The project motivation starts from the needs that have been identified at all the schools involved. We are different, we have different ethnicities, different nationalities, different religious, different traditional habits. But we are together, living in the same environment. As a sign of respect for each other, we should know each other better. As active citizens, we should be more involved in activities that bring as together. As citizens of the world, we have the duty to respect the others and to learn as much as we can about them. In a world with wars, fires, hunger, terrorist atacks, immigrations, climate change, we need to be more human, more empathetic, more loving, more friendly. We are not waiting for the Guvern to implement intercultural school curriculum. We don’t want to stay and watch people haiting each other. We want to know more about ourselves. By knowing our own national identities values, by discovering links between different ethnics and nationalities, we can develop skills that will help us in transforming from inhabitants of multicultural cities into responsible European citizens, open-minded to the added value that multicultural variety brings. We want to be together. Different, but together.
The goals of our project are: O1. Teaching and training intercultural skills to students and teachers from our 5 schools, through participation in activities that promote intercultural dialogue, the appreciation of ethnic diversity. O2. Improving language, communication and social skills. O3. Improving the management capacity of the project team members from the schools involved.
The results of the activities that will lead us to achieving the objectives are both tangible and intangible. The tangible results include: artistic moments with traditional dances, films with project activities, traditional objects made by students during workshops (masks, pottery objects, fabrics, corn husk decorations etc.), PowerPoint presentations, posters, Erasmus corners dedicated to the project arranged in each school, traditional food prepared in the workshops, leaflets with information about the project, project logo, trees planted in the "Erasmus Forest", project magazine (6 issues) in digital and physical format etc. The intangible results include: website, Facebook account, eTwinning project, acquisition of information about the cultural environment of the cities and countries from which the participating schools come from, development of the participants' linguistic and interpersonal skills, development of institutional management skills, raising awareness about interculturality issues.
Objective 1 aims at the formation of intercultural skills among students and teachers by participating in activities such as: workshops with practical activities of learning a traditional craft (pottery, painting in marbling technique, wooden objects, corn husk decorations etc.), the winter traditions festival (in which the students will have their own artistic moments), guided visits of the touristic objectives from the countries involved (Culture Palace in Tg. Mures, Sibiu Village Museum, Pilsner Urquell Brewery etc.), eTwinning project, cooking contest, Traditional Costume Day, flash mob etc. In these activities, students and teachers are getting acquainted with winter traditions, learn traditional handicrafts, prepare food, learn traditional dances from the partner countries etc. The achievement of O1 is facilitated by collaboration with the local community (in activities as flash mob, winter traditions festival, 'International Cuisine' activity etc.), and with local institutions (in activities as cultural sightseeing, workshops etc.), who will represent an effective support in all the project activities. Objective 2 will be achieved through the direct participation of students and teachers in all the activities, physical and virtual, by interactions in their mother tongue, in the project language (English), and also by learning basic words and phrases from the languages of the other participants. Joint activities lead to development of communication skills, empathy and self-confidence, relationships, civic spirit. These skills will add value to the individual development for the students, which will facilitate their easier integration into the socio-economic environment. For the teachers, the activities will improve their English, interpersonal and cultural skills, they will observe and obtain information about different educational systems. Objective 3 aims to develop management skills for key project team members (5 in Romania, 6 in the Czech Republic, 3 in Italy, 3 in Turkey, 3 in Greece). These skills are already forming, because each team has already been involved in completing this application, building it on the needs of each school and considering the possibilities of each school to contribute to the project. After project approval, each project team will develop management skills in planning, organizing, evaluating, disseminating the results. Achieving these skills will facilitate the absorption of new European funds by running future Erasmus+ projects. Through the activities carried out in the project, we also aim to develop open, flexible relationships with local authorities, by increasing the level of institutional communication both in the preparation stages of the activities (transnational meetings, workshops, cultural visits), as well as through the direct participation to some of the project activities (such as opening events, dissemination events).