News from Utopia Erasmus Project

Project Title

News from Utopia

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

Project Summary

– This project was first thought of in a context of a generally-felt imminent collapse of the world as we know it. It seemed to us that it was a necessity to have pupils and teachers think positively about the future by looking into the good things already taking place around them and in the outer world.

– We have decided to enroll in our project first- and second-year high-school students (aged 15 to 18) from our schools G. Eiffel, France, Reichenbach Gymnasium, Germany, and the IES La Guineueta, Spain with which we have already fruitfully collaborated. This will enable the students to follow through the 2-year project.

– Ahead of each mobility, the three schools will select 10 students, meaning 60 students will have had the opportunity to work with their partners abroad by the end of the project. Their work will be supervised by 5 teachers and 2 school directors.

– To fulfill our objectives, activities will take place in class and/or during workshop sessions whose results will then be shared on eTwinning as preparation for and follow-up on our transnational meetings. Ice-breaking activities will be posted on the project’s Twinspace.

– Our objectives are to develop the students’ key skills in writing, speaking and reporting, to improve their English and their social skills, to foster creativity and awareness of cultural differences between partners, and to use IT tools in a sensible way.
As for teachers, they will gain a fresh perspective on their teaching practices through interdisciplinary activities, by collaborating with teachers from different disciplines and different countries.

> During Year 1, a multilingual online magazine set in a Utopian world will be created, featuring articles in four different languages, based on the analysis of existing media.
Our purpose is to give our students a better understanding of the news, of how they can shape the future. They will develop an open-minded approach to national, cultural and social differences, and better language and computer skills by working in transnational groups.
Students will meet first in Ennepetal (Germany), then in Barcelona (Spain).

Preparation activities will focus on:
– gathering press vocabulary in English;
– deciding on newspaper sections collectively;
– meeting professional journalists or students in journalism who will coach the students.
– Online games created by the students on their Twinspace will be used to identify common interests among the students.

Transnational activities (during mobilities) will include:
– field trips to places of interest, interviews of forward-thinking people;
– brainstorming and reporting activities (students will confront their impressions and will start laying down the draft of their articles);
– writing activities (students will write the magazine articles);
– translating activities in different languages
– decision-making activities (the students will decide on the general look of the magazine using the know-how of the Gymnasium’s newspaper club members).

Ennepetal and Barcelona having both to deal with urban development issues, comparisons between these two areas will be used as resource material, as will their visits through the schools to show them the German and Spanish school systems.
When they return from these meetings, students will start working on what should appear on the magazine’s cover, table of contents and layout, discussing these items via the Twinspace forum.
By the end of the school year, the online magazine should be completed and ready to be broadcast and printed with the help of a professional journalist if possible.

> During Year 2, they will create video reports, reinvesting previously acquired skills and implementing new ones in multimedia, namely video shooting, editing and subtitling for the multimedia version of our magazine, under the supervision of a professional.

Preparation activities will focus on:
– analyzing TV news and online media;
– working on fake news and fact-checking sites as it will give them insight on their impact on democracies.
– suggesting and choosing a list of visits for the mobility in Bordeaux.
– gathering information with a view to conducting a master class.

Transnational activities (during the mobility to Bordeaux) will include:
– field trips to places of interest chosen by students;
– derushing and storyboard writing;
– video editing;
– translating into different languages.

By the end of the second school year, the newscast should be completed and shown to an audience.

We hope that this project will make students and teachers more open to transnational work, the use of collaborative virtual tools, and to the fact that the future is in their hands. The different visits, meetings and transnational activities are aimed to show the students that open-mindedness, the will to act, and solidarity already exist in the world and it’s up to them to make good use of them.

Project Website

https://sites.google.com/view/news-from-utopia-ka229-erasmus/

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 29238,5 Eur

Project Coordinator

LYCEE POLYVALENT GUSTAVE EIFFEL & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Städtisches Reichenbach-Gymnasium-Ennepetal
• IES La Guineueta