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EVS im Montessori Kinderhaus im IBZ, 2011-DE-10
Start date: Jul 1, 2014, End date: Dec 31, 2015 PROJECT  FINISHED 

The Montessori Kinderhaus is located in Berlin-Wilmersdorf in the Internationales Begegnungszentrum der Wissenschaft (IBZ, International Center for Academic Science Exchange). At the moment there are about 30 children aged one to six years taken care of. The children play and learn in a German- and English-speaking environment. They are in permanent contact with the bilingual employees and thus they are introduced playfully to a foreign language. A fluent transition to the first class of the bilingual Montessori school is part of the concept. The process of integration of children with different cultural backgrounds is experienced by all participants as an enrichment. If a child enters the Montessori institution it has the feeling of “The environment is mine”. In order to help the children to understand the world and to become more independent the Montessori concept provides a “prepared environment”. It is assumed that children grasp and understand much more, when having freedom to act according their interests. Each child possesses its own inner motivation to discover its environment, enhance its knowledge, language and mathematics. The non-structured work is a central part in a Montessori house. Children learn through own action. Essential part of the EVS program within ERASMUS+ is the non-formal learning, which is something the project and the EVS program have in common. Two female volunteers (from different countries) at the age of 19 years participated in the project. They had the opportunity to become actively involved in a new culture, get to know their own cultural background, and to test themselves in a protected environment. They were able to gather experience working in the social field. The Montessori Kinderhaus is taking care of children with diverse cultural backgrounds, therefore the common language is English. Internationality and multilinguism are part of the daily routine in the institution. This circumstance facilitated the integration of the volunteers, although in the future it might be nice, to include and reinforce also the German language a bit more. The contact between the European volunteer, the staff, parents and children offered a lively insight into intercultural differences and intercultural learning. The volunteers enriched the life of the children, bringing in their knowledge, habits and life style, and by doing so, offering a platform for interaction and discussion. In addition, this project offered an opportunity to cross-regional mobility, work experience, personal development and the acquisition of key skills through informal education. The volunteers were closely integrated into the staff team and regularly took part in team meetings. The volunteers had the possibility to develop their own projects and thus take advantage of their individual skills to develop something new in addition to her daily tasks. So in this case they have created a separate garden bed with the children, in which they planted vegetables, raised and harvested them. The outcomes of this EVS project have been very positive. Host organization and sending organization would like to continue to work with VIA e. V. Ideas for further cooperation were already.
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