Documentation of "Spotlights for Tolerance"

Our Comenius project ended in July 2013. It was a wonderful, enriching experience for all the participants. This site is dedicated to our lasting friendship.

The brochure was published in 2013 - it contains all the mobilities (the diary entries about the project weeks which you can also find in this blog) plus the additional activities at all five partner schools. It can also be accessed online (in PDF format): S4T_Brochure_English.pdf

Likewise, the collection of scripts for the performances was finished then - and it is also available online (PDF): S4T_Script_complete.pdf

The DVD, containing all the performances, slideshows, footage from the workshops plus interviews or statements from the project teachers, was finished in July as well. It is not downloadable, of course, but most of the material is available via our YouTube channel.

As you may have noticed, there are also reports about the five project weeks in the national languages of the countries where they took place (see sidebar/right, second half of the "Pages"):

• Week #1 - w języku polskim"
• Week #2 - Türkçe olarak
• Week #3 - în limba română
• Week #4 - in italiano
• Week #5 - auf deutsch

We hope that this may be appreciated by parents or friends of the project participants' whose English is not quite good enough (yet) to understand the English documentation.

Under the heading "S4T Links", the sidebar offers quite a few more links now, because the videos have been grouped into playlists, and there is also an annotated collection of the performances at Themeefy.com.

Enjoy!

Project week in Germany (17-23 March 2013)

The diary of this project week is available at the page about the week in Amberg.

These two pictures show a decisive moment in the performance on Thursday and a look at the audience in the Gerhardinger Hall.

These two and all the other pictures can be viewed here:

Project Week #5: Amberg, Germany - Photo Gallery

And here is the newspaper article (in German) that was published about the final performance in the "Amberger Zeitung":

"Viele neue Freundschaften" (many new friendships)

Off to Germany!

The final project week is almost there: On 17th March, the project partners are going to meet in Amberg, Germany, in order to work at the last pair of scenes on "tolerance" and to see some of the sights of the city and the region. The whole team of Dr.-Johanna-Decker-Gymnasium is awaiting its partners and friends from Italy, Poland, Romania and Turkey!
And this is the poster of the German team:

German poster for the project week 17th to 23rd March 2013

Project week in Italy (25 - 30 Nov. 2012)

The diary of this project week is available at the page about the week in Sciacca.

Project Week #4: Sciacca, Italy - Photo Gallery

To give a general impression, here's the English translation of the newspaper article that was published about it in the "Amberger Zeitung":

S4T teams on sightseeing tour in Palermo

The idea of Europe in their hearts

The fourth project week in the Comenius project “Spotlights for Tolerance” took place at the Italian partner school, IISS “Don Michele Arena” in Sciacca, involving students and teachers from Poland, Romania, Turkey and Germany.

As far as size is concerned, this town on the southern coast of Sicily is just like Amberg - but there are also huge differences, both climatically and geographically. So, for example, everybody had to get out their summer clothes for the stroll along Sciacca sea front - in balmy 24° Celsius air (very unusual at this time of the year for the teams from Poland, Romania and Germany, but no surprise for the Turkish team).

But the mild climate was only a pleasant side effect - everybody gave their best for the common theatre project, directed by drama teacher and tour guide Liz Mitchell.

In this variation of the “tolerance” topic, there were two “restaurants” that had sharply contrasting atmospheres. One of the stage restaurants was intolerant, and customers who looked or behaved differently were treated very unkindly or even thrown out; the other restaurant was a tolerant one - with a completely different tone and behaviour towards unusual customers: friendly and welcoming. After playing out these differences in a variety of nuances, the players came to the middle of the stage, one by one, each giving the opposite number in the other restaurant a greeting of peace and reconciliation.

English teacher Rosaria Gallerano, the local coordinator, had put together an attractive sightseeing programme. It started with getting to know the charming town of Sciacca, whose harbour and medieval town centre were admired by the visitors. Other sights during the week were the Valley of the Temples, with the town of Agrigento next to it, the mountain village of Erice with its impressive castle, and the beautiful city of Palermo, where the project team visited the cathedral and its extraordinary mixture of architectural styles, and the Cappella Palatina with its marvellous mosaic interior from Norman times.

The Comenius project teams were given warm welcomes by the mayor of Sciacca, Fabrizio Di Paola, and by the head of the Carabinieri for Agrigento province, Colonnello Riccardo Sciuto. The reception at the Carabinieri headquarters was something unusual, but its link to the project became clear in Sciuto’s speech. He underlined the importance of a twofold look at the law: On the one hand, law enforcement (from top down) is vital, but on the other hand, the support of law through the community (from the roots) is indispensable; so citizens and the executive must keep together. This is the only way to fight organized crime, e.g. the Mafia, and to stop it. Tolerance is important, he said, but there must be no tolerance for illegality.

