Common Study Program

               

Study Program for the Project

European approach – Exploring – Experiencing - Exchanging

Common study program has been planned together with the partner organizations. The program consists of facts about the European Union and facts (e.g. history, geography, climate, nature, population, culture and economy) about partnership countries.  When they study issues above they can also have motivation to learn English and computer skills. Each partner can adapt this program to their study group according to the composition and needs of the group.

Background

The common rationale of the project is increasing the feeling of European togetherness by offering adult learners opportunities to study facts about EU and explore European countries and get experiences of international living. Increased mobility, studies of English and IT skills and new networks with the project partners help to achieve these goals.

Adult learners need more facts about the European Union to get a better understanding of the politics, aims and functions of the EU. They need also more facts about member countries of the EU and the everyday life of people to get a better understanding of different cultures and problems that may occur because of lacking data and / or different attitudes and prejudices. They also need to become familiar with big questions to be solved in the future, e.g. population, climate change, nature environment, working life, social issues, family life and health.

Objectives

The project is for adult learners a chance to learn more facts about their partner countries and the European Union and get readiness to understand needs and problems which are to be solved in the wide European Union now and in the future. They will have the opportunity to rethink their attitudes and reduce their prejudices through new friendships and cooperation with other countries.

Many elderly people have not learned enough foreign languages and IT skills. When they study issues above they also can learn closer English and computer skills in order to participate in the various tasks of the project. They need to collect material from the Internet. The learners will need ICT skills to communicate with their partners. They will be more motivated to study when they are working with concrete issues.

For teachers / tutors the project will give a chance to develop their methods to activate and motivate adult learners to study in groups and to become familiar with the learning method of project work.  They will have a chance to benchmark their colleagues from abroad, because possibilities of LLL are different in the participating countries.

For the organizations the project will give a way to find new approaches and aims for their learners, as it is sometimes difficult to get people to study complicated social matters. Through the mobility and partnership meetings the organizations and learners can establish continuing cooperation with other partners after the project has finished.

For a wider public in participating countries the project gives a chance to become familiar with distant countries and open to different cultures - and to some extent also reaches the same aims as the learners in the project. In the course of the project and after that we are going to inform also other elderly people around about the results of our project in the form of exhibitions and meetings.

Methodology

The studies consist of working in the study groups and participating in the partnership meetings.  In connection with the partnership meetings the matters learned in the study groups will be presented in the form of portfolios. The participants will get acquainted with the hosting country through study visits and cultural program.  Each partner's own country will be presented according to the theme of the meeting.

Each partner will organize study groups (study circles) of adult learners. The groups will study in couples, after studies of about three months the groups will change partners. E. g. in the first phase Estonia will work with Poland, Finland with Greece and Italy with Turkey, while Portugal is preparing the first partnership meeting. When working in pairs the intention is to offer a possibility to interchange and deeper discussion between the groups during the study period as well as at the partnership meetings.

In the first phase the Estonian partner has to collect material about Poland and the Polish partner about Estonia etc. Material found on the internet, music, recordings, films and also literary sources will be used as material for the studies. As for current issues e. g. newspapers and magazines will be used as a source of information. The scope of the studies is 15-24 lessons during one period of working in pairs and the total length 90-120 lessons covering seven study periods.

Each partner will organize a partnership meeting in their own country. The partner organizations and tutors have a chance to evaluate the progress, the methods used and the feedback from the earlier phase. The learners will have a chance to learn more about the target country and continue discussions with their couples and to make friends at a personal level. With the aid of portfolios the study groups will indicate the others what impression they have got about their working partner.  The portfolios can include folders of study material, Power Point presentations etc.

Connected to each meeting there will be arranged an International Fair where the partners can present their own organization, their home region and culture as well as themes of the meeting for the participants and local public.

