Completed project “Cyril and Methodius – 1000 years of what connects and divides us” aimed at extending the knowledge by innovative educational methods and by student experience. Members of the project group come from four countries tied with Cyril and Methodius and their activities (Czech Republic, Greece, Bulgaria, Croatia), sharing mutual historical, cultural and religious values of Europe, particulary it’s central part and the Balkans. Saints Cyril and Methodius are the example of historical persons playing an irreplaceable role in the spread of Christian faith from the Greek Thessaloniki and other cultural values important both for religious and nonreligious citizens. As a main factor tying up Europe as soon as 9th century AD, influence of religion can not be overlooked even today. Importance of both missionaries lies even in the invention of common script as a cultural value, shared up to this day by great share of eastern European countries. Thus, the main goal of this project was to show the students of project member countries with the mission and persons of Cyril and Methodius, present the students with cultural landmarks, traditions, history and last but not least, today’s educational systems of project member countries. All these goals lead to increasing cognitive and social abilities of students, improving interpersonal relationships and developing the feeling of common European identity. The coordinator of this project was Czech high school Gymnázium, Olomouc, Čajkovského 9. Other member schools were: Gimnazija Antuna Gustava Matosa in Samoboru, Croatia, 144 Secondary School Narodni Buditeli in Sofia, Bulgaria, 2o Epaggelmatiko Lykeio Evosmou in Thessaloniki, Greece. Both Czech and Croatian schools are general education grammar schools. Bulgarian school is an elite school of fine arts (dance, music, singing, etc.) and the Greek school is an institute of technical education (ICT). Project consisted of activities: - international project meeting M1 - M3 – three meetings, beginning in Olomouc, then in the halftime of the project in Sofia and final in Thessaloniki aimed at better and transparent organization, division of tasks, control of their completing and mutual evaluation. Detailed description can be found in chapter 5.1. - Continuous activities A1-A9: A1 – national Powerpoint presentations of Cyril and Methodius’ influence in particular countries; A2 – watching a documentary film Cyril and Methodius; A3 – guided tour in temple of St. Gorazd in Olomouc + discussion with the priest; A4 – geocaching around sacral landmarks in Olomouc; A5 – Powerpoint presentation on cultural life in my town and country A6 – poster concluding the life and importance of Cyril and Methodius; A7 – visiting an important religious landmark – Archdiocesan museum in Olomouc; A8 – workshop – cultural differences and common features of partner countries; A9 – final resume of the project. - student exchange - mobilities C1 - C4 C1 Thessaloniki (Greece), C2 Olomouc (Czech republic), C3 Samobor (Croatia) C4 Sofia (Bulgaria). Mobilities were the core format of meetings aiming at activities, influence and legacy of Cyril and Methodius in particular partner countries. Detailed description can be found in chapter 5.4. The project had a good influence on both participating individuals and schools in these areas: - beginning the international cooperation, which is planned to be further developed in other projects and student meetings; - developing linguistic and social skills of students; - understanding the structure, principles and rules of EU and Schengen area (travelling across various types of national borders); - students understood the culture and way of life in particular partner countries; - both students and teachers were equipped with the experience of more or less similar schooling systems; - developing presentation skills (posters, presentations, self-presentation); - developing and maintaining new friendships; As a conclusion, we would like to state the opinion of our students, commenting the name of our project: “Cyril and Methodius – 1000 years of what connects and divides us” – “There is nothing dividing us, except geographic distance. Different language is not a problem anymore, we all speak English.” Besides school website and Facebook page, the project was presented to wide public during the school open day, Erasmus Days in Olomouc and in regional media.

