FR25 TD Europe's cultural heritage

The workshop begins with a short introduction to the common heritage of the EU Member States enshrined in the Treaty of Lisbon (which refers to ‘Europe's cultural, religious and humanist heritage’ as a source of inspiration for European integration), consisting of a rich and diverse mosaic of cultural and creative expression (natural, built and archaeological sites, museums, monuments, works of art, historic cities, literary, musical and audiovisual works, as well as the knowledge, practices and traditions of European citizens).

Next, the students are divided into 8 groups of students from the four countries :

1- First, each group chooses a European value that will be common to all the forms of expression it will select. Here is a list of European values : Citizenship, Democracy, Diversity, Fraternity, Independence, Liberty, Equality, Justice, Peace, Resistance.

2- Then, each group creates a poster on which 2 examples (from 2 different countries in the group) of some cultural expression (festivals, myths, artworks, songs, films, or traditional meals) are selected. They use drawings, and short descriptions to make their poster creative and meaningful.

3-At the end, each group presents their poster to the others, explaining the chosen value, the selected traditions, and how they are representative of the common European value.

The activity helps students understand that European values unite diverse cultures and are shared across all member states. They realise that European values appear in daily life and traditions, and discover similarities and differences between European cultures. Creating and presenting posters enable them to work in groups, communicate in English and develop their creativity.