The partners have submitted the following proposal for their Comenius project:
The traditional songs, dances and games are an excellent way to preserve and promote the culture, traditions and wisdom of the people living in the European countries. In a time when globalization tends to overcome and level all cultures, we want to preserve the national traditions as a legacy for our children, so that they be proud of their culture and find their own way in life, based on solid backgrounds.
The students and teachers involved in the project want to research, study and practice the songs, dances and games traditional in the regions they live in and publish them in a book and an e-book in English and the national languages of the partners. This way we promote the learning of national and foreign languages. These songs and dances will also be recorded on DVDs and photos will be taken to make a photo album of the project. We’ll organize art exhibitions to promote the creativity of the pupils and the intercultural dialogue within the project. The dictionary of the words that appear in our songs and games will also be published on the project blog/website.
Our students will have the opportunity to use their foreign language skills to communicate with their peers by writing letters and emails and to speak English and learn words and expressions from our partners’ languages.
The partner school´s:
Meram Mümtaz Koru İlköğretim Okulu is a public school in Konya which is a big city in the middle of Turkey. İt has 1381students and nearly 60 teachers. The age range of our pupils is 6/7-14/15.Our school is in the centre of the city but the students are coming from socio-economically lower families. This is our first participation in a European project.
The Italian school has 998 students and 82 teachers. It is located in a not too big town in the south-east of Italy. The school is in the center of the town and it is the biggest in town and the second one in the whole Italy. Its students are from 6 to 10 and their families are middle class, there are only few immigrants. The school had several European projects in the last years.
Stóru-Vogaskóli is located in the suburb of Reykjavik, Iceland, 30 kilometres away from the centre. Our town - around 1200 inhabitants - is a fast growing community. Most of the people are working in the area of Reykjavik mainly in construction, fishing activities and aluminium industry.
The school has about 220 students 6 - 16 years old and 17 trachers and around 10 other employees. This will be the school´s second Comenius project.
b) The partners in this project want to participate in European partnerships for several reasons:
- we want to research and promote our national folklore, and thus to ensure the valorisation of local culture and traditions
- we want to promote the learning of foreign languages: English, as the main communication means between the partners, and the national languages of the partners, as foreign languages for the other members
- we want to ensure the exchange of good practices in teaching of foreign languages, of mother tongue and of other school subjects and their adaptation and valorisation in our schools
- we want to exchange best practices in school management between the schools
- we want to promote the image of our schools and countries by ensuring the European dimension to it
- we want to promote intercultural awareness and to reinforce European values in the participating schools in their everyday work.
- we also wish to promote cooperation between different teachers and students in different classes we want to make the students and their teachers proud of their cultural heritage
- we want to develop and promote the artistic creativity and expression of our students and teachers
- we wish the teachers in the participating schools to learn new ways of teaching and integrating ICT in their everyday work.
- we hope that mobility would mean not just traveling but the reinforcement of a European feeling.
- we also hope that this project will mean the widening of our knowledge of the true meaning of the concept of EU and the experience of being a European citizen
- we want to involve children their families and teachers from ethnic minorities to take part in the project and promote their cultural values, thus fighting, through culture, against social prejudices and discrimination
- we want to make friends with our partners and have fun together, just like in a large European family through mobilities and team work, we want to teach our students and colleagues how to travel in Europe and develop their communication, digital, learning to learn, interpersonal intercultural and social, and cultural expression competences, as well as some entrepreneurship competences.
- we wish to develop the students’ ICT skills and English communication skills. Besides the concrete practical skills, it’s important that the students learn to understand that the cultural and linguistic diversities are not an obstacle of true collaboration and friendship.
- This project is about encounters of cultures, widening horizons in general, reconsidering perspectives, improving self-esteem, increasing the understanding of different cultures and enhancing tolerance.
5.3 objectives of the partnership
- What are the concrete objectives of the partnership?
- Explain what subjects or problems you intend to address.
- What approach will you take to achieve your objectives?
1. To improve the abilities of the students in communication by various means (languages, kinesthetic, etc.)
2. To work on the basic competencies in linguistic communication, and to improve methods of language teaching, as well as other subjects, and adapt the project to the curriculums of the partner schools by sharing teaching experiences
3. To work on artistic skills and competencies, to value and promote them
4. To involve students in folklore research
5. To develop and promote the artistic abilities and creativity of the students.
6. To obtain data on the cultures and traditions of other countries, by preserving the oral traditions of the families.
7. To use English as a foreign language as a means to increase the communication between partner countries and cultures and to learn words and expressions from the languages of the partners.
8. To encourage students and teachers to learn other European languages
9. To encourage the exchange of teaching experiences and methods with peer teachers from the partner schools
10. To understand the others, through the acceptance of oneself.
11. To develop knowledge and understanding among students and teachers of the diversity of European cultures and languages and its value;
12. To involve the pupils coming from ethnic minorities and immigrants in our project, to promote their traditions and cultures so that they can be motivated to attend school and improve their education
13. To value the plurality of our schools
14. To involve the pupils with special educational needs to participate, on the base that each citizen can construct Europe according to his capacity independently
15. To encourage the use of ICT in communication between students and between teachers involved in the project
16. To increase student motivation and to make learning more attractive, particularly for migrants and for those at a socio-economic disadvantage;
17. To strengthen intercultural education and its contribution to social integration;
18. To exchange good practices in school management between the partner school
19. To have fun while working on the project activities
