L’école de demain / The school of tomorrow Erasmus Project

Project Title

L’école de demain / The school of tomorrow

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: Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Teaching and learning of foreign languages; Pedagogy and didactics

Project Summary

Based on the values of traditional school exchange programmes and the thesis that peer teachers reinforce their own learning by instructing others, the “School of Tomorrow’ ERASMUS+ project involved foreign language pupils actively in the language learning process through innovative peer-to-peer language learning sessions created and prepared by transnational groups of upper secondary pupils aged 16 to 17 prior to the actual school exchange and tested on young pupils from local elementary schools during the stay.

With a group of 20 upper secondary pupils from each country whose motivation was to go abroad and improve their foreign language skills, the objectives of the project have created awareness of cultural differences and similarities as well as pros and cons of two sets of didactic methods and pedagogies, and the best of the two cultures was integrated in future language teaching methods. With the project, “The School of Tomorrow” we emphasized the role played by the educational institutions in Europe in preserving and developing the values of European cultural heritage through cross-cultural cooperation.

The methodology used in the project was based on ‘flipped” teacher/learner roles in the learning pyramid as well as the CLIL method (content and language integrated learning). The students created language teaching activities while learning about languages, communication and social skills at the same time, including debates, animated film productions, virtual guides and transnational skype sessions.

By actively involving the learners in co-producing new language learning activities, their own motivation and language competences increased considerably, and as an added value, they gained more knowledge of their own cultural capital as well as our European cultural heritage. The long-term benefits of the project consist in a shared catalogue of transcultural language learning ideas to be used by both schools and further developed in other projects within the two schools but also in the context of the national language strategies. Finally, the project has underlined the mutual benefits of transnational learners’ experiences and that traveling can broaden and enrich their minds.

Additionally, it can be mentioned that the part of the project concerning the European cultural heritage was taken into account in different ways; an appointment with the local House of Europe in Laval and Copenhagen was arranged for both groups of exchange students as part of the emphasis on creating awareness about our European cultural heritage. Representatives from the organisations gave a lecture on the importance and relevance of building and developing mutual European cooperation and identity among the European countries in order to strengthen a sense of community and awareness of the values that we share. The students were also invited to ask questions about the historical as well as cultural reasons why the Houses of Europe exist and what purposes they serve. None of the students knew about these establishments beforehand and the awareness of the possibilities also to take a gap year as a volunteer within the frames of Erasmus+ was an eye-opener and provided the students with new information about the transnational advantages and qualities.

Finally, both exchange groups were asked to complete a culture quiz in groups of four on the first day of their stay in the receiving country. The culture quizzes were based on a 60 minute walk in Laval / Virum during which they were asked to answer questions about cultural, historical, literary and linguistic issues related to local spots. The winning team was celebrated at an dining event on the final evening of the exchange trips. The students prepared home-made local dishes for a buffet as part of the cultural exchange which was a very efficient and successful element to the overall sense of belonging and cooperation. The video films that had been created as part of the six preliminary sessions prior to the study trips were shown and celebrated during the soirée.

To conclude, we believe that the project’s direct results were measurable in the participating students’ engagement, enthusiasm and overall positive approach to the project. Secondly, the project has served as inspiration for later projects in both schools. At Virum Gymnasium, for example, we have established an annual 2-day “Junior Language Camp” for pupils aged 14-15, making use of older pupils as language trainers doing creative language activities with the participants.

Due to the Corona pandemic, which erupted in Europe at the beginning of March 2020, the final mobility in France two weeks later had to be cancelled, and as the essence of the project involved real-life activities and the pandemic remained an obstacle to mobilities one year later, it was finally decided by both schools, in accordance with representatives from Erasmus+, to end the project on the basis of the first three mobilities completed.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 42502 Eur

Project Coordinator

Virum Gymnasium & Country: DK

Project Partners

• Immaculée Conception