Common themes for the partnership meetings

                             Lisbon, Portugal; History of Portugal, and especially the Age of Discovery

                             Athens, Greece; Arts

                             Białystok, Poland; Gastronomy

                             Palamuse, Estonia; Dance and Music

                             Konya, Turkey: Handicrafts

                             Naples, Italy; Europe and us

                             Kouvola, Finland; Nature Environment

Example of the contents of the first study period about Greece in Finland

14 Sep 2010	Our ideas about Greece and the Greeks  x), general information on Greece, current news from Greece, a few words of the Greek language. Greek music as a starter
28 Sep 2010	Greek history, general information on Greece, current news from Greece, a few words of the Greek language.  Information about EU. A representative of an EU information office as our guest. Greek music as a starter
5 Oct 2010	Greek history,  a few words of the Greek language. Greek music as a starter
19 Oct 2010	Natural environment and geography of Greece, a few words of Greek. Greek music as a starter
2 Nov 2010	Greek student's opinions about Finland – politics, economy, industry, population.  A few words of Greek. Greek music as a starter
16 Nov 2010	Greek culture:  Arts, music, items on the UNESCO list.  Greek language – food vocabulary. A Greek exchange student was as our guest. Feedback of the study period. Greek music as a starter

Discussion between groups

x) Our preconceptions about Greece and the Greeks (questions):

WHAT VIEWS OR IMAGES DO YOU HAVE ABOUT GREECE AND THE GREEKS?

HOW / ON WHAT BASES HAVE YOU FORMED YOUR OPINIONS?

WHICH OF THESE VIEWS ARE MOSTLY POSITIVE?

WHICH OF YOUR VIEWS ARE MOSTLY NEGATIVE?

HOW WELL ARE YOU ACQUAINTED WITH GREECE OR GREEK PEOPLE?

WHAT WOULD YU LIKE TO KNOW ABOUT GREECE AND GREEK PEOPLE?

Questions from Greek study group to Finns

Our preconceptions about Finland

What do we want to learn or/and know better:

               - How the people’s behavior and habits are affected by the climate?

               - Waste management system

               - Food and drink

               - History of sauna

               - Is there any official religion?

               - Are there migrants in Finland?

                    - Are there conflicts with the neighbored countries?

                    - More info on the educational system

               - More about finish culture and everyday life

               - Distances between villages and sometimes between houses are long. We are wondering how you develop your human relationships.

Updated by Kuusankoski Hiking Club / Seppo Tahvanainen

Partner meetings

European Approach – Partner meetings

Summary of the partner meetings through Finnish eyes

During the project seven partner meetings were arranged, one in each country.  The partners took it in turns to host a meeting, each partner in their own country. In each meeting there was a presentation about things which had been learned during the previous period. The idea was that the partners (except for the hosting country) worked in pairs and studied topics about each other’s country and presented their work (portfolios) to other participants.

Connected to each meeting there was an International Fair and Cultural visits where the partners presented their own organisation, their home region and culture as well as themes of the meeting.  Naturally the program also included Staff meetings where the process of the project was evaluated and the future activities were planned.

In November 2010 the series of meetings started in Lisbon, Portugal.  The common theme was the History of Portugal, and especially the Age of Discovery.  We also had the opportunity to listen to Fado music and to try typical Portuguese cuisine.  History became familiar to us at some impressive destinations during the study visits.  With our Greek partner we also discussed the refugee problem of the Mediterranean region.

The second partner meeting was in Athens, Greece, in February 2011.  The theme was Art.  The many cultural destinations in Athens and the Peloponnesus were really apt for this purpose.  Also the discussion about illegal immigration continued among the participants.  The trip to the partner meeting was quite something else than just a tourist trip.  This was partly due to the critical situation in Greece, demonstrations, strikes and symptoms of the economical crisis.

In May 2011 it was the Polish partner's turn to be host for the third meeting.  The meeting was held in Białystok.  The common theme was Gastronomy, but in addition the participants were provided with a comprehensive presentation about the multicultural history and rich natural environment of Northeastern Poland.  The bus trip from Warsaw to Białystok lasting several hours also gave a good picture of the Polish countryside with its small towns and villages. 

