ART AS A LANGUAGE

Art as a Language was carried out internationally between four European schools from Poland, Cyprus, Spain and Bulgaria. It was dedicated to students aged 13 - 15. The students worked within the frames of art in order to present their national cultural heritage in the wider world and share their common ideas, feelings and truths of beauty, harmony, respect and cooperation. All project activities aimed at allowing students from different countries, backgrounds and of different religious beliefs to communicate with each other with the help of non-verbal forms of communication. It enabled the young people to bridge the communication gap by being involved in diffrent kinds of art activities such as painting, drawing, dancing, singing or designing. All action done in multinational teams resulted in mutual understanding and cooperation on a very high level. Each visit abroad had a different theme. In Spain we discovered the architecture of partner countries, in Bulgaria we practised stage movement while dancing Bulgarian folklore, in Poland we presented national music and composers and in Cyprus we photographed Cypriot artifacts and painted. Meanwhile, at our schools, we did research on art and did art itself too. Hence, we tried to evoke artistic awareness among the young people by welcoming them to create their own works of art or to participate in diffrent kinds of workshops on art, film, architecture or dance. The project promoted an open-minded aprach and helped students learn about new cultures. They realised that art might serve as a bridge to meet and understand one another. In result, both students and teachers made new international social bonds and their friendships last till today. Moreover, the project assumed an innovative approach to the teaching and learning process. We used a student-activating teaching method based on David Kolb's learning styles, which stimulated students’ creativity and motivation to act. Students planned and organised their own work, presented materials, critically analysed resources and information. They also prepared themselves to make public appearances and express their opinions. Furthermore, the main project ideas were integrated with the school curricula. All this made the project extremely valuable in our school environment regarding an innovative way of information sharing. Besides, the project promoted the use of ICT tools to achieve the goals.Moreover, all project participants used English as a language of communication, which caused that their language skills improved. The European dimension of the project was enhanced by the discovery of other European cultures and making comparisons between them, which led to the conclusion that each of us belongs to a common European environment.