Hello world! We are the "Words Unite Us" team and we are happy to meet you!

Traditionally, language is viewed as a code. In this view, language is made up of words and a series of rules that connect words together. If language is only viewed in this way, language learning just involves learning vocabulary and the rules for constructing sentences. This understanding of language is, however, a very narrow one. It sees language as fixed and finite and does not explore the complexities involved in using language for communication. Language learners need to be aware, for example, of the culturally appropriate ways to address people, express gratitude, make requests, and agree or disagree with someone. They should know that behaviors and intonation patterns that are appropriate in their own speech community may be perceived differently by members of the target language speech community. They have to understand that, in order for communication to be successful, language use must be associated with other culturally appropriate behavior. 

Culture must be fully incorporated as a vital component of language learning. 

Second language teachers should identify key cultural items in every aspect of the language that they teach. 

Students can be successful in speaking a second language only if cultural issues are an inherent part of the curriculum.

This project will help teachers to know each other, their cultures and traditions and important days which they are all important for ERASMUS+  in terms of continuity of the project and delivering the knowledge to other students in the future.

Students who are the main priority of this project will be the good examples and the source of enthusiasm for their own friends in the future to fulfill the needs of ERASMUS+. With this project they will complete missing parts of their knowledge about European people, how they live, who they are going to contact, how they learn a lesson, how they live their religion and they will get answers of many questions which we cannot fit here.

The concrete objectives of the partnership are as follows:

• To develop an understanding of the fact that all people exhibit culturally-conditioned behaviors;
• To become more aware of conventional behavior in common situations in the target culture;
• To increase their awareness of the cultural connotations of words and phrases in the target language; 
• To develop the ability to evaluate and refine generalizations about the target culture, in terms of supporting evidence;
• To develop the necessary skills to locate and organize information about the target culture;
• To stimulate students’ intellectual curiosity about the target culture, and to encourage empathy towards its people.

The approaches we will take to achieve our objectives are as follows:

• Collaboration learning and peer interaction is important;
• Selecting and organizing curriculum contents;
• Using meaningful, authentic communication/activities;
• Deciding what our own beliefs are about language learning;
•  Avoiding overgeneralization - this occurs when we make predictions about the target language, which turn out to be wrong. For example, a particular item belongs to a different category, which is covered by another rule, or is simply an exception to the rule that the learner is employing.