‘Our cultures-our treasures’ is a two-year project which brings together schools from Slovenia,Greece,Estonia,Portugal,Spain and Croatia,whose team members have worked on an on going eTwinning project.It focuses on the promotion of social inclusion through cultural diversity with the aim to exchange best practices on teachers’/pupils’ level and develop a feeling of inclusion among partners. Our main objectives are: -To enhance the social and educational value of European cultural heritage through education,lifelong formal/non-formal learning,including actions to support social skills development and assist our students’ cultural awareness,thus narrowing the cultural gap between the countries involved and open up to diversity. -To promote the social inclusion of our students,support our disadvantaged ones(disadvantaged socio-economic background,learning difficulties,lower level of qualifications or poor school performance)foster diversity and equality by applying culturally sensitive pedagogical approaches,that can ensure our education programs have built-in spaces to include all learners’ voices and perspectives. Our project activities are based on four main blocks that cover the most important part of our cultural heritage:traditional dances/music,museums/monuments,fairy tales,traditional cuisine.Through the activities designed in each block,students will know about their country/other countries in a real context with the objective to improve the target language,identify European linguistic diversity and become aware of the importance of learning European languages.Experiential learning through art and culture will serve as a starting point in the co-creation of culturally conscious and aesthetically sensitive individuals.It will enhance lifelong learning competences,in particular those related to cultural awareness and expression,which includes extending personal growth,cooperation,adaptability and self-evaluation,constructive control of emotion,innovation,creativity and intercultural communication. All activities,that will become the final project products,are designed in order all three main learning styles,visual(DVD’s on our schools/towns/countries,DVD’s on presentations of cultures of hosting countries during meetings,documentary films,digital books)audio(CD’s of local traditional songs/music,CD’s with mother tongue language lessons)and kinesthetic(dance/cooking sessions,drama performance)to be involved and utilized,further ensuring the inclusion of every participating student.During the two years’ period of cooperation,all participants will elaborate specific common project activities,exchange work and contact through extensive communication in the English language via Twinspace,which shall improve their language skills and Learning/Teaching/Training activities. A number of mobilities will be organized to help participants meet physically with different cultures,understand and accept the tangible and intangible heritage aspects of European countries. For realization of a project aiming to an inclusive education,through cultural heritage,teachers will create a virtuous synergy of the most significant instances proposed by the different active and innovative student's centred teaching methodologies such as:Outdoor Learning,Peer Learning,Cooperative learning,CLIL,Learning by doing and PBL(project based learning). All activities will be integrated in the project website(connected with social media:Facebook,Twitter,Instagram)and eTwinning portal.Both digital platforms will be structural elements for interoperability of content and design among partners,significant elements of union and exchange of project processes to partners,communities and bigger audiences.They'll be open to consultation and expanded in their content,which will be in English,by teachers and students.Its expansion will remain available for periodic and final spread. The main envisaged impact on the participants will be cultural consciousness and awareness,to realize that they belong to a world without borders and should live positively with respect and tolerance to others.Our students’ horizons,especially our disadvantaged ones will be broadened,by giving them the opportunity to be introduced to different cultures and communities. The promotion and diffusion of innovative programs and interventions as well as alternative pedagogical and teaching practices shall encourage teachers to take initiatives and integrate innovation into their teaching activities and goals,reflect their expectations about the long-term impact of the project results on their schools after the completion of the project. Gaining contrasting knowledge and understanding among participating students,teachers,communities and educational authorities of the cultural,linguistic and educational diversity of the participating countries and schools will increase social cohesion and will considerably strengthen the sense of belonging to the same united community.
‘Our Cultures - Our Treasures’ was a three-year project that brought together schools from Slovenia, Greece, Estonia, Portugal and Spain. Originally, in our partners’ group, there was another partner school from Croatia, which dropped out of the project soon after our application’s approval. Our project was focused on the promotion of social inclusion through cultural diversity to exchange best practices on the teachers’/pupils’ level and develop a feeling of inclusion among partners. Our main objectives were: -To enhance the social and educational value of European cultural heritage through education, lifelong formal/non-formal learning, including actions to support social skills development and assist our students’ cultural awareness, thus narrowing the cultural gap between the countries involved and opening up to diversity. -To promote the social inclusion of our students, support our disadvantaged ones (disadvantaged socio-economic background, learning difficulties, lower level of qualifications, or poor school performance) foster diversity and equality by applying culturally sensitive pedagogical approaches, that ensure our education programs have built-in spaces to include all learners’ voices and perspectives. Our project activities were based on four main blocks that cover the most important part of our cultural heritage: traditional dances/music, museums/monuments, fairy tales, and traditional cuisine. Through the activities, students learned about their and other countries in a real context to improve the target language, identify European linguistic diversity, and become aware of the importance of learning European languages. Experiential learning through art and culture has served as a starting point in the co-creation of culturally conscious and aesthetically sensitive individuals. It enhanced lifelong learning competencies, in particular those related to cultural awareness and expression, which included extending personal growth, cooperation, adaptability and self-evaluation, constructive control of emotion, innovation, creativity, and intercultural communication. All activities, that have become the final project products, were designed in order with all three main learning styles, visual (DVDs on our schools/towns/countries, DVDs on presentations of cultures of hosting countries during meetings, documentary films, digital books), audio (CD’s of local traditional songs/music, CD’s with mother tongue language lessons) and kinesthetic (dance/cooking sessions, drama performance) to be involved, further ensuring the inclusion of participating student. During the three years of cooperation, all participants elaborated on specific common project activities and exchanged work and contact through extensive communication in the English language, which improved their language skills and Learning/Teaching/Training activities. Several mobilities were organized to help participants meet physically with different cultures, and understand the tangible and intangible heritage aspects of European countries. For the realization of a project aiming at inclusive education, through cultural heritage, teachers created a virtuous synergy of the most significant instances proposed by the different active and innovative student's centered teaching methodologies such as Outdoor Learning, Peer Learning, Cooperative learning, CLIL, Learning by doing and PBL(project-based learning). All activities have been integrated into the project website (connected with social media Facebook) and the eTwinning portal. Both digital platforms were structural elements for interoperability of content and design among partners, significant elements of union, and exchange of project processes to partners, communities, and bigger audiences. They were open to consultation and expanded their content in English, by teachers and students. Its expansion remained available for periodic and final spread. The main envisaged impact on the participants was cultural consciousness and awareness, to realize that they belong to a world without borders and should live positively with respect and tolerance to others. Our students’ horizons, especially our disadvantaged ones were broadened, by allowing them to be introduced to different cultures and communities. The promotion and diffusion of innovative programs and interventions as well as alternative pedagogical and teaching practices encourage teachers to take initiative and integrate innovation into their teaching activities and goals, reflecting their expectations about the long-term impact of the project results on their schools after the completion of the project. Gaining contrasting knowledge and understanding among participating students, teachers, communities and educational authorities of the cultural, linguistic, and educational diversity of the participating countries and schools increased social cohesion and considerably strengthened the sense of belonging to the same united community.