After recent, purely musical, intercultural encounters the partner schools want to realize an international project with historical background, because of the history of flight and expulsion linking Germany and Latvia. The Roman partner school also wanted to contribute "flight and expulsion" in the Roman Empire and the 20th century. As there is the current accommodation facility of refugees close to school in Wemding there has been a current event as well. A additional musical approach seemed natural because of the musical profiles of all three schools. One important aim of the project is to increase the understanding of "the foreign" and to dispel fears. This project is intended to expand intercultural awareness of the pupils on the basis of a foreign language and lead to the creation of a tolerant attitude towards people from other cultures. But not only the students also their families and other people should get in touch with "Flight and expulsion" to get a sense for European values, to improve their tolerance towards foreign people and to make integration possible.A total of 100 students and their teachers are directly involved in the project but many other students, families and the neighbourhoods around the schools are affected as well. The direct participants are the students of the Bläserklasse, grade 6, in Wemding, the Junior Band from Liepaja and the 1st class of the orchestra in Rome.In the 1st year of the project, students do research for "Refugees yesterday" at their own schools first. Then they get in touch with their partner students and exchange the information. They prepare presentations and websites. During the 1st meeting in Rome the project will be officially opened – expressed by music. Here and in workshops later the first visit in Wemding is prepared. All three groups meet in Wemding to present their results and to organize a big community concert in aid of refugees. Here, the media will be enabled to introduce the project locally. After phases of evaluation, in the 2nd year individual work phases on "Refugees today" take place as well as an interim meeting in Rome, where the presentation in a concert is planned. The results of "Refugees yesterday" and of "Refugees today" are put together. In May the concert "Peace and Freedom" is held in Liepaja with all involved parties. Finally the project is evaluated, discussed and future intercultural encounters are planned.Project implementation is characterized by high degree of student activity. The students start to research information on the subject in their own environment. They will include other classes and musical groups at their schools. Then transnational workshops are founded via eTwinning to discuss the results and to develop presentations on websites and during concerts. The contact with eyewitnesses and affected will be important, too. The extra work with students in affected subjects will lead to a holistic understanding and even emotional processing of this complex question. That is the reason why it is so important that the theoretical project work goes hand in hand with the practical exchange and the musical experiences. In combination, all three levels lead to an experience of the subject as it would never be possible in normal school life.Visible results of this project should be the common concerts, presentations and the advanced skills of pupils in both the social as well as historical area and in the foreign language English. In addition, there hopefully develop friendships between the young people of all countries and an active cooperation. However, there are many results that are not directly visible, such as the personal development of the pupils into responsible Europeans, the awareness of the current situation of refugees, the personal development of the participants, the break-down of fears and prejudices or the receptiveness to other cultures. Not only the students but also the environment in school and family will benefit from this. And hopefully, new projects will be developed on a local political level.The schools are hoping that this project will have a lasting impact in the region and across borders. Attention on the profiles and attractiveness of the schools as well as on the tense situation in the refugee policy is expected. People should be encouraged by the concerts and presentations to pay attention to the issue of refugees and deal critically with it. The historical view of the project should spread courage and hope for the current situation, dispel fears and prejudices towards refugees and thus enable a permanent integrity.As long-term benefits the participation in this project shall enable the students to improve their opportunities on the job market by better language skills, competences and personal development. In addition the project wants to secure permanent and intensive relationships within Europe.But the most important benefit will be a permanent positive attitude towards refugees.
For all three partners musical work has a high priority. That’s why the schools wanted to realize an international project with historical background after recent, purely musical, intercultural encounters. One important aim of the project was to increase the understanding of "the foreign" and to dispel fears. This project was intended to expand intercultural awareness of the pupils on the basis of a foreign language and lead to the creation of a tolerant attitude towards people from other cultures. But not only the students also their families and other people should get in touch with "Flight and expulsion" to get a sense for European values, to improve their tolerance towards foreign people and to make integration possible. The international cooperation encouraged to look at “refugees yesterday and today” from the countries’ different points of view. Music helped to get in touch and to exchange emotions. The universal language "music" removed language barriers and fears of contact. So working together was much easier then. Since the topic "refugees" produced emotions, music and dance also proved to be a suitable medium for presenting the results. The project’s implementation was always characterized by a high degree of student activity. The students did research on the subject in their own environment and on the Internet. The results were discussed via eTwinning. Parallel to the peer-learning teachers supervised intensively. Furthermore the project was based on emotional approach. That’s why the contact to contemporary witnesses and refugees was as important as music. Music was the medium to get in touch and to present. In the project’s 1st year, students did research on "Refugees yesterday" at their own schools first. Then they got in touch with their partner students and exchanged the information. They prepared presentations and websites (https://twinspace.etwinning.net/27505/home). During the 1st meeting in Rome the project was officially opened – expressed by music. Besides teachers and students were working on the project’s next steps. Students of all three schools met in Wemding to present their results in an exhibition and during a big joint concert in aid of refugees. Here, the media was enabled to introduce the project locally. After phases of evaluation, in the 2nd year work phases on "Refugees today" took place as well as an interim meeting in Rome. Students did interviews with refugees and worked together with the helping community of St. Egidio. There was a concert with and for migrants as well. The results of "Refugees yesterday" and of "Refugees today" were put together and presented during a big concert for peace in Liepaja in April 2018. In addition, the results were published on a new homepage (erasmus.rs-wemding.de). Finally the project was evaluated and future intercultural encounters were planned. More than 200 students and their teachers were directly involved in the project but many other students, families and the neighbourhoods around the schools were affected as well. Visible results of this project were the presentations, the exhibitions, the websites as well as the concerts performed together and the advanced skills of pupils in the historical, social and musical area as well as in the foreign language English. Friendships began between the young people of all countries. In addition, students became active EU citizens in discussions among themselves and with politicians. However, there are many results that are not directly visible, such as the awareness of the current situation of refugees, the personal development of the participants, the break-down of fears and prejudices or the receptiveness to other cultures. The project produced an enormous external impact to the schools and people became very interested. It is hard to say whether people are really more open-minded now. But anyway, the project caused attention and awareness concerning “refugees yesterday and today”. People reflected the current situation of refugees comparing to the past. In addition, the international events brought back the European idea to the people. And the policy-makers got aware of the project because of the contact to local authorities such as city archives but also district administrators or members of parliament. The press’ reports, the homepage and meetings even with federal politicians published the project all over the countries. Staying in host families and the English language enforced the international character of the project. As long-term benefits the participants got better language skills, other competences and personal development. This might improve their opportunities on the job market. In addition, intensive European relations were established. But the most important benefit will be a permanent positive attitude towards refugees.