Cultural Vehicles in Education - assisting the needs of vulnerable social groups

Life Together

Artistic - Craftwork/Flower Decoration

I A description of the activities undertaken during the unit, including comments on the reactions of the group/individual participants

a. Socializing with others of the same origin
b. Expressing the own opinion, developing sense of creativity

In this block we focused on creating a flower decoration using the cut flowers. The flower decoration was to decorate Saint Jindrich Church in the town of Petrvald at the local festivities on the 13th of July. For the workshop we prepared cut flowers (white lilies, long, gipsofila and leaf-greens), vases and scissors for the participants to use. We put the tables together to have one big table on which we placed flowers and the other items mentioned. The participants learned the basics about flower decoration and hey were shown the pictures of variety of flower decorations.
All of the attendees liked the idea of creating their own flower decoration and could not wait to start. They created a really beautiful decoration, which they brought to the church and used to decorate the inside including the altar. All the participants were very proud of their work and considered it as a great honour to have the opportunity to present it in the church.

c. Next meeting was scheduled for July 18th.

II Was the aim of the unit achieved (the implementation of practical skills and the pedagogical aim)?

All the participants were engaged in this activity and were working hard. Seeing the finished decorated flowers that they were able to do on their own was the greatest reward for the effort all the participants put in. The participants were proudly taking pictures of the flower decoration in the church...
This workshop was a good opportunity to develop also communication skills of the participants. They learned how to respect others and were even encouraging one another during the work.

III Other remarks (for example on the interaction between artistic and educational elements)

This was the second time during the CVE project that the participants had the opportunity to learn about flower decoration techniques. In both workshops concentrated on the flower decoration the attendees showed a great deal of courage and sense of creativity. The final pieces were very beautiful, professionally looking and inspiring.
The participants realised that there were many things they could do. Everything just needs practice, patience and persistency.