Sharing and Appreciating the Cultural Diversity of Europe. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Sharing and Appreciating the Cultural Diversity of Europe.

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: Teaching and learning of foreign languages; EU Citizenship, EU awareness and Democracy; Creativity and culture

Project Summary

Both in Germany and in Norway many people today experience a sense of concern as to whether globalization and recent shifts in migration patterns might be influencing the country’s own culture to an undue degree, fearing its suppression or even disintegration.

Our thesis was: The best way to counteract such anxieties and promote tolerance is to seek further knowledge about your own culture by sharing it with others.

This is an issue not least for a minority culture like the small Sorbian community in Germany, but also for the Norwegians, who are a small people in Europe and at the same time a majority culture in their own country with a Sami indigenous population.
By exploring our own culture and comparing it with another, both parties benefited: Tolerance springs from self-awareness and mutual understanding. Sharing means increased knowledge, understanding, respect and, ultimately, a wish to preserve what is valuable. True confidence in one’s own culture and identity makes the unknown appear less threatening. On the contrary, it strengthens one’s trust in its ability to withstand pressures from the outside. At the same time, an increased curiosity and openness towards other manners of expression are encouraged which, accordingly, create opportunities to communicate in such a way as to connect cultures instead of separating them.

For these reasons, our aim was to let students from two different countries and different cultures, the German / Sorbian and Norwegian, introduce themselves to each other by actively experiencing and participating in aspects of each other’s cultures. Joint activities created a need to communicate. Along with the cultural understanding, the students gained language skills from each other.
For the Norwegian teachers, this was also an invaluable opportunity for continuous professional update. The German teachers found it particularly interesting to experience the computer integrated teaching methods that are common in most subjects in Norwegian schools.

The first theme to be approached was Fashion / Traditional Costumes. Clothing and identity are a relevant and highly debated issue today, and important to address. Clothing as a medium makes it possible to reveal and follow the threads of history, culture and artistry. In addition to learning by observing professional artists and attending lectures, students were given the opportunity to try their own hand, creating samples to be put on display. Further topics to investigate in further detail were food and music. (The presentation of the dining culture was represented just in Germany due to the corona pandemic). It was imperative that the students met and had their own experiences, since it was through participation and involvement that they gained the wanted insight and sense of tolerance.
But all through the year, contact was kept up through mail / social media / eTwinning and monitored by the teachers. Relevant questions were raised on a regular basis and the partners’ answers were discussed in the classrooms. The outcomes were collected and at the end of the project period, printed in a portfolio. This was illustrated by the students’ own photos, accompanied by relevant words and phrases in four languages: Norwegian, English, German and Sorbian, digitalized and made available. The intention was also to present it to new applicants to the schools.

The fundamental question remains: What does it mean to our students to be a Norwegian, a German, a Sorbian? How do the majority cultures in both countries relate to the cultures of minorities – then and now? Our main goal for the students was to attain increased self-confidence and awareness of their own cultural identity, and thereby a more readily acceptance and tolerance towards the intrinsic values of others.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 73925 Eur

Project Coordinator

Niedersorbisches Gymnasium Cottbus & Country: DE

Project Partners

• Skedsmo videregående skole