Project


T.I.M.E.  / TOLERANCE IN MY EUROPE/

Information on project / Read carefully,please !!!/


Summary of project
The project aims at raising students` and local community members` awareness of differences in cultural, socio-economic and racial respects. In the course of the project  students will have the opportunity to learn more about other cultures and to make sure that people from various cultural backgrounds are able to work together to promote European values. In this process they will be given the opportunity to express their ideas about tolerance in various artistic forms. Participation in different activities will instill tolerance, develop sensitivity towards the problem of intolerance, enhance communication and interaction skills and teach them how to live in a multicultural Europe.

Rationale/motivation for project/
Our partnership was established for reasons of mutual interest in improving intercultural competences of students, teachers as well as members of the local communities and enhancement of motivation for learning and tolerating differences in cultural, socio-economic and racial respects.
Our students need to develop deeper understanding of the diversity of European cultures, languages, socio-economic groups and European values and at the same time to acquire basic life skills and competences for both their personal development and their future employment. They need to learn how to live in multicultural societies as they would probably look for job opportunities throughout Europe, not only in their local communities. The mobilities provided by a Comenius project will definitely broaden their horizons and give them ideas of what they might do for a better life in the future.
Moreover, it will help them enhance their motivation for learning foreign languages, ICT, social/civic studies and arts, as these will also help them prepare for their future life. Besides, involvement in all the stages of the project will teach them to communicate and interact better and develop an entrepreneurship and community spirit that they may lack at the moment but they need for their future development. Through exchange, cooperation and mobility they are expected to acknowledge and overcome differences, so that they develop a more tolerant attitude.
Teachers need to improve their capacity to work in interdisciplinary teams and   become open to innovations and new methods of teaching. They will also have the opportunity to build on knowledge of other school systems. Last but not least, partners really hope their joint project will improve the social atmosphere at their schools and result in a stronger European Dimension.
To sum up, all participating parties need to learn to appreciate other ways of thinking and living and thus become more active citizens of Europe.
               

Project objectives
The project aims at instilling tolerance to cultural, religious and socio-economic differences through various activities and forms of artistic expression. It will be ideal for fostering key competences in a wide range of subjects and topics like Languages, Literature, Social/Civic Studies, Music, Arts, Drama, ICT, culture, religion, European values. Thus, the following objectives would be achieved by the end of the project :
      -To increase thoughtfulness  for different minority groups and sensitivity     towards the problem of intolerance among the participants of the project
      -To give  guidelines for tolerant behaviour.
      -To show that people from various cultural backgrounds are able to work together to promote European values.
      -To develop  linguistic, artistic and interpersonal skills.
      -To broaden the horizons in  terms of understanding foreign values, cultures and  customs.
      -To promote international dialogue.
      -To improve the quality of teaching process.
      -To shape a “good citizen” that is willing to know, to learn, to understand and to do.
      -To attract the students from various socio-economic backgrounds towards different artistic expression.
      -To offer attractive forms of spending free time.
      -To develop key learning competences such as communication, discussing, looking for information, classifying, sharing and presenting information.
      -To give opportunities to discover and develop talents.             

Project activities/Schedule/
August-Sept.-
1.Participating students and teachers are informed on all details concerning the work plan, objectives and organized into teams. They are aware of ideas and approaches in the project. Notice boards, Comenius "corners", newsletters are set in schools.
2.Members of local communities are informed on the project by means of local media. 3.Articles, interviews are published, school and local websites updated with project information.
4.Communication platform for students is set (forums, blogs, newsletter). Students have sent written and spoken messages to their partners in order to introduce themselves. School presentations prepared.
October
5.Participants prepared for the first meeting, students have prepared reports on Greek culture, attended lessons on tolerance, produced logo proposals, prepared native language/English phrasebooks, discussed their expectations.
6.In Greece, participants attended meeting with representatives of different cultures, debate on tolerance and diversity,workshops to teach phrases, presented their reports, logo is choosen,first materials for glossary on tolerance gathered.