Great hospitality, great emotions and great gestures - this might be a fitting summary of this meeting of European partners. The celebration of welcome and farewell parties with national anthems and the European anthem, the performances of the partner countries, especially the songs, dances and presentations of the “Don Michele Arena” students, and the speeches of headmistress Gabriella Bruccoleri, who demonstrated a convincing and energetic enthusiasm for Europe, - all this made it clear to the students that this cooperation of partner schools across European borders is something really substantial. One of the main aims of the project, however, friendship between students from different countries, developed on its own - growing from acting together, cooperating on the stage, sharing curiosity and surprise about the beauties of Sicilian culture and landscape, and the joy about feeling welcome in the families that hosted their European guests and spoiled them with delicious food.

Full of gratitude, all the participants took leave at the end - looking forward together to the last project week, which is going to take place at Dr.-Johanna-Decker-Gymnasium in Amberg in the middle of March.

Project week in Romania (21 - 27 Oct. 2012)

Comenius S4T Team in front of Sibiu townhall

The diary of this project week is available in the page about the week in Sibiu. If you just want to see how enjoyable our time in Sibiu and other places in Romania was, you can start by clicking on the link below to have a look at our photo gallery:

Project Week #3: Sibiu, Romania - Photo Gallery

To give a general impression, here's the English translation of the newspaper article that was published about it in the "Amberger Zeitung":

For Tolerance, Against Prejudice

Pupils of Decker School in Exchange Project in Romania with People from Italy, Poland and Turkey

Amberg.  The European-Commission-funded Comenius project “Spotlights for Tolerance”, coordinated by Dr.-Johanna-Decker-Gymnasium, was continued in the Romanian city of Sibiu (Hermannstadt). Five DJDG pupils in 10th and 11th grade travelled to experience a week with a rich schedule, accompanied by Julia Simbeck and project coordinator Peter Ringeisen.
English teacher Corina Pavelescu and her team at Colegiul National “Gheorghe Lazar” had organized the programme for the pupils and teachers from Amberg, Sciacca (Italy), Chojnice (Poland), Salihli (Turkey) and of course for the hosts themselves, too.

Getting to know culture

At the centre of the project there is, on the one hand, designing, rehearsing and performing theatrical scenes on the topic of tolerance and prejudice; on the other hand, it’s about getting to know the partner countries’ culture - and finally, as a basis for all this, getting to know other young Europeans, which is ideal for practising tolerance and getting rid of prejudices. The theatre workshop was conducted by young actress Lorelei Gazawi, assisted by teachers Corina Pavelescu and Daniela Sacalean. Two scenes were developed there: An innocent man is accused of stealing money, but of course he denies having done anything wrong. At a loss what to do, the bystanders call upon historical ruler Vlad Tepes to bring justice.

Excursion to Dracula

When Tepes arrives in the second scene, the real villain tries to deceive him at first, but then he is found out and punished - and the wrongly accused is asked for forgiveness. The two scenes are linked by a videoclip that shows how the people call the just ruler for help (in Romanian) - and while doing that, they are running up the stairs to Bran Castle. In order to be able to film that sequence, the whole team made an excursion to Bran Castle, which actually used to belong to the nobleman who inspired author Bram Stoker to write a novel about the vampire Count Dracula. The castle, however, gave a rather more cosy than horrifying impression, as the visitors were pleased to note.
At the beginning of the week, the participants of the project were welcomed by Sibiu’s mayor, Klaus Johannis, in the townhall. His wish that the guests from the other European countries may enjoy their stay, turned into exquisite reality. The families who hosted and cared for the pupils won their hearts as did the city and the country with its numerous sights and its open and friendly atmosphere. What was especially impressive in the programme were the guided tours through Sibiu City centre and of the fortress city of Sighisoara, but also seeing the extraordinary play “A Streetcar Named Popescu”, which is set inside (and outside) a moving tram and is played in four languages.
At the end, the pupils were proud that the performance of their own scenes worked out very well, and they all agreed: “We would love to stay longer!” Although this was not possible, it is already at the end of November when the project teams (with new pupils) will meet in Sciacca, Sicily - and there will be a reunion of many good friends in March 2013, for the final project week in Amberg.

Amberger Zeitung, 6. November 2012 (Nr. 256), p. 19 (translation into English: German team)

Off to Romania!

Everyone is looking forward now to meeting again, this time in lovely Sibiu, in the middle of Romania. We'll arrive on Sunday, 21st Oct. 2012, and we'll enjoy Romanian hospitality until 26th or 27th Oct., respectively.
This is the great poster that the Romanian team have put together. Have a safe journey everyone, see you in Sibiu!

Summary of the First Year of S4T

This prezi gives you a short survey of our main activities during the first year of "Spotlights for Tolerance (S4T)", the drama project in the EU funded Comenius programme, a sub programme of the Lifelong Learning Programme of the European Commission.

Comenius Project S4T - First Year (2011/12) on Prezi