Austria meets Lithuania - developing interpersonal and intercultural competences

"<< Background >>During the pandemic two English teachers at Private HLW Amstetten and Kaunas Santara Gymnasium and their students met via the platform ""Cambridge penfriends"". As they got on very well, they decided to work together more closely in the form of joint online lessons on various topics. These were a great benefit for both students and teachers and a window to the world outside. After the pandemic the two teachers decided to apply for the small-scale partnership to continue working together, to experience the other country's culture they had heard so much about online and to meet their partners in real life.The project addressed the students' needs to learn more about European values and to put them into practice with a transnational partner. << Objectives >>Our major planned achievements were to develop the students' intercultural and interpersonal skills, to give them fresh perspectives after the pandemic and to make them aware of the great chances open to them as EU-citizens. We aimed to include students with vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds and/or chronic diseases. << Implementation >>The project consisted of four activities. There were two visits to either country, which concentrated on the cultural heritage as well as the traditions of Lithuania and Austria respectively. A special focus was put on cooking traditional meals together. Under the supervision of a photography teacher, a member of the teaching staff at the Austrian school, professional pictures were taken by the participants during all four activities. The name of the photo project is ""I am us - Ich bin wir - Aš esu mes"".The project included between-mobilities work as well, in the form of video conferences and phone calls of the partners.<< Results >>On an ideational level, the results were a close bond and friendships among the students, which the teachers would never have dreamed of. Moreover, in the course of the project, the students gained a lot of maturity, self-confidence and were empowered on several levels. Particularly the students with vulnerable socio-economic backgrounds and/or chronic diseases benefitted to a very large degree. The evaluation in the form of blogs and questionnaires showed that the students are familiar with the culture of the partner's country, appreciate European values and look into the future optimistically. The concrete outputs and results of the photo project ""I Am Us"" were a photo shooting in the photo studio of the Austrian school, a trans-national cookery book, an E-calendar showing cultural highlights of the activities and a vernissage and art exhibition in the shopping centre of Amstetten with a big number of visitors and the Lithuanian ambassador as the guest of honour."