Mathematics, French and English, three languages to communicate with Erasmus Project

Project Title

Mathematics, French and English, three languages to communicate with

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 2020

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Intercultural/intergenerational education and (lifelong)learning; Pedagogy and didactics; Cooperation between educational institutions and business

Project Summary

Our project consists of a partnership between the lycée Victor Hugo in Château Gontier and Colaiste Bhride, Carnew, Ireland. It consists of an exchange during which activities are organised and also includes some correspondence work in between these exchange periods. Our ultimate objective is that the students themselves plan, organise and execute an Escape Game in both French and English. They will therefore have to invent puzzles, storylines and contexts aimed at students who have not been involved in the organisation of this project. We wish to plan a fun, bilingual event that centres around mathematics. This project is aimed at 4th year students who are part of the section européenne (maths strand) for the French and, for the Irish, students of approximately the same age who study French, about 50 students in total.

The completed project however will be for all of the students in the French school who will be able to search for the solutions to these games and riddles throughout the year. We envisage numerous stages. The first will be an initial contact phase during which a theme will be chosen and the necessary mathematical vocabulary learned. Then, the first grouping of both groups will take place in Ireland. Different activities will be organised: school tour, classes with their correspondents, introduction to French-style life and French cuisine and group work (facilitated by French and Irish teachers) on the subject of games and puzzles. A visit to the science museum in Dublin is also on the program. After this trip, the preparation will continue by correspondence. It will entail finalising the work begun in Ireland via the etwinning platform. Then we will have the second trip regrouping the 50 students together again, this time in France. The program here will closely resemble what was planned in Ireland: school tour, classes with correspondents and facilitated group work with the addition of a brief trip to Paris to include amongst other visits, a trip to the palais de la découverte. The work on the escape game will be finished by this stage in order to be able to offer these activities to the students of the school who had not participated in the project up to this point.

We are anticipating a wide variety of responses and impacts. Firstly, for both groups of students, progress in their language of study is expected. Furthermore, it is certain that the students will obtain a better knowledge of the other country and its education system. Progress in mathematics is also expected as these students will have invented puzzles, problems and solutions by themselves. Amongst the many benefits we must not forget the students who won’t have taken part in the planning of this project but as they will participate in the games themselves, we hope that they will gain a more holistic and practical view of maths as a subject, all the while learning French and English. We also intend to publish our completed project on eTwinning as a reference point for other projects of a similar ilk.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32619 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lycée Victor Hugo & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Colaiste Bhride Carnew, Kildare Wicklow Education Training Board