DEVELOPING INTERCULTURAL COMPETENCES THROUGH A SOCIAL NETWORK: THE PROPOSAL OF CALCOTE PROJECT

Over the last few decades globalization, networking technology and above all strong migration streams have played a decisive role in turning Italy into a multicultural society that has had to face social and cultural diversity and to work intensively on the promotion of intercultural values among young people. The efforts, endured by the school system to urge the adoption of an intercultural teaching approach, can lead to good results in promoting understanding between members of minority and majority cultures, in spreading tolerance and in fighting discrimination, segregation, xenophobia and racism but they cannot assure the effective and successful integration of young people, offering them the conditions for thriving the diversity and for establishing stable cross-cultural interactions. Studies on migration contexts show that local or ethnic social networks [1] [2] play an important role in the integration process especially when adolescents are concerned. Young people that move to another country often have problems in finding supportive social networks with consequences on their integration level. In today's contemporary society, teenagers look to social media for starting and keeping contacts, sharing information, finding support and enhancing self esteem. This spreading use of social media opens up a possibility to use social network sites for developing intercultural competence along with building social connections that can support young migrant people during their integration process. Within this framework, this paper presents and discusses a research project that focuses on the development of a social network site where teenagers and young people can share their intercultural knowledge, are involved in informal learning and peer teaching activities thus spreading aspects of their culture and expanding their relationships. The site, where Italian will be used as the language of communication, aims at extending the possibilities of interaction between users of different cultures, going beyond opposition between indigenous dominant cultures and weak minority cultures, appraising multiculturalism and equipping young migrants with knowledge and abilities that will allow them to benefit from their diversity.