Comenius Project 2013/2015
Let’s create a multicultural Europe.
Multiculturalism is at least as important as local tradition in Europe. Knowing different cultures, traditions and religions allow to understand and accept these dissimilarities, break down prejudice and recognize them as a source of richness.
PROJECT DESCRIPTION
PROJECT OBJECTIVES AND STRATEGY
Our project crosses socio-cultural obstacles as negative national/regional stereotypes, language barriers, racism. We pretend to build a mutual knowledge, overcome stereotypes sphere, create cultural continuity, commence cooperation in the socio-cultural field. Our activities are pragmatic and based on mutual advantage, we will share values and visions and awareness of a multilingual regions.
The concrete objectives, problems and approaches of the partnership are:
Objective 1. creating social cohesion, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue,
Subject 1. intercultural dialogue between generations,
Approach 1. A) students (ss) organize the meetings with their Grandparents on Grandparents Day. They also provide a course on Facebook to let their grandparents keep up to date with youngsters. B) ss precise stereotypes and work out how to break them up C) ss go to kindergartners with a theatre play and other activities (painting, games) about findings in the project in context of multiculturalism,
Objective 2. increased participation of disadvantaged groups regardless of their socioeconomic background
Subject 2. children with special needs,
Approach 2. ss prepare presents at Christmas for ss with special needs and disadvantaged groups
Objective 3. promoting language learning and linguistic diversity
Subject 3. linguistic diversity
Approach 3. A) ss prepare the European Dictionary of everyday words/expressions/sings B) ss find out their national multilingualism and culture diversity in different regions.
Objective 4. supporting and sharing the development and knowledge of innovative ICT-based content & new pedagogies.
Subject 4. ICT, new pedagogies CLIL and LdL,
Approach 4. ss provide LdL and teachers CLIL lessons a) of other partners' countries (history, culture, tradition, belief, Nature, National Parks, famous people etc.) b) human rights, equality, freedom, life values c) Amnesty International, UNESCO, UNICEF d) breaking up our stereotypes and make them available on-line.
ICT eg.: ss will use and create eBooks, e-presentations, on-line lessons, video chat, e-voti
Objective 5. creating a sense of European citizenship based on understanding and respect and tolerance for people and cultures,
Subject 5. respect, tolerance, human rights,
Approach 5. A) ss organize a debate with people from other cultures who live in the area. B) ss visit the libraries and read (on-line) and translate the authors who wrote about Equality, Freedom, Racism, Human Rights.
Our project crosses socio-cultural obstacles as negative national/regional stereotypes, language barriers, racism. We pretend to build a mutual knowledge, overcome stereotypes sphere, create cultural continuity, commence cooperation in the socio-cultural field. Our activities are pragmatic and based on mutual advantage, we will share values and visions and awareness of a multilingual regions. The concrete objectives, problems and approaches of the partnership are:
Objective 1. creating social cohesion, active citizenship, intercultural dialogue,
Subject 1. intercultural dialogue between generations,
Approach 1. A) students (ss) organize the meetings with their Grandparents on Grandparents Day. They also provide a course on Facebook to let their grandparents keep up to date with youngsters. B) ss precise stereotypes and work out how to break them up C) ss go to kindergartners with a theatre play and other activities (painting, games) about findings in the project in context of multiculturalism,
Objective 2. increased participation of disadvantaged groups regardless of their socioeconomic background
Subject 2. children with special needs,
Approach 2. ss prepare presents at Christmas for ss with special needs and disadvantaged groups
Objective 3. promoting language learning and linguistic diversity
Subject 3. linguistic diversity
Approach 3. A) ss prepare the European Dictionary of everyday words/expressions/sings B) ss find out their national multilingualism and culture diversity in different regions.
Objective 4. supporting and sharing the development and knowledge of innovative ICT-based content & new pedagogies.
Subject 4. ICT, new pedagogies CLIL and LdL,
Approach 4. ss provide LdL and teachers CLIL lessons a) of other partners' countries (history, culture, tradition, belief, Nature, National Parks, famous people etc.) b) human rights, equality, freedom, life values c) Amnesty International, UNESCO, UNICEF d) breaking up our stereotypes and make them available on-line.