The project Cultural Inheritage is based on previous international partnerships, where teachers from different projects have agreed to commit to this particular project. All partners consider each other to be trustworthy, full of positive energy, which are very important attributes for an international project. Continued collaboration is considered mutually beneficial for all since only successful outcomes are acceptable.We come from 4 different corners of Europe and when deciding the project topic, cultural heritage came naturally. Each country has strong historical roots and we are proud people. As well, our languages are all special and varied, so in conclusion the idea for a project was born. This will aid our pupils in school to understand their own culture better. Furthermore it will support them to compare and contrast it with other European cultures. The platinum experience of this project is experiencing other people’s heritage first hand- experience a foreign culture in real life. All objectives are important and valuable! Altogether, the objectives make a holistic project, where the aims are realistic. Realistic objectives produce activities that are not too difficult to complete with the pupils. The objectives are also understandable for the pupils, who are inquisitive about various cultures.The participants are 4 schools, where 3 of them have pupils ranging from 6-18 years old and the Welsh school is a primary school with a special needs centre attached. The oldest pupils who will participate from the Welsh school. Our experience tells us that it works fine that the Welsh bring younger pupils. The older pupils take care of them and include them as younger siblings. There will be a group of 10-25 pupils in each school, who will be in the core project group. They will participate as well as encourage and include peers to participate in the project activities. Approximately 100 pupils will be key participants of the project. A wide and varied methodology will be employed in order to action this project. The methodology will differentiate in its nature in order to answer the learning needs of all pupils involved, including those with Additional Learning Needs. Therefore, the methodology used throughout will be inclusive in its nature.A common methodology running through this project will be investigative challenges. Pupils will have to research individually and collaboratively in order to discover facts about their own heritage and that of other countries in the partnership. Subsequently, the students will use a comparing and contrasting methodology by comparing the heritage of the partner schools to their own in order to further deepen and enrich their understanding. Collaborative work will be key to the success and effectiveness of the project. Problem solving skills can be an integral methodology used. Teachers will set purposeful and meaningful challenges for the pupils for them to solve utilising previously taught skills in order to deepen their understanding. Utilising the key skill of literacy and communication will also be an integral part of the work. Pupils will enhance their vocabulary specific to the challenges including citizenship, heritage and everyday conversational English. They will develop presentation skills by writing for a specific audience with a real-life learning context. Being a project based on collaboration between various countries, digital teaching and learning methodology will be a vital technique in this project. Creativity is also a key methodology that we will develop throughout this project. By looking at the dance and music cultures as well as literature of the participating schools, students will evaluate and develop a range of techniques. In conclusion, the methodology we will use throughout this project shall be holistic in its nature. It will engage and develop all skills the children have by being multisensory, active and creative.The results and impact envisaged are realistic and attainable for all. A shared website and TwinSpace will provide a learning resource for the schools and others. The Google platform makes it possible for partners to cooperate and ensure that the results are evolving as the project moves forward. A linguistic resource is made to enhance the awareness of foreign languages and will be an interesting ressource after the project has been completed. Many multimedia presentations are created to be used in the project, but can also be used by others to present e.g. the school/country in a KA102 activity. The pupils will develop a broader, more accepting mind towards other cultures, they will appreciate their place in society and comprehend and utilize their role as global citizens. It is our ambition and hope that there will be longer term benefits, because our project fosters understanding and acceptance of others’ heritage which varies from others and that is an unique quality in today's Europe.

it's not necessary

"In the world of rapid changes, education seems to have become a big problem in many countries. It is needed to re-adjust the teaching process by empowering our students with competencies that can help them integrate and rapidly adapt to changes. In this frame, the project main coordinator identifieded the social inclusion as a starting point to develop these soft skills. All partner schools with quite same social-economical background in students' families worked in this direction. The Active and responsible citizenship project reunites 5 schools from Greece, Italy, Romania, Bulgaria and Turkey. Our children are raised facing one of the greatest challenges societies face at a European level, diversity. As the young students, to which the project is addressed to, are still at the age when they are looking for role models, we believe that having in front of them teachers who practically promote the active citizenship encouraging social inclusion, offering their own behavioral examples in getting voluntarily involved in improving the life of the community will determine our pupils to be responsible active citizens of Europe. Through our project we aimed to make our students understand that active citizenship is the glue that maintains society together. The objectives we produced in our project were: -to raise awareness about active citizenship among 250 students from 5 EU schools during a 2 years project -to develop 250 students' knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to act as active citizens in their communities -to strengthen active citizenship as a lifestyle among students from 5 EU schools from 5 EU countries -to create an e-toolkit for schools, containing good practice examples for promoting active citizenship The project is addressed to 250 primary school students (8-12 years old) indirectly involved and more than 50 teachers directly involved in the project. We have carefully planned a series of activities that will lead to achievement of the project’s objectives using Social and emotional learning (SEL) strategy to help immerse students in the project development. SEL help participants to acquire knowledge, attitudes and skills needed to understand and manage their emotions, personal feelings, set personal goals, develop empathy awareness and establish positive relationships. Various instructional strategies (group discussion, role play, simulations, debates, multimedia presentations, outside speakers) have been used to raise awareness about active citizenship. The results of these activities were: 5 multimedia presentations ""What is active citizenship?"", 5 videos: “Cultural values in my country”, 5 seminars with a special guest, an outside speakers representing an NGO to talk about civic values and to promote the importance of volunteers have been organized in each partner country. By developing activities using SEL (comics, stories, group activities, team building games), we aimed to develop our students' knowledge, attitudes and skills as active citizens of their communities. To enhance students' social awareness, self-awareness, self-management, responsible decision making and relationship skills, tangible results comics exhibition, magazine containing stories, 5 multimedia presentations ""Active citizens and environment"", 5 presentations ""My school, my city, my country"" were created. Thus, a common Erasmus+ garden. We wish that we build up active citizenship as a lifestyle, Active Citizens Clubs for students were created in all the 5 schools involved in the project. These clubs aimed to develop motivation and engagement for promoting civic participation in life on a long term. The students of the club got common T-shirts created within the project. One of the activities of the club had the obligation to create souvenirs and handicrafts for the project partners. Teachers developed 20 lesson plans using an interdisciplinary approach which was part of the Active Citizenship and produced the e-toolkit promoting active citizenship. Through this partnership we considered to promote active citizenship and responsibility, increase school cooperation with institutions from the local community, encourage schools to embrace Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) programs to improve students’ lives and their academic achievements, foster networking among students to continue organizing activities related to the project's topic, develop the school curricula and encourage interdisciplinarity in teaching. The participation in this project contribute to the development of the involved schools in the long-term by expanding the school curricula, especially internationalizing it, contributing to the development of qualitative teaching and to the institutional development plans, and promoting the schools’ image in the local communities. We consider that the Active Citizens Clubs in each school had the knowledge and sensitivities concerning topics as diversity, volunteering, environtment and cultural heritage continuing their activities after the end of our project."

