Another meeting for students of the VIII Vocational and Technical High School No. 1 from Chernivtsi in Ukraine as part of the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324 took the form of a meeting with close neighbors through the screening of documentary films about Poland.

During the show, students had the opportunity to see visit Polish monuments on the UNESCO World Heritage List, hear about Polish culture and traditions and get to know traditional Polish cuisine.

Everyone was impressed by the beauty of the country, which is so close to them, and which so far most of them have not had the opportunity to visit. Many people declared their willingness to visit the places seen in the film and try many traditional dishes. We hope that the planned trips will be realized as soon as possible!

Students participating in the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324, eager to expand their knowledge about their western neighbors, once again focused on the symbols that characterize a given country. This time, however, they focused a bit more on Polish symbols. Each of them was additionally translated into Polish so that the students could learn new words in Polish.

As part of the classes, they learned that Poland has 3 special national symbols:

• emblem: White Eagle,
• colors: white and red
• anthem: Mazurek Dąbrowskiego

In addition to national symbols, Poland has many other symbols that characterize this country, e.g. birch, poppy, stork, European bison and many others. Pupils getting to know the map of Poland and its voivodships in detail also learned what symbols a given voivodship or city is associated with.

At the end of the classes, all students were divided into groups, in which each had the task to describe the remembered symbols of Poland and compare them with the symbols of Ukraine. While presenting their work against the backdrop of all the students, each one in turn talked about a symbol of his choice and presented what makes it unique for a given country.

Continuing the training entitled “Tolerance will save the world” as part of the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324  Ukrainian youth got to know customs and culture, e.g. European or Asian countries.

During the classes, everyone contemplated the topic of tolerance for themselves and their countrymen – are Ukrainians a tolerant nation?

The thoughts of the young people in the groups were the same – Ukrainians are very tolerant. Due to the fact that all are associated with the fact that more tolerant people are those who belong to the customs of culture and other countries, therefore the participants of the project achieve that they are to explore their knowledge in this area.

As part of the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324, teachers and students of the VIII Vocational and Technical Secondary School No. 1 from Chernivtsi in Ukraine took part in a training entitled “Tolerance will save the world”.

The aim of the training was:

• stimulating the imagination of students in search of their own understanding of tolerance
• shaping a clear idea of tolerance in students,
• developing the ability to communicate with other people,
• interacting with others on the basis of compassion, understanding and kindness

Students, with the support of teachers, wrote down and then described in detail the symbols of different countries and translated them into Polish, learning single Polish words.

The young inhabitants of Ukraine liked the language of their neighbors. Most admitted that many words are similar to Ukrainian, so learning the language can be very enjoyable for them.

The day of returns always evokes mixed feelings. On the one hand, a man misses home, family and his bed, but on the other hand, he does not want the newly started adventure to come to an end.

Everyone wanted to make the most of their last day together. The youth spent the morning painting T-shirts with slogans about tolerance and graphics related to the trip. Then, as part of reflection, everyone discussed together what competences they gained during this trip.

Five days spent together in a new group is certainly a great opportunity to get to know each other better. This was also facilitated by workshops focusing on cultural exchange and looking at the world from the perspective of one’s close neighbor. It turned out that we have a lot in common, and the elements that distinguish us are not an obstacle in accepting the other person, but additional advantages that make them unique.

In these difficult times in which our colleagues from Ukraine had to live, it was good to leave and forget everything for a moment. We could focus on the here and now. Thanks to the project, young people could strengthen the skills of tolerance and openness to other people, focus on their emotions and nurture self-confidence by noticing their advantages. Each day the positive atmosphere strengthened, which is extremely important in the integration process.

The trip to Wisła was certainly an incredible adventure for both groups and a nice break from everyday life. As a result of the activities carried out during the project, the participants will be more tolerant, willing to understand and accept the differences that occur, among others, in between people of different nationalities.

We hope that good memories will remain with the participants participating in the project for a long time.

The fourth day of stay in Wisła greeted the participants with beautiful weather, which inspired them to go out into the fresh air and dance a Belgian dance together. Only some people from Poland already knew the steps and helped teach them to their friends together with the teachers. Learning to dance was great fun. At the beginning, the young people were embarrassed and uncertain, but after a few attempts, they managed to successfully dance the entire melodic track.

Then, using chalk, everyone drew a large graphic of the project “What we know about tolerance” on the pitch. The organizers were very impressed with the artistic skills of the young people. Perhaps thanks to this trip, some people discovered new abilities in themselves.

At the end of the workshop, the students had one more exercise to do. The task of the participants was to create a history of the trip, which must contain randomly drawn passwords from the board made available to them earlier. The stories of the young people were very funny and creative.

Before lunch, the participants prepared a surprise for Mrs. Tetiana (one of the guardians of a group of students from Ukraine), who had her birthday that day. Everyone sang birthday songs both in Polish and Ukrainian. It was a very moving moment. Everyone in turn congratulated the birthday girl and ate a piece of delicious cake. Having full bellies, the participants went on a tourist train trip around the Vistula River. The guide and driver of the trip was Mr. “cheerful” Darek, who took everyone to the market square in Wisła, and then to the ski jumping hill of Adam Małysz. The next stop was the dam on the Vistula. Then the participants went to the presidential residence, where there was a beautiful view of Lake Czerniańskie. Returning to the hotel, the last stop was the Vistula dam. Everyone, a bit tired but very happy, returned to their rooms to prepare for the evening.

