“The Gate”Cultural Identity as the Key to the Gate of Tolerance in EuropeCultural identity grows out from cultural awareness and can be characterized as a comprehensive understanding of our own cultural traits and our inclusion in a particular cultural community.Tolerance means respect for a foreign conviction,ideas,tolerance,patience. The notion of tolerance is very often seen not only in everyday communication in the media, but it is becoming more tangible and urgent in contemporary Europe facing the huge wave of immigration. Tolerance should be a part of life for everyone; it should provide a full and happy life in the company of other people, each of which is different and thus unique. But is this really so? Do we meet today with the tolerance in the true sense, respecting the differences of others as a natural part of their existence?The main idea of this project is to express the negative attitude towards all forms of racial and national discrimination and xenophobia through art.Art is a medium of sharing information about the culture of the nation, its mentality, way of life, traditions and values. The actual way to realizing this project theme-wise allows for many interesting ways how to effectively use various artistic means of expression for all partner institutions involved. The project products can be literary or textual-visual presentations in the form of PowerPoint, artistic presentations, theatrical presentation or music presentation.Through realization of national identities of the involved students we aim to reinforce the concept of tolerance among nations and their respective cultures. Further important goals are:-improvement of the language skills of students, -improvement of communication and presentation in public-deepen knowledge of European countries-deepen knowledge about current situation in Europe, an effort to understand the problems of immigrants and finding solutions of help -improving the practical skills of ICT technologies (creating a website, communication through Facebook and other media, videoconferences e.t.c.)-improving practical skills in the use of e-twinningImportant results of project cooperation will be:- Text and photographic material - in the form of the final catalogue (joint output of all partners involved expressing life during cooperation, shared memories)- Video (student films, music videos, theater and stage presentation of the subject)Specific product of the project will be a comprehensive methodological material on "Cultural identity and its current importance in Europe today." This material will include:- PowerPoint presentations I.- selection of the best presentations of students from each partner school (about 30 pieces - we expect 3-5 excellent results of students or groups of students from each school)- Power Point Presentation II.- selection of the best teachers presentations from each partner school (cca7 pieces - 1 result from each school)-Text methodological guide to the topicIn the end will be this completed methodical material included in the curriculum of selected subjects and will become the part of school curriculum in all partners’ schools. It will be prepared in English, so it will be equally and immediately applicable to all schools. Along with expert knowledge, the students will naturally improve in the English language.In our project we will focus on three types of activities during the project:1. Project Management and Implementation –project management, material support for work on project outputs, preparatory work of students in their home schools, internet communication at various levels and types of communication channels, videoconferences, contribution to the common project website, publication of results, ...2. Transnational Project Meetings – M1(France, Niort),M2(UK, Diss),M3 (Italy, Palermo)3. Learning/Teaching/Training Activities – C1(Greece, Serres),C2(Italy, Statte),C3(Netherlands, Maasluis),C4(Slovakia, Prievidza)All project meetings and educational activities are important for direct communication between students and teachers, continuous presentation of the outputs, life discussions of participants from seven different environments and cultural backgrounds.The project will have a significant impact on the participants, the wider community and the awareness within the European context. Besides acquired skills and improvement in foreign languages, ICT technologies, quality of communication and social skills, it will be the use of the Europass, which is benefit for pupils for better employment at the European labor market. Our main results and impact of the project for participants and the community is the dissemination of knowledge about countries in Europe, their cultural identity, artistic and historical treasures, way of life, customs and so on.Permanent values and LTbenefit will be the creation of the abovementioned methodological series - as the main product of the project.
Our project was created as an effort to realize, explore and develop the shared ideas and feelings of the countries living in a common Europe, to notice the problems and to raise our students' interest in the situation inside and outside Europe. To awaken their curiosity in discovering new things, to open horizons beyond the borders of the countries in which they live, to restore the feeling of natural pride in their history and culture and at the same time the sense of openness and, above all, natural tolerance to the inaccuracy of other nations and cultures. All seven participating schools agreed on this approach and the ideas of cooperation. The coordinator was the Slovak School (Prievidza), two schools were from Italy (Palermo, Statte), others from Holland (Maassluis), England (Diss), Greece (Serres) and France (Niort). All schools were similar in scope and age-scattered - secondary general education schools. The exception was the Italian School from the State, where pupils were at the age of the 2nd grade of our elementary school, and the French school was not a general but a specialized school for metalworking. In the project, we have set out several goals that we have successfully accomplished during our work: - motivation to learn foreign languages, improvement in communication skills and presentation of public works, experience of family life, customs, social, educational habits in countries, improving the understanding of the European situation, problems with the influx of migrants to Europe, various ways of helping migrants to integrate into life in Europe, kids to schools, improvements in ICT technologies, etc. We can divide the realized project activities into 3 groups: 1.Project Management and Implementation - Each partner school formed the project team of administrators, tutors and students implementing the project, created our own project website, opened and gradually implemented Facebook communication, YouTube pupils' demonstrations and music-film presentation of activities, Twitter communication, etc., we contributed to the school news, school web sites and yearbooks of individual schools about the activities of the project, we created presentations of pupils' works in the form of film, theatrical, musical, dance, film performance of the project, we created a series of PPT presentations "Cultural identity and its importance in today's Europe", we have prepared a background for methodological advice to use these presentations in individual subjects at our partner schools, we conducted ongoing discussions and social networking assessments before and after. We have prepared continuous work schedules and surveys of the implemented activities at the international meeting. We have always distributed these to all our partners. In the near term of the project, we focused on the archiving of all project products, photographic documentation and preparation of the final catalog. We have realized the logo, the poster and the final exhibition and presentation of the works. 2.Transnational Project Meetings - we mainly used methods of interviews, discussions, practical demonstrations, we discussed various methodological practices, different school systems and the organization of school work. 3. Learning/Teaching/Training Activities - here we mostly used methods of visual presentation of student works, follow-up interviews, ... In the case of artistic performances - there were workshops focused on the subject and artistic field where the pupils realized. Through the direct results of the students' work, the PPT presentations were always presented at the home school and also at international meetings. The themes were based on these basic areas: - Diversity of culture in Slovakia (Italy, Greece, England, the Netherlands, France) - Each partner country presented their specific surroundings. - Prejudices and stereotypes as we know them. - Are we able to respect and support various cultural background in our surroundings - In what we are alike - Integration Yes? Or No? - What will be our common Europe? Last but not least, the joint project catalog in the form of a brochure - Video (student films, music videos, theatrical and stage presentation) The impact of the project was visible at several levels: from local, regional to international. The most important thing is to involve parents in project activities, opportunities for developing contacts and other projects, improving cooperation between schools and other institutions, promoting a positive image of the school, introducing innovative pedagogical methods, inspiring pupils to learn foreign languages and learning to communicate internationally, the benefits of Europass in seeking better work on the European labor market, developing strong potential and interest in cultural identity in our home countries, preventing genocide, ethnic cleansing, racism, anti-Semitism and xenophobia around the world, fostering peaceful coexistence between diversity