The project is the cooperation between five schools from five different countries: Ortenbergschule, from Frankenberg in Germany, Gymnasio Efxinoupolis from Efxinoupolis in Greece, Lycee Jehanne d’Arc from Tourcoing in France, Liceo Artistico Statale Catalano from Palermo in Italy, Puistokadun Koula from Loimaa in Finland. Refugees coming to Europe are a main European issue at the moment and we assume it will be a main issue in the future as the population in Africa and Asia is increasing and many conflicts are unsolved. In all participating countries refugees became new members of the societies (in a general way). But the integration of a bigger number of people is always connected with problems or tensions. We and our students experience that in the media as well as in our own communities and schools every day. And there are not only refugees who should become an integrated part of our schools, there are also other immigrants and other social groups like students with special needs and others. So integration is and will be a key issue in Europe and we want help our students with this project to become tolerant members of a European community. We want to create a common ground to promote integration. Therefore we have to raise awareness not only for the situation of immigrants but for different lives in general. Students must become aware that different people live different lives and that there is always a good reason for the way people live. We all have a past that influences our present. We all have a present with moments of happiness but also with problems. And we all have dreams for our futures. During this process students also become aware of their own lives, share it with other students from other countries and their knowledge, understanding and tolerance of different cultures and traditions will increase. The main objective of this project is the integration of marginalised students with a focus on immigrants. Therefore the focus of our project activities is to bring people (students, teachers, parents but also people from the community) with different social background together. If through our activities structures have developed which allow communication or even meetings on a regular basis between groups which had been separated before we can count it as a success. So to achieve this objective we will work in a collaborative way. During the activities students will interact. Sport, art, music, cooking or drama are good elements to create a common ground. We will use English to communicate. Teachers and students will have real/useful writing or speaking tasks and the students can practice their skills. The students must also use English to communicate with each other, so the language as a real purpose which again motivates the students to use it. Art workshops, sport games, communication exercises we have done during our project can be repeated in normal classes or might even become a part of the concept of social integration the schools have or are going to develop. The experiences teachers gain while organising these teaching projects will be used in further teaching settings with other groups. We expect to improve through our activities social intercourse, so that it is more influenced from mutual respect and understanding. Getting acquainted with other cultures and traditions broadens in general one’s horizon and leads to better quality of life. We also like to use the project to learn from each other and develop a concept for the integration of students and their families in our schools as a concrete output. Here we must think of bringing students in contact with other students, helping students with learning and communication, helping parents understanding our schools and also to communicate and get contact. Will get experiences during the activities in the different countries and want to use the experience to create this integration concept which then can be adapted to the special situations at all our school. Then future years of refugees, immigrants or more native students can profit and hopefully become a tolerant member of a European society.
The main objective of this project was the integration of marginalised students with a focus on immigrants. Throughout our project we carried out activities, games and lectures where students had to communicate and work together in order to create a common ground. There were also many opportunities, where they were confronted with the problems of migrants, refugees or foreigners and outsiders. They had the chance to become more sensitive and could act more helpful. During the short term joint staff training (November 2018) at Ortenbergschule in Germany all partners could experience a school where migrants are actually part of the school community. We organized interviews with experts and also listened to students and parents who told us about their problems. In Germany the close contact to social workers, helpers and migrants led to the idea of regular meetings. We wanted to have a setting for talking and getting to know each other not connected to school problems from the start, so we set up the Encounter Café. Teachers got more insight in the domestic situation and parents got to know what school is expecting from them. We had positive reactions from all participants but had to stop during Corona. Yet these contacts were very helpful during the Corona time. In France (March 2019) the school is close to the refugee hotspot in Calais (“Jungle of Calais” - now cleared but still several replacement camps exist). Beside other activities the focus was on aid agencies, problems and living conditions of refugees and their expectations and the motivation of helpers. At Lycee Jehanne d’Arc in France participants of the ‘Common Ground Project’ realized, that there was not much done for welcoming and helping migrants at school. They contacted local organizations and other teachers from school already involved in helping migrants. Together they created ‘a welcome booklet’ which contains useful information and addresses for migrants and started an opportunity for advice on a more regular basis. During the meeting in Finland (May 2019) the students experienced to learn words using notes. We presented an application to help with the learning of irregular English verbs. Then students of each country gave lectures about minorities in their countries, we learned for example about the Swedish, Sami and Romani minorities in Finland. Puistokadun Koula from Finland started a cooperation with the Kurkijoki Museum (insight on wartime immigration within the country) and the Turku Teacher Training School (information about immigration from abroad in Finland). In Greece (November 2019) the focus was on direct communication. During the 5 days we had alternating activities at school (such as Diplomats mediation activity or UN experimental games) or went out. For example we visited “Arsis Youth Support Centre” or the historical site of Vergina. At Gymnasio Efxinoupolis from Greece working on the refugee issue led to a History project which investigated the refugee past of Efxinoupolis, which was originally created as settlement for people who had to leave Bulgaria from 1906 until 1926. Liceo Artistico Statale Catalano from Italy invited many refugees to talk about their situation during lesson – which was then documented in e-books or videos. In March 2020 Corona struck all countries. The Project came to a sudden halt. Before Corona it was our focus to integrate migrants, refugees and outsiders in general. Now it became: maintain or built up social contacts but stay away from each other. Due to Corona the planned activities could not be carried out. We switched to online activities and changed the focus somewhat to communicate at all. Using the project to offer possibilities to talk about Corona restrictions and how to overcome them. We could organize two virtual meetings with participants from all schools. The Virtual Meeting in March included many activities: Surveys (Mentimeter); Virtual treasure hunt (Google Earth); Video Presentations, Quiz (Kahoot); Collecting information (Padlet). The highlight was definitely the “Living Pictures” contest during the third day. For the Virtual Meeting in May we wanted to get students more actively involved. We could use separate conference rooms for smaller groups. What we did was: bring students from 5 countries with 5 different languages together, give them motivating tasks and let them more or less work on their own – without teachers. They had an intense exchange about their wishes, their hopes and expectations. The planned Travel Diaries (reports from all exchanges) were finished and published as online e-book. Two e-books covering the virtual meetings could be added. Language skills were definitely promoted through the Corona situation and also the improvement of computer skills.