Transnational Project And 9th Of May (Europe Day)

The project presented below is the continuation of the transnational activities carried out within the project AgribuSicilia in the school year 2008-2009. Given the success and the good results obtained, it is proposed with the same formula as last year, using the achievements in terms of tools (web site: Let's taste www.carrefoursicilia.it) and methodology.

The project wants to encourage the young people involved to reflect on the cultural value of the gastronomic heritage and to give them the opportunity to exchange information about their culture with other people using food traditions as a tool.

As last year, in this project can participate pupils between 10 and 13 years old assisted by their teachers, coming from different countries (European members, candidates, others).
The main important channel for communication between the groups of pupils will be the web-site created for this project in the last edition (www.carrefoursicilia.it).

The project will have two phases:

The first one, that we call “Research and sharing of information about gastronomic heritage”, will be identical for all the groups involved; the second one, that we called “Tasting other people’s culture” and that will be dedicated to share with a public (families, other students,…) the results of the first phase, is a moment that each school can organize in different way.
Anyway, in order to give an example or, rather, an idea, we are going to describe how we will organize in Sicily this second phase.
What is very important is to share with all the transnational group also this experience, publishing on the web site a description of the event, images, photos, witnessing, and so on…

Phase 1: to research and to share information

• Each school will choose one or more groups for the participation. In Sicily will participate minimum 14 groups from all the region;

• Each group who decide to participate has to fill a form with the information about the school, their territory, their village, and about the pupils involved. They can also send to us photos or little movies.

These information will be posted in the area of the web site dedicated to the schools.

Of course, each group will have at least two characteristics:

• 1) the teacher must agree to participate to the project;
• 2) possibility to use a computer hall with ADSL connection;
• 3)to be able to work and to exchange simple information in English (the support of an English teacher can help but it is very important that she/he doesn’t substitute the pupils);

• Each group will choose a typical dish linked to local traditions (cakes or dishes that people traditionally eat in a special day as Halloween, the day of the patron saint, Christmas or other holy days etc..);
•  About this dish, they will research:
• Ingredients and the way to prepare it
• Information about the occasion in which the dish is prepared and historical information about this day/occasion. It is important that they can describe what happen and why in that day and, if possible, they  may collect photos;
• Historical information about the dish (when started the tradition to eat that dish in that day? Why? It is a tradition imported from somewhere else?....)
• If pertinent, stories or tales linked to the dish (it is suggested for this activity to involve elder people of children’s families or others “local actors”)
• The information collected will be organized in 4 or 6 forms that will be published on the web site. Each group will fill the forms directly in English and send us in order to post them on the web site.
• Will be possible to send us your information until the end of February 2010

The second phase starts From the 1st of March
We would like to share with you our idea for this phase but then please feel free to follow your own  path.

Phase two: The tastes of the others: to cook and taste the other’s culture

• Each Sicilian group will choose a dish of another country between the many, we hope, that we will have in the web site;
• One day of the European Week, that our organization realise each year around the 9th of May, will be dedicated to the gastronomic heritage.

Each group of pupils:

• Using the information in the form “Ingredients and recipe” they will cook, with the help of the families, the dish chosen in order to offer it to the public of the event;
• Using the information about the traditional and historical background of the same dish, they will prepare also a poster in order to share this information with the public who is tasting the dish;
• They will prepare also a little presentation of their experience with this project using the way that they prefer ( ex: an exhibition of pictures taken during the preparation of the dish or other phases of the project, a little film or a dramatisation,  a speech,  etc…)

A jury will award the three best works.
We hope that you would like to organise something similar (a little happening at school, or a special 9th of may or a day dedicated to the intercultural dialogue, a little recipes book for the families,..)and that you will share with us images, photos, texts, by publishing them in a special area of the web site.

We also hope that from this project other activities will come out such us meetings between the pupils by videoconferences or Comenius projects or other forms of collaboration.

The web site that it is already on-line with the results of the project realized last year so, please have a look and we will be happy to have your comments and, if you agree with the idea, your manifestation of interest by filling, as soon as possible, the form here annexed.