Art as a Language was carried out internationally between four European schools from Poland, Cyprus, Spain and Bulgaria. It was dedicated to students aged 13 - 15. The students worked within the frames of art in order to present their national cultural heritage in the wider world and share their common ideas, feelings and truths of beauty, harmony, respect and cooperation. All project activities aimed at allowing students from different countries, backgrounds and of different religious beliefs to communicate with each other with the help of non-verbal forms of communication. It enabled the young people to bridge the communication gap by being involved in diffrent kinds of art activities such as painting, drawing, dancing, singing or designing. All action done in multinational teams resulted in mutual understanding and cooperation on a very high level. Each visit abroad had a different theme. In Spain we discovered the architecture of partner countries, in Bulgaria we practised stage movement while dancing Bulgarian folklore, in Poland we presented national music and composers and in Cyprus we photographed Cypriot artifacts and painted. Meanwhile, at our schools, we did research on art and did art itself too. Hence, we tried to evoke artistic awareness among the young people by welcoming them to create their own works of art or to participate in diffrent kinds of workshops on art, film, architecture or dance. The project promoted an open-minded aprach and helped students learn about new cultures. They realised that art might serve as a bridge to meet and understand one another. In result, both students and teachers made new international social bonds and their friendships last till today. Moreover, the project assumed an innovative approach to the teaching and learning process. We used a student-activating teaching method based on David Kolb's learning styles, which stimulated students’ creativity and motivation to act. Students planned and organised their own work, presented materials, critically analysed resources and information. They also prepared themselves to make public appearances and express their opinions. Furthermore, the main project ideas were integrated with the school curricula. All this made the project extremely valuable in our school environment regarding an innovative way of information sharing. Besides, the project promoted the use of ICT tools to achieve the goals.Moreover, all project participants used English as a language of communication, which caused that their language skills improved. The European dimension of the project was enhanced by the discovery of other European cultures and making comparisons between them, which led to the conclusion that each of us belongs to a common European environment.

"This project has been chosen as we are aware of the influence between languages and cultures which are strongly connected with our students learning process and the effectiveness and quality of their labor and their future. Our students need to understand how languages diversify over time and can be influenced by others by loanwords and reborrowing words.Starting with neighboring countries we will try to include as many countries and languages as we can.The participants of the project are three public schools from neighboring countries, different but with common characteristics and good reputation. All three plan to develop the social skills and knowledge of their students and provide them with opportunities to evolve themselves to become productive European citizens. The Orthodox patriarchate in Istanbul, university professors, local authorities and community centers contribute to this ultimate aim.In order to increase our students motivation, to improve their ways to socialize and involve them to the use of ICT, they will participate in presentations, competitions, drama performances and collaborative creative writing accomplishments. We would like to strengthen their sense of initiative by teaching them to transform ideas into actions, thus developing skills and abilities necessary for the world of labor, i.e. through their work for the e-journal. This is the reason we are keen to develop learning materials and tools which will support study at home as well as promote distance learning, i.e. web-quests, multilingual lexicon providing them with tools for lifelong learning.For the dissemination of the project outcomes and all the learning materials produced on the topic of the project we will set up notice boards, construct a website, organize multilingual exhibitions, produce audiovisual materials, prepare presentations and print stamps on t-shirts and posters.Teachers will improve their professional skills in the area of education and project management as well as in evaluating methods, as they will be enabled to work collaboratively, developing and evaluating methodologies and educational material, producing questionnaires, writing reports and attending webinars. Students will learn about the historical and geographical background of the participating countries and feel independent and confident if they decide to study or work in another European country and their families will realize the importance of collaborating in learning process and overcoming the difficulties, developing a better understanding for the importance of a united Europe in times of globalization.The ""learning by doing"" method will be used, and evaluation will take place throughout the life of the project.The website of the program will be active even after the end of the project and will be continuously enriched, good practices will be incorporated in our lessons for future students and new projects could start by adding other partners too, who will bring new experiences. Furthermore the culture of our students will be affected orienting them in international collaboration schemes.We firmly believe that this will be a lifetime opportunity for those who may never have a chance to meet with people abroad, collaborate using a foreign language or even to visit another European country."

