The project “Staging me - staging you(th)” allowed students to deal with every day youth issues through writing and performing plays. In the first year they dealt with the topics family, friends and school , in the 2nd year with the theme “future” . The plays were produced in lessons and clubs in each respective country and written and performed in English. Three drama workshops and one project meeting for planning at the beginning were held. In the first two workshops in Greece and Lithuania plays about the topics of the first year were performed. The last workshop in Germany presented plays about the future. Each play was performed by 4 to 11 students. All the plays and reports about other events could and can be read on the website of the project. The plays were filmed and other film material from the workshops was documented on DVDs. Lots of students built up personal contact beyond the project meetings that was lived through chats, emails and personal visits. The project involved students and teachers of different years and from different subjects as well as parents and others.
The main aims of your Partnership
The main aims of this project were to write, act, and publish plays based on topics of the everyday life of young people. The products were to be presented on a shared website and performed in a drama workshops. The intended documentation of the project included films and a printed version in a book.
Some other aims of the project were:
· to create personal contact between students from different countries
· to develop ability to work in a team, to respect the work of others, to feel empathy (they have to understand how others feel, why they behave the way they do when they play a character in a play that is culturally far away from their own experience
· to learn about other cultures, about every day life of young people in these countries
· develop the acceptance of differences and help eliminate potential prejudices, to challenge preconceptions, stereotypes and xenophobia by wherever possible actively engaging parents and the local community in activities and through links with other related institutions.
· to develop language improvement (To improve pupils’ language skills by using materials specifically developed by the project staff), pupils build-up their writing, reading, listening and speaking skills in foreign languages
· to initiate process of self-reflection at a time when young people try to find their identity
· to raise the students’ creative potential (writing and acting)
· to develop self-confidence and stronger personalities through the success as a writer and actor / actress
Communication and cooperation
English was used throughout the project, i.e. as language for the plays and as the language of communication at the meetings and in email communication.
Generally the project was based on a very close and frequent communication of all partners throughout the two years via email and at personal meetings. This guaranteed a very intensive and immediate exchange about everything that concerned the project. The fact that most aims of the partnership were achieved and even an additional workshop was held proves that the cooperation worked and the team managed to find agreement even at times when they were problems and differing views and wishes. Each country was willing to take responsibilities and tasks and to pursue the common goals that the project as a whole was based on.
Since only four of the seven countries that handed in an application for the partnership were finally granted the permission to take part by their national agencies, the project needed some fundamental changes in its organisation and the planning, especially for the times and the locations of the workshops. Agreeing on these changes was not always easy, as very understandably each country was very interested in hosting an event.
Evaluation and monitoring
Monitoring and evaluation of the project were mainly carried out through evaluation sessions at the project meetings and through regular exchange by emails. There feedback was exchanged about the students´ and other people´s appreciation of the project and its events. The website offered the possibility for all participants to write comments on the plays and thereby evaluate the quality of the contribution. It also gave everyone the chance to comment on the website itself or the project as a whole and to voice the personal experience with our Comenius project in a chat or a voice-thread. Within the national teams meetings were held by teachers, students and parents to discuss experiences and use these insights to develop and shape the next steps in the project.
The main conclusion was that the whole project could be considered a huge success and an unforgettable experience for all those who got involved, especially those who travelled. Over the two years the project became more and more popular with the students and more and more of them wanted to be part of it. It became clear that the workshops were the heart and soul of this project and the best, most efficient and lasting way to further the aims of the project. This is one reason why one more workshop than planned was held.
Other – yet minor – consequences included the following: At an early stage of the problem it became obvious that the original idea to vote for the best plays, to use this as the basis for choosing them for the performances and to perform plays written in other countries could not be carried out. The enormous difference in age of the students in the four countries made it impossible to compare or to identify with material produced by much older or much younger students. It was decided that the choice of the plays for the drama workshops was given into the hands of each Comenius team and it was limited to a play from their own production since it turned out that these plays were more compatible with the needs that come with a stage performance and those that arise from other material or financial restrictions. The original plan to perform one play together in the last workshop turned out to be unrealistic after the experience from the first workshops. Again the age difference but also the problem of writing a play of such an enormous scope made the international Comenius team change its plan.
In addition to that and with regard to the online voting we had planned it seemed more important to show positive appreciation of the students´ efforts rather than discriminate with regards to the quality. Therefore comments replaced voting.
Another conclusion concerned the topics. At the first meeting and in the first months it became clear that the strict separation into periods of three to four months for one topic could not be held since holidays and exam dates in each country differed too much. For the last year the decision was made to focus on one topic since the time between the second workshop in Lithuania and the last one in Germany was too short to write about more than one topic, especially since it was an important one for the project.
Inter-cultural dialogue
Inter-cultural dialogue was achieved through the exchange of plays all readable on a joint website and the workshops where young people from different cultures gave an impression of their youth culture, their ways of thinking and of seeing the world. Many free time activities that were part of the official programme or spontaneously carried out together helped to find a deeper insight into the other cultures and to forge bonds between the young people. At school level many classes got the chance to welcome foreign students in their lessons and find out more about the other cultures.
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