Me too, a smiling clown! Erasmus Project

Project Title

Me too, a smiling clown!

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: Health and wellbeing; Creativity and culture; Civic engagement / responsible citizenship

Project Summary

Context
Promoting good health is an integral part of Europe 2020 economic-growth strategy. More specifically, health policy is important to Europe objectives for smart and inclusive growth because keeping people healthy and active for longer has a positive impact on welfare and productivity.
Our project would like to contribute making our students and teachers “smiling clowns” able to improve the lives of people in needs such as children affected by Down Syndrome and long term illnesses, people in social isolation and the elderly, particularly the ones affected by Alzheimer’s disease. Working on the project our sts will realize that they have to change their habits and attitudes and contribute to the construction of the world they live in. Volunteering offers vital help to people in need, and the community, but the benefits could be even greater for them as volunteers. They will realize that “Being a smiling Clown” can connect them to others but it will good for their mind and body too since volunteering can also bring fun and fulfillment to their life.

Objectives
Thanks to the work of cooperation and exchange of “good practices” we aim at contributing to
– promoting people’s well-being,
– bringing smiles and laugher to people of all ages,
– reducing anxiety related to hospitalization and any form of anxiety,
– making sts aware of the peculiarities and the problems related to the world of Alzheimer, Downs Syndrome, people’s Isolation in our society, hospitalized children
-getting in contact with realities often unknown to the majority of our sts who are more and more involved in a world characterized by the use of socials,
– promoting active citizenship
– promoting volunteering.
– stimulating solidarity and taking on tasks and small responsibilities,
– promoting a sense of usefulness,
– seeking moments of personal dialogue as much as possible.

Being a smiling clown with “special people” such as hospitalized children, the elderly, people in crisis but also ourselves aims at
– improving their quality of life,
– maintaining their daily life skills,
– stimulating and maintaining residual skills (cognitive, motor, relational and social),
– responding to their self-esteem needs (being recognized as people still able to say and do) helping them to feel part of the world,
– promoting socialization,

Number and profile of participants
We want to involve as many people as possible: sts, families, staff, our local communities, associations of clowns, Alzheimer, Down, hospitals since we are sure that everybody will benefit from the activities we will organize and the project products will contribute to make them more inclusive. In each school sts will create a clown team that will be in charge of the activities organized together with the associations. The teams will always be in contact using etwinning and socials. Sts with special needs and with social integration problems will be involved in the activities and they will be the protagonists of workshops according to their skills .

For the implementation of the project we will organise:
– 4 short-term joint staff meetings of 2 teachers from each school focused on Clown therapy, Down Syndrome, Alzheimer deseases, problems related to depression and isolation.
– 5 short term exchanges of 5 sts plus 2 accompanying teachers from each school during which they will have the opportunity to meet clowns, organise special events and produce project material. By working together with clowns in hospitals they will be given the opportunity to share and exchange experiences, opinions and values, to learn from the best practices and to build a better world. They will be
1st “Becoming a smiling clown“ Italy Jan. 2021 to organize the training course on Clowns Theraphy
2nd “Enjoying life with the Down” Spain May 2021 focused on Down Sydrome;
3rd “A smile in hospital” Portugal Sept 2021 focused on Hospitalized children
4th “How to deal with loneliness and isolation in our society” Poland, March 2022 focused on depression
5th “A smile in the world of Alzheimer” Italy, May 2022 focused on Azheimer and project dissemination
– 6 long-term sts’ mobilities,

The final product will be
– a club of clowns in each school characterized by a mission, a distribution of duties, costumes, activities planning;
– a practical guidelines about the techniques of clown therapy in different contexts and lessons to be done to prepare sts;
– some cortos aiming at making people laugh, divided according to the target,
– an eBook containing all the materials produced by sts, that‘s the best stories, songs, tales, ..to be used during the Clowning,practice
– a website containing all the project material
The “activities” will be used for the dissemination of the results of the project that will be presented during the conferences. The youth will act as multipliers in their own communities, starting with their families and friends convincing about the absolute necessity of volunteerin

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 120031 Eur

Project Coordinator

LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE CLAUDIO CAVALLERI & Country: IT

Project Partners

• Zespol Szkol Ekonomicznych
• Instituto de Enseñanza Secundaria BENDINAT
• Instituto Nacional de Aprendizagem e Ensino, S.A