What will Europe look like in ten years time? What are the main problems at present and what will they be in the near future? Lately the migrations and the impact of heavy and sudden influx of foreign peoples within the European collectivity is resulting in serious integration problems, making it necessary to implement new social policies and new teaching methods. What does this mean? Is there a European concurrence of opinions about this tricky subject? What does people think about migrants and intercultural relationships? Are there solutions for such a huge problem? Which contribution can every country, every school, every subject make? This project aims to train teachers in dealing with all the problems stemming from the insertion of foreign students and, at the same time, to form a generation of youths open to intercultural dialogue, sharing the same values. The production of a script and a short film on the theme of migrations and intercultural dialogue will be the main didactic means. The students should work in groups , with the help of their teachers on the issue of migration in their own country using the skills acquired studying history,geography, demography/statistics, cultural anthropology, following the perspective they think is more suitable (emigration to other countries or migration of different ethnic groups to their own country). With the information gathered and through the analysis and the study of different sources (newspapers, historical and anthropological essays, historical documents, films, images) and under the guidance of an L1 teacher they will produce a screenplay using the creative writing technique and posters representing the main characters and settings. After choosing the locations and filming the various scenes , each school will produce a short film (max. 6 min.) that will be shown and discussed on with the partners forth international meetings. The 4 short films should be assembled after writing a brief canvas in English. New scenes will probably devised and filmed to link and join the whole. In the last meeting the short film will be edited under the supervision of experts and screened to the public. Every step of the activity is going to be monitored by the teachers using the technique of cooperative learning and inclusive teaching practises.Innovation stems will be the outcomes of the path followed by teachers and pupils and littered with various cultural initiatives. with the precise aim of spreading awareness of the theme within the diverse social structures of the community to finally reach local and national government so that suggestions can be put forward to be included in social policies.General results expected are:• development and spread of new teaching methods even through the use of TIC• an increase in the percentage of foreign students who gain school success• an increase in the percentage of students who modify their behavior towards a more intercultural openness and a disposability in sharing values • development and spread within the community of belonging of inclusive behavior • development of more inclusive social policies by local government and institutionsResults expected for teachers are:• become able to use inclusive teaching methods to apply them in their usual teaching, to increase students' success in learning• encrease their motivation, skills and use of foreign language and level of English and other foreign languages• know about the education systems in the partners’ countries, analyze ways of solving problems which can be adapted to their own school contexts• develop a closer cooperation with colleagues at schools: teachers of the same subject, of different subjects (interdisciplinary dimension) and from different countries (multi-cultural dimension)Results expected for students are:• Openness to cultural otherness and other belief, world wiews, histories and practices• Comprehend the diversity of European languages, cultures and different ways of life as a value• being aware of the phenomenon of migration from different perspectives• acquire the skills of creative writing. learn how to carry on an historical /sociological research• learn how to use ICT to edit short films• increase language competencies (mother tongue and English)• Broaden their minds, find friends in other countries and enhance tolerance towards different cultures.
In the last few years migrations and the impact of heavy and sudden influx of people from the poorest and more troubled regions of Africa, from the East within the European community is resulting in serious integration problems, making it necessary to implement new social policies for inclusiveness that in education means new strategies and new teaching methods. 4 schools: Convitto Nazionale"Cotugno" from Italy, German Language School Goethe,from Bulgaria, LPO Fernand Renaudeau from France and Herman Hesse Oberschule, from Germany got together to work on the Erasmus + Project “Starring together in our film”. We all believed that it would have been interesting to have our students think, investigate, study the issue in the history of their own country and then share the outcomes with their peers from other countries to better understand the reason of migrations, reduce intolerance and so being able to create more inclusive environments. We wanted to understand • if there was a European concurrence of opinions about this tricky subject, • what did people actually think about migrants and what were the real intercultural relationships in the societies investigated, • what the solutions for such a huge problem might have been, • which contribution every country, every school, every subject teacher, every single student could give to help became more inclusive • how teachers should be trained to deal with all the problems stemming out from the presence of foreign students in class • how to form a generation of youths open to interculturalism. The students worked in groups , with the help of their teachers on the issue of migration in their own country using the skills acquired studying history, geography, demography/statistics, cultural anthropology, following the perspective they thought more suitable (emigration to other countries or migration of different ethnic groups to their own country) and produced a screenplay using the creative writing technique and posters representing the main characters and settings. All the activities devised led to the production of a script and a short film (max. 6 min.) on the topic of migrations and intercultural dialogue mirroring the various realities in the different countries involved. The 4 short films were then assembled during the 4th meeting in Berlin after writing a brief canvas. New scenes were filmed to link and join the whole. In the last meeting, in Italy, the short film was edited under the supervision of experts and screened to the public. We believe the aim set at the beginning was achieved: to spread awareness of the theme within the diverse social environments in the hope to finally reach local and national government to influence social policies. General achievements were: • development and spread of new teaching methods even through the use of TIC • an increase in the percentage of foreign students who gain school success • an increase in the percentage of students who modify their behavior towards a more intercultural openness and willingness to share values • development and spread, within each community, of an inclusive behavior • development of more inclusive social policies by local government and institutions Results achieved for teachers are: • becoming able to use inclusive teaching methods to apply them in their usual teaching to increase students' success in learning • increasing teachers motivation, skills and use of foreign languages, mainly English • knowing about the education systems in the partners’ countries, analyzing ways of solving problems which can be adapted to their own school contexts • developing a closer cooperation with colleagues at schools: teachers of the same subject, of different subjects (interdisciplinary dimension) and from different countries (multi-cultural dimension) Results achieved for students are: • Openness to cultural otherness and other beliefs, world views, histories and practices • Comprehension of the diversity of European cultures and different ways of life as an added value • awareness of the phenomenon of migration from different perspectives • acquisition of the skills of creative writing •know how to carry on a historical /sociological research • know how to use ICT to edit short films • improvement in language competencies (mother tongue and English) • widening their horizons, finding friends in other countries and enhancing tolerance towards different cultures.