In recent years, migration has been a topic of intense public attention in the EU. In 2015, the so-called “refugee crisis” culminated in Europe and ever since then migration flows across Europe continue, with immigrants searching for a better future in the economic prosperity and political stability of the EU. According to Eurostats (2017), the immigrants' rates in the project's partner countries were: in Portugal 3,6 per 1000 inhabitants, in Cyprus 24,8 per 1000 inhabitants, in Spain 11,4 per 1000 inhabitants, in Greece 10,4 per 1000 and in Italy 5,7 per 1000 inhabitants. These European countries in proportion to their population received great numbers of refugees, and organised efforts have been made through the years to smoothly integrate them in an environment characterised by tolerance and respect, which contributes to social cohesion. Building relationships with migrant communities and minority groups through intercultural communication and dialogue, as well as empathetic, tolerant and inclusive interaction, could fight prejudice and negative cultural stereotypes that exist in today's diversified European societies and enforce efforts towards an inclusive society of 'leaving no one behind". People often talk that learning the language of the ‘host’ country is imperative for migrants to their “new” homes, both for personal and career development as well as for a good standard of life. It is the path to understanding other ways of living, which in turn opens up the space for intercultural tolerance. Learning the language facilitates working and studying in the ‘host’ country and allows true intercultural communication. In other words, multilingualism contributes a great deal to the key European values of democracy, equality, transparency, and competitiveness (https://ec.europa.eu/commfrontoffice/publicopinion/archives/ebs/ebs_243_en.pdf). Unfortunately, with the several millions of people seeking refuge in Europe, one of the most serious challenges faced by civil society is to offer refugees the possibility to learn the language of the ‘host’ country, practice, improve their language skills and feel the confidence to use it for communication purposes, therefore minimizing the communication gap and make their inclusion in the European society easier. Therefore, in the EU context, educational systems are increasingly challenged to realign goals to prepare linguistically diverse populations. Across these dynamic educational contexts, the why, the what, and the how of language education has been approached in different ways recently, exploring variations in teaching approaches and methodologies. Contemporary theatre approaches could prove to be effective means for adult educators to teach a Second Language (SL) to people of minority groups, in a fun, motivating and stimulating way and help them overcome their insecurities of using the language of the 'host' country to communicate. The use of theatre in the teaching of foreign languages is not a new approach—it can be traced back to the 19th century (Schewe, 2007), but in modern times, contemporary, alternative and creative approaches have been generated in European and international level that gives theatre and its contribution to language learning a new dimension, with creative approaches, lending meaning to language structures by letting learners experience the language in concrete situations (Giebert, 2014). In this context, an international synergy between 6 European organizations, each one having specific expertise in theatre approaches, language teaching/learning, migrants and refugees, will be developed with the same need: the exchange of best practices on teaching SL through contemporary theatre approaches for the social inclusion of minority groups in Europe of leaving no one behind. The organisations will work together, learn from each other, share best practices, having as target groups adult educators, SL educators, trainers/mentors/professionals involved with immigrants and refugees, we propose a project having the following objectives: 1. To increase the professional development of the target groups through European collaboration, non-formal and intercultural learning involving contemporary theatre approaches for teaching SL by means of 6 Short-term joint staff training events for the exchange of good practices. 2. To strengthen the networking among partners and bring together the best contemporary theatre practices to facilitate teaching SL towards the social inclusion of minority groups in European societies.
All phases and activities of the project have been designed based on the needs of the target group and the long experience of the project partners. The methodology that was developed and followed by the partners focused on the realization of the project results. Effective project management was the key to the success of the project. It was very important that everything was implemented on time and that specific and measurable objectives were defined for the project in general, as well as for each phase (planning, preparation, implementation, evaluation, dissemination, etc.) of the project and each activity. This assumed that all partners involved in the project design had a thorough understanding of the project's objectives, outcomes, activities, and phases. In the process of designing this project, the partnership envisioned a multiplicity of linkages between resources, horizontal activities, training activities, their delivery, and, finally, multiplication and impact actions. At the core of this framework were the 5 short training courses, which consisted of an exchange of best practices by the 5 partner organizations on training adult educators and how to use contemporary theatrical approaches for teaching foreign languages to minority groups with a view to their harmonious social integration into European societies. The project involved a participatory methodology: target groups, adult educators ( other staff) supporting minority groups in the partner countries, who were involved in the project activities from the beginning, with the aim of supporting the development of the project training activities, as well as having a passive dissemination role. The main role in the optimal implementation of the project was Steering Committee that had the final approval for every important decision right from the project. The mission of the project was to develop a series of training activities, one in each partner country, specially designed for adult educators (actors, staff involved in supporting minority groups, government officials involved with immigrants and refugees, language teachers/trainers), who want to teach the 'host country' language to minority groups (immigrants and refugees) through non-formal methods and processes, which in our case were contemporary theatrical approaches. The consortium held five short-term 5-day training events (C1 - C5), one in each partner country. Feedback was solicited after the completion of each training, regarding its use, along with functionality and its effectiveness, to allow for improvements and modifications. All partner organizations, during their respective training events, collected videos and photos, and organized the training material/lesson plans/tools they used (in the form of an eBooklet) to give a clear picture of their day-to-day training process through the use of contemporary theatrical methodologies. This material was uploaded to the project's website and was easily downloadable as a valuable source of information and means of dissemination for all interested parties. All the project's trainings will then be disseminated through a series of dissemination processes. It is worth mentioning that dissemination had its own synergy, as it served not only to make the project and its results public, but also to attract the target group to the activities. As such, especially for the attraction of the target group, 1 article, 1 video presentation, 1 newsletter, 10 posters and a brochure were produced and disseminated through their own channels. At the end of the project 1 article and 1 newsletter were written especially to promote the project and its results to the stakeholders. The management activities, provided the overall support system necessary for the realization of its results. Thus, the whole set of project activities were documented in order to be reported to the NA as part of the technical and financial reporting.
There was a concern on the part of all partners to establish contacts with other European entities in order to improve their training and improve their performance in a euopean vision. In this context, an international synergy between 6 European organizations, each with specific competences in inclusion, theatrical approaches, language teaching/learning, migrants and refugees was needed to develop with the same need: the exchange of best practices in SL teaching through contemporary theatrical approaches for the social inclusion of minority groups in Europe in order to fight discrimination and give opportunities to all. It was a necessity that the institutions work together for the same goal, bringing to all involved new forms of inclusion, attractive and motivating methodologies, and more qualified training. There was also a need to increase the professional development of the target groups through European collaboration, non-formal and intercultural learning involving contemporary theatrical approaches for teaching SL through joint (short-term staff)training events for the exchange of good practices. there was also a need to strengthen networking between partners and bring together contemporary theatrical best practices to facilitate SL teaching for the social inclusion of minority groups in European societies. Looking at these needs it was necessary to create the Yeurstage project whose objectives, activities and results would meet the existing needs of the partner organizations