PROJECT SLUBFURT:

LINKING THROUGH LEARNING

An Inter-Cultural Strategy by Team 1

Shravan BhatEva WoldrichKatja SiepmannMarie BosseurFranziska GrimmDoreen TharannLena Gorbulina

Introduction

Process- Research – Expert Interviews. Why? Analysis & Strategy Formulation –

RDP Map. What? Strategy Implementation - How?

Structure of research project – Shared responsibility by all team-members, utilising individual strengths.

Research Interview 1: Mr Michael Kurzwelly

Face to face interview with the renowned action artist living in Frankfurt Oder and Slubice.

Discussed resources available to Slubfurt, deficits and problems facing the region and potential for growth.

Feedback was transcribed and fed into the RDP Map model for analysis.

Mr Kurzwelly carrying the Slubfurt logo

Existing initiatives:

Polish-German academy for senior students at Viadrina University

International/bilingual kindergarten in Frankfurt/Slublice International/bilingual school (Karl-Liebknecht-

Gymnasium) Slubfurt “Mediathek” Institute for applied history offering excursions for

Germans with polish roots/family background to locations of personally historical importance

Workshops with German and polish children focusing on the topic Identity (organized by Mr. Kurzwelly)

Bilingual Slubfurt calendar (with German and polish vocabulary, organizational tips in the region, interesting information regarding German and polish holidays...)

Deficits/Problems:

Lack of historical knowledge (local and regional history, roots of inhabitants, migration movements in the area/exchange of inhabitants)

Different social psyche and mentality in Germany and Poland Big differences in economic power on the two sides   Lack of intercultural competence of the pedagogues in the

international/bilingual institutes Language barriers No public transport links

Potentials:

Fast growing dynamic Polish economy gives potential for mutual projects with Germany

Creating networks between German and Polish inhabitants Learning about local history as the a motor of intercultural

exchange

Deficits/Problems:

Evaluation of Interview

It was our first interview and it gave us a good overview of the existing initiatives, problems/deficits and the potentials in this cross-border area. On the back of the results of this interview we had our first brainstorming session concerning different fields for further research. Mr. Kurzwelly was the key person and the starting point in our project. He is considered as the most important person in the “Slubfurt-ideology”.

Research Interview 2:Mrs Izabela Glisic

Telephone interview with the leader of the former Polish-German youth club.

She is now working for the Polish-German Economic Network

We asked her about the youth club, its popularity, function and use as a tool for inter-cultural cooperation

Research Interview 3:Mr. Wolfgang Mayer

Mr. Mayer is the director of Karl-Liebknecht-Gymnasium (secondary school)in FFO

Again, we focused on existing resources and initiatives, deficits /problems and potentials for growth.

Initiatives: German-Polish project (introduced in 1992) which focuses

explicitly on the intercultural contact and work with Polish pupils.

at the moment: 3 teachers from Poland (teaching art, music, and Polish/literature) and 103 Polish pupils out of 830 pupils.

German students can learn Polish as a second foreign language. The special intercultural focus is realized in all subjects through

the teachers. For instance, the history lessons are concentrated on the German-Polish history.

From the 10th grade onwards the school offers Polish pupils (26 every year) the chance to attend classes at the Karl-Liebknecht secondary school.

Kopernikus-Project: German pupils live 6 months or one year in Poland in host

families and attend classes at one of the partner schools and vice versa. Until now 12-13 pupils have participated. Currently 3 pupils are living in Poznan for one year.

Latarnia-Project: since 2003: German pupils and Polish pupils having lessons in

Slubice ”Gimnazjum Nr. 2”  and FFO in exchange.

Initiatives:

Deficits/Problems:

They couldn't concentrate on the intercultural competences due to the reduction of employees which started in the last four years.

As well can`t employ new and young teachers with intercultural competence.

Due to few time and stress of the teachers no focus on intercultural training and there aims

Ineffective trainings in the past reduced the interest among the teachers

Lack of knowledge among some teachers (especially science) about content and aim of ‘interculturality’.

