“I like project YAID because I can get to know different cultures, habits and customs and everyday life in different countries.” (Anže)
“It’s interesting what we can discover about different countries for example culinary habits. Also facts about different cultures are very interesting to me.” (Eva)
“My opinion about different cultures is that we are in a way all the same because we are all human beings. O.K., we have different habits and customs but nobody should offend or humiliate anyone because of that.” (Špela)
“My opinion about different cultures is simple. We are all human beings – white, black, yellow. We have different cultures therefor we dress, look differently and have different food habits and so on but from the other point of view we are all the same.” (Klara)
“We should accept different groups of people because we are all human beings. We all have flaws and have to try to understand each other and accept our differences. Also different people accept the majority as it is with all its flaws and advantages. We have to live in cohabitation in order to help each other.” (Tjaša)
“About the project YAID I like mostly the part in which we can get to know new people from abroad.” (Anastasiya)
“In the project YAID I like the opportunity to interact with different cultures. This way we find out a lot of things of which we knew nothing before. It’s exciting that you can learn new and interesting things. I also think that different people should be accepted as equals by the majority because we are all human beings.” (Anja)
“About the project YAID I mostly like getting to know new cultures, people and other related things. I also like that we can connect to peers from other countries and that we can exchange personal information like what our home is like, our school etc.” (Pia)
The coordinators of the project YAID on primary school Zreče were librarian Barbara Potnik and teacher Marjana Podkubovšek. They also shared their thoughts about the project and interculturalism:
“Every year there are more immigrant children attending our schools and it’s about time that we start to take intercultural education seriously and also the passing of the values of respectful and qualitative interrelations which are the key to a pleasant coexistence. So it’s time that we motivate the children to reflect on intercultural coexistence, for us to listen to their opinion and observations and through that to build intercultural values which will be valid in the school environment and also on the street.” (Barbara Potnik)
“Today’s world is full of news about migrants. The need for understanding of the culture which is a part of the mentioned people is getting bigger and bigger. We will have to thoroughly think about (although I think that it’s again a bit late for that) how to correctly and timely prepare our youngsters for interculturality. Intolerance nowadays is increasing because of lack of awareness about diversity. I believe that intolerance is not increasing among children. Not yet anyway. The pupils that cooperated in the project YAID have proven to be very well acquainted with interculturality and want to cooperate with different people. The adults are sadly a different story. When will we comprehend that it’s about time that we turn on the green light for intercultural dialogue?” (Marjana Podkubovšek)
Project YAID is in 2014 – 2015 implemented by Local Youth Council of Slovenske Konjice and cofinanced by Financial mechanism EEA and Norway Grants 2009 – 2014.
