field of vocational guidance, ""... it is important we develop a more analytic approach that considers how the different elements that operate within video games impact in an educational setting."" (Perrotta, C., Featherstone, G., Aston, H. and Houghton, E. (2013) Game-Based Learning : Latest Evidence and Future Directions (NFER Research Program: Innovation in Education)). The partners will use the complementarity of their fields of action and expertise in a pedagogical engineering, and research and development approach. This collaboration aims to highlight the best practices and to make serious game design recommendations. The project's web portal will give more visibility to resources and practices. It will promote interactions between the professionals involved, the users and the designers towards more pleasant and involving approaches of both academic and vocational guidance. The project includes: 1. The elaboration of a methodological guideline for the selection, exploitation and evaluation of games and good practices adapted to the objectives. 2. Serious game practices experimentations for guidance with user groups (professionals and young people), particularly with the support of workshops and professional meetings. A transnational synthesis will reflect this. 3. The valorisation of the best practices of serious game and game based learning for orientation. This will be done by completing a compendium of best practices. 4. Creation of a Web platform dedicated to the project for coworking between the partners, participation of professionals involved in orientation to a transnational network of practices exchange, consultation of recommended games in a web portal for young people. 5. Fostering exchanges between serious game designers and users for a white booklet of design recommendations adapted to target groups. 6. The implementation of a project dissemination plan for the various actors and networks concerned. It will contribute to a better understanding of the benefits and limitations of serious games for helping lifelong guidance."

Youth unemployment is a growing concern in the European context for its economic and social effects in the medium and long term. At the same time, the qualification of youth as well as a strong businesses´ involvement, would promote youth employment. With the implementation of the dual education model some European governments hope to combat the rising unemployment levels amongst young people. The suitable qualification of young unemployed would promote their employment. It is clear that in countries with work-based learning systems, young people have better opportunities for access to employment. These experiences in many of the countries of the European Union are still scarce, and there is still no firm and institutional commitment to guarantee its greater weight within the formal education systems in many of the European countries. The PADAWAN project aimed to design a collaborative and transnational online platform that involved stakeholders, hospitality businesses (SMEs in particular), VET providers, public authorities and apprentices, from 4 countries, for the provision of training, employment opportunities, and services aimed at ensuring the success of any work-based learning process in the hospitality sector, and where the learner, as an apprentice, is the key proactive element. The PADAWAN project, through the virtual environment developed, has promoted a new methodology for the improvement of 3 actors’ competences during the process of the work-based training model with the use of all intellectual outputs implemented in this EU project. The main results were: (i) A transversal training module for the development of soft key-competences for the trainee (apprentice) in the hospitality sector (ii) The creation of a collaborative virtual environment – European Apprenticeship School PADAWAN and PADAWAN Community (IO1) had the goal to promote the pro-activity of the learner (apprentice), to foster the communication between the VET trainer and the hospitality business tutor, to monitor the training path of the apprentice and to exchange good practices among stakeholders from different countries in the hospitality sector. The collaborative virtual environment PADAWAN was designed to guide, to normalize processes and to establish tasks for each one of the 3 actors involved in the work-based learning system. (iii) A Handbook for company tutors in the hospitality sector was meant to guide them through the training process and to have a clear vision of their role and their tasks (iv) Four national conferences organized in order to disseminate and exploit the Intellectual Outputs (v) One Learning activity (Short-term joint staff training events) meant to pilot the collaborative virtual environment – European Apprenticeship School PADAWAN and PADAWAN Community (IO1) The PADAWAN project has benefited the following main target groups and beneficiaries in Spain, Italy, Bulgaria, and Germany: (i) As potential apprentices in the hospitality sector: Young people aged 16-30 who were about to enter in the labor market, unemployed persons who need up-skilling, NEETs and early school leavers (ii) Education and training institutions in hospitality sector and taking part in work-based learning offer (iii) SMEs in the hospitality sector in their twin role of employers and beneficiaries of the Handbook and Protocol of communication. Thanks to the PADAWAN project, the following impact was expected and achieved in target group community: (i) Better awareness of the potential contribution of work based learning experiences who contribute to the improvement of youth employability in the hospitality sector (ii) Improvement of soft skills in the work place of apprentices (iii) Improvement of the capacity for establishing creative partnerships between education and business in support of youth employability (iv) Improvement of the awareness on potential of hospitality sector as a driver for development in the European economies The PADAWAN project has demonstrated that the collaborative virtual environment is a tool which must be taken into consideration for the monitoring of the apprentice’s training pathway and where the transversal training module should be available to enhance the employability of young people and give them adequate skills for work. And finally, the PADAWAN project has shown how the Handbook for company’s tutors is useful to give support to SMEs in the hospitality sector to implement with high quality in their part of training in the work-based learning system.

