All our schools live with a huge range of students with different abilities, backgrounds and interests. Some might not be able to explore what life might hold for them because of family and gender issues, problems with their language or experiences made in war times or as refugees. Some are not able to adjust to the school system or to rules in general. With our project we would like to give opportunities to experience the world and the own self a bit more, be it by connecting to people with a similar background but different language and culture or building relationships with people very different to them, seen age, gender, skills or ideas how the world works. In a broader sight the project involves around 1000 students (13 to 16 years old) and 100 teachers, also parents, part of the school staff and school leaders of the participating schools, indirectly, other local schools, educational institutions, local education authorities, local communities, general public and local media. All schools will have a project group including teachers and pupils; 36 students and 25 teachers will attend the meetings. Others will not take part in the meetings abroad, nevertheless they will all have an active role: they will make sure that activities are performed and will have the responsibility of uploading the project results, videos and photos about the mobilities, carried out activities and best practices. The project activities will be included in the school curriculum and entire groups of students will be asked to participate in the project and will be involved in the activities. These are the number mentioned above: 1000 students and 100 teachers could be reached. As short-term joint staff training events at the beginning and end of the project there will be teacher training in Palermo/Italy; focussing on integration of immigrants at school and how to implement best practice in our schools. As short-term exchanges of groups of pupils there will be trips to Dahn/Germany, Brussels/Belgium, Antalya/Turkey and Palermo/Italy. New Experiences - by cooking workshop and sports We would like our students to widen their horizon by doing things they have never done before together with people they have never met before using a mutual language. As concrete results we would like to produce menus in English in the cooking workshop, documentary of the acquisition of new skills of unusual sports activities such as korfball, based on supporting gender equality, also climbing, canoeing and karate. Exploring the World - by planning the trip to Brussels activity We would like our students to be able to travel both mentally and physically meaning that they are ready to face unexpected events and respond in an adequate way. As concrete results we would like the students to plan the trip to Brussels based on a limited budget. Staying with host families students will learn how to adapt a family´s way of living. The outcome will be an interview with the host family published on eTwinning. More results will be presentations at school with videos/pictures or a guide book, products from a handycraft workshop or/and demonstration of outdoor activities. Knowing Yourself and The Others Better - by getting along in a foreign country and language activity We believe that students will reflect on their own norms when being confronted with another culture. This might be the unwritten rules of their own background or society or the rules they come to learn in the host families. A bigger self-awareness and a higher level of interest in differences without judging them right away might be the result of this experience. As concrete results we would like to trigger the production of guide books with does and don'ts concerning the countries. Dealing With and Overcoming Prejudices - by discussions, role-plays, team activities We would like our students to analyze prevalent issues used for bullying in school like homosexuality, religion, nationality and students with special needs to install a secure environment for discussions about these topics so to learn more or want to speak openly. The result will be an overview of the most popular bullying issues in these three countries and how one could react in these situations. We want our students to change roles or overdo roles so everybody is aware of stereotypes in normal life, but also in well-known stories like tales, that influence a lot. Also we want to include single students or groups that are sometimes in the focus of bullying like refugees or students with special needs. In the long run we hope to reduce bullying, judging or building prejudices, hope that students and teachers contribute more to new projects, make friends around Europe so that they keep their open-mindedness and remember that individuals are individuals.
Context: The project started as planned and we were able to fulfill all tasks and actions until February 2020. We were able to connect our school communities and had an extraordinary start with the teacher meeting and the first meeting of students in Italy. Our expectations for the rest of the project flew high. Our project came to a sudden stop due to Covid-19, so many activities we had already prepared or were about to do them could not be acted out like the cooking workshop and korfball, exploring the World, all planned to do in Germany. Aims and activities: Nevertheless the activities we had were fantastic like the games and activities during our meeting Palermo, the friendships we could see grow there and the joy the students had thinking of meeting again in Germany. We collected the results via etwinning, made and held presentations, involved parents and students who did not take parts in the meetings themselves. We managed to be successful with one of our most important aims: dealing with and overcoming prejudices. During the in meeting Palermo and during our prep meeting everybody was grateful to be part of the team and even though some students were not able to express themselves very clearly we felt to be part of an emotionally close team and everybody was happy to be there. Results: One result that made it clear for us that the project - as short as it was - created a base for friendship and understanding was the trip of some students to Palermo as soon as it was possible to travel again. They desperately wanted to meet their new friends. At that time everybody was hoping that the second meeting would be possible, but it was far from being certain. Besides the results like posters, guide books, recipes, training in korfball, games, the club meeting etc. friendships seem to be the most important outcome of the project. Long-term: We directly reached about 80 students and we gave information about our project with presentations and activities in our school communities so everybody who was slightly interested in the project was able to know what it was about and what we did at every step. All in all it should be around 1000 students, parents and teachers who had access to information about our project. We all experience that the long-term outcome is to find change in individual behaviour towards people who are not part of your own group in society. We are certain that in this point we were successful.