When Roses fly. Approaching a shared European identity through creative writing and research of the past Erasmus Project

Project Title

When Roses fly. Approaching a shared European identity through creative writing and research of the past

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy

Project Summary

When roses fly …
it has been been – now that we are looking back at our project – a magic moment, which the 2nd Gymnasium Kordelio from Thessaloniki, Greece, and the Sophie-Scholl-Gymnasium from Itzehoe, Germany, shared with each other. Both schools found a partner, in order to develop key interests of their curricular work within the European framework. They were connected by the goal of fostering the European dimension of teaching and learning at the moment when students and teachers meet. By cooperating they created new ideas, a better understanding of each other and new points of view. By tightening the bonds between the two countries they showed to the students the importance of European values: Together the discovered the past and learned about the importance to take action for European values.

When roses fly …
35 Greek students at the age of 13 to 15 met for a very special moment with their 46 German counterparts in order to cooperate in creative ways, discover the past of their mother countries, learn about European values and the culture and history of the partner country. In their work they have been supported by 6 German and Greek teachers who coordinated the project work between their schools. With their help and the financial and material support of the European Commission this project throughout its various activities fostered key skills and competences, especially language skills, intercultural and civic competences.

When roses fly …
an adventurous journey of twelve months took place starting in September 2019: Students got to know each other via eTwinning/Twinspace, developed their own creative stories and pictures around the title „When Roses Fly“. The first project meeting was held in the city of Itzehoe, Germany, in the beginning of February 2020. For seven days the main intention was to bring students together, to improve their foreign language skills, to create Learningapps, to make them discover historical examples of opposition against dictatorship and to learn and discuss about common European values. In addition, despite our original plannings, the students already learned at this meeting about their mother country’s history by presenting the results of their interviews with contemporary witnesses. Due to the Covid19 pandemia, we were not able to execute the second project meeting in Thessaloniki, which should have been taking place in the middle of March 2020.

When roses fly…
unforgettable memories, precious experiences and new points of view came into being through virtual exchange (eTwinning, TwinSpace) and a personal gathering – a precious treasure of experiences for the students and teachers alike. When cooperating personally they collected vivid insights into the culture of the other country as an essential basis for a genuine understanding of each other. The common treasure created through the partnership consisted of even more products and results: First, there were the different products of the students, such as creative texts and drawings, Learningapps or the dictionary for the school partnership. The list of valuable results is completed by various posters, a shared questionnaire. Second, there are the materials made by the teachers of both schools (a basic course of Modern Greek, workshop materials). All the materials and products have been collected in an ebook and shared on eTwinning/TwinSpace and the school homepages. This way our common treasure of experience of the school partnership are available for future projects of both schools and for everyone interested.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 28700 Eur

Project Coordinator

Sophie-Scholl-Gymnasium & Country: DE

Project Partners

• 2o Gymnasium Eleftheriou Kordeliou