In our project, students from six European schools will research and experiment with different traditions and crafts typical of their respective countries. The entire process of acquiring cultural knowledge, mastering and refining it will be documented by videos. These clips focus on both content itself and the processes. The aim of the created clips is to pass on the chosen aspects of cultural heritage to other groups of students, to make them easily available to students who were not involved. By becoming producers rather than consumers, students not only improve their skills as to the medium of films, but they also focus responsibly on the use of their products for their target groups, their fellow students back home. We are convinced that social cohesion needs to be fostered across borders and that experiencing that cohesion is tantamount. We have to remember our national and common values in order to teach students open-mindedness and an understanding of common European values. Many of the selected cultural traditions have been threatened with extinction and require special effort to be remembered and valued. Our project is our contribution to these efforts. The adolescent participants will discover and experiment with their own European heritage and document their experience for other students by creating short films. These documentaries and narrative films might provide an overview to inspire others to start similar projects. Our aim is to create materials - available through our websites and e-Twinning - for classes in our schools, but also for others who might be interested. Within our project some students will be given the opportunity to spend a few weeks at our partner schools. During their stays, the students will enhance and help the project work in each school as well as have the chance to reflect upon their own culture, habits, values and educational systems. As a final highlight of our project, all the films and clips created throughout the project will be shown at a "film festival" during the last mobility. The best clips will be chosen by a jury and be given a film award. We are also planning to participate in a festival of documentaries hosted by Goetheinstitut.
In our project, students from six European schools have researched and experimented with different traditions and crafts typical of their respective countries. The entire process of acquiring cultural knowledge, mastering and refining it was documented by videos. These clips focus on both content itself and the processes. The aim of the created clips is to pass on the chosen aspects of cultural heritage to other groups of students, to make them easily available to students who were not involved. By becoming producers rather than consumers, students not only improved their skills as to the medium of films, but they also focused responsibly on the use of their products for their target groups, their fellow students back home. We were convinced that in this project social cohesion needed to be fostered across borders and that experiencing that cohesion was tantamount. It has been confirmed that memories of our national and common values in order to teach students open-mindedness and an understanding of common European values are key. Many of the selected cultural traditions are threatened with extinction and require special effort to be remembered and valued. Our project was our unique contribution to these efforts. The adolescent participants discovered and experimented with their own European heritage and documented their experience for other students by creating short films. These documentaries and narrative films have provided an overview to inspire others to start similar projects. We created materials - available through our websites - for classes in our schools, but also for others who might be interested. Apart from the COVID pandemic some students nevertheless had the opportunity to spend a few weeks at our partner schools. During their stays, the students enhanced and helped the project work in each school as well as had the chance to reflect upon their own culture, habits, values and educational systems. Even though the COVID pandemic also had a big impact on the overall execution of the project (travel limitations, difficulties in finding host families etc.) we are very happy and satisfied that all the workshop meetings could take place in 2021/2022. This meant an incredibly intense working experience for teachers and students who continousely had to adapt the project schedule in order to keep it going.