1968: A Transnational Social and Political Movement; A study of France and Czechslovakia as seen and represented through primary and secondary sources Erasmus Project

Project Title

1968: A Transnational Social and Political Movement; A study of France and Czechslovakia as seen and represented through primary and secondary sources

Project Key Action

This project related with these key action: Cooperation for innovation and the exchange of good practices

Project Action Type

This project related with this action type : School Exchange Partnerships

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2018

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Creativity and culture; Open and distance learning; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

CONTEXT/BACKGROUND:
The project “1968: A Transnational Social and Political Movement; A study of France and Czechoslovakia as seen and represented through primary and secondary sources” has been a study of the links and commonalities found in the geo-political upheavals and intense social movements which occurred in France and Czechoslovakia in 1968. The contemporary context was the celebration of the 50 year anniversary of the events of 1968. The professors involved are a history and geography teacher and an English teacher. The approach of the subject has been both from a historical perspective as well as a cultural one.
The study included primary source cultural and artistic documents, such as fiction and non-fiction works that treated the events (Josef Skvorecky, The Cowards; Karl Kapec ,The War with the Newts -seen on stage; Milan Kundera, and the poetry of Jiri Kolar…), films ( Le Redoutable by Michel Hazanavicius, The Unbearable Lightness of Being from the novel By Kundera by Milos Foreman…), music, graffiti and posters. It also included secondary source materials such as press reports, headlines, photographs, extracts from newspaper articles and official documents that have been declassified from France, Czechoslovakia and around the world that deal with the events and show insider and outsider views of events.

Our OBJECTIVES were multiple. We intended to educate our students as to what happened in the past, and helped them understand how historical events that unfold, even if geographically isolated, are linked geo-politically and socially. In addition we wanted to help build cross-cultural communication skills between European youths that must use a third language to effectively communicate.

The NUMBER of young participants were 52; 26 French youths and 26 Czech youths (instead of the 48 we applied for). The PROFILES of the students varied. The students represented various ethnic backgrounds as well as socio-economic situations. Both schools have students from tiny rural villages, surrounding towns and from either the agglomeration of Orléans numbering 280,000 people or 12,500 in Vysoké Myto.

The ACTIVITIES were based around RESEARCH, CREATION and SHARING. They began with a conference that took place in May 2018. It was given by Ludivine Bantiginy, a scholar on the subject. In the fall, the students began in-class learning activities and at-home research that resulted in the creation on the part of the students in open-source digital teaching modules that were shared by blog with the exchange class. We aimed to promote peer-to-peer teaching and learning so as to enforce autonomy in learning (learning so as to teach, teamwork, group productions) and self confidence (increased ease in speaking the English language and knowledge of the given subject).
The next phase of activities included the actual physical exchange of the students.
A portion of the activities during the exchange focused on retracing the events and people studied by visiting sites and talking with people. The teaching modules, journal entries of the exchanges and follow-up activities were displayed on the blog platform.

The METHODOLOGY was innovative. We began the project with a classic teacher/student transmission of information so as to introduce the students to the events and actors of the movements. We then asked the students to undertake guided research, which marked a transition stage in the methodology for we focused on encouraging each student to teach the other participants about what they had learned. This process encouraged a much more proactive approach to the learning process, as well as promoted authorship on the part of the participants. We helped the students with research documents, the creation of their modules and their pronunciation. During the voyages, as many links as possible were made between what was studied in class with what they saw while traveling. Our methodology for the follow-up project was a guided production that again encouraged the participants to trust in their capacities to explain to others what they had learned and seen. We gradually erased our presence as the “teachers”, allowing the students to take ownership of the teaching and learning process.

The RESULTS and IMPACT were tangible and intangible. The students created open-source peer-to-peer teaching modules and a blog (tangible). There was an increase in knowledge, motivation, curiosity, skills and tolerance (intangible).

The POTENTIAL LONG-TERM BENEFITS include a long-lasting partnership between the partner establishments, an increased OPENNESS towards European projects by the students, teachers, schools and partners, increased feelings of European citizenship and digital platforms that can be used by the public in general.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32720 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lycée Maurice Genevoix & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Gymnázium Vysoké Mýto