Together to learn Erasmus Project

Project Title

Together to learn

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: Key Competences (incl. mathematics and literacy) – basic skills; Cultural heritage/European Year of Cultural Heritage; Teaching and learning of foreign languages

Project Summary

Discovering the Other was our central theme during our project “Together to Learn” (T2L).
Two schools took part in this project between September 2018 and August 2019 : the lycée militaire d’Autun in France and the Internationella Engelska Skolan i Eskilstuna in Sweden.
Two very special schools since the lycée militaire is a complete boarding school belonging to the Army department and on the other side the Internationella Engelska Skolan which is a Swedish school where all the lessons are given in English.
The 28 students who participated in this adventure learnt together to discover a new country, a new culture and a new lifestyle.

Different activities to anticipate at the maximum the apprehension of the meeting were prepared beforehand.
The students created a video to present their respective schools, then a quiz and a slide show to describe their town and their region. During this year, which was very rich, strong and close links were created thanks to exchanges using the twinpsace, but also with the sending of Christmas paper cards and coded messages. Of course, the students also used the social networks to communicate all together. Teachers have to be very careful because students could easily cross the limits and use the social networks in a bad way (we unfortunately had to cope with a really unpleasant situation, that was quickly and efficiently dealt with thanks to the vigilance of our students and the cooperation between the 4 teachers). The adults who are in charge of the project do not have access to what the students are exchanging ; that’s why we really need to make the students realise how important it is to use the good words when they’re chatting through their favourite social networks.

After that virtual phase, the time for the long-waited trips to Sweden and to France came.The langage was obviously English since the Swedish, also learning French, were not able to hold a conversation in this language, and the French didn’t speak Swedish.
The students improved their fluency and self-confidence in speaking a foreign language.
They learnt new vocabulary and reinforced their linguistic skills. The discovery of the Swedish historic heritage and the French one was rich and allowed everyone to exchange together about different historical periods. Thanks to quizzes and guided visits delivered