Communication, Comprehension, Unification Erasmus Project

Project Title

Communication, Comprehension, Unification

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: Creativity and culture; Gender equality / equal opportunities; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

This newly created project is founded on a previous strategic partnership (Au fil de nos cours d ‘eau). We, four former European strategic partners of this project, committed ourselves in our final report to continue working together on the exploration of new and alternative ways to enhance students’ cultural awareness and sensitivity. Our aim is to form internationally oriented and open-minded students who are aware of cultural similarities and differences. On that account, we want to enable them to grow and improve their European citizenship by, apart from practicing these skills in their own environment, letting them experience it for themselves in an international setting.
As the representatives of France, Spain, Lithuania and the Netherlands, we share common goals and teach under more or less the same circumstances such as being located in rural areas and having sometimes few opportunities. An underlying issue in these areas is that students often lack the will to come into contact or communicate with people from cultures that are distinct from their own. By inviting Italy as a new partner to join our team, we have not only enriched our collaboration as a team but also extended our horizon. This country is at the heart of the European turmoil in terms of migration and our collaboration with our new partner will certainly challenge us to find new perspectives.
Many of us are struggling with images about foreigners, not knowing how to communicate and connect and have stereotyped ideas, not always speaking the same language.

Therefore, creating awareness about the impact of using stereotypes in our schools is a priority in our project. In addition, our project seeks to improve the ways we communicate by searching for a unifying language in order to break down walls, accept differences between people and embrace (linguistic) diversity. Furthermore, we want to increase our students’ motivation to learn foreign languages. Our web radio will support this process.

We want to promote participation in the most inclusive way and therefore we will try to convince as many pupils in disadvantaged situations as possible to join us. They will be from 5 different countries, aged between 14 and 19. The number of pupils involved will be around 300 and they will have different levels of education.

To meet our objectives, we have planned a large variety of formal and informal activities, balancing learning with decontraction. The activities wil encourage our pupils to introduce themselves (cultural portrait, preliminary questionnaires), speak out and express their personal opinions (interviews, European colloquium), they will monitor the progress of participants ( personal memorandum book of experiences, broadcasting on web radio, publications on Twin Space and our common blog), and they will lead to many intercultural encounters for learning, sharing and comparing, face to face and in larger groups (correct images, veterans and rappers, food and folklore). But we also want all participants to have a lot of fun together in order to create beautiful memories and to make sure all we have learned will last longer. Joy sticks!

Since we really want to shake up our schools’ communities to learn about these issues, we have organized the four phases of our project in a ‘ROAR-ing’ way:
– R ecognize: stereotypes used by all participants by means of questionnaires, kahoots, mental cards, Rally data of the virtual and real life Reunions of the intercultural teams, Reveal the outcome by sharing them on the Radio, the website and in Twin Space.
– O pening: new horizons, Opening eyes by Offering all participants other points of views, informing them, increasing their knowledge and starting to question their ideas and Opinions, Organize activities for students to do research on intercultural communication and compare different cultures and perspectives.
– A ssume: taking responsibility in any communication, Acknowledge the impact of words through total immersion in everyday situations to undergo and feel the full extent of prejudice (tools: forum theatre and stories that move), but also Appreciate the advantages of diversity (by sharing food and appreciating folkloric expressions).
– R esults: Report on learned strategies to handle stereotypes, Respect each other and accept both similarities and differences. The spot will be the final conclusion of all exchanges, using images as a powerful mirror.

We are convinced that participating in this intercultural communication project will lead to more openness and understanding and will have an extremely positive impact on our school communities. Students will experience living in a foreign environment, working and playing in teams, overcoming prejudices and getting a deeper understanding of not only their own but also other cultures and identities. They ‘ll be aware that there is a universal language to show respect for each other’s diversity. They will become responsible citizens.

Project Website

https://ccu2cu.wixsite.com/2019

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 133200 Eur

Project Coordinator

Merletcollege & Country: NL

Project Partners

• Ukmerges Jono Basanaviciaus gimnazija
• Lycée général et technologique de Mirepoix
• IES SIERRA DEL SEGURA
• I.S.I.S. Sandro Pertini