Using a language effectively requires contextual utilization of proverbs and idioms. People have always preferred using proverbs and idioms in their daily languages. However, young generation are using them less and less nowadays either because they do not know proverbs and idioms or they are not aware of the importance of them in language. They are communicating in a poor daily language using either slangs or jargons, or even just abbreviations. So there emerges a real linguistic problem for next generations.Aware of the necessity to teach young generations proverbs and idioms; willing to help them improve their power of expression and enrich their daily use of language; to overcome the linguistic barriers between adults and young generations; hoping to build cultural bridges around Europe, we have decided to launch this project which responds to our students and staff's needs and meets the demands of the community. The target group includes students and teachers from our schools, students’ families, organizations and generally each country's community. The coordinator of the project is "Cedide Abalıoğlu Anadolu İmam Hatip Lisesi" from Turkey which is a semi-vocational high school giving both general education and religious education. The other partners are ISIS BAIANESE LAURO from Italy, Liceul cu Program Sportiv from Romania, Junta de Freguesia do Torrão do Alentejo from Portugal, Rigas 31. vidusskola from Latvia, Gimnaziya s prepodavane na tchuzhdi ezitsi Yordan Radichkov from Bulgaria and Zespol Szkol Nr 3 im. Walentego Lipinskiego i Mateusza Beksinskiego w Sanoku from Poland. The main aim of the project is to transfer our treasure of proverbs and idioms to the young people in order to provide a rich resource to use in their daily language and to ensure to keep the proverbs and idioms alive for the next generations. The second objective of the project is to search for the common cultural backgrounds among the participant countries and to answer the questions: "How much do we have in common in terms of linguistic characters in our languages?" " Do we use the same or similar proverbs and idioms in our languages?" "Do the proverbs and idioms similar background stories?" and this way to create cultural, educational, temporal and interpersonal bridges among the people of Europe by basically pinpointing our common sides. The third objective of the project is to overcome linguistic and cultural barriers between nations, between generations, to beat the fears and prejudices and to motivate and promote our students, staff and the people in our communities to be European citizens.In order to implement the project:* Questionnaires one in the beginning, one half way down, one in the end related to the topics will be given to the students and the staff.* Participants will do search on famous legends/stories about proverbs and idioms in their languages.* Posters and short presentations titled “My favourite proverb/idiom" will be prepared.* An online magazine will be prepared on the topic.* The background stories of the proverbs / idioms will be dramatized* Folk songs and folk dances related to proverbs and idioms will be practised.* In the schools “Proverbs/Idioms” Contest will be organized.* The walls in the school corridors will be ornamented with proverbs and idioms.* Power-Point presentations will be given to the students, their parents and the satff about famous cultural charecters in the stories of the proverbs and the idioms* Intercative lessons with a litterateur on proverbs and idioms will be organized.* A book on common proverbs and idioms with their stories and meanings in English will be prepared and printed.* A venue of the story of a proverb or idiom takes place will be visited.* Each participant country will be visited by the other partners. * Knowledge and ideas about teaching techniques and methods will be exchanged with colleagues from other countries.* By using CLIL method, both language practice will be done and culture-knowledge exchange will be achieved.* In the field of ICT, media such as photo, video, DVD, movie maker, blog, facebook, e-mail, e-twinning, messenger will be used.* The project will be disseminated through local newspapers/magazines, seminars, presentations, school web page/blog, bulletin boards.* Participants will be handed international certificates. Results and impact envisaged: Participants and the school will acquire: * international experience* multiculturalism and multilingualism* rich language practice* respect the others' cultures and languages* self confidence* sensitivity about proverbial / idioamtic language* consciousness and motivation for information exchange * sensitivity about curriculum synchronization and cooperation of branches* innovation and practice in ICT field* consciousness for social commitmentSuch handicaps will be overcome:* prejudices of the staff* xenophobia (fear of foreigners)
Our project drew attention to the following reasons: to discover proverbs and idiomatic elements that are an important part of our culture, to pass on the proverbs and idioms to future generations; Learning to work on common proverbs and idioms will help us recognize the similarities in our cultures and lifestyles and bring us closer to the fingers of the same hand.To ensure the continuation of the proverb and idiomatic wealth in languages,to help them learn the common elements of languages and to promote the widespread use of proverbs and idioms. In classrooms, students are encouraged to develop their linguistic, social and artistic skills. By studying the proverbs and idioms in the literature, students will have the opportunity to compare their culture with the other European culture. In this way, multiculturalism, international cooperation, tolerance and the acceptance of differentiation and also the fact that Europeans share not only one continent but also a common culture will be discovered.With the implementation of the project, students will develop foreign languages as well as their own languages. The main objectives of the project were to provide students with the skills and knowledge that would help them in their lives and careers, and also to achieve the following objectives: to improve their level of use of proverbs / idioms in their own language, to enhance their European identity by sharing experiences, to increase their tolerance and respect, to appreciate their social skills by recognizing the importance of knowing the European languages and to improve their language skills, to develop their own awareness about their abilities, not only for the project but also for developing their ICT skills for future careers, developing literacy skills working with many sources of knowledge, building self-confidence, breaking prejudices, overcoming xenophobia,improving the protection feeling of cultural and linguistic heritage. Teachers; To learn different European cultures and to give them some opportunities such as new perspectives on teaching and life, sharing good practices, improving their teaching skills by learning about different education systems, taking part in European collaborative teamwork and interdisciplinary cooperation, learning foreign languages to communicate with partners. Schools: To increase awareness of different European cultures and tolerance in the institution, to cooperate with other European schools and to be opened to new ideas from them, to increase the quality of foreign language teaching, to attract more students with an international orientation to education. Local communities; To develope European identity and to promote the respect and tolerance for different European countries Our project team consisted mainly of seven schools from seven countries, but Portugal withdrew from the project so we were six schools from six countries.With this project, an increase in the quality of education in schools has been observed and we have been able to realize that we have common proverbs and idioms that enrich our daily conversations and facilitate communication.In the project, the tasks undertaken by each country were the following: Italian partner helped coordinator in risk management and project ideas.Letonia was interested in the project's DVD and photo album.Poland was responsible for the website of the project and the technical aspects of the project.Rumen coordinated the task of sustainability of the project.Bulgaria was interested in the project's online magazine. As a result of our project, a website, an e-twinning page and albums and magazines related to the project have been created. With this project, students and teachers visited each other's countries. A total of eight activities, including four transnational and four LTTAs, were conducted. Both the students and teachers observed how proverbs and idioms live in current European culture; They gained a common sense of European culture, which on the one hand differed, but on the other hand determined the national characteristics that brought together contemporary European cultures; They were encouraged to make comparisons between separate national culture and contemporary Europe, and developed their ability to imagine events affecting the formation of linguistic elements; moreover, they increased their ability to communicate with foreign languages, to research, to interpret and communicate in artistic and literary settings.