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Colored Glasses – междукултурно образование и разб..
Colored Glasses – междукултурно образование и разбирателство
Start date: Aug 1, 2015,
End date: Jan 31, 2017
PROJECT
FINISHED
Colored Glasses consists of a series of workshops concerning the topics “Stereotypes”, “Prejudices”, "Discrimination/Racism” and “Cultural Understanding”. The workshops last between 2 and 4 hours, including an introductory game as well as students and teacher feedback. They are based on informal methods of education, relying on the principles of experimental learning. The workshop are integrated at the school and extracurricular activities at Bulgarian high school with classes with intensive learning of foreign language.
In the first half of 2010 Colored Glasses was successfully introduced in Bulgaria. By 2015 we have conducted 8 trainings for teamers and trainers. Over than 50 volunteers with and without YFU background were be recruited since the first edition of the project. Until March 30th 160 workshops have already been held in secondary schools in Plovdiv, Stara Zagora, Kardzhali, Pravets, Blagoevgrad, Shumen, Lovech, Burgas, Montana, Varna, Veliko Tarnovo, Gabrovo, Svishtov, Silistra, Ruse, Dobrich and Sofia so that already about 1300 young people aged between 14 and 18 years and attending public schools have been able to participate in one of the four offered workshops.
The aim is to visit as many cities and schools as possible and to reach as many young people as possible. The goal is to start a dialogue and raise the awareness so that the young people understand and show other cultures greater tolerance. This is in line with the mission statement for YFU ("Youth For Understanding advances intercultural understanding, mutual respect, and social responsibility through educational exchanges for youth, families and communities"), but also remains a challenge for the Bulgarian society today. This fifth project is necessary to maintain the established relations and successful practices with Bulgarian schools and non-governmental organizations. Although the number of 50 volunteers is impressive, we also know, that due to other engagements most of them will be involved short term only and we have to keep up recruitment and training seminars. The increase of possibilities, concerning languages on which we conduct the workshops, motivates us further to broaden our volunteer network. The expected outcomes include the increased sensibility towards topics related to intercultural dialogue, as well encouragement of volunteering in Bulgaria; the embeding of the tolerance education as part of the foreign language learning in Bulgaria.