The Austrian BG/BRG Leibnitz and the former Norwegian Bergen Handelsgymnasium already worked together successfully in a Comenius project from 2012 to 2014. Our previous experience of cooperation with Bergen/Norway and with Mrs. Ewa Bivand encourages us to start a new project with the Amalie Skram videregående skole on another topic: Youth Culture Between Tradition and Change. Students from Austria and Norway will work together on a project which deals with their experience of living in the second decade of the 21st century focusing on the challenge of integrating the still existing traditional way of life of their region and modern influences and practices of a globalized world on their life style. This should lead to a deeper understanding of the heritage of their own culture and at the same time open their minds to a European or even global context of living and working together crossing national and cultural borders without prejudices. Dealing with their own culture and traditions and presenting them to their partner school will on the one hand make them proud of their own nationality and on the other hand arouse their interest in the culture and traditions of their partner country. Doing so will also lead to improved mutual understanding and a reduction of xenophobia. The main topic will be set by the teachers, but the students will be free to decide on the aspects they choose, on the main goals they want to reach and the visible results of their collaboration (e.g. printed brochures, website, videos, performances...) At the beginning of the project, collaboration will be done via modern media (e.g. eTwinning TwinSpace, Skype, e-mails...). In 2018, a student exchange should lead to personal contact and to the experience of the life in the partner country. The students will stay in their partner's' families and thus have the chance to immerse in their everyday life as well as in their social and school communities. Austria will submit the application, Norway will set up the eTwinning TwinSpace for the project. The work of all involved teachers will be introducing students to the project, setting first tasks, establishing the contacts between the Austrian and Norwegian students, accompanying the students during the project and facilitating progress, organizing the trip to the partner country and the stay of the hosts, evaluating the products, writing the final report. The students' work will be contacting students from the partner school, finding and working on common goals, choosing their own methods of dealing with the set topic, presenting the project during the stays in the two partner countries, deciding on how to present their final results (e.g. brochures, videos, website...) As a result of the project students will be able to work and collaborate independently on a common international project, choosing appropriate methods to reach their goals by themselves. Furthermore, they will get to know various ways of working and will learn to respect and accept them. Students will become more open minded concerning working methods as well as other cultural and social settings. Students will improve their language skills in English and German.
The Austrian BG/BRG Leibnitz and the former Norwegian Bergen Handelsgymnasium had already worked together successfully in a Comenius project from 2012 to 2014. Our previous experience of cooperation with Bergen/Norway and with Mrs. Ewa Bivand encouraged us to start a new project with the Amalie Skram videregående skole on another topic: Youth Culture Between Tradition and Change. 16-19 students from Austria and 26 students from Norway worked together in nine mixed groups on a project dealing with their experience of living in the second decade of the 21st century focusing on the differences between their lives and the life of their parents' generation and the influence of a globalized world on their life style. This resulted in a deeper understanding of the heritage of their own culture and at the same time opened their minds to a European and global context of living and working together crossing national and cultural borders without prejudices. Dealing with their own culture and traditions and presenting them to their partners on the one hand made them aware and proud of their own nationality and on the other hand aroused their interest in the culture and traditions of their partner country. Living and working together with their partners led to improved mutual understanding and more openess towards other countries and cultures. The main topic was set by the teachers. In kick-off workshops in both countries the students decided on nine different aspects of the main topic and on the main goals they wanted to reach. The results of their collaboration were presented at parents' evenings in both countries and documented on the eTwinning platform, the school websites and the school annuals with reports, pictures, videos and PowerPoint Presentations. The contact between the students of the two countries was established via modern media (eTwinning TwinSpace, Skype, e-mails, WhatsApp, Instagram, Facebook...). In 2018 student exchanges led to personal contact and to the experience of the life in the partner country. The students stayed in their partner's' families and thus had the chance to immerse in their everyday life as well as in their social and school communities. The Norwegian students visited Leibnitz and Vienna in January (instead of March as planned in the application) and the Austrian students went to Bergen and Oslo in April. Since there were fewer students in the Austrian group than expected in the application, the Austrian group used the remaining mobilities to visit European institutions in Brussels in June. Austria submitted the application, Norway set up the eTwinning TwinSpace for the project. The involved teachers introduced the participating students to the project, set first tasks, established the contact between the Austrian and Norwegian students, accompanied the students during the project and facilitated progress, organized the trip to the partner country and the stay of the hosts, evaluated the products and made the final report. The students' tasks were getting into contact with the students from the partner school, finding and working on common goals, choosing their own methods of dealing with the set topic, presenting the project during the stays in the two partner countries, deciding on how to present their final results. The students dealt with the nine chosen aspects of the main topic which were relationships and means of communication; family & friends; school and leisure time; sports and body ideals; interests and hobbies; food and eating habits including coffee house culture; clothes and fashion; traditions and religion; earning a living by doing research within their own communities and the world wide web, exchanging and comparing their findings. Finally they set up presentations to share their findings with their school communities and parents. The result of the project is: The participating students got practice in working and collaborating independently on a common international project and choosing appropriate methods to reach their goals by themselves. Furthermore, they got to know various ways of working and learned to respect and accept them. The students became more open minded concerning working methods as well as other cultural and social settings. In addition they greatly improved their language skills in English and German. Furthermore, this project has resulted in further cooperation between the two partner schools in 2018-2020.