TRadition und MOderne – in Sprache und Gesellschaft

Communication opportunities should be created in which German language skills are helpful. A museum flyer in German, labelling of objects in German, but also impulses for storytelling and imaginat...

Communication opportunities should be created in which German language skills are helpful. A museum flyer in German, labelling of objects in German, but also impulses for storytelling and imagination through works of art, In this way, German language skills can be expanded and practised, while at the same time a cultural institution can be supported in offering information about art and culture in a foreign language or in implementing creative activities. Priorities such as shared values, innovation in teaching and learning and the preservation of cultural heritage were realised in the project. The project focusses on culture and language and offers innovations for all partners involved. Already in the second year of the project, it was possible to design a training course based on newly designed working materials. Aspects such as ‘picture stories’, ‘museum diary’ or ‘museum visit with friends from Germany’ are potential lesson contents that make it possible to move away from the textbook and offer pupils the museum as a ‘different place of learning’. This promotes the learning and teaching of language, students see episodes that they can analyse, compare and evaluate as case studies.

The planned activity phases were adhered to; there were modifications to the locations for the project meetings, but these were all objectively justified. The activity plan is structured in six phases: After a start-up phase (1), all partners worked out a common basis (2) for the project content, then followed the initial conception for the material creation (3), the material was developed and presented (4), the feedback was used in a correction phase (5) for additions, clarifications and the further creation of working templates and finally all results formed the basis for the evaluation, the further training course and this accountability report (6). One or two meetings took place in each activity phase: (1): Paderborn / (2): Liepaja / (3): Tallinn / (4) Paderborn / (5) Liepaja 09/24 and Paderborn 12/24 (6) Tallinn and Paderborn. The partners co-operated very well in all phases. The results were exchanged and harmonised. Support and suggestions for improvement were sent back and forth between the organisations. Especially after the trial run of the course, there was a further boost in the creation of work templates / flashcards / game.

As part of the project work, another ‘Mimi book’ was created - Mimi is a museum mouse who has the ability to talk to objects and describe them indirectly in this way. These stories are supplemented by worksheets. A card game has been created: TRAMUSE - here exhibition objects from the Museum Kadriorg are each presented in trios. There are flashcards that can also be used for language teaching. A virtual tour of the museum has been developed, there are QR codes that provide German translations for some objects and there is a short museum film that can also be used for language exercises. There are games that involve mapping and there are many different worksheets for various language exercises in German lessons. The results also include the research findings of the students from Liepaja, who dealt with questions of motivation and the evaluation of the project. Everything is posted on the homepage and can be read and downloaded: tram.westfaelische-forum.de The contents of the project were presented to the public during the international conference in Liepaja (9/24).