Are we really what we eat? Comparing traditions around food in France and England – a way to give meaning to language learning. Erasmus Project

Project Title

Are we really what we eat? Comparing traditions around food in France and England – a way to give meaning to language learning.

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: ICT – new technologies – digital competences; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Are we really what we eat? Comparing traditions around food in France and England – a way to give meaning to language learning.

BACKGROUND / CONTEXT. We have two contexts: food traditions and the language surrounding food. Our world seems to grow smaller, but our societies seem to know very little about the basics of life from one country to another, meaning that they are unable to learn from each other. Food is one of the most important basic needs, yet the 26 miles that separate England from France also separate two countries with differing attitudes to food. We have the stereotypes of “English food is bad” and “French food is good”, but is that true and why? Our other context is language. The languages departments of our two schools, Warminster School in the UK and Elisee Mousnier school in France, have been working together for nearly 4 years. Each year we have developed this relationship, and this time we want to involve activities surrounding sharing some of our rich European cultural heritage for our learners. Children may not be motivated by language, but they are usually motivated by food, so by joining the two we hope that everyone will benefit.

OBJECTIVES OF THE PROJECT. The objectives are (1) to encourage pupils to consider and learn from information that they will acquire themselves by carrying out joint presentations and documents with their counterparts in the other school. (2) to enable pupils to increase and develop their use of the other language, by a combination of guided activities, independent research, regular correspondence/Skype conversations with pupils in the other school, and an exchange during which the pupils will spend a week living with a family in the other country. (3) To allow pupils to discover for themselves that they can work, both in person and via the internet, with other young people in a different country despite not being completely fluent in each others’ language.

There will be 34 pupil participants in total, with a total of 5 accompanying teachers. The pupils come from varying backgrounds, a good social and educational mix in both schools. They will be in Year 10 / troisieme in 2018/2019, and already learning each others’ language at school.
Attitudes to and use of food questionnaires prepared by teachers taken by pupils to find answers from as many people as possible, as a basis for further investigation and also the acquisition of language. Questionnaires will be shared with the partner school via the VLE, enabling schools in both countries to see what the other school’s community thinks.
Results from questionnaires to be processed by pupils, using various means – this might include putting in to a graph or writing a description of results in the target language.
Pupils in each school produce (and send to the other school) bilingual presentation/ video to explain their understanding of local social attitudes to food, and a description of a few ‘typical’ dishes.
Pupils decide which recipes could be considered traditional in each country, and start to translate them.
Pupils have first electronic meetings in which they help each other with language in recipes.
Pupils prepare collaborative presentation – social attitudes to food
Pupils (groups of French/English pupils) prepare collaborative document comparing results from questionnaires.
Pupils prepare second collaborative presentation, having exchanged ideas during visit in March.
Near the end of the month there will be an evening presentation by staff and pupils of each school to the wider local community of parents and local residents, to share the experience and learning from the project.
Pupils in both countries finalise and agree on content and format of final document, guided by teachers if required.
Project leaders produce all remaining paperwork in respect of this project, including a document commenting on and recommending (or not) which innovative practices should be used or adapted for use in future.

We will use data collection and analysis via questionnaire in two languages, collaborative learning via VLE, Multi-media presentations, dissemination of results to the wider local community, production of logically sequenced research findings in a public document.

As a result of pupils’ mobility, planned learning and active involvement and participation in the project they should acquire improved linguistic ability and a real appreciation of intercultural similarities and differences. Their horizons should be broadened and they will end up knowing that they accomplished something that often seems hugely difficult when you are 15 years old, thereby increasing their sense of self-worth.
Staff in both schools will benefit from observing each others’ systems, and from discussing teaching styles.

Potential long-term benefits include improved intercultural understanding, better use of language for both, and a greater take-up of the study of foreign languages in Warminster School Sixth Form.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32697 Eur

Project Coordinator

Warminster School & Country: UK

Project Partners

• Collège Élisée Mousnier