The project „Flat sharing community Europe – living under one roof” wants the students of the participating schools to realize, experience and understand the history, the differences in everyday life and the chances of a peaceful and common Europe. The additional value for the students will be given by meetings and the topical work on the project. The increase of language skills and social and historical knowledge has a special meaning in this connection. The girls and boys will recognize the chance to develop freely and make full use of their abilities in this Europe by researching the learning and training opportunities. 1. The formation of international flat sharing communities The girls and boys will meet in permanent groups during the complete project. They will form flat sharing communities (via internet) and work on the different topics (learning, studying and working in Europe/European history/rules of living together) in these communities. At the end, the groups will meet for one week, live together in real flat sharing communities and present their results. The living together will be documented (diary, film). In this connection they will reveal the chances and the limits of the cooperation under the “roof” Europe. 2. Under one roof Furthermore, there will be three students’ meetings with the following thematic emphases: European history The students will plan modules for history lessons together, which will be given to the schools. The topics will refer to periods of time in history in which all participating countries were involved (the emergence of Europe, World War I, the Cold War, the present situation). In this connection the different positions of the countries will be shown (powerpoint presentations, educational film, worksheets). The European cultural heritage will play a special part. In all regions there is important material and immaterial evidence of the history and life, which the students will visit and experience (sing, cook, habits). The teenagers will arrange a final programme together (European choir, arrangement of pictures/poems/photos, sports Olympics) and hold a European conference “Living and learning under one roof”. 3. Ambassadors for a social living together Presentation of the experiences and results at the own school and in the region Through the participation in this project the students will strengthen and shape the profile of their own schools responsibly and self-aware and they will share their experiences with their surroundings. They are ambassadors of Europe at their schools and with the help of this project they will get the time, space and the educational company to fulfil this task. It is very important for all participating schools to recognize the European idea in their educational plans and to realize it in and outside the lessons. This will happen in permanent groups (Europe classes. Literature classes) and also in thematic groups that will only work together in special periods of time. Through the meetings in the different countries the teenagers will learn to live and to learn together, to feel joy, to have common experiences and to share their dreams together. While doing this they will work out rules for a joint living together and prove their realization and feasibility. The results will be many visible products with lasting effects which can be used over a long period of time. The biggest profit for all will be the experience to be part of a community in which the individual development is important and the collective idea is supported. Social media and eTwinning will be used to stay in contact. A homepage will be created.
The project “Flat-sharing community Europe-living under one roof” was characterized by ups and downs and is reflecting the entire range of the development of the society in Europe in the past 3 years. All in all, we reached the set goals and the project essentially contributed to making Europe a tangible experience for all participants of the involved schools. By carrying out different activities and actions, the project showed how the young people live and learn in other countries and at the same time the students became more aware of the special features of their own motherland. Because of the Covid 19 pandemic the project could not be finished as it was planned. All partner countries were affected by the pandemic. And also in these times we always watched our partner regions. The additional value for the students mostly came from the meetings and the topical and virtual work on the contents of the project. Altogether, the collective work contributed to a social, linguistic and historical learning progress for the girls and boys and strengthened the European orientation of the profiles of the participating schools. The content of the project was characterized by the following main aspects: 1. The formation of international flat-sharing communities The students formed fixed groups, got to know each other with the help of personal profiles and virtual exchange and they met in Ilmenau/Germany in December 2019. There they lived in real international flat-sharing communities and worked together on different topics (dream flat, traditions, rules for living together). The young people prepared and had their meals together, showed each other how to celebrate Christmas in their motherlands (cultural programmes) and experienced the region and the families in many different ways. This week of encounter was a highlight of the project. Similarities, but also differences became obvious. 2. Living under one roof The students dealt with historical events which affect entire Europe (formation; conflicts and wars; industrialization and economy; European collaboration). These topics were talked about in the lessons and introduced, shown and discussed during the meetings in Amiens/France and Sveio/Norway. Historical monuments and evidence were looked at on site. But economic factors and questions of a shared future were also discussed and practiced by using different methods. A high number of results emerged (pictures, photos, books, a homepage [which had to be blocked because of a mistake], worksheets). The final meeting which was planned for Salo/Italy could not be carried out physically, but was accomplished as a video project. The topics (presentation of the schools and the regions, doors towards Europe, European future) were worked on at all school in advance and the exchanged and discussed. The participants could also collect new knowledge in this activity (arrangement of video conferences). 3. Ambassadors for social and European togetherness The participating students studied at their schools in European classes, classes with international aspects or language classes. The contents of the project were the core of all activities in these classes. The young people presented their mainly very positive experiences and findings to the whole school community (presentations, exhibitions), as well as on different events and platforms (parent-teacher conferences, open days, newspaper,local TV stations, politicians). Within all the institutions educational curricula (modules) and methods were worked out for the realization of the goals (reflection, getting to know each other, creative techniques). The project developed and strengthened the collaboration of all the participants on different levels (students and teachers, European contacts and friendships, European teams). The progress of the project was strongly influenced by Covid 19, but it could not stop the collective project and further collaboration is planned. The European flat-sharing community of the participating partners has been established very well and profitably and many doors have been opened.