Estonia
The second project meeting was held in Kuressaare, Estonia on February 10-14, 2020. As it was the first meeting where students were involved, the main aim of the meeting was to raise awareness into the sensitive field of tolerance as opposed to discrimination of any kind. An initial questionnaire was carried out as the first activity of the meeting to see how much the students knew about the issues of tolerance and discrimination to start with. The questionnaire was answered as group work.
The students also worked out a "tolerance poem" where every line started with a letter from the word „Tolerance“, where they could put down their ideas concerning the subject in a creative way.
We also carried out a series of mixed group activities showing what it feels like to have certain disabilities or why it is important to work in groups, whoever the members of the group are, therefore it is important to show tolerance even if you might not feel comfortable with the group members at first.
One of the most essential activities that was carried out was a so-called “tolerance dinner”, where students were put in three absolutely random groups – “the rich”, “the middle class” and “the poor”. The activity was designed to show that people have no control over which social class they are born into. Therefore, it is also important to understand that we should be kind to everyone and help instead of being alienating towards them, no matter what social class they come from.
Another activity that was designed to make the students aware that even if they don't feel like it, they might still be discriminated against in life - "the privilege walk" showed how we are influenced by even our parents' level of education or maybe the fact that they live and go to school in a foreign country.
The project was also introduced to the whole school. The delegations had prepared a presentation each about their country and school, also touching upon the topic of tolerance – the issues in their respective countries or the events that had been carried out previously in the school. Foreign students also had a chance to visit some lessons. As part of the project, the visiting delegations also saw the hosting school’s cabaret show, which is a large project where all the students from Grade 11 take part. It is an example of how to raise the level of tolerance in school – once a student has been part of such a large joint project, they are all much better friends to each other and nobody is left out.
Agenda
Agenda Estonia.pdfAgenda Estonia_1.pdf