The Austrian BG/BRG Leibnitz and the Amalie Skram videregående skole in Bergen have already worked together successfully in two Comenius and Erasmus+ projects. Our experience of cooperation with Bergen/Norway has encouraged us to start a new project on the topic "Different and still the same - European!". Students from Austria and Norway are going to work together on a project which deals with the students views and prejudices concerning their partner country and their own national identity. This project should make the students think about the cliches and stereotypes they have about the other country in order to break them down. Furthermore, this project 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 across 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, appreciation of diversity and a reduction of xenophobia. The project participants will be about 57 16/17-year-old students form Norway and Austria who attend the same class (Austria 7a, Norway a group of 2nd year students) and two/three teachers per country. The project will consist of online working phases and face to face project meetings. During the online working phases the students will do activities to introduce themselves to the students from the partner country, produce and exchange videos about their views and prejudices concerning the other country and interact via eTwinning, Padlet and social media. Furthermore, they will do extensive research about the group topics (geographical location and climate, historical development and historical links between Norway and Austria, different political systems, religion, educational systems, What does European mean for Austrians and Norwegians?, nationalistic and xenophobic movements in Austria and Norway, political and economic relations between Austria and Norway, language - mini dictionaries of every day phrases(German - English - Norwegian), festivities and traditions (school ball culture in Austria, summer show and diploma ceremony in Norway). The results of the students' work will be documented through their videos, portfolios or vlogs, the program at the parents evenings and the creative output for the exhibitions at both schools. 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 and thus become fit to work in multicultural teams. Students will become more open-minded concerning working methods as well as other cultural and social settings. By using English as the working language of the project, students will improve their language skills in English. Working on the project together and producing common final results also requires good IT skills, so the students will get a lot of practise in using their digital skills. Good foreign language skills and IT skills will also prepare the students for a European and global job market and thus increase their future employability. Both schools will get a European and international dimension, which might encourage the participants and even other graduates from our schools to consider studying abroad and thus open up to a globalised world.
The Austrian BG/BRG Leibnitz and the Amalie Skram videregående skole in Bergen had already worked together successfully in two Comenius and Erasmus+ projects. Our experience of cooperation with Bergen/Norway encouraged us to start a new project on the topic "Different and still the same - European". Students from Austria and Norway worked together on a project which dealt with the students views and prejudices concerning their partner country and their own national identity. This project made the students think about the clichés and stereotypes they have about the other country in order to break them down. Furthermore, this project led to a deeper understanding of the heritage of their own culture and at the same time opened their minds to a European or even global context of living and working together across national and cultural borders without prejudices. Dealing with their own culture and traditions and presenting them to their partner school on the one hand made them proud of their own nationality and on the other hand aroused their interest in the culture and traditions of their partner country. Doing so also led to improved mutual understanding, appreciation of diversity and a reduction of xenophobia. The project participants were 43 16/17-year-old students from Norway and Austria who attended the same classes and two to three teachers per country. The project consisted of online working phases and face to face project meetings in the form of student exchanges. During the online working phases the students did activities to introduce themselves to the students from the partner country, created logos for their common project, produced and exchanged videos about their views and prejudices concerning the other country and interacted via eTwinning, Padlet and social media. Furthermore, they did extensive research about the group topics which were geographical location and climate, historical development and historical links between Norway and Austria, different political systems, religion, educational systems, What does being European mean for Austrians and Norwegians?, nationalistic and xenophobic movements in Austria and Norway, political and economic relations between Austria and Norway, language - mini dictionaries of every day phrases in German, English and Norwegian, festivities and traditions focusing on school leaving traditions in both countries such as Maturaball culture in Austria as well as summer show and diploma ceremony in Norway. The results of the students' work were documented through their videos, their vlogs about their trip to their partner country, their presentations at the Erasmus+ evenings in both countries and the creative output for the exhibitions at both schools. In this project the students learned to work and collaborate independently on a common international project, 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 and thus became fit to work in multicultural teams. The participating students became more open-minded concerning working methods as well as other cultural and social settings. By using English as the working language of the project, the students greatly improved their language skills in English. Working on the project together and producing common final results also required good IT skills, so the students got a lot of practise in using their digital skills. Good foreign language skills and IT skills are vital to compete in a European and global job market and thus by improving these skills the students increased their future employability. The Austrian students also visited the European capital Brussels and its institutions such as the European Parliament, the House of European History, the European Commission and the Steiermark Haus. After having dealt with the EU and its institutions thoroughly throughout their senior years and also within the Erasmus+ project "Different and still the same - European" this visit contributed to the students' awareness of being European citizens and their understanding of our common European values and heritage. Both schools boosted their European and international dimension, which might encourage the participants and even other graduates from our schools to consider studying and working abroad and thus open up to a globalised world.