Sign language is the highest quality of the Deaf Culture. Diminishing this language through dominant hearing environment is one of the basic reason of strengthening more and more closed and hermetic environment of the deaf people. Being deaf is not a factor which is treated as a disadvantage by the deaf, but it is the way of life and identity. Deaf Culture is displayed also in discovering the history of the Deaf or in active art activities. The Deaf Art is art by the Deaf artists referring to their experiences, it is space which serves The Deaf artists to look for quests connected with their own identity or cultural conflict with the Hearing ,but it is also a space of common social identification. Apart form different kinds of visual arts, like painting, graphics or photography, it is also theatre or film or connected with sign language – storytelling. Project ’Break the Silence” refers to all mentioned aspects connected with culture and identity of the deaf students. On the one hand ,its aim is to strengthen and develop the sense of belonging to this extraordinary language minority, through enabling contact with other deaf children, getting to know their national sign languages and customs. The participants will get to know history and work of the European Deaf artists of different branches of art and they will have the opportunity to take part in workshops and meetings .The project will create a unique chance to master communication skills of the deaf ,who communicate different sign languages every day, through getting to know alphabet finger spelling and chosen signs of individual partners. It will be also an opportunity to express own art expression and emphasize belonging to the deaf community on the one hand, and to the European family, on the other. Students will raise competence in visual arts (film making, photography),dance and theatre. Students will be performing in pantomime performance, to which they will write the screenplay on their own and design costumes and decorations ,make films about their schools and work out and film dance choreographic routine .They will get to know Deaf artists and theirwork. The same students, who have many difficulties in learning every day ( in comparison with their hearing peers) and incomparably less educational success ,thanks to the project, will have the chance to show themselves and do their best on European arena and local level. The project is the opportunity to achieve success they have never succeeded in subject competitions before. Project activities stress and respect the Deaf Culture. On the other hand, they are the opportunity to break barriers of the deaf students in reference to hearing friends. The aim of the project is to convince students that art does not know any language barriers, and its medium is so universal that it can be understood and appreciated by the people who live in different communities every day and communicate different languages. We crave for the deaf children to open to hearing society and vice versa. Communication barrier ( verbal) should not be an obstacle to get to know mutually and to share what the best is in us ( all project outputs will be published and will be available for interested people and institutions). The project involves also students with hearing impairment, who, thanks to modern technology and medicine development, use verbal speech. They are usually brought up in hearing families ,but due to their hearing impairment, they attend integration schools or schools for the deaf. This phenomenon is often accompanied by identity disturbances ,because this group has problems with identification. They feel neither members of deaf community nor hearing one. That’s why it is extremely important to introduce them into the Deaf Culture issue. Moreover, for hearing impaired students, taking part in the project, is also chance to get to know international sign language, but also to arouse esthetic sensitivity and master the ability to express themselves through artistic means of communication. For teachers involved in the project it will be rare chance to exchange experiences on methods of work with the deaf student. Surdopedagogists will share innovative methods and techniques of work with the deaf student, but also specific worked out materials ( lesson plans, didactic aids ).They will implement modern TIK. The project intends participation of 150 students and involves many institutions which work for the impaired hearing people, culture, art and education.
The "Breaking the Silence" project was created for thr Deaf students comunicating with natural sign language. It gave the opportunity for the Deaf and hard of hearing students to integrate and build cultural unity with other students with the same dysfunction. The innovation of the project was to build an international community of people communicating with non-verbal communication methods for students who create and receive art, draw on international models in various areas of it, and use artistic means of expression to break down communication barriers. The project strengthened the Deaf's sense of identity as a separate language group producing their own culture. The main objecives of the project, i.e. the use of artistic forms to develop communication, express emotions and build self-esteem, and learn about the Deaf art and culture have been achieved by implementing specific objectives (learning and improving techniques of artistic expression, learning about culture and customs of partner countries, developing creativity, building sense of belonging to the international Deaf community). The project contributed to improving the quality of school work and the effectiveness of teachers, as well as to the implementation of new practices and innovative solutions in working with a deaf student. International groups of students taking part in mobility were under constant multi-faceted protection by surdopedagogist who, thanks to total communication, supported their participation in all project activities. In addition to all participants directly involved in the implementation of the project, also about 2,000 people who did not receive funding, (among others): the school community, representatives of cultural institutions working for the Deaf, representatives of local authorities, universities and integration schools benefited from it. During each of the five short-term meetings, students expressed their thoughts and emotions through art. By learning new techniques of artistic expression, techniques of working with sign language and expressing poetry through pantomime, facial expressions, movements, gestures, music, dance and body language, they built a sense of belonging to the Deaf culture. They learned how to express emotions through the art of photography, while also enriching the experience with new contacts with peers and new forms of non-verbal communication, the ability to cope with new situations, develop creativity and shape attitudes conducive to total communication, which is extremely important from the point of view of the hermetic environment of the Deaf . Project participants also learned how to use sign language as an artistic tool to express themselves in visual art, implement their own artistic exploration and reflection, expression, and discover the coexistence of different cultural values. Direct contact with Deaf artists influenced on he students' building positive role models and authorities. It allowed participants to understand that, just like hearing people, they can realize their passions and abilities, succeed in this field. Owing to good partnership cooperation, quick reactions and systematic evaluation, the project went according to the schedule and allowed to achieve the intended objectives. The partners showed full commitment to the implementation of assigned tasks and project obligations. The flow of information and ongoing monitoring of the implementation of tasks was possible due to constant systematic communication with partners. Two meetings of the coordinators allowed for a precise division of tasks and responsibilities, detailed planning of short-term meetings, project activities as well as development of thorough evaluation of each meeting and planning further cooperation both on project platforms and in subsequent editions of the Erasmus + program. The project has had a huge impact on the participants and the institutions involved in it and has achieved the most important priorities. The project dissemination activities were directed to pupils and teachers from other schools, parents, students and lecturers from universities, culture institutions and institutions dealing with Deaf matters. Due to the widespread availability of materials illustrating the results of the project, the project has aroused interest among specialists as well as people who do not know the specifics of working with students with hearing impairments. Project activities assumed a large autonomy of students who took over the burden of project activities. This confirmed the rightness to take further actions using similar methods. The success of the project resulted in the decision to continue certain activities, e.g. further cooperation with partners, popularization of the project, strengthening and deepening the effects obtained during the implementation of the project.