The YOTHPath project aims at stimulating intercultural relations focusing on the similarities between the bases and the grassroots of ICH . No matter how the applications of customs in each culture vary in each culture, all the basis of them are actually quite similar. The main aim of The YOTHPath project is to find out these similarities, for the reason that understanding of other cultures increases intercultural dialogue, and stimulates mutual respect for other types of life. The YOTHPath project focuses on social sciences and it aims at reviving values such as non discrimination,tolerance, empathy, unprejudicedness that are basic European citizenship values. The project plans to provide this aim with prejudice breaking strategies during teaching process of art, literature ,history and social sciences. These sciences are very suitable for developing team work ability,for effecting the unifying values of people by the help of artworks and for providing the sense of global humanity with inspiring examples from history, philosophy, religion, literature and other social sciences. The overall objective of the project is to focus on some elements of ICH decided by the teachers of six participating schools to minimizing prejudice towards different societies, to prevent cultural discrimination and cultural amalgamation among the students. Throughout the process of the project, students of participating schools of six countries will try to reach international ICH of the humanity through interaction with their peers in different countries. Within the scope of finding out common elements of ICH we have chosen similar high schools from six different countries (Portugal, Spain, Italy, Turkey, Lithuania, Romania ) which are caring these global issues and want to increase the interaction between the students in different societies. Teachers and students of secondary schools aged 14-19 will be actively involved in the project. Considering UNESCO’s list of ICH , we have decided on the countries which have similar oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices concerning nature and the universe or the knowledge and skills to produce traditional crafts. We have got in contact with the schools which deals with similar age group including corresponding interest, need and school subjects with the aid of e-twinning and Schoolgateaway portals. Six Learning Teaching Training Activities will be held during 24 months project period. Three of them will be thematic LTT activities within the scope of ICH themes decided during the ICH Theme selection workshop in the first LTT. Students of participating schools will make presentations and demonstrations about the implementations of ICH element regarding the theme and a culture feast will be organized by the hosting countries displaying the similarities between the cultures of those six participants. ICH material development workshop and Outdoor Activities in Teaching ICH workshop will be the topic of the other LTT activities. A logo and a poster competition ,Erasmus Wall, “E-wall”, e-pal matching among the students, the Thematic photography exhibition “Yours is Mine ,the Thematic documentary “Once upon a Time” ,the Thematic workshop ,the Thematic ICH Feasts ,the Thematic Booklet of ICH and the journal “ Youth on the Heritage Path will be the activities of the project . Cross-curriculum materials, learning and teaching resources, different survey types will be used during the project period. Small scale learning teaching training materials, peer work, classroom management methods, brain storming methods, critical thinking and problem solving methods will also be used to get a higher impact . Developing non-discriminative attitudes with the help of school's activities, positive attitude considering the cultural, social and environmental acquisitions, a better communication between schools and parents are the desired impact at the local and regional level. Stimulating schools to realize European projects and recognizing Erasmus+KA2 programmes' importance are also local impact of our project. People in the region inspired by our project will behave the immigrants and refugees better and non-discriminative way, and this will contribute social inclusion and the happiness of our societies. The tourism and the traditional craftspeople will benefit indirectly with the raising awareness and curiosity of ICH at home and in different countries. Within the context of national and European levels The YOTHPath project contributes to values such as non discrimination,tolerance, empathy, unprejudicedness that are basic European citizenship values facilitating European cooperation in collaborative and accessible methods.
The main objective of the YOTHPath project was to discover the cultural similarities between the partners, as an understanding of other cultures increases intercultural dialogue and encourages mutual respect for other ways of life, such as non-discrimination, tolerance and empathy, which are basic values of European citizenship. Throughout the project process, students from participating schools from six countries sought to reach the international ICH of humanity through interaction with their peers in different countries. Considering the UNESCO list of ICH, we decided which countries had oral traditions, performing arts, social practices, rituals, festive events, knowledge and practices related to nature and the universe, or the knowledge and skills to produce similar traditional crafts. With the help of the e-twinning portals and School gate away, we contact schools with similar age groups, including interests, needs and corresponding school subjects. Six Training and Learning Teaching Activities were carried out as foreseen in the initial design of the project. However, the arrival of the pandemic forced us to request the postponement of the execution for another 12 months in the hope that the missing mobilities could be face-to-face, which is why the project ran for 36 months. During the period when the project was stopped at the height of the pandemic, the partners organized a walk in each of their countries on the Europe day in order to keep alive the spirit of the project and the connected partners. Three LTT thematic activities under the ICH themes were decided during the ICH theme selection workshop at the first LTT. Students from participating schools gave presentations and demonstrations on the implementations of the ICH element in relation to the theme and a cultural feast was organized by the host countries showing the similarities between the cultures of these six participants. Regarding the thematic activities of the last LTT in Italy, with the theme Food and Beverage, the planned activities were all carried out in virtual mode, since the duration of the pandemic made it impossible to travel to that country in safety. It is also important to mention that for this mobility, the project coordinator suggested to the partners the creation of an activity not foreseen in the initial project design: a gastronomic tour of each country. All partners joined and it was considered that the project stood to gain from this improvement. A logo and poster competition, Erasmus Wall, “E-wall”, e-pal matching among students, thematic photography exhibition “Yours is Mine, the thematic documentary“ Once upon a time”, thematic workshop, Thematic ICH Parties, the ICH Thematic Booklet and the magazine “Youth on the Path of Heritage” were the project's activities. Cross-curriculum materials, learning and teaching resources, different types of research will be used during the project period. Training materials for teaching small-scale learning, peer work, classroom management methods, brainstorming methods, critical thinking, and problem-solving methods will also be used to achieve greater impact. The people in the region who were inspired by our project will behave better and be non-discriminatory towards immigrants and refugees, and this will contribute to social inclusion and the happiness of our societies. Tourism and traditional artisans indirectly benefited from ICH's awareness and curiosity at home and in different countries. In the context of national and European levels, the YOTHPath project contributed to values such as non-discrimination, tolerance and empathy that are basic values of European citizenship, facilitating European cooperation in collaborative methods.