The project “TOLERANCE - OUR COMMON LANGUAGE” involves 5 schools from 5 European countries: Italy, Romania, Lithuania, Turkey and Portugal. According to the SWOT analysis done by each partner in their institution, the partners indentified a series of common needs that lead to the decision to implement a project about tolerance. Violence, aggression, intolerance, racism, ethnic discrimination are tendencies that can be observed in the behavior of the students from all the partner countries. The World Values Survey shows that Romania, Turkey and Italy are the least racially tolerant countries, while Lithuania and Portugal seem to be the most tolerant countries. This result along with the diverse educational and cultural background of the partners will facilitate the implementation of a successful project. The project objectives are: -to develop civic competences and increase self-esteem of students from 5 EU schools -to facilitate understanding the concepts “tolerance” and “mutual understanding” at a personal level and in the European context -to equip participants with practical examples for acting as civic-minded citizens -to raise awareness about diversity and cultural identities promoting social cohesion -to boost the feeling of belonging to the EU community In accordance with the Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, we envisage that this international cooperation will prepare our students for living in a multicultural society being aware of the EU values, appreciating diversity. Students will interiorize tolerance and mutual understanding as active civic attitudes. For reaching the overall aim of broadening the civic mindedness emphasizing the importance of tolerance and mutual understanding impact in daily life, we decided to use an innovative approach. To reach the project objectives an innovative approach will be used. Combining the advantages of using ICT in education with the Five Factor Model theory will tackle the 5 personality dimensions: -openness to experience: students will be encouraged to express their emotions and ideas using Art. They will create together the movie “Tolerance through my eyes”, scenarios for the Forum theater, digital photos, will prepare artistic moments for the Festival of tolerance and mutual understanding. -extraversion: team building activities, sports competitions and board games are going to stimulate students’ assertiveness, sociability and personality. -agreeableness: working in international teams and creating products together will develop students’ cooperation skills. The tangible products they will create together are flashcards about the topic, the dictionary of the project, handmade bookmarks and thematic puzzles. -neuroticism: students will experience (un)pleasant emotions, anger, depression, anxiety and vulnerability during the Forum theater/ theater activity. They will become aware of how intolerance is perceived by others, develop empathy and they will see how important is to be an active citizen. The use of ICT during the activities, supported by internal cognitive aspects of learning will lead to innovative outcomes results tackling learning abilities. The activities are designed to develop the tolerance, mutual understanding, intercultural competences, social and civic spirit. The international cooperation will broaden the cross-cultural knowledge and understanding about the countries, cultures and values strengthening the feeling of belonging to a united Europe. A number of 60 students (aged between 13 and 17 years old) will attend the international meetings - LTTAs. Students will be selected before the mobilities, using transparent criteria decided by each project partner taken into consideration: English skills, ICT skills, motivation and involvement in the school-based activities. A number of 40 teachers will be directly involved in the project mobilities, and teams will be formed at the school level to facilitate a better implementation of the project. Approximately 2700 students and 120 teachers/adults will indirectly be involved in the project. Other participants who will enjoy the benefits offered by this Erasmus+ project are the administrative staff, students’ families, pedagogical staff, educational advisors, policy makers and representatives of the local authorities. The tangible products of the project are an audio dictionary, photography exhibition, calendar of the project, common movie, e-book, flashcards, thematic puzzles, handmade bookmarks, project webpages, project logo, flyers, DVD of the project, brochure. The intangible results are the development of life skills, key competences, cultural horizon, inter cultural understanding, team working skills and knowledge about the topic. All the project results will be made available on the project website. The dissemination plan will help to reach a large audience and make an impact at local, regional, national and international levels.
The project “TOLERANCE - OUR COMMON LANGUAGE” has involved 5 schools from 5 European countries: Italy, Romania, Lithuania, Turkey and Portugal. According to the SWOT analysis done by each partner in their institution, the partners have identified a series of common needs that lead to the decision to implement a project about tolerance. Violence, aggression, intolerance, racism, ethnic discrimination are tendencies that can be observed in the behavior of the students from all the partner countries. The World Values Survey shows that Romania, Turkey, and Italy are the least racially tolerant countries, while Lithuania and Portugal seem to be the most tolerant countries. This result along with the diverse educational and cultural background of the partners have facilitated the implementation of a successful project. The project objectives have been: to develop civic competences and increase self-esteem of students from 5 EU schools -to facilitate understanding the concepts “tolerance” and “mutual understanding” at a personal level and in the European context -to equip participants with practical examples for acting as civic-minded citizens -to raise awareness about diversity and cultural identities promoting social cohesion -to boost the feeling of belonging to the EU community In accordance with the Article 2 of the Treaty on the European Union, we envisage that this international cooperation will prepare our students for living in a multicultural society being aware of the EU values, appreciating diversity. Students have interiorized tolerance and mutual understanding as active civic attitudes. For reaching the overall aim of broadening civic-mindedness emphasizing the importance of tolerance and mutual understanding impact in daily life, we decided to use an innovative approach. To reach the project objectives an innovative approach has been used. Combining the advantages of using ICT in education with the Five-Factor Model theory has been tackled the 5 personality dimensions: -openness to experience: students have been encouraged to express their emotions and ideas using Art. They created together videos, digital photos, artistic moments, team building activities, sports competitions and board games that stimulated students’ assertiveness, sociability, and personality. The tangible products they created together were flashcards about the topic, the dictionary of the project, handmade bookmarks and thematic puzzles. The used of ICT during the activities, supported by internal cognitive aspects of learning led to innovative outcomes results in tackling learning abilities. The activities were designed to develop tolerance, mutual understanding, intercultural competences, social and civic spirit. The international cooperation broadened the cross-cultural knowledge and understanding of the countries, cultures, and values strengthening the feeling of belonging to a united Europe. A number of 60 students (aged between 13 and 17 years old) attended the international meetings - LTTAs. Students have been selected before the mobilities, using transparent criteria decided by each project partner taken into consideration: English skills, ICT skills, motivation and involvement in the school-based activities. A huge number of teachers have been directly involved in the project mobilities, and teams have been formed at the school level to facilitate a better implementation of the project. Approximately 2700 students and 120 teachers/adults have been indirectly involved in the project. Other participants who enjoyed the benefits offered by this Erasmus+ project were the administrative staff, students’ families, pedagogical staff, educational advisors, policymakers and representatives of the local authorities. The tangible products of the project were an audio dictionary, photography exhibition, calendar of the project, common movie, ebook, flashcards, thematic puzzles, handmade bookmarks, project webpages, project logo, flyers, DVD of the project, brochure. The intangible results were the development of life skills, key competencies, cultural horizon, intercultural understanding, team working skills and knowledge about the topic. All the project results have been made available on the project website. The dissemination plan reached a large audience and made an impact at local, regional, national and international levels.