TATU


Comenius Multilateral


Through Acting To Understanding - TATU


2010-2012


Coordination:
Ana Paula Baptista (ana.baptista@agr1beja.pt)

         Goethegymnasium Hildesheim
·         EBI de Santa Maria - Beja
·         Gymnázium Unicov, Gymnazijní
·         Dolapoglu Anadolu Lisesi

Information:
Play-acting is an activity that naturally allows communication and interaction, both on and away from the stage. Once we have all participants to the project exchange their ideas and experience in the planning phases and eventually perform the results to an international audience, once we have them cooperate in joint workshops during the mobilities, we are deeply convinced that through communication and interaction they will get to a deeper and more thorough understanding of each other. That is why we have called our project "Through acting to understanding" and given it the acronym "Tatu", because we believe that common drama experience and its outcome will imprint on all participants like a tattoo. To conceive and perform their plays on family rituals and/or ethnic and cultural bias students will have to inquire and collect information about their partner countries to give their works a proper setting. There will certainly be interesting and fruitful discussions once the plays are performed during the first mobility. A similar effect is expected in the second phase, when a fixed plot on "bad habits" is suggested to the participants which has to be realised and put on stage by the others. Inter-cultural learning will also take place during the joint workshops in the middle of the project, when all partners get together and work on acting techniques in mixed groups. All in all we do believe to have created a project that is exciting and will offer an insight into European cultures, helping to increase a mutual understanding. 

Objectives:
By exchanging personal information about family rituals in everyday situations the intercultural dimension of learning will be fostered. The mobility and approach of teachers and students from the E.U. and Turkey will be promoted in order to contribute to a better quality of their aptitudes. Both students and teachers will be involved in the accomplishment of play-acting techniques. The project will contribute to an improvement of the knowledge of languages and culture of all participants by compiling a glossary of technical terms related to drama and basic communication skills. In the course of the project participants shall be able to recognize and get over cultural stereotypes by being conscious of the other points of view and of the possibility to change one’s opinion. Participants shall get to know and be increasingly able to respect the others, accepting and appreciating their work and value each others' suggestions. By having the students work on the project's objectives their intellect and imagination shall be stimulated and their creativity be encouraged. As the project language is English students are given opportunity to use English outside their daily needs. Conceiving and rehearsing plays on the basis of given stories develops all participants' ability to empathise with others and thus they will become better communicators and receivers. Students will be able to read social-cultural messages of different peoples when exchanging the students' stories and to relate them to their own personality. By dealing with the issue of „bad habits“ the students' set of values will develop and they will achieve a greater maturity. Through the use of new technologies (ICT) students and teachers will develop their ability to communicate

Results:
Joint responsibilities: All school involved commit themselves to the presentation of their schools, home towns and regions via LMS. Moreover the exchange of teachers’, students’ and headmasters’ profiles is promoted by all participants including the motivation of students inquiring about family rituals and cultural and ethnic bias via the learning management system (LMS). Each school is in charge of realizing a local contest about the project logo and the production of a T-shirt. All partners start the work on the glossary in the respective language by the compilation of drama related words and expressions of basic communication. Recurring questionnaires about the project’s realization are filled in regularly by all partners. Therefore, the platform will help to monitor the development and conclusion of activities within the scheduled time. Portugal will install the communication platform and administrate and supervise the voting for the project logo via LMS. Turkey will also be in charge of the installation of the communication platform and beyond that organize and host the first meeting. The Czech Republic assumes responsibility for the preparation of the glossaries by deciding on the set of words to be incorporated. Germany will be the coordinating school of the project. The German partners will be in charge of organizing and hosting the final project meeting, the performance of the plays as well as the final assessment of the project. France will organize and host the second project meeting, where workshops on play-acting techniques for students will take place, as well as the monitoring meeting for teachers and the meeting of all headmasters. They will be further responsible for the management of the videoconferencing scheme. Romania will be in charge of developing the questionnaire on the assessment of participants, subjects, cultural encounters and the project activities. Moreover, they assume responsibility for the evaluation and publication of results of the questionnaires on LMS before the first and third meeting.