Who we are

Baltic and Nordic countries are part of one region with a shared history. Neighboring countries’ language skills and cultural awareness are, therefore, indisputably important for citizens in the region, especially for young people in today’s globalized mobile society.

NordPlus project Discover Iceland and Sweden, which is being implemented by Soros International House from Lithuania, Mímir from Iceland, and More Mosaic from Sweden, intends to take advantage of today’s youth’s innate enthusiasm for virtual games, their increasingly apparent shift towards the digital world and self-guided learning and seeks to strengthen intercultural communication between Lithuanian, Icelandic, and Swedish young people through the use of this online educational tool and self-directed learning approach.

Main aims of the project: 

• develop and publish learning and teaching materials freely accessible online

• promote Icelandic and Swedish languages and cultures and improve the Nordic-Baltic linguistic and cultural comprehension among youth

• stimulate Nordic-Baltic people’s interest in the Icelandic and Swedish languages and cultures and provide the opportunity to learn them online

• build on the benefits of today’s young people’s digitalized environment in distance virtual learning and promote innovative methods of learning, such as online games and self-guided learning approach in language and culture acquisition

• focus on activities that strengthen Icelandic and Swedish young people’s computational thinking and improve Icelandic and Swedish languages comprehension in young people in Lithuania and the Nordic-Baltic region

The project’s main outcome will be the online educational platform for discovering Icelandic and Swedish languages and cultures.

Other outcomes of the project:

• better mutual Lithuanian-Icelandic and Lithuanian-Swedish linguistic and cultural understanding, tolerance, and respect between young people of these cultures,

• new friendships between young people of the three nations,

• better Icelandic and Swedish language comprehension,

• new language skills,

• warm intercultural relationship in the Baltic-Nordic region and a feeling of a close-knit neighborhood.

Activities and results:

• create an online educational platform promoting Icelandic and Swedish languages and cultures

• pilot the platform with the help of youth in Lithuania and collect feedback

• organize regular online meetings between Lithuanian, Icelandic, and Swedish partners to ensure continuous progress of the project’s implementation

• organize two online workshops for Lithuanian and Icelandic, and Lithuanian and Swedish young people to promote interculturality and motivation to learn Scandinavian languages

• organize a workshop in Sweden between young people from the pilot training in Lithuania and Icelandic and Swedish youth to finalize the content of the platform

• promote the platform through social media and encourage people from the Nordic-Baltic region to use it as a self-learning tool

• offer virtual lessons/tours of Iceland and Sweden as a prize to winners or most active users of the platform after its launch

• organize the final international conference in Lithuania