"Holidays are anticipated and emotion-filled moments in the lives of children and adults. Every holiday is being prepared carefully and for a long time. It brings a positive emotion that mobilizes everyone for its realization. That is one of the reasons why we chose to work on ""Interactive holiday calendar in Europe"" The topics to be addressed by this project are connected with the different holidays, characterizing each partner country and the similarities and differences in their peculiarity, specificity and events. The problems to be discussed are connected with the identity of each country and its overall expression in the big European family. The project aims to help us avoid racial, ethnic and religious discrimination by understanding the lifestyle and traditions of all participating in the project countries. The project will be realized by elaborating and studying the holidays, the traditions of each partner organization, and the holidays will be considered on a seasonal basis. Activities to be done:1. To make an interactive calendar of the traditional holidays in Europe by classifying them into common traditional holidays and Seasonal holidays2. To familiarize everyone with the festive calendars of partner countries.3. To find the similarities and differences between the common holidays that unite us into a common family.4.To Make DVDs to illustrate the festive systems of the countries involved in the project.5.To create Project Recipe book which to contain recipes representing local/national cuisine of each of the participating in the project countries.6. To create Multi Media Phrase book containing common phrases related to traditional holidays and customs in the languages off all the participating countries and in English.7. To create a booklet with pictures representing national costumes and attributes used during traditional holidays in each country drawn by the students.8.To publish a newspaper presenting information for all the activities throughout the entire project.9.The following topics will be discussed during the project meetings Traditions. Holidays and customsCalendars and Holidays Traditions and ValuesTraditional folk cultureCurious rituals and customsHow public holidays and traditions affect pupils' educationThe end result will be to get to know each of the partner organizations through the most anticipated moments of all - the holidays. By getting to know the country's holidays, we can easily perceive everyone, understanding some of the features in their lifestyle, tradition, culture. Knowing the common and equal holidays of the partners will make us feel like a big family celebrating together.The target groups of this projects are students /aged 10-16/, teachers, parents and the local communities. All activities in the project will have direct involvement of pupils, both in gathering information, planning and preparing products, communicating with pupils from partner institutions and in presenting their findings to all members of the partnership.Throughout the project all pupils will be encouraged to evaluate the activities and provide feedback about their own and others contributions. Questionnaires will be designed for evaluating the project activities. Students will take part in project forums during which they will answer questions about the project activities and their own personal learning. We believe that by involving students in the project we let them make not only friends for life but also teach them tolerance, respect towards other cultures and nations, faith in their own possibilities. And that it allows eliminate aggression and violence from our communities. Engaging pupils in different forms of learning can prevent students from alienation, fight xenophobia, teach openness to new cultures and let them know about new lifestyles, languages.Teachers and parents will also be active participants in the project because they will be involved in all stages of its realization. They will also have the opportunity to learn about different holiday calendars, which will have a unifying function for the entire institution and the project implementation. We hope that it will enable us to cooperate in various fields and help to exchange our experience. We will take part in activities which can help us quickly and easily accept the different cultures and traditions and by knowing them to unite them with the help of the final products. Teachers will share good practices among Europe concerning school management, cultural issues and national traditions. All these could help teachers, students, parents and local public to be aware of the differences and improve the way of work. Families and representatives of the local community can attend the numerous events that we plan to organize in each school in order to promote and benefit from the project."