Experiencing Diversity through Art Erasmus Project

Project Title

Experiencing Diversity through Art

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Migrants’ issues

Project Summary

Primary school Bršljin (Slovenia), Zespol Szkoly i Gimnazjum im. Wladyslawa Orkana w Niedzwiedziu (Poland) and Agrupamento de Escolas de Castro Marim (Portugal) established contact via the eTwinning platform and decided for an international cooperation in the two-year project entitled “Experiencing Diversity through Art”. The schools have students from different cultures and we respect diversity, so we selected social inclusion as a project priority. Using art as a medium for creative expression, the students learned about, explored and experienced cultural diversity. The theme was migration, so we were interested in literary stories and poems on this theme and the life stories of people who have migrated. We think that their experiences helped us establish the conditions for successful social integration of students from foreign language environments. The participants of the project were students and core group teachers of each school. The students, aged from 12 to 15, who could communicate in English, and especially the students from foreign language environments were included. At least 6 students and 3 teachers from each school attended the exchanges. We encouraged especially those students who have fewer opportunities for mobility. The international project’s aim was to encourage the participants to actively use English and to multilateral use of ICT in communication with the partner schools. The teachers upgraded their professional development, as the project required continuous and in-depth performance. The teachers of the partner schools exchanged teaching methods and experience in working with students, enriched their practice with adding new knowledge into their own teaching, and encouraged the active role of students in sharing experiences, reflections and discussions. This cooperation not only had an impact on the participants, but also on other students, their parents, other teachers and the local communities of the schools. The two-year project was based on 4 meetings which included the experiential learning, demonstrations, practical work, reproducing and excursions. Between the mobilities, the partner schools carried out the interim activities in which a set of classical methods and RWCT techniques (Reading and Writing for Critical Thinking) were used. In October 2017, Slovenia hosted a 3-day meeting for teachers of the partner schools’ core teams. We defined the programme using the methods of discussion, argument and simulation of social situations. Afterwards, the interim activities included the research and reading the selected book on migration, creating works of art, short stories and poems on migration, presentation of all three schools and countries, and presentation of stories of students from foreign language environment. In March 2018, Primary school Bršljin organized a five-day meeting of partner schools’ students and teachers. Some of the activities were the social evening, attending classes, visiting Novo mesto, learning about the stories of the people who have migrated to Slovenia, participating at the “Poetry Night” event, excursion in Slovenia and discovering the Slovenian culture, artists and cultural institutions. The focus of the interim activities from April to September 2018 was writing letters, reading the second book on migration, written by national authors of each country, the book’s summary in English, writing the script and rehearsing for a play. In October 2018, a five-day meeting was in Poland. The students learned about the stories of the people who have migrated to Poland, shared opinions on books they have read, played three theatre plays, had an excursion to Krakow, learned about the Polish culture and learned a Polish dance. November 2018 to April 2019 interim activities included writing letters, reading poetry on migration and diversity, translating the selected poems to English, writing original poems, and creating art poems and kamishibais on migration. The final five-day meeting was in May 2019 in Portugal. The programme included socializing and learning about the stories of the people who have migrated to Portugal, presentation of poems, creative poem writing workshop, attending classes, creating the cover for the final publication, excursion to Castro Marim, Lagos and Vila Real de Santo Antonio, discovering the Portuguese culture and drawing conclusions about the project. Articles on the progress of the project were published on the schools’ websites and in local media. After the mobilities, we created an online publications in 4 languages (Slovenian, Portuguese, Polish and English). At the end of the project a printed publication in English was issued. After the project, we used the students’ products, videos and the publications in our work within the curriculum. With publishing on eTwinning we raised awareness about migration and the importance of social inclusion despite the cultural differences.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 63630 Eur

Project Coordinator

Osnovna sola Brsljin & Country: SI

Project Partners

• Agrupamento de Escolas de Castro Marim
• Szkola Podstawowa im Wladyslawa Orkana w Niedzwiedziu