Storytelling - Stories from the Past - Tales for the Future

The project

The idea of using the method of storytelling to teach foreign language was developed at a GrundtvigII contact-seminar in Udine, Italy. The motivation for this project is based upon the belief that communication between people of differing cultures can be successful only where the precondition of an understanding of ones own culture has been met. Sources of many of the problems faced by today’s societies and the individuals living in them can be attributed to a deficit of this type of knowledge.

The idea impressed seven organisations to the extend, that they worked out a common proposal. Six of them were given approval and now work under the management of the co-ordinating institution Cardiff Council in Wales on the realisation of the project.

The stories to be chosen must have in focus a relation to the region. Initially the stories are told or performed in the national language and afterwards in a foreign language. In the case of the Belgian organisation, the learners - some of them immigrants - will convey the stories of their own lives. The realisation of the stories will vary from partner to partner, these comprise a vast range of methods. The production process will be documented through the use of video, photos and other media. Also, routine communication between partners will take place. Each partner is responsible for gathering materials needed for regional performances and exhibitions. The projects culmination and end will take place at a storytelling-festival in Wales in July 2008, where all of the stories are to be presented.

Kolping Training Centre
Heilbronn

Contact person
Helena Strümann, Head of Foreign Language school, Heilbronn
helena.struemann@kolping-bildungswerk.de

Project partners
Cardiff Council, Wales, Great Britain
Centrum voor Volwassenenonderwijs, Heverlee, Belgium
Escuela Oficial de Idiomas, Alcaniz, Spain
Labaratorio di Arte Contemporanea della Bassa Lunigiana, Sarzana, Italy
Public Service Language Centre, Vilnius, Lithuania
Kolping Training Institution Wuerttemberg Registered Association, Foreign Language school Heilbronn, Germany

EU Funding Programme
Grundtvig II Learning Partnership

Sum of Funding
First year: 4,558 €
Second year: 8,500 €

Period of Funding
First year: 08/2006-07/2007
Second year: 10/2007-07/2008