Rübezahl’s and Stuelpner Karl’s grandchildren learn about the world of fairy tales, sagas and traditions in the border region of Germany and the Czech Republic Erasmus Project

Project Title

Rübezahl’s and Stuelpner Karl’s grandchildren learn about the world of fairy tales, sagas and traditions in the border region of Germany and the Czech Republic

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: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Creativity and culture; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage

Project Summary

The two grammar schools participating in the project are located in the border region of Germany and the Czech Republic. Previous common projects have shown that the teenagers know only little about the shared history of their home countries. Moreover, they scarcely show any motivation to learn more about their respective neighbouring country.
The bilingual project is based on the shared cultural and historical roots of the people living on both sides of the border between Germany and the Czech Republic. It aims at encouraging meetings between German and Czech students, reducing the alienation from each other and therefore, it will help to get people from both Germany and the Czech Republic together. This can be a basis for a shared future in Europe. Furthermore, the project’s intention is to increase the participants’ interest in both their home and its cultural and traditional roots. Getting to know the people’s traditional customs in the Ore Mountains (Erzgebirge) and in the Giant Mountains (Krkonoše) is to inspire the students to experience them as a cultural heritage worthy of protection which they want to pass on to future generations as part of their own identity.
Dealing with the heroes of Stülpner’s and Rübezahl’s fairy tales and sagas the students learn about values like helpfulness, respect for the weaker members of society, standing up against injustice, love of nature and the preservation of natural resources. In addition, these values are also part of the educational goals as portrayed in the profiles of the two participating schools. Together the students are supposed to get an insight into the world of Stülpner’s and Rübezahl’s fairy tales and sagas in order to understand them as the basis of shared cultural roots.
The target group of this project are students aged between 14 and 18, so they are in grades 8 to 13. 56 students who are divided into two teams participate in the project. Team 1 includes 18 German and Czech students who are directly involved in the planning and realization of the project (master team). Team 2 consists of a class of 9th graders from Germany and a class of 10th graders from the Czech Republic that will work on the project.
With the help of school exchanges the students get to know their respective neighbouring country and its people as well as their daily life and traditions. Thereby the feeling of alieness towards each other can be reduced. Furthermore, the project aims at developing both an interest in the participants for the neighbouring country’s people and friendly relations towards each other. The master team prepares and organizes these school exchanges. Also they work on performative and multimedia workshops for the project and they develop educational material like worksheets and riddles for other students. The participants design a thematic map about fairy tales and sagas for the border region of Germany and the Czech Republic. Additionally, they prepare a school project for younger students which also includes a short theatre play.
As Stülpner’s and Rübezahl’s fairy tales and sagas have a close connection to regional traditions and history it is possible to use a lot of the developed material for future projects at the two participating schools and beyond, for example, the plays could be shown at local elementary schools or kindergardens.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 60192 Eur

Project Coordinator

Bernhard-von-Cotta Gymnasium Brand-Erbisdorf & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Krkonosske gymnazium a SOS