"The project ""Forgotten jobs and crafts - a video blog"" addressed the issue of unemployment and one of its main goals was to show to students thatvanishing jobs and crafts can be renewed and serve as an inspiration for future careers. The participants could talk with enthusistic professionals who dealt with e.g. pottery, woodwork, fabrics and see alternative ways of making a living. The students had also a chance to try their skills in workshops where they could make their own works of art. Creating handmade items is something to be desired nowadays when people want to possess unusual products made with passion. It is believed that the know-how gained during the project implementation phase will stay with them afterwards and be of use in their future enterprises. The international cooperation within the project helped students to perceive how crafts and jobs differ in various cultural backgrounds. The works of art presented by craftsmen from Romania, Italy, Poland and Bulgaria proved to be unique of the regions. The project allowed all participants to appreciate the diverisity of cultural expression and broadened their understanding of the world. The form of the video blog and the digital skills (necessary to prepare the outputs), taught all participants, both the students and the teachers, the nuances of the Internet and improved their computer literacy. Moreover, digital technology in wider sense was utilised as students and teachers had to use videocameras, photocameras, printers, etc. The project emphasized the exchange between generations – the older one being the expert of crafts and the younger one being usually better technologically oriented. It was especially visible during cookery workshops when parents and grandparents showed typical dishes made in a traditional way. The project was extremely beneficial to the teachers who could share their experiences and teaching ideas and worked together to prepare visits and engage the students to work on the project's objectives. The cooperation led to the creation of the Lesson Plans Book with ready made materials inspired by the theme of the project. It can be used by any teacher interested as it was uploaded on Erasmus+ Project Results Platform and school websites, as well as printed and archived in school libraries. The possibility to meet representatives of teaching professions from other countries boosted enthusism and motivated the staff to work. The teachers, the studnets and the host families as well as local communities were encouraged to learn languages, especially English which was a main means of communication. They improved their language skills and tried them in authentic language situations. The students, supervised by the teachers and parents, created a number of outputs (available on Erasmus + Project Results Platform, school websites and Facebook project site): a Recipe Book with instructions how to make typical, traditional dishes equipped with photos taken during cookery workshops, a number of videos showing how things are made, a brochure with photos and some information about places devoted to vanishing professions that the students visited during mobilities, flashcards with vanishing jobs, crafts and equipment ,a calendar for 2022 in two versions with photos taken during the visits. In order to finish the final results the students had to gain necessary knowledge of various disciplines e.g. history, IT, maths, science and of course English. The project was planned for 2 years and included 4 schools: Poland, the coordinator, Romania, Italy and Bulgaria. However, due to the pandemic situation in the world, the project was prolonged by one year. There were four mobilities organised involving students and accompanying teachers. The last visit in Italy was conducted virtually due to the pandemic. The schedule of activities was altered to suit the form of a virtual meeting. In order to implement the project productively all vital issues were discussed by the coordinators via emails, Facebook, Messenger, What's Up application and during virtual meetings on Zoom platform. The Polish coordinator controlled the timetable and helped with the Mobility Tool. The Bulgarian partner equipped their school with the kitchenette that can be used by future generations and the Polish school built Crafts Classroom that has been used for lessons and will serve its role also after the project ends. In order to assess the realization of the project there were 3 questionnaires carried out which helped to improve the project organisation. There were also debates, discussions and various competitions organised involving the participants to check if the objectives were met. The memoirs created by children helped to see how the project is perceived by the younger generation. Engaging the local media in all participating countries helped to promote the project to wider audience and encouraged other schools to take part in Erasmus + projects."

