"Variety is the spice of life": Intercultural dialogue and cultural heritage are priorities for the call 2018. Our three main objectives were: 1. Pupils strengthen their understanding and expression of self-identity and self-esteem 2. Schools strengthen constructive dialogue and critical thinking about cultural differences 3. Social inclusion POLAND: overcoming the fear of opening to other cultures. (2 teachers and 15 pupils) ILE DE LA REUNION: share an extreme multicultural background creating identity problems. (2 teachers and 15 pupils) EAST BELGIUM: in a school teaching pupils with "special needs" discriminations belongs to the pupils' everyday life. (4 teachers, 1nurse and 15 pupils). As so many different activities were executed in each school depending on their own culture or special difficulties, we are unable to list them all up but as we met several times in each country and as we finally organized an important exhibition in Belgium, the coordinator of the project will be able to send - on demand - of any European school every pedagogical means we used as well as every activities we made with our pupils during our project. (E-mail-address: [email protected]). The impacts , we aimed at, were the awareness of human values amongst pupils and adults, the importance of tolerance, non-judgement, empathy, growth of tolerance, understanding, opening to social, economical and cultural minorities, We hope, the participating pupils will develop worthfull citizenship in order to encourage No-discrimination and No-hatred-speeches.
Following an international teachers' meeting in Bucharest in November 2017 entitled "Anti-Discrimination" and "No-Hate-Speeches", three teachers from ile de la Réunion, Poland and Belgium started an Erasmus+ project called "Variety is the Spice of lLfe". The fact was that each teacher was confronted with discrimination of different kinds and hate-speeches in their daily school life. Accordingly, they set three main objectives: 1.students strengthen their understanding and expression of identity and self-esteem 2.schools strengthen constructive dialogue and critical thinking about cultural differences 3.inclusion However, since the terms in inverted commas were associated with the darker side of human beings and therefore had a high chance of being perceived rather negatively by the students, the first objective was to highlight the positive in the minds of each participant from these negative perceptions. This is the reason why the teachers included the term "Variety" or numerous different people with different traditions and cultures in the new heading. The"pice of Life" was to match the optimism the teachers wanted to give to this project. Over the years, both have proved to be exactly right. In the spirit of positive thinking, the students listed up twenty values that testify to their profound humanity. It seems necessary to include the list of values here, as it is the cornerstone on which all participants could build each day to achieve their three main goals in the best possible way. Our Values: 1. Trust 2. Anti-Discrimination 3. Anti-Hate-Speeches 4. Tolerance 5. Solidarity 6. Respect 7. Hospitality 8. Peace 9. Cohesion 10. Cooperation 11. Democracy 12. Freedom 13. Freedom of expression 14. Self-esteem 15. Equality between all people 16. Equality before the law 17. Empathy 18. Moral courage 19.Generosity 20. Courage At all levels, human values are primarily a qualitatively outstanding sense of achievement. The students developed civility, respect for themselves and others, and constructive critical faculties, so that they can henceforth play a significant role as role models as self-confident and responsible citizens (multiplier effect). It should also be noted here that the priority "social and educational value of the European cultural heritage" became a matter of course at some point due to the ever-growing curiosity of the students. In the first year of the project, we gave our students personal responsibility by allowing them to choose the subject matter themselves. The students showed a great interest in history in the broadest sense, from Charlemagne to the birth of the European Union. During the student-meetings, they showed an increasing interest in religions and/or philosophy up to very everyday aspects such as food, music, languages, traditions, etc. .... During the second year of the project, the three teachers selected the subject matter for all three countries in order to determine at the end of the project period which method would be better... Answer: NONE! In both cases, the high level of motivation remained and, in parallel, the need to contribute to society grew in many students. Thus, it was clear to the teachers that pedagogical contents are very important - whether it is the choice of students or teachers - but they only reach the students if they are included in the responsibility, are allowed to show their own initiative, also perceive respect and tolerance from their teachers and finally can see from their side that they can grow into VALUABLE human beings by using their human values in everyday life. The coordinator would like to take this opportunity to express her profound thanks to all those involved. Special thanks go to the staff of the National Agency in Eupen, the "financial advisor" of the German-speaking Community and last but by far not least to our Headmaster of the ZFP-Eupen, Mr SCHLEIHS, who has always supported and accompanied our Erasmus+ project with goodwill and assertiveness - especially in somewhat difficult times. In this summary, it was unfortunately far from possible to list all topics and educational resources, which is why the coordinator can be reached at any time at the following e-mail address: [email protected]. However, it is important to note that the planned exhibition will take place after the Covid-19-pandemic. All involved participants are pleased to invite every schools of the German-speaking Community to this event. You are most welcome!