Maintaining national cultural traditions in a united Europe Erasmus Project

Project Title

Maintaining national cultural traditions in a united Europe

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 2020

Project Topics

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

Project Summary

Jean Monnet is said to have said „Europe, were I to begin again, I would start with culture“.

For the younger generations, Europe today seems to be crumbling. European identity seems to be fading, some countries show nationalist tendencies. As all Europeans we do have our national identities and cultural traditions but the younger generation, through ignorance or fear, seems little aware of their own cultural heritage, let alone of the similarities with other nations. That’s why we would like to create an awareness about what actually makes up their common cultural heritage as well as their differences which will lead to a better understanding of each other and hopefully enhance their tolerance and open-mindedness towards each other and amplify their European spirit.
Our activities aim at building bridges between the participating countries by making the students realise through the different activities their European common cultural heritage and increase their knowledge about their own past and present cultural identity.
Students should come to the conclusion that even the differences stem from similar concepts (e.g. dancing, singing, etc.) which are just expressed in different ways.

To find out what culture means to them, we will start off the project activities with a questionnaire that will be evaluated and analysed. As the topic of culture is a vast field, we decided, in accordance with the specific skills of the participating teachers, to touch the fields of literature, festivals, food, music, art and dance.
Each activity will take into account the students’ own interests, knowledge and background. To start with, pupils are asked to think about their own personal interests (fashion, music, books …. ) that they will present to the other participating countries through photos, musical extracts, etc. In mixed nationality groups they will then find common aspects.

The following activities will also be worked on: analysing a fairy tale, comparing Christmas festivities, finding a common project song and dance for the two years to enhance the feeling of togetherness. The participants will stage a piece of literature, work on traditional food, eating habits and changes in these, create a recipe book and cook traditional recipes from the participating countries.
In the second year we will concentrate on music first discovering traditional songs, instruments and composing a song that contains all the participants’ languages and English. The students will discover acoustic ecology by recording the sounds surrounding them in everyday life. The last phase of the project will focus on art and dance and contains the analysis of paintings portraying dancers. Students will present traditional dances from their countries and create a common choreography and perform it with music.

We will bring together music/musically interested teachers and students for two LTTAs (GR and GER). The participants will learn about traditional Greek/German musical instruments and songs. They will join musical ensembles of the hosting school, perform a traditional song together, visit a long-established piano making factory (GER) and see how music is taught at school and at a specialised city music school. Thus, the participants will broaden their knowledge of how a common cultural/musical heritage is passed on in Europe.

The project aims at being as diverse as possible by including a wide variety of subjects (e.g. music, art, dance, home economics, languages, etc.) and to give students a comprehensive approach of dealing with the different aspects. The skills and competences should amplify the students’ awareness in an emotional way. Also by working and cooperating in international groups they should improve their English and exchange information about their cultures. Furthermore, they improve their IT skills by documenting their findings and results through different means (PPT, prezi, audio/video files, mastering/editing audio and visual footage, etc.).
The aim of the project is for each student to be capable of researching, understanding and analysing and hence explaining to a third party so as to discover the traditions and customs in the partner countries. The important element here is sharing to better understand one’s neighbours.

For teachers the project offers the opportunity to work on a topic that includes many subjects and thus providing a platform of interdisciplinary cooperation within our own schools as well as between the partner schools. Also, it allows teachers to learn about, try out and share different teaching methods and approaches. After an LTTA, the pupils will be able to share their experience and help to minimise stereotypical thinking and hence to understand and accept differences.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 126416 Eur

Project Coordinator

Gymnasium Neue Oberschule & Country: DE

Project Partners

• RINGSJÖSKOLAN
• “Maria Callas” Music School of Kalamata
• Collège Edgar Quinet