During the last joint evening, each participant received a personal certificate of participation in the project. It was a time full of emotions, thanks and some reflection. Participants could not believe how quickly the mobility passed and how much happened in that time.

The third day of mobility was devoted to the topic of the virtual world. Young people considered how they find themselves in it and what world they are closer to – whether the real world or maybe the virtual one.

The workshop part was interestingly organized and enjoyed great involvement among the participants. At the beginning, everyone was supposed to describe their friend they know in real life, and then a friend from the virtual world. Surprisingly, despite the times we live in, where the Internet is literally everywhere and we can easily make contacts in it, almost half of people did not have their equivalent of a friend on the Internet.

After this task, the young people were provided with a large dose of movement. Each of the project participants had to do a lot of gymnastics to go through the previously prepared obstacle course.

Hot and even more focused students went to the art part, where they had to draw how they see our world in a hundred years. The effects of the work were very interesting and radically different. As we well know, there is a war going on beyond our eastern border. However, our friends from Ukraine see the future very positively. Among other things, they drew the contours of their country from before the war. Discussing their work, they said they believed they would be able to travel freely and people would be healthy. The Polish group, on the other hand, sees the world less colorfully than its eastern neighbours. For they have drawn a world without trees with poisoned rivers, where people will be obese. This task gave everyone a lot to reflect on how we perceive the world.

In the afternoon, the participants went on a mountain trail to climb Kobyla Góra. When the weather was nice, everyone could breathe in the fresh air. After reaching the vantage point, everyone could admire the fantastic panorama of the Vistula River, the Silesian Beskids and Skolnity, which the group had visited the previous day. Krzakoska Skała from which this beautiful view spreads is the most famous climbing rock of the Silesian Beskids.

The second day of the mobility began with a strong bang with a discussion on tolerance, where the participants had a number of workshop and movement tasks ahead of them. At the beginning, everyone created slogans concerning the promotion of tolerance attitudes. Then, the topic of differences between the behavior and thinking of Poles and Ukrainians was discussed. It turned out that on both sides it looks very similar and there are no clear divisions between us. After a rather serious conversation as part of relaxation, the participants had the task of creating flowers from balloons. The workshops ran very smoothly, and the participants performed the tasks very quickly. It was noticeable that the young people cooperated more and more with each other and opened up to the group.

After the lunch break, a trip to the center of Wisła is planned. They all traveled the city along the Vistula River together to reach the market square. On the way, the participants saw the monuments of Maria Konopnicka and the “Sources of the Vistula”. From the market square, they went to the ski jump next to which there was a cable car that took them to Wierch Skolnity. At the top, the youth had the opportunity to see the largest sculpture of a rombanica in Europe, i.e. an ax stuck in the trunk, met alpacas and admired the panorama of the Silesian Beskids.

On June 12, two groups participating in the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324 met for the first time live and started a 5-day adventure as part of joint mobility to the Vistula River.

The event began with an official welcome to the participants, the introduction of the project initiator and a reminder of the main assumptions of the project and the purpose of the visit to Wisła. At the end, the plan of activities prepared for young people from Poland and Ukraine was discussed in detail.

After the official part, several group integrating games were held to introduce a relaxed and friendly atmosphere. At the beginning, the participants were supposed to introduce themselves and show their hobbies in a non-verbal way. The most difficult part of this task was remembering each name and activity, but the participants’ reactions showed that this activity gave them a lot of fun. After introducing themselves, the participants were to line up in alphabetical order, but they were not allowed to communicate verbally with each other. The next game was written deaf phone. Youth were divided into 4 teams. Each team had the same password. The last person to know the password wrote it with their finger on the back of the person in front of them. The next person repeated the same thing until the correct password reached the first person in the row. The first team to guess the password wins. The last game was a knot made by hands. Participants, standing in a circle, had to grab the hands of two people standing opposite each other, and then try to untie the knot formed by intertwined hands without letting go of the intertwined hands. Participants had to sweat really hard to complete this task.

After the lunch break, Mrs. Magda conducted classes on interpersonal communication training as well as verbal and non-verbal speech. These activities required a lot of commitment and creativity from the young people. The participants talked about the features of a good listener and whether they have these features in everyday life. The most interesting exercise, according to most people, was the presentation by one person of the picture he received in words, and then drawing it by the other participants based on what they heard. This task allowed us to see that each of us communicates in a different way and usually presents everything from his own point of view.

At the end of the first day, a bonfire was organized, where the participants continued to integrate with each other, baked sausages and had the opportunity to listen to Polish and Ukrainian music hits.

It’s today! 😯 Let’s start our mobility!

During the 5-day mobility the following activities will take place:

1. Interpersonal communication training. Verbal and non-verbal speech, explaining why interpersonal communication is very important. What are the communication barriers, what are their causes and what are their consequences?

2. Workshop – Am I in the virtual world – am I in the real world? Self-presentation skills. In what situation do you feel better and why – in real life or online? Non-verbal communication – helping or hindering? What’s more reliable?

3. Discussion about tolerance. Are we tolerant nations? The difference between tolerance and indifference.

4. Workshops – artistic

5. Integration activities

And many more, stay tuned!

Mobility is carried out as part of the project “What we know about tolerance” No. 2022-1-PL01-KA152-YOU-000067324.