COVID19 pandemic set a serious challenge before the educational sector and reconfirmed the need to integrate digital resources in education. Still, the transition to digital education has been much smoother and easier to organise for some vocational fields than for others. The professions and qualifications that rely on human creativity, attitude and interactions have not been considered as appropriate for distance learning. Though there are some attempts for digitalization of VET for service-sector professions (besides the IT-based ones), the practical trainings and examinations are still delivered in-class and through physical presence in most EU countries. Accordingly, the practical trainings in VET curricula for obtaining qualifications in these professions were severely affected and interrupted during COVID19 lockdown regimes as VET-providers were not prepared to organise them in distance or blended mode. However, the provision of uninterrupted VET programs is vital for keeping VET learners in training and for preventing drop-outs.VET@HOME is designed to create and pilot a standard unit-based syllabus model for virtual practical training courses (training practice) within the VET for the profession “Cook”. It allows the sustaining of vocational training in extreme circumstances as the one caused by the pandemic. The project introduces a new approach to the delivery of practical training courses leading to qualifications that are adapted for distance and blended-mode delivery, usage of alternative learning facilities and the new operational circumstances of the food-and-beverage sector across the EU. The approach is also applicable for disadvantaged learners who have difficulties to be present physically in the training premises on daily basis. The overall aim of VET@HOME is to reinforce the ability of VET institutions to provide high-quality, inclusive digital education in culinary arts adapted as to the post-COVID19 operation standards in the food-and beverage industry. The specific objectives are to- develop a model unit-based syllabus for virtual practical training courses in VET for the profession “Cook”, - create an on-line platform for the virtual delivery of practical training courses for partial qualification for the profession “Cook”, - equip VET-providers with a common protocol and guidance how to utilise virtual resources in practical training, - sustain the attractiveness of VET in the culinary arts and post-crises recovery by outlining paths for recognizing the outcomes of practical training in distance mode. Hence, the target groups of project are VET providers with their staff, trainers for practical trainings and company tutors, VET learners and VET regulating institutions. VET@HOME activities include the development of intellectual outputs, transnational project meetings, joint staff training, evaluation, dissemination and sustainability. The main project outputs and results are:- A model unit-based syllabus for virtual practical training courses in VET for the profession “Cook”,- An e-learning platform for the delivery of the virtual practical training courses for partial qualification for the profession “Cook” with 4 pilot courses, adapted for distance-mode guided or semi-guided delivery,- A Protocol and Guidebook for trainers and company tutors in culinary arts on how to conduct on-line VET practical training courses,- А Roadmap for integration of distance-mode practical training learning outcomes in VET qualifications, including recommendations for policy reforms in VET in the partners’ countries that facilitate the delivery of VET practical training in distance mode and alternative learning environments,- A joint-staff training for VET-experts, - National-level conferences “Practical VET in the Digital World” in the 5 project countries – - Peer coaching. The intended longer-term impact of the project refers to:- Increased availability of tailor-made resources to support VET-providers and learners to sustain learning processed in extreme circumstances, - Valorisation of digital resources for practical training in VET,- Enhanced transnational cooperation in the digitalization of VET, - Better integration of the learning outcomes from distance-mode training in VET qualifications,- Increased capacity of VET to include and accommodate disadvantaged learners.VET@HOME is a partnership initiative involving three established VET-centres, a CSO for LLL, a business entity and a national qualification authority from Bulgaria, Spain, Portugal, the Republic of North Macedonia and Croatia.

"Thermal tourism has its own market segment directed not only to those who pursue solely thermal treatments but also for those seeking illness prevention, physical improvement and spiritual balance or even for those eager of cultural and wellness programs. During the last years, thermal tourism has improved, requiring an appropriate approach which has to combine properly three aspect: wellness, social and cultural.To respond to this demand the tourism sector needs to improve and adapt the pre-existing skills and competencies of entrepreneurs, professionals and SPAs (Salus Per Aquam) operators.Since thermal tourism combines water treatments with social and cultural activities, it is addressed to promote also the local heritage of thermal towns.In order to do so, we aim to develop new and reinforce existing European professional networks, increasing their capacity to operate at a transnational level, sharing and confronting ideas, practices and methods in thermal water safeguard sector.Moreover, thermal tourism is an ancient practice that has always identified thermal towns enlightening the connection that lies between territory and local economy that can be improved thanks to the exchange of good practices among European thermal tourism actors. In writing stage the partners institution established the following aims: -To strengthen the recruitment and professional development of VET educators (e.g. trainers, tutors, mentors, coaches, thermal and SPAs professionals and operators, tour operators).-To valorize the thermal culture heritage in Europe rediscovering the historical tradition of European thermal cities and promotion of the European thermal towns’ heritage.-To raise awareness on the importance of the thermal water European cultural heritage through education, lifelong learning, continuous training, including actions to support news and pre-existing skills development, social inclusion, critical thinking and youth engagement.-To promote the European thermal tourism to combine welfare, health, tradition, education and labour market creating new working opportunities.-To give better prospects for VET educators, professionals and thermal touristic providers through intercultural approaches and local heritage valorization.-To support the VET sector in the spreading of the local thermal heritage combined with tourism, sport and leisure time to guarantee health and wellness of European citizens.Our main objectives are:− to show partner countries’ thermal towns presenting what they have in common;− to encourage the further development of thermal towns safeguarding their cultural and architectural heritage;− to promote a lasting network among thermal towns which belong to partner countries;− to encourage the development of researches, analyses, studies and statistics in the thermal sector, especially concerning the history, art, and culture heritage;− to develop a new cooperation’s strategy into the European thermal tourism sector.""Thermal Heritage: an European Track"" project aims also to produce the following tangible learning outcomes:- Analysis of the state of art of thermal tourism in Europe starting from pre-existing good practices developed by European Institutions. - The joint study program: Thermal Heritage : a track of Europe in e-booklet format.- The elaboration of strategic cooperation among partner institutions plan according to our project results.- The creation of a e-catalogue about thermal route in each partner country.- A good practices collection of work-based setting in each partner country.- The opening of a virtual collaborative space among project partners’ institution to guarantee the life-lasting of the project results and exchanged experiences.Methodology: it will be 1 training course in Bulgaria, 3 project meetings in Italy, Spain, Turkey, seminars, workshops, study visits, dissemination, evaluation and follow up activities.The impact: increasing staff and learners personal and professional competencies, developing of communication and intercultural skills (critical thinking, problem-solving abilities, communication skills in other foreign language), enhancing competencies for VET providers to implement international strategies in the thermal tourism sector, team working abilities improvement in multicultural contexts. In a long term perspective, through the creation of a new VET thermal track network among partners’ organizations we will guarantee the evolving of our work, adding in our network other thermal companies which are not part of our partnership."