Potentials:

the students from the master “Intercultural Communication Studies” create a questionnaire for the teachers to get an idea about their interests in the field of intercultural communication and their deficits in that area.

to develop a catalogue with different types and explanations of intercultural trainings from which the teachers can choose their preferences

- to offer the teachers an intercultural training each month in cooperation with the students of the Viadrina- due to time restriction of the teachers the intercultural trainings should be launched at the school

- the trainings are conducted from German as well Polish trainers - they should focus on: a) intercultural communication in general, b) teaching-methods for the different subjects to make the students aware of interculturality (potentials and risks), for example: how to avoid stereotypingc) other topics proposed by the teachers - this process should be evaluated regularly to guarantee the quality and effectivity of the trainings

Analysis and Strategy Development

Resources-Deficits-Potentials Map 1

R: Existing Polish-German academy for senior students; rooms for free sponsored by CP/Viadrina Universität; polish-german translators.

D: no organized structure; irregular frequency; no public transport

P: increase the senior academy to a full scale curriculum / certificated course; regular classes; developing a PR-strategy

Source: Interview with Mr. Kurzwelly

Resources-Deficits-Potentials Map 2

R: Intercultural / polish-german school: Karl-Liebknecht Gymnasium FFO

D: teachers lacking of intercultural competence

P: intercultural workshops for teachers offered by Viadrina-students; preparing history classes (focusing on specific aspects of the Slubfurt region; how to avoid stereotyping; inviting local seniors to talk about their Slubfurt history/personal historical events; encourage students to do research about their roots, perhaps Polish-German family history)

Source: Interview with Mr. Kurzwelly

Resources-Deficits-Potentials Map 3

R: Slubfurt Mediathek, which is just starting to move between the different German-Polish border-cities

D: It is not well enough promoted, few people know about the exhibition.

P: Learning about local and regional history, people are asked to add personal historical documents and things to exhibition. This leads to an increased learner involvement.

Source: Interview with Mr. Kurzwelly

Strategy Implementation:

Intercultural Training

Workshop for the teachers

of the Karl-Liebrecht-

Gymnasium

Strategic Aim After observing that the teachers of the Karl-Liebrecht-

Gymnasium dealing with German and Polish pupils in their classes often lacked intercultural competences, our aim is to offer them the possibility to get intercultural skills in order to teach more effectively and easily.

We would like to give them the keys for safely developing their own creative teaching in an intercultural environment.

Our goal will be to develop intercultural awareness thanks to innovative didactical and methodological approaches that take into consideration the concepts of teaching and learning and would be integrated into any learning process

Workshop Content

In consultation with the teachers, we could define more precisely what the contents of the workshops would be in order to hold with their special needs. Nevertheless we already imagine different possible focuses of the workshop(s) that could at the end be combined or not.

Developing Inter-Cultural Awareness

Participants would be trained to perceive cultural differences, also be able to respect, understand and compare the various cultures present in the classroom and act accordingly. As we know the Inter-Cultural Competences include:

• Knowledge (traditions and customs)• Skills of interpreting and relating (eg documents

and events)• Skills of discovery and interaction• Ability to evaluate differences• Open attitude to understand and accept

differences

Workshop Conductors There are many options available with

respect to who will conduct these workshops and how: professional coaches in providing intercultural communication’s skills, professors of the department of ‘intercultural sciences of education’ of the Free University of Berlin, even students of the Viadrina-University, for example.

The most important factors in choosing trainers are quality and efficiency.

Conclusion We feel that education is the best place to

tackle the issue of integrating two cities and two cultures into one organism.

In order to expose students to the benefits of inter-cultural cooperation, we feel we have to ensure that their teachers must be well equipped to not only deliver their curriculum but to express it in such a way that the students realise the advantages of German-Polish interaction and their views and behaviour can be correctly handled.

Conclusion With this in mind, Team 1 feel that after

examining all the resources, deficits and potentials in Slubfurt, a teachers’ training workshop would be an easily implementable and highly successful campaign in the long run.

By using the resources we already have, we can invest in education – and particularly educators – to create a solid platform for the two cities:

Linking Through Learning.

Thank You