MY WAY, YOUR WAY, OUR SHARED CULTURAL IDENTITIES Erasmus Project

Project Title

MY WAY, YOUR WAY, OUR SHARED CULTURAL IDENTITIES

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 2015

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Quality Improvement Institutions and/or methods (incl. school development); Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning

Project Summary

“My Way, Your Way, Our Shared Cultural Identities” is an innovative inter-cultural communication project involving schools from Bulgaria, Italy, Spain and Sweden. Its rationale is based on the understanding that mobility, an integral part of our increasingly globalized world, presents challenges arising from the cultural differences that are an intrinsic part of people’s complex identities. Therefore, knowledge and awareness of how culture impacts communication is essential in effective cross- cultural communication. The project has sought to
a) develop students’ understandings of the interrelated nature of language, culture and communication;
b) develop students’ skills to spot, reflect and deal with culture bumps;
c) enhance students’ confidence when encountering unfamiliar environment;
d) develop students’ presentation skills;
e) train students to conduct interviews to extract relevant information, analyse it, and present it in both oral and written form;
f) develop students’ curiosity towards different cultures and languages;
g) to prepare students for study and work in inter-cultural settings;
h) hone students’ IT skills through utilizing innovative applications;
i) develop a broader view of what European identity means to foster responsible citizenship skills;
g) enrich teachers’ classroom instruction methods and schools’ curricula.

This project has built on the rich experience all schools have with mobility to design a learning resource for training students to take stock of their inter-cultural experiences and develop understandings of the interrelated nature of language, culture and communication. The resource pack contains critical incidents and videos based on the experiences of the participants from the project.The methodology used to design the resource pack has used the culture assimilator, a cognitive approach in inter-cultural training based on the meaning attribution method. During the preparation stage, participants were trained through simulation games and inter-cultural training activities aiming to develop their sensitivity and awareness of identity formation, empathy, ethnocentrism, values, stereotypes, the dynamic and emergent nature of culture and strategies to decenter and re-frame in order to negotiate meanings. This learning resource has been beneficial on two levels – through the process of its designing and the outcome itself.

As the participants experienced cultural variation, they gained knowledge about what, how and why cultures do their shared practices; through the culture-contrast approach and reflective practices they gained insights into the value systems of both their own and other cultures; their insights helped them develop skills of successful communication in diverse settings and resulted in the production of learning resources for use by all who are interested in intercultural education. The interactive nature of the resources have had a double effect – developing students’ IT skills and making the materials appealing to a wide on-line audience. In addition, both teachers and students have learnt to deal with culture by adopting the culture assimilator approach, which have enriched their classroom practices and the school curricula in several subjects.

Outcomes :
1) “Cultural Detectives in Action”- an OER pack for analyzing culturally diverse behavior, which consists of:
-20 critical incidents (text, video, art, photography);
– teachers’ notes.
The resources have recorded and enacted misunderstandings based on cultural differences drawn from students’ authentic experiences. The resources are accompanied by teacher’s notes explaining the rationale, objectives and procedure to assist educators who will be interested in implementing these in their practice. The critical incidents and the teachers’ notes are available online and on paper to all participating schools to integrate in all classes where culture is an issue. Also, they are a convenient tool to prepare students who are to embark on a cultural exchange. Their online status makes them accessible to an audience outside our immediate school communities and ensures its wider impact. Some of the critical incidents have been translated into Bulgarian and Italian to make them accessible to teachers who do not speak English.

2) Intellectual Output: “CulturAll” – this is an interactive resource whose purpose is to raise awareness of cultural facts about our own countries through the intercultural journeys the main characters from each country take and the challenges they encounter. This is a game created by using a web application and it practices intercultural learning in a fun and innovative way.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 163595,2 Eur

Project Coordinator

LUNDS KOMMUN & Country: SE

Project Partners

• LICEO SCIENTIFICO STATALE E. BOGGIO LERA
• Gimnaziya s prepodavane na chuzhdi ezici “Romen Rolan”
• Institut Jaume Callís