The project "National minorities - treasure of Europe" aims at presenting cultural richness of Europe on the example of the Belarusian minority living in Poland and Lithuania as well as the Lithuanian minority in Poland. We want to show uniqueness of these regions of Europe and at the same time indicate cultural similarities and common origin. The project implementation aims at making the participants aware of common heritage of all three nations: Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian as inheritors of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. Project realization will make participating youth understand how important the sense of one's identity is, while respecting cultural heritage of their countries and being open to values of other cultures in Europe. The project will enable widening of horizons of its participants by understanding that propagating of their own customs and traditions enriches the cultural mosaic of their countries of residence. The activities of the project will develop in its participants the feeling of being an element of European culture and understanding of their contribution to European heritage. Another objective of the project is increasing of teaching and knowledge acquiring standards by enriching school activities with new forms, tools and methods of work aimed at supporting the institutions in the didactic process directed at facilitating learning about culture and traditions of national minorities covered by the project activities. These activities will contribute to strengthening of professional competence of the teaching staff. An important objective is developing of language skills of the project participants in the field of using a foreign language during international meetings. This informal aspect of language learning will enable the participants to overcome their own barriers related to the fear of speaking in a foreign language. About 400 pupils, aged 15-18, from all partner schools will be the main target group of the project. The project objectives will be achieved by various activities carried out locally in each school and through joint international meetings: 1. folk singing workshops 2. learning of folk dances 3. a lecture and workshops on Belarusian mythology and symbolism 4. creating a Lithuanian-Polish-Belarusian mini-glossary 5. establishing of Regional Chambers at the schools in Vilnius and Hajnówka 6. study visits to places of historical and cultural importance 7. organization of the introducing videoconferencing 8. organization of Belarusian ritual ceremonies 9. organization of the “My Fatherland” art competition 10. organization of workshops on contemporary folk art of Belarus and Lithuania and folk handicraft for children and adults 11. organization of the charitable "Kaziukas" fair. As a part of the project there will be 3 short-term exchanges of student groups in the schools of all project partners, in addition in Puńsk a short training program for employees of all schools will be organised. Working visits of the project management staff and students' representatives at the leading institution in Hajnówka as well as at the Gymnasium in Vilnius were also planned. Throughout the project the schools will maintain contact through the eTwinning platform. The project implementation is aimed at achieving the specific results in the form of: 1. establishing of lasting cooperation between the applicant institution and partner organizations 2. formation of tolerant school communities open to other cultures 3. elaborating of a mini-dictionary of basic phrases in their national languages 4. acquiring ability to perform folk songs; preparing songbooks 5. learning of Belarusian and Lithuanian folk dances 6. creating a catalogue of symbols and Belarusian mythology 7. development of training materials from a training visit of teachers involved in the project on methodology of teaching minority languages and interesting methods of developing a sense of national identity 8. elaborating of English language lesson scenarios and their implementation in school practice 9. creating of links on the websites of the schools informing about the implemented project 10. development of a quiz verifying knowledge about the partner countries 11. establishing of a regional chamber at the Gymnasium in Vilnius and school in Hajnówka 12. organization of a youth works exhibition and a concert of folk songs and dances. The impact of the project on its participants and target groups will be manifold and sustainable through: - deepening of identity by comparison with partner schools - recognition of common roots and values which will lead to an enhanced awareness of European citizenship - improvement of linguistic competences - increase of self-confidence and personal responsibility by staying with host families - exchange of pedagogical concepts.
The project "National minorities - treasure of Europe" set itself the goal of showing cultural richness of Europe on the example of Belarusian minority living in Poland and Lithuania, and Lithuanian minority in Poland. By implementing the project we achieved intended goal - to make people aware of common heritage of all three nations: Polish, Belarusian and Lithuanian as heirs of the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. The aim of the project was also to raise standards of teaching and acquiring knowledge by enriching the activities of schools with new forms, tools and methods of work aimed at supporting institutions in the didactic process aimed at enabling learning about culture and traditions of national minorities covered by the project activities. This contributed to strengthening professional competences of the teaching staff. One of the goals achieved is developing of linguistic competences of the project participants in the scope of a foreign language during international meetings. This informal aspect of language learning enabled the participants to overcome their own barriers related to the fear of speaking a foreign language. The objectives of the project were achieved through various activities carried out locally in each of the schools and through joint international meetings - 3 short-term exchanges of groups of students in schools of all project partners and a short training program for employees of all schools. Activities carried out in schools included numerous workshops for interested students: the so-called white singing and folk dance workshops, workshops on Belarusian symbolism, workshops on contemporary folk art in Belarus and Lithuania, handicraft workshops, editing photos, making films, album editing workshops at the publishing house. Project participants were also involved in artistic activities in their communities, such as the organization of traditional Belarusian and Lithuanian rituals, participation in a recitation and art competition, artistic concerts and school performances. There were also actions taken for the benefit of the school and local community by participating in a charity fair, creating Ethnographic Chambers in schools in Hajnówka and Vilnius and cleaning up the parish cementary in Punsk. There were also organized activities to improve the implementation of the project: a working meeting starting the project at the coordinator's school, videoconference before the start of the first short-term exchange of groups of students or a meeting summarizing implementation of the project at school in Vilnius. Project participants also participated in excursions to broaden their knowledge of important historical and cultural sites. While implementing the project, we managed to achieve all the assumed results. Ethnographic Chambers have been established in the gymnasium in Vilnius and in the high school in Hajnówka, which are already used by the school community. A mini-dictionary with basic vocabulary in English, Belarusian, Lithuanian and Polish was developed and published. As a result of singing workshops, a songbook of folk songs from Podlasie was compiled and published; a catalog of Belarusian symbols and an album and a video promoting the project were developed. An important result is development of training materials from the training visit of teachers involved in the project on methodology of teaching minority languages and interesting methods of developing a sense of national identity, as well as development of drafts for English lessons and their implementation in school practice. Tabs were created on the schools' websites informing about implemented activities. It is expected that establishing permanent cooperation between the applicant institution and partner organizations participating in the project will result in implementation of further joint undertakings within statutory activities of schools. During the meeting summarizing the project in Vilnius in October 2021, the head teachers of the above-mentioned schools signed a cooperation agreement. Implementation of the project enabled participating young people to gain a deeper understanding of importance of a sense of their own identity, while respecting cultural heritage of their countries and openness to values of other cultures in Europe. The project made it possible to broaden the horizons of its participants by understanding that promoting their own customs and traditions enriches a cultural mosaic of their countries of residence. Project activities made participants feel that they were a part of European culture and understand their contribution to European heritage. It also rimproved their language skills. Communities of all schools, and even local communities, will use developed results in the form of tools for didactic process and exchange of pedagogical ideas. Deepening of cooperation with local institutions involved in implementation of the project will strengthen the position of schools in local communities.