THE PROJECT
Why
Trentino Oltreconfine?
This project aims at strengthening the bonds between communities of people who have emigrated from Trentino to other European countries through the creation of a network of schools. Emigration from Trentino was a phenomenon that took place during the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It was a complex process that ended up by creating ethnic minority groups in other countries, held together mainly by the common dialect and the maintenance of some important traditions.
These emigrant communities are now somehow integrated or assimilated in foreign countries. The ties with Trentino have become - in some cases - less intense; in others they are strong and frequent. Communities are usually held together by the persistence - in some cases - of the use of the dialect and the conservation of traditions. This project is an opportunity to make the origins and histories of these minorities more visible. In the case of Trentino minorities in former Yugoslavia, our students, whose parents returned to Trentino because of the war, live between two countries and two cultures, with an often "mobile and mixed" identity. Their complex identity can become a value for other students and schools play a key role in this. An important part of the project is the geographic-cartographic issue: students can and must become aware of changes that took place in their territory. In particular, there will be a focus on the upheavals in the valley floor that caused the migratory flows out of Trentino at the end of the nineteenth century.
Targets
This project wants to:
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promote intercultural exchanges between students (aged 9 to 18) and the local communities to which they belong;
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support language exchanges and the practice of foreign languages;
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enhance local memory, with particular reference to linguistic minorities and dialects;
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involve young students in the study of migration processes and their legacy to future generations.
Working on the memory of the emigrants is a way to start the project.
After the first contact, with which students introduce themselves, their school and the place where they live, a school can decide to define a key theme to be explored in the exchange relationship with the foreign school. Issues can be geographical, environmental, linguistic, anthropological, social, or can reguard health, landscape, cartography, sport, nature, etc. Trentino Oltreconfine also wants to explore the potential of Outdoor education by experimenting the geographical exploration of the territory.
How we work
Each school belonging to the network will have a "twin" school in a country in Europe where there is a club of "Trentini nel mondo". Then schools will begin to propose this project to their students in small work groups or to entire classes, depending on the organizational methods chosen by the teachers.
In the first part of the project the students will have to introduce themselves, their passions and hobbies, their school, the country or city/village they live in, and produce videos, letters, emails, presentations etc.
The second phase wants to make students more aware of the history and local traditions of the countries involved, with particular reference to the emigration trajectories from Trentino.
Students will collect information using various sources: oral testimonies, photos, interviews, maps of different eras, books, etc.
The third phase is focused on defining a key theme to work on. This topic will be chosen by the teachers and students involved in the project. It can be related to environmental problems (air pollution, energy saving, reuse and recycling of materials, sustainable mobility, indoor pollution in classrooms, etc.) or to social characteristics (local customs and traditions), or it can be of linguistic relevance (dialect, English, Italian, French etc.).
The last phase is aimed at promoting all digital products and a digital exhibition through a blog / website.
Creating
a bigger network
In 2020, a partnership was activated between the IC Borgo Valsugana and the Sibovska school near Stivor, Bosnia through an Etwinning. Stivor is a key place in the history of Trentino emigration.
A lively local community of Trentino descendants is still present in this village. Old Trentino dialect is still spoken there, Italian is studied at school.
in 2021 the project has had an expected outcome: the expansion of the network to at least two other Trentino schools and to two other twin foreign schools.
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By building a wider network, it will be possible to present an Erasmus + project and study trips will be possible when the pandemic is finally over. In a multi-year perspective, when the first activities are positively concluded, the involvement of communities and schools from all over the world will be considered. Schools in Brazil or Australia, where there are many clubs and communities of "Trentini nel mondo", will be contacted.