Latin languages and cultures : diversity, encounters and international branching out for successful integration Erasmus Project

Project Title

Latin languages and cultures : diversity, encounters and international branching out for successful integration

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 : Strategic Partnerships for Schools Only

Project Call Year

This project’s Call Year is 2017

Project Topics

This project is related with these Project Topics: Inclusion – equity; Early School Leaving / combating failure in education; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Our project is based on an important specificity of our school, which is social, economic, but also cultural diversity. This entails difficulties when it comes to living together, begets some kind of communitarianism and, to some extent, students dropping out. In the face of the constant rise in foreign student body, the teaching staff has sought to develop quality learning tools and practices, with genuine involvement in worldwide opening, working effectively towards giving the students a true sense of belonging to a wider European community.
With a view to bettering our students’ performances, Lucie Aubrac is to this day the only school within the Clermont-Ferrand area to offer a wide variety of second languages – Spanish, Portuguese, italian and German. Unfortunately as of next September, Portuguese will no longer be taught at our school, as per the School Board of Education. The decision was made on February 2nd and lessens our educational offer and the work that has been carried out for years.
The project started out with 5 teachers of different subjects. This changed as the Latin teacher was assigned to another school and the History and Geography teacher had to come in on a couple of occasions. The three language teachers- Spanish, Portuguese and Italian have carried out the project from beginning to end.
Each participant had had a prior experience with European partnerships, and has worked out problems concerning improving language proficiency, inclusion and career orientation.
We have created the “Mondo Latino” workshop, one hour per week for all Year 7 students who took part in the Project. There were 17 of them under the supervision of the 3 Foreign language professors.
About the activities: in October 2018 a transnational event in Messina allowed us to draw the conclusions of the 2017/2018 school year , map out the activities for 2019 and, back in our school in 2019, the details of French student travels.
We have met our starter targets all along the project, even adding extra activities, such as ads for the logo and our motto, avatars and language games. We have made sure to keep in touch with all the partners before adding or altering an activity and and kept them informed via different platforms.
All the work that had been scheduled was carried out before the two trips which were to take place in March and May 2020 in Spain and Portugal. Sadly both trips were postponed then cancelled owing to Covid 19, which meant that not all the prepared activities actually took place.
The pandemic and the lockdown have made it hard for the project to be implemented in its third year , however we were able to come up with ways to keep in touch during that time, mostly through videoconferences.
Mostly, this has been a very positive experience, even if we wish more colleagues had participated in the project. What was especially positive was the synergy created within the school by language teachers. Also positive was the high level of commitment demonstrated by our students who were involved in work and exchanges before and after the pandemic. Their language skills were greatly improved as they realized how important and useful being able to communicate in another language is. Other students were also able to demonstrate their language skills and gain more self-confidence in a positive dynamic, especially as we welcomed our foreign partners. This project sensitized them to other people mainly by working on stereotypes and it showed them a different Europe, closer to their own experiences.
Parents – through their delegates on the schoolboard-have expressed how pleased they were with the project and how much they hoped for future Erasmus projects. It goes without saying that we teachers and our students were bitterly disappointed at not being able to take the planned trips to Spain and Portugal. But contacts and bonds were created, and despite the lockdown exchanges continued for students and teachers.
The project was awarded with the European Initiatives Prize and received the Euroscol label.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 78879 Eur

Project Coordinator

college Lucie Aubrac & Country: FR

Project Partners

• I.C. MANZONI – DINA E CLARENZA
• Agrupamento de Escolas André de Gouveia
• IES LAS BANDERAS