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4. Intercultural Learning<br />
Working with Older Volunteers in Manual Intergenerational Projects<br />
The exchanges focused on joint work experiences<br />
and intergenerational encounters.<br />
However, information on work life and<br />
everyday life in the guest countries was not<br />
an explicit focal point. Nevertheless, more<br />
than two thirds of participants mentioned<br />
having had sufficient insights in this regard.<br />
In Vigy, for instance, an additional “cultural<br />
approach” was chosen and 5 excursions<br />
organised. The bus of the residential centre<br />
was available for these excursions along<br />
with voluntary senior citizens (with appropriate<br />
driving licenses) as bus drivers.<br />
•<br />
•<br />
•<br />
A guided city tour of Metz gave parti-<br />
cipants the opportunity to explore the<br />
town. The Czech and German participants<br />
were unfamiliar with the region<br />
and were amazed at the monuments.<br />
Afterwards they drove to Scy-Chazelles,<br />
where they visited the house of Robert<br />
Schumann. A guided tour provided a<br />
historical retrospect of Europe and the<br />
opportunity to reflect on the developments<br />
of this unique historic and cultural<br />
structure.<br />
The region has been heavily influenced<br />
by industry and participants visited the<br />
mining museum in Freyming-Merlebach.<br />
There were many shared impressions<br />
and memories (some participants<br />
had been miners) and possibilities to<br />
compare, because the mining industry<br />
was also very present in Oberhausen,<br />
Hamm and Prague.<br />
Lorraine was influenced by different cul-<br />
tures, not least by Germany. A tour of<br />
the school museum in Metzervisse with<br />
a retired bilingual teacher as a guide demonstrated<br />
these influences. Children<br />
in those days were bilingual or only spoke<br />
Low German, which was forbidden<br />
in schools. A second aspect dealt with<br />
the strict upbringing and the school sys-<br />
•<br />
•<br />
tem with rules and prohibitions. The<br />
subsequent visit of an old oil mill provided<br />
detailed information on the development<br />
of economic conditions in the<br />
countryside, practical techniques and<br />
eating habits.<br />
The two World Wars have also had a con-<br />
siderable influence on the region. Many<br />
traces are still visible today, such as the<br />
famous Maginot line. This impressed<br />
many participants who were children in<br />
those days.<br />
The programme on Friday gave partici-<br />
pants who had completed their project<br />
work the opportunity to explore Metz<br />
by themselves, buy souvenirs or take a<br />
stroll without the group. As mentioned<br />
above, one group preferred to complete<br />
their project work instead.<br />
In order to actually learn something about<br />
the culture of the guest country or region,<br />
participants should be explicitly informed<br />
on land and people, which may prevent an<br />
<strong>und</strong>ue generalisation of isolated or incidental<br />
experiences.<br />
Intercultural training was performed<br />
for the purpose of non-formal intercultural<br />
learning, i.e. in order to prevent or reduce<br />
prejudices and to overcome possible cultural<br />
problems. The training took place at the<br />
start, during or after the exchanges in a post<br />
processing.<br />
Intercultural training proved to be very<br />
target-oriented. Culture-related mis<strong>und</strong>erstandings<br />
could not be observed during<br />
the exchanges in Hamm, Oberhausen and<br />
Prague. Admittedly there is no causal connection<br />
between intercultural training and<br />
the absence of culture-related mis<strong>und</strong>erstandings,<br />
especially since there were no<br />
culture-related problems in Oberhausen,<br />
where no intercultural training was performed.<br />
Intercultural training was also not performed<br />
in Vigy. Unlike Oberhausen, mis<strong>und</strong>erstandings<br />
did occur, but could be<br />
Final Report 37