Background & objectivesIn light of today's economic hardships, political climate and the strong influence of globalisation, we are worried that young people do not have a strong enough sense of belonging and do not understand the importance of their cultural heritage and the role it plays in shaping their identity. Therefore, this project aims at making students realize the importance of language and their own culture for shaping identity and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage. Participants The project involves six secondary schools from Italy, Wales, Scotland, Poland and Finland, Switzerland (silent partner). Each school is located in an area where a minority language is spoken. However, how big the minority language is, what political and cultural autonomy the minority enjoys and what current problems the minorities face differ greatly and will provide the participants with a good basis for comparison and building new knowledge together.MethodologyThe project is structured around three subtopics: - understanding your own identity and culture- understanding the historical and geographical significance- understanding the concept minority, what role the minority plays in society (now and in the future) and what the students themselves can do to maintain the minorityThe methodological approach to these topics will include activities which focus on reflection, analysis, creative and critical thinking and and it will integrate several different school subjects. Creativity has been an operative word when designing the project activities and planning the outcomes and it will integrate several different school subjects as well as work methods based on theatre pedagogyResultsThe three main results of the project will be: 1) A manual for how to use theatre pedagogy exercises to increase understanding of oneself and the other. The manual can be used in schools, but also in integration work with immigrants and asylum seekers. 2) Festivals held in each participating country celebrating minority culture and showcasing the students’ work from all the project meetings3) A blog where all the project activities will remain accessible also after the completion of the projectImpact & long-term benefits Those who participate in the project are expected to gain a deeper understanding of their own language and cultural heritage. They will also learn about other minority cultures and the threats they are facing in today’s society and thereby become better prepared for how to solve these issues in the future. In the long term, everyone involved in the project will become champions of languages and minorities. In other words, they will start to appreciate their minority culture and language more because they are aware of the relationship between their cultural heritage and their identity. Similarly, they will start to show more respect for other people’s rights to do this too and thereby be less critical when it comes to immigrants and asylum seekers who want to promote their own cultural heritage and keep some of their own traditions and customs. This will make it possible for a majority and minority culture(s) to successful co-exist. In addition, the participants will increase their intercultural competence, English language skills and their ability to do research, analyse results and think critically.
We wanted to carry out this project since we felt that young people today, affected by today’s economic hardships, unstable political climate as well as strong influence of globalisation, do not have a very strong enough sense of belonging. In addition, they do not understand the importance of their cultural heritage and the role it plays in shaping their identity. The aim of our project was therefore to make students realize the importance of language and their own culture for shaping identity and gain a deeper understanding of their cultural heritage. The project was carried out in cooperation with six secondary schools from Italy, Switzerland, Wales, Scotland, Poland and Finland, each of which was located in an area where a minority language is spoken. There were quite big differences regarding the size and status of the minority language and the current problems the minorities were facing, which provided our participants with a good basis for comparison and building new knowledge together. The project was structured around three subtopics and the methodological approach to these topics included activities which focused on reflection, analysis, creative and critical thinking. It also integrated several different school subjects. The project activities we did during the project focused on the following subtopics: 1) Understanding your own culture & identity and 2) Understanding the historical and geographical significance 3) Understanding the concept minority, what role the minority plays in society (now and in the future) and what the students themselves can do to maintain the minority At the end of the project, we can conclude that the participants have gained a deeper understanding of their own language and cultural heritage. They have learnt about other minority cultures and the threats they are facing in today’s society and thus become better prepared for how to solve these issues in the future. They have furthermore started to appreciate their minority culture and language more because they are aware of the relationship between their cultural heritage and their identity. In addition, students have realized how important bilingualism or plurilingualism is in our globalized world. Finally, the participants have increased their intercultural competence, English language skills and their ability to do research, analyse results and think creatively and critically.