At the shift of July-August 2011 the fourth partner meeting was arranged in Palamuse, Estonia.  The common theme, dance and music, could be experienced also in practice.  The Estonian countryside, the natural environment, folktales as well as the biggest cities Tallinn and Tartu were presented from aspects which were new even to Finnish participants. The Finish study group returned to the Tartu region again in October for a weekend when we visited new places and also met our Estonian partners for a quiz about Estonia and Finland.

To the fifth meeting we travelled as far as Konya in Turkey in November 2011. The common theme was handicraft, but we also had the opportunity to acquaint ourselves with Mevlana culture, Sema performance and places of some very early settlements in the known human history.  Some of them can still be seen in Konya region.  The difference between the Turkish and the North European cultures was inspiring and gave reason to new thinking and rechecking of our attitudes.

The Finnish people's sixth and the last trip was to Naples, Italy, in March 2012.  The future of Europe is very much under public debate, and so it was discussed also at this meeting.  Also here the difference in the way of action compared with our ways enabled us to learn something new about the European integration and the problems connected to it.

The seventh meeting was held in Kouvola in June 2012.  The theme was Nature and Environment.

The topic had been prepared by different partners by collecting pictures of the photographers' favorite places and also places where the human activities are not in harmony with the natural environment. The photographer also had to give reasons for why he or she had taken this particular picture.  A large number of our own members took part in the hosting and in various events of the meeting.

Evaluation of the meetings

At all the meetings feedback was collected from the participants. The evaluation includes the program, organisation and interaction. The evaluation of the Palamuse meeting is not available. The participants used the scale: ”very good” - ”good” - ”fair” - ”poor” - ”not enough information”.  At all points of evaluation the answers accumulated to the levels”very good” and”good”.  There were differences between different meetings.  These were due to e.g. different program, organisation, or the combination of the participants.

As regards content, objectives and methods, the highest points were given to”Interest of the subject” and”Cultural visits related to the subject”.  A clear majority gave the mark”Very good”.  The clear need for improvement was in ”Time management”.  Here the most common answer was”Good”, but”Fair” answers were more frequent than in other cases.

In the evaluations concerning”Interaction” the best marks were given to”General atmosphere of the meeting” for which the majority gave the mark ”Very good”. ”Communication/cooperation between participants” and”Possibility to take part as an active participant” gathered the most”Good” answers.

English was the common language in the meetings, but what we can gather from the feedback shows that there have been gaps in the command of English and the communication between the participants has partly relied on expressions and gestures and partly on the interpretation of those who speak English better.

In evaluations connected to”Logistics” the”Accommodation” and the”Transport” gathered the most”Very Good” marks. The biggest need for improvement was in”Support equipment”, although in this question the level was above”Good”. Poor compatibility of the equipment and programs caused also problems in time management in some cases.

The hosting organisation was responsible for the program but the head coordinator composed the agendas of the staff meetings.  The evaluation forms differed from each other on”Meeting Program”.  Generally the best marks ”Very good” were given to some cultural visits, like the culture program in Lisbon (including Fado), the Cappadoccia tour in Turkey, the Peloponnesus tour in Greece and all events organised in Finland.  In Poland the highest marks were given to the ”International Fair” with a big selection of food, musical program and active participation of the members of the project. Unfortunately, the Italian partner did not ask for evaluations of the specific items of their program.

For the”Overall assessment” of all meetings was accumulated on the scale ”Very good” -”Good.

”Very good” gathered most answers.  ”Overall assessment” was given by 137 participants.  The answers of Palamuse are missing from this figure.  All in all the number of foreign participants in the partner meetings was more than 160.  In addition there were the participants of the hosting organisations, which is estimated to be almost the same as the number of foreign participants.  Therefore we can be very satisfied with the mobility part of our project, both for numbers and outputs.  Text: Seppo Tahvanainen