Melody for Gaelic Sports and Surfing a la Carte Erasmus Project

Project Title

Melody for Gaelic Sports and Surfing a la Carte

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 2019

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Collège Fernand Garandeau and Mary Immaculate Secondary School are two secondary mixed schools established respectively in France and in Ireland. Both are located a stone’s throw away from the Atlantic coast, in La Tremblade and in Lisdoonvarna. Mary Immaculate is a relatively small school with 200 students, whereas Collège Fernand Garandeau counts twice as many students.
The ages of the pupils taking part in the exchange range from 15 to 18 years old. They come from various backgrounds and origins. We are also trying to include two asylum seekers residing and schooled in Lisdoonvarna, but their administrative status is taking time to get sorted out. Three of the Irish students and one French pupil have medical conditions that we are taking into account while planning for this project.
The participants from each school study a foreign language and the basic idea of an exchange was to develop the students’ linguistic interest and abilities in these languages. We would like our student to become more comfortable with the practice of a foreign language through the practical use of this language.
Since our first school exchange in 2017, we have been trying to prepare a second one to foster a greater interest in learning a foreign language. However, Mary Immaculate being a small school, the number of Irish students wishing to take part in an exchange was not matching the number of French students. Over the past two years, we have remained in contact and have developed a friendship. Therefore, we have been regularly in contact for various matters outside school. This is why our discussions about an exchange have been ongoing and informal. Our interests in music, sport and local traditions have led us to devise activities for our students. We are also devising ways of evaluating these activities that would be realistic and practical to organise. We understand each other’s school situations and we have had no difficulty to agree on deciding to apply to the Erasmus+ programme. This became our project in early January and we have been developing it since then.
To do so, we decided to use each school’s tradition as a means to achieve this aim. We decided that our pupils would get a taste of each other’s culture in English or in French, pending on the group. We identified three fields of possible interest: music, sports and food.
We agreed on the following approach: it would be a hands-on project whereby the students would organize and deliver workshops in the 3 cultural areas selected, thus focusing on a kinaesthetic approach to learning. A great deal of this project relies on peer-teaching, while the teachers will take part as guides and facilitators.
To that effect, in Ireland, the students will be in charge of the following workshops: traditional music, hurling and Gaelic football, and traditional Irish food. They will help the French students to play some Irish tunes on the tin whistle; to get a basic grasp of the Gaelic games; to share their knowledge of their culinary culture.
In France, the students will likewise prepare workshops on music along with their school band, surfing as a local tradition and French cuisine. Here as well, they will manage the efficient learning of their partners.
We are planning to share our experiences not only among each other as a group working together, but also with the local community. The groups aim at playing in front of an audience to practise their new skills. French meal and Irish meal sessions will be organised to showcase and taste each country’s culinary culture. Finally, friendly games will be organised with teams of mixed nationalities.
Thus, we are aiming at our students fostering a sense of responsibility towards not only the preparation of their work but also in its delivery. Their use of a foreign language to communicate and understand each other will improve their ease at using it back in the classroom. It will show them that a language is an actual tool they can handle, not just a subject.
Equally important, we would like our students to develop self-reliance and autonomy while looking after other students of their age. We hope the effort they make will help them realize and value the work their partners will have put in their own workshops. These are life skills any person needs to develop and to foster to be part of a society. As citizens, developing those personal skills in an intercultural exchange will also help them develop a European identity at the same time.
Finally, each group will represent and share their own culture. We want to help our students to get in contact with, enjoy and appreciate a different way of living than their own through non-academic but purposeful activities.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 25201 Eur

Project Coordinator

Mary Immaculate Secondary School & Country: IE

Project Partners

• collège Fernand Garandeau