Preserve and share folk traditions

The main goal of this project was to study and promote countries´ own culture and traditions along with improving linguistic, digital and social competences of participants and their schools. We all understand the fear of individual countries - members of the European Union - that due to uniting they might lose their own cultural identity and thus lose their own value as an independent nation. All activities of this project were focused on strengthening the feeling of uniqueness of each participating country and looking for the ways how their own identity can be preserved despite being a part of a big new unit. By their own research, creativity and involvement all participants made the first step - to identify what traditions mean to them and then share them with others. The best way they learnt something about their own identity / or identify themselves as Slovaks, Italians and Polish/ was to go back and deep to their roots presented by local folk art and traditions - the oldest form of culture in their native country. These were the reasons we chose this path to follow. In our view, this was the way how to make our young generation aware of their own value, teach them to appreciate the values of other cultures and to work hard on their skills through cooperation as well as competition and to create something that will leave a long-term trace in their lives as well as lives of the communities they live in. The final products we was published and shared not only with the participating schools but was also used to promote the region where we live. Project activities were primarily held at schools, however, our students are also members of folk ensembles, that is why we cooperated with them, with the centres of leisure activities youth organisations and other civic associations in our towns or regions. We had support from families of our students, town and church institutions. The public was regularly informed about the project activities by presentations in schools, towns and region via various media. Culture of our countries got outside their borders, we learnt about the culture and tradition of our partners, brought it home and shared with our peers and other people. We created a book of folk stories from our region, translated them into the language of partnership and partners which improved our language and digital skills and enriched our knowledge about cultural background of our partners. All the participants gained valuable experience and made the first step to promote the idea of euro citizenship. We learnt that being different does not mean being bad, that being European does not mean losing one´s own identity, but adding extra value to it. Although the number of participants in mobilities was limited, we were able to make more students participate than previously planned, which helped to strengthen the impact of the project on schools, community of parents and other institutions related to school. Project work and its outcomes gained recognition to our organisations on local, regional and international level. It promoted the interest of both students and teachers to participate in international projects, and especially with teachers to take part in structural courses under Erasmus+ programme. It was also a starting point of further international cooperation between our schools in Erasmus+ and eTwinning projects. Participating students have opened the door to Erasmus+ community and plan to benefit from the program in their further university study.