Our multinational project "Challenges of Globalization for National Identities and European Unity" will meet today`s growing demand of respecting each other both in society and at school: refugees coming to most every European country have arouse different cultural values on sight. Multiculturism and multilingualism are very much alive in today´s Europe. As well as the lack of respect is seen as racism, social exclusion, radicalization, populism e.t.c. It seems that society gets more and more polarized. In our project we fight against racism and social inclusion.The work done in every activity meeting in different countries aims at this. The students have to realize that understanding through conversation is at the centre of attention. During their project work the students will identify their personal potential by reflecting on their own identity in order to develop the key competences (competences necessary for the individual development, social integration, active citizenship, language competence, ICT-competence as well as the learning competence). A single student has to enable to organize the learning process accordingto his/her aspiration also in a group. One has to be aware of the methods and possibilities. Objectives are realized in four participating schools in Tampere (FIN), Neustrelitz (GER), Ventspils (LAT) and Stövring (DEN). Priority of work done lies in the following fields:"Language awareness in a multilingual and multicultural school and the national identity", "Rrefugees in the past and present-solutions for the future", Understanding through communication" and "Political movements in Europe that challenge European unity". First we concentrate on multilingual society and school in Finland. Equality and communality are in the main focus; despite our differencies is it possible for all people to live side by side in peace. The students will make vblog as a result of this week. Then in Germany we work on acceptance and tolerance. The students will learn that they can only reach sustainable results in the fight for the maintaining humanity and integration on a pan-European level when acting as a community. In Latvia we focus on traditions and media. Understanding ang recognizing national values - creates each individual´s identity and self-confidence and leads to discovering universal and established values of other nations. Students also analyze critically the information in media. The outcome: "Think! Defy manipulation" will be the short film made by students there. And finally in Denmark we get to know the definition of globalization; the students examine and discuss the consequences for the participating countries and Europe in general. The special focus will be put on the political implications of globalization. The project work consists of the three parts: preparation of the single themes in national groups (every participating student) using ICT to exchange information, project meetings (six students from each country working together in multinational groups using English) and the reworking (the participating students work as multipliers in their national groups). During the whole project the activities and the progress are documented by photos/videos. Within the meetings the evocabulary started in the first time will be more and more completed. Documentation is also seen in the project websites. When the project is finished the students will reflect on all the good impressions and so they can pick up the best ideas for their future capital. Through communication in foreign languages while working together and use a variety of modern leaning technology the languge, digital, social and civic competences will improve in the long run.
“Challenges of Globalization for National Identities and European Unity” gave opportunity to get knowledge about different cultural values in four different European countries. During the project, students met migrants in each activity and learnt much about social exclusion. Multiculturalism and multilingualism are very much alive in today´s Europe. Participating this project gave the students and teachers better skills to face and solve problems in these fields. Acceptance towards diversity improved. The knowledge about political movements /parties and polarization of people in societies increased. Knowing one´s identity gave better possibility to learn about other national values/characters. With that, an individual can fight against racism and social exclusion in society. The participating schools were the upper secondary school of Hatanpaa from Tampere, Finland (coordinator), Ventspils 4. vidusskola from Ventspils, Latvia (partner), Gymnasium Carolinum from Neustrelitz, Germany (partner) and Stoevring Gymnasium from Stoevring, Denmark (partner). Understanding through conversation was at the center of attention in each LTT activity meeting. Students identified their personal potential by reflecting on their own identities in order to develop the key competences (competences necessary for their individual development, social cohesion, active citizenship, language, information technology as well as the learning competencies). A single student had to enable to organize the learning process according to one´s aspiration also in a group. One had to be aware of the methods and possibilities. All objectives, written in the application, were achieved. Priority of work done lied in the fields: "Language awareness in a multilingual and multicultural school and the national identity", "Refugees in the past and present-solutions for the future", Understanding through communication" and "Political movements in Europe that challenge European unity". In Finland, equality and sense of community were in the main issues, because the school and society there were multilingual and -cultural. The students made a video as a product of this first meeting. They also commenced an e-vocabulary about terms used and learnt. In Germany, the work started continued on acceptance and tolerance, because Germany as a society has many examples in that field. We all learnt that sustainable results in the fight for the maintaining humanity and integration on a pan - Europe, could achieve, when acting as a community. The German school made the websites of the project. There was also a photo exhibition about refugees made by participating students there. In Latvia the focus was on values and media, because the Latvian school had suitable relationship to the organizations needed. By recognizing and understanding national values, identity and self-confidence increased and led to discover universal and established values of other nations. There was also many items to rehearsal critical thinking. The outcome “Think! Defy manipulation!” was a short movie made by the participants there. The participating Latvian teachers and students made also videos about each LTT activity meeting. Critical thinking led us all to Denmark and political movements/parties in different European countries. Populism and social exclusion were the targets there. Equality, sense of community, acceptance, tolerance and understanding, verified all there. The project work consisted of the three parts: discussing and finding answers to preliminary questions in national groups (every participating student) using information technology to exchange information, project meetings (six students from each country working together in international groups using English) and the reworking (the participating students worked as multipliers in their national groups). When ending the project, the students reflected on all the good impressions and picked up the best ideas for their future capital. Through communication in foreign languages while working together and the use a variety of modern leaning technology, the language, digital, social and civic competences improved.