ICT eg.: ss will use and create eBooks, e-presentations, on-line lessons, video chat, e-voti
Objective 5. creating a sense of European citizenship based on understanding and respect and tolerance for people and cultures,
Subject 5. respect, tolerance, human rights,
Approach 5. A) ss organize a debate with people from other cultures who live in the area. B) ss visit the libraries and read (on-line) and translate the authors who wrote about Equality, Freedom, Racism, Human Rights.
SUMMARY
The project "Let’s create multicultural Europe" involves young people aged 11-16 from 10 European countries.
The aim of the project is to establish long-term social cohesion and understanding of European multicultural diversity by people involved in the project. The aims are achieved by providing intercultural dialogue through many activities with people of all ages and with special needs, promoting an awareness of the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, breaking up the stereotypes concerned with racism or prejudice, promoting equality, freedom and combating to all forms of discrimination based on sex, ethnic origin or belief.
All European schools’ actions concern the context of multiculturalism as eg. learning about the partners identify (involving culture, tradition, history, nature) and differences and similarities between them. The project also includes the issues of innovative ICT based content by publishing all products as eBooks, e-CLIL lessons with full materials, e-presentations, films, web pages, glogstars, quizes and new pedagogies as CLIL and LdL. Teaching content of these methods will respect human rights and democracy, tolerance and respect in a sense of active and creative European citizenship.
The details of the project is available on http://letscreateamulticulturaleurope.blogspot.com
The project "Let’s create multicultural Europe" involves young people aged 11-16 from 10 European countries.
The aim of the project is to establish long-term social cohesion and understanding of European multicultural diversity by people involved in the project. The aims are achieved by providing intercultural dialogue through many activities with people of all ages and with special needs, promoting an awareness of the importance of cultural and linguistic diversity, breaking up the stereotypes concerned with racism or prejudice, promoting equality, freedom and combating to all forms of discrimination based on sex, ethnic origin or belief.
All European schools’ actions concern the context of multiculturalism as eg. learning about the partners identify (involving culture, tradition, history, nature) and differences and similarities between them. The project also includes the issues of innovative ICT based content by publishing all products as eBooks, e-CLIL lessons with full materials, e-presentations, films, web pages, glogstars, quizes and new pedagogies as CLIL and LdL. Teaching content of these methods will respect human rights and democracy, tolerance and respect in a sense of active and creative European citizenship.
The details of the project is available on http://letscreateamulticulturaleurope.blogspot.com
RATIONALE
The social-democratic discourse of civic integration emphases the need to develop a more inclusive (multi-) national identity and to fight racism and discrimination.
Multiculturalism is also characterized as a feel-good celebration of ethnocultural diversity, encouraging citizens to acknowledge and embrace the customs, traditions, music, and cuisine that exist in a multiethnic society and the activities in the project fulfill this definition.
Taking everything into account, multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals, to replace earlier uncivil and undemocratic relations of hierarchy and exclusion.
Particularly: In the relation of specific aims/to school:
1. the idea of multiculturalism has not failed and it is still alive in European policy and society's demand,
2. it meets the interest of students in the same age in different countries and their desire to know each other (according to the rule: Knowledge-Understanding-Acceptance). Students will share their insights and comments (on the school, culture, tradition, belief) they will also compare their rights and responsibilities,
3. the idea of the project is really needed by youngsters and they are really enthusiastic about the idea of the integrated Europe and participation into the project,
4. multiculturalism as the pursuit of new relations of democratic citizenship, inspired and constrained by human-rights ideals should be implemented and dealt into schools’ curriculum,
5. multiculturalism takes familiar cultural markers of ethnic groups as clothing, cuisine, and music and treats them as authentic practices to improve, enrich and adopt the multiculturalism in school curricula,
6. project improves the communication and the exchange of materials and ideas among partner students
and teachers,
7. enlarging and deepening the understanding of multilingualism and the need of bilingual education and other basic phrases in partners languages are needed,
9. project promotes innovation of didactic methodologies, as well as fosters the adoption of multidisciplinary teaching methods as CLIL and LdL - teaching methods possess the better results enhanced through multidisciplinary approaches and motivation factors in education process,
10. project meets the need of disadvantaged groups of immigrants or people with special needs,
11. multiculturalism is first and foremost about developing new models of democratic citizenship, grounded in human-rights ideals, to replace earlier uncivil and undemocratic relations of hierarchy and exclusion,
12. learning from the international examples enriches education processes and foster the knowledge of different cultural models,
13. implementing ICT apps increase students key competences IT matters,
14. project achieves the appropriate balance between subject knowledge and skills, and key competences approaches that can well meet the needs of different participants.