Nowadays, music in Europe is a powerful tool for cohesion and unity. Festivals flourish every year, that allow European citizens to discover the neighbouring countries and to know each other by gathering around the same passion, music.The Erasmus project we are carrying out aims at highlighting the cultural diversity of Europe while diving into its popular roots. This project will involve 70 creative and talented students and 20 teachers of different subjects, music, dance, foreign languages ​​and computer sciences, from five different cultural and geographical regions of Europe, namely a French school, a Bulgarian school, a Greek school, a Romanian school and an Italian school.Between these different partners, there is a common denominator: the desire to sing a traditional musical repertoire by combining dance because traditional music has the primary function of dancing, it is an inseparable link in any European culture.But it is also the desire to work on the specificity of each language because the mother tongue gives meaning to the traditional song by its rhythm, its intonation, its accentuation, its intonation ...For a period of two years, students aged 13 to 15 will become familiar with the language and heritage of their partners' local folk music through a project website and languages teaching method ​​they will create. They will have the chance to rehearse, play and dance in authentic folk music concerts around the world as part of four learning activities in Romania, Greece, Italy and France.They will publish a final product, a DVD, containing 20 pieces of authentic music and at least 10 dances. To achieve the results of the project, in the first year students will exchange in English and will work in groups to create a simple method of teaching their mother tongue.They will subsequently have to exchange it with their foreign peers.They will work 4 types of traditional songs whose texts will be analyzed and translated; they will write articles and put copied scores online on the website created for the project.They will also make music and dance videos, so that learning from other countries will be easier. They will also learn passages from national and folk songs of their partners to be sung together.Student profiles, language teaching methods and video clips will complete the website.During this first year, an initial meeting between teachers will be held in Bulgaria, where coordinators and music teachers will meet for the first time and decide on the timeline for the first year. Romania will host its partners, teachers and students. Together, they will work on three languages ​​of the project Romanian, Greek and Bulgarian and will give their first concert with some authentic folk songs and dances.At the end of this school year there will be a mobility in Greece more specifically reserved for the exchange between the various folk dances.During the second year, local activities will involve work similar to that of the first year. A more elaborate concert will be performed in Italy as well as a final concert with all the songs and dances in France in a beautiful concert hall involving local actors. A DVD of the songs and dances will be created and the methods of languages ​​will be online and printed, to be used by all participants. It will also be an opportunity to work during workshops teaching activity on Italian and French languages ​​as these will be the next destinations during the year.CLIL will be used in the process. Europass documents will be used to recognize its results. The partners involved in the project all have strong roots with the popular dance community within their school or through groups or associations that will promote exchanges with local partners.We, the project's teachers, believe that transnational work will have many effects on all participants, both locally and internationally, especially on students and teachers, by stimulating their cooperation, their creativity, their solidarity, their confidence in themselves, their tolerance, etc ... and by encouraging the development of innovative teaching practice and encouraging openness to the world by discovering different European countries through a common musical theme. Finally, most importantly, the love of music and dance expressed in the common work of students from five different European countries will establish long lasting traditions of enjoying and sharing music together.

