Together for the better integration in Europe

Project summary

Project summary In the present-time context of international globalisation process and growing Europe, it is of utter importance to grant every European newcomer an efficient opportunity of integration. Especially the young minds need urgent support in finding their ways in the foreign country, thus making schools the most significant agents of successful integration, which, however, does not only depend on language learning, but also on the social inclusion. Under the circumstances of current rapid increase of newly arrived migrant students, it is crucial for the European schools to share good practices of effective integrative processes. This is the reason why the four participating countries of the project “TogEUther”: Germany, France, Spain and Italy – have decided to cooperate in finding efficient ways of integration of the newly-arrived migrants, including refugees, through diverse cultural activities, which are presumed to let them feel as a part of the new home culture and of the European community. The project aims primarily to increase the migrant students’ social inclusion by raising their cultural awareness on the local/ regional, national and European levels. The project operating language is English, thus helping the students to get a better command of this essential international means of communication. The project participants consist of a secondary school in Germany (near Cologne), Italy (Sicily), France (Paris area) and Spain (Madrid) thus comprising participating students from the age of 10 to 15 years old and living in a metropolis, towns and rural areas. The different school will share their various experience including various facets of immigration. In this purpose, the migrant students will be supported through cooperation with the whole school community: students, teachers, parents by helping to get to know and to understand the new home country culture by means of common creative methods and activities. The methodology will hence be based on the practical approach combining experience from various areas like Arts and History, including modern active cooperative learning techniques and team work to enable the personalised perspective. The purposed effectivity will be made possible by means of modern WEB 2.0. tools, consequently enhancing the students’ digital education. Creativity is considered to be the central point of the project, hence allowing the students to open up to the new culture without losing touch to the original ones. The modern creative task-targeting and process-orientated methods will not only concentrate on acquiring knowledge concerning the new cultures, but also on comparing them to the original ones and on creating new ways of sharing the various cultural backgrounds. By means of communication though digital means and personal encounters with the students in four different European countries, the newly arrived students are expected to feel the European community’s common feeling of togetherness. The common project products will demonstrate how different European share similar cultural background, yet still manage to maintain their uniqueness and mutual respect being one of the most essential European ideals. Both native and migrant students are expected to share their experience gained during the project with their families and friends thus spreading the impact outside the school. The migrant students will however not only get to know the new home country’s culture, but also share their cultural background, thus contributing to spreading the feeling of unity and acceptance in the European countries through providing access to positively-connoted information and thus breaking the possibly existing negative stereotypes. This envisaged impact will be made possible through the intended continuous dissemination based on the modern digital means and mass media. All the project results will be published on the local, regional, national and international levels. The potential long-term results include the participating schools’ integration plans based on the project as well as sharing the valuable experience with further interested schools and other organization and individuals. The planned activities include creative writing, ibooking, performing, singing and making movies based on traditional games, recipes, celebrations and festivals, legends and fairy-tales, songs and poems, which are consistent with our objectives of enhancing the inclusion of the newly arrived migrants with the help of diverse cultural activities, through developing basic transversal skills, innovative approaches to ICT, fostering new learning opportunities and promoting the acquisition of the awareness of the European idea.