15. project promotes socio-cultural integration among students, it enhances the value and richness of multiculturalism and promotes the acquisition of a European dimension,
19. project enlarges the knowledge of the foreign communities that are present in the local area and far in Europe.
Bibliography.
1. Kymlicka W., 2012. Multiculturalism. Success, Failure and the Future. Migration Policy Institute. Queen’s University.
2. Gordon J., Halasz G., Krawczyk M., Leney T., Michel A., Pepper D., Putkiewicz E., Wisiński J., 2009. CASE Network Reports: Key Competences in Europe. Opening Doors For Lifelong Learners. Across the School Curriculum and Teacher Education. CASE-Center for Social and Economic Research, Warsaw, 87/2009
EUROPEAN ADDED VALUE
The aim of the project is to support the idea of multicultural Europe within the learners’ societies.
The project enables also each member to discover the partners’ working contexts, to appreciate their lifestyles, to learn their languages and to adopt an open and tolerant attitude towards other cultures, habits, beliefs and specific social background. Thanks to real meetings, we will all discover the living conditions, traditions, habits, language, time schedules, life style, history, touristic particularities from the participants.
This will enable each partner to understand better the behaviour, life rhythm, reactions and interpretations of their cultures. We will learn from each and improve the partners’ knowledge thanks to a synergetic collaboration during the project and enhance European collaboration, European citizenship by transnational mobility’s to discover each other’s cultural, historical, economical and political situation and learn to speak each others languages and used new pedagogies as CLIL and LdL.
By working together, we will explore these differences and also identify similarities, recognize them as an European heritage, moving towards models, practices and policies that can cross the borders and become ‘European’.
The collaboration within this project will stimulate tolerance in Europe by discovering and understanding each others’ situation, by learning to have empathy. Especially we will learn from the experiences of each country in using modern communication ICT tools.
The partnership between students, teachers, local societies and between different cultures will constitute a very balanced North-South, East-West partners sample, giving a significant size to the cooperation, large diversity in experience and point of view. This all that allows us a good level of generality of the results, and a large scale dissemination.
IMPACT
This project will clearly:
- increase awareness and empowerment levels on heritage in cultural aspects and its diversity,
- improve the quality of education through the improvement and enrichment of teaching (CLIL) and learning (LdL) methods,
- acquire skills such as working in multicultural groups in different aspects,
- enhance computer literacy and improve ICT skills,
- improve level of English and to other European languages,
- create social cohesion through active citizenship and intercultural dialogue and dialogue between generations,
- increase participation of people with special needs,
- promote the understanding and respect for human rights and democracy, encouraging tolerance and respect for people and cultures
Students will:
- improve knowledge on European cultural heritage and broaden their knowledge about partners´ countries,
- interact with European peers, share and develop ideas,
- improve their communicative and team-work skills with ICT apps,
- be motivated to go over the stereotypes,
- take initiatives and increase motivation in school activities,
- develop environmentally friendly behaviour by exchanging experiences,
- increase the relations with older and younger generations,
Teachers will:
- be able to keep the interest of students and notice that they pay more attention in activities and rise their self confidence
- use more interactive teaching styles, outdoors activities, public meetings with local authorities, societies,
- use more adequate and creative ICT apps,
- be engaged in European collaborative team work using ICT communication methods,
- exchange innovative and creative teaching methods and materials (CLIL) with ICT apps,
- have interdisciplinary cooperation,
Schools will:
- gain experience in the international project management, planning, implementation, evaluation and dissemination,
- communicate and exchange experiences with European schools and build long-term teams,
- broad participants horizons by getting to know other cultures and heritage,
- be motivated to increase the number of facilities and the quality of education,
- influence more positive attitudes about school and teachers and different traditions,
- co-operate with institutions and companies involved in culture, nature and local authorities,
- be promoted to their local communities by published monthly articles in the local media (newspapers, radio, TV, Internet)