"Projemiz, günümüz koşullarında, teknolojik gelişmelerin de etkisiyle hızlı bir artış gösteren kültürlerarası iletişime dayanmaktadır. Çünkü, kültürel farklılıklardan kaynaklanan yanlış anlamaların azaltılıp farklı toplumlar arasında başarılı bir iletişim sürecinin oluşabilmesi için disiplinlerarası bir bilim dalı olan kültürlerarası iletişim, her geçen gün daha da önem kazanmaktadır. Teknolojik gelişmelerin neticesinde dünya, küresel bir köy haline gelirken çeşitli iletişim platformlarında farklı kültürlerin birbirleriyle karşılaşması,kültürlerarası iletişim sürecinin önemini de giderek arttırmaktadır. Ancak, toplumsal gruplar arasında temas olmaması ön yargıyı beslerken, ayrışmanın ve sosyal-kültürel mesafenin de artmasına yol açar ve ayrımcılığı destekler. Son dönemlerde ülkemizde ve dünyada toplumlar arasında oluşan ayrışmayı engellemek, insanların birbirlerine olan ön yargılarını kırmak ve öğrencilerimizin bu tür davranışlar içerisine girmesini engellemek amacıyla projemiz hazırlanmıştır. Projemiz çok ortaklı bir stratejik ortaklık projesi olup iki yerel ve üç yurt dışı ortağı bulunmaktadır. Okullarımızı birleştiren başlıca neden, her okulun proje konusunda kültürel ihtiyaçlarının farkında olmasıdır. Projemizi çok ortaklı yürütmedeki amacımız ise daha fazla kültürün tanınmasına imkân sağlamak, farklılıklara karşı ön yargıyı kırmak ve projenin yaygınlaşmasını kolaylaştırmaktır. Projemizle hedeflediklerimiz: * Öğrencilere ve öğretmenlere, diğer ülkelerdeki, okullardaki öğrenci, öğretmen ve veliler ile işbirliği içinde çalışma ortamı hazırlamak;* Hayatımızın her alanında sevgi, barış ve dostluğun önemini kavramak, çevresine aktarmak ve bunu davranış olarak kalıcı kılmak;* Proje maskotu olan Kültür Hazinesi Sandıkları'nı kendileri oluşturarak, sevgi, barış ve dostluk üzerine bugüne ve geleceğe yönelik düşüncelerini ifade etmelerini ve öz güven kazanmalarını sağlamak ;* Öğrencilerin diğer illerdeki öğrenci, öğretmen ve velilerle proje maskotu olan Kültür Hazinesi Sandıkları vasıtası ile iyi ilişkiler kurmasına olanak sağlamak ve aralarında, iletişimin geliştiği bir köprü kurmak;* Öğrencilerin ve çevrenin eğitime bakış açısını olumlu yönde geliştirmek;* Okullarımızın ve Erasmus+ projesinin adını en iyi şekilde duyurmak;* Eğitime sadece yerel boyutta değil, ülke bazında katkıda bulunmak;* Yapılan çalışmalarda, bilgisayar araçlarını da aktif olarak kullanmak ve çevreye olumlu etkiler bırakmak.Projemiz süresince, 4' ü ulus ötesi olmak üzere toplamda 7 hareketlilik gerçekleştirdik ve tüm bu hareketlilikler ve elbetteki proje aktiviteleri sonucunda ulaşılan hedeflerimizi şu şekilde sıralayabiliriz: -Öğrenciler diğer ülkelerde yaşayan yaşıtlarının yaşam şekillerini, kültürlerini , yaşadıkları yerleri tanıma fırsatını yakaladılar,- Proje maskotu olan Kültür Hazinesi Sandıkları sayesinde, öğrenciler hayal güçlerini geliştirme şansını elde ettiler,-Öğrenciler, kendi fikirlerini farklı ortamlarda ifade etme konusunda öz güven kazandılar,-Çocuklarımız, sevgi,barış ve dostluk kavramlarını düşünce biçimi haline dönüştürme olanağını pekiştirdiler,-Bilişim araçlarının kullanımı sayesinde öğrenciler ve öğretmenler, yeni tecrübeler edinip ve deneyim kazandılar,-Farklı kültür ve dinlere karşı bakış açılarını değiştirme, bilgilerini geliştirme olanağı yakaladıkları için,farklılıklara saygı arttı,-Şarkı, resim ve kısa film etkinliklerini kapsayan yarışmalarla, kendilerini farklı yollardan ifade etme olanağını fırsatı buldular,-Katılımcı öğretmenlerimiz, farklı iletişim ve öğretim yöntemlerini görme ve uygulamaya bağlı olarak, mesleki alanda gelişmeler gösterip; sistemli bir öğrenci gözlem yöntemi kullanmaya devam ettiler,-Öğretmenlerimiz, farklı ülkelerde eğitimin geldiği noktayla ülkemizi kıyaslama olanığını bulduğu için, mesleki alanda gelişim ve değişim sağladılar. -Katılımcılarımız, gözlem yapma, kıyaslama ve öğrenme güdüsüyle, farklı ülkelerde incelemelerde bulunarak, eğitimdeki farklılıklar hakkında daha kapsamlı ve somut fikirler edindikleri için, eğitim alanında yeni bir vizyon kazandılar,-Öğretmenlerimizin edindikleri tecrübeler, kurumlarındaki öğretmenleri ve öğrencileri de etkilediği için, farklılıkları öğrenme ve onlara saygı duyma konusunda bir artış sağlandı,-Erasmus+ hareketliliklerinin, ""katılımcıların diğer kültürler ve ülkeler ile ilgili farkındalığını ve anlayışını artırmak ve katılımcılara topluma aktif katılım, Avrupa vatandaşlığı ve kimlik anlayışını geliştirmeleri için uluslararası iletişim ağları oluşturma fırsatı sunmak"" amacını doğrudan desteklediği için, öğrenciler, öğretmenler ve farklı kültürlerdeki insanlar arasında iletişim arttı.İki yıl süren projemiz sayesinde, sadece öğrencilerimiz değil velilerimiz ve yerel halk da ""kültürlerarası iletişim"" olanağını yakaladı. Çünkü, projenin hedeflediği tüm çalışmalarda öğrenciler, yapının temel taşı niteliğinde ve asıl hedef kitle olduğundan,""öğrenci- veli- mikro çevre"" zinciri her aktiviteyle biraz daha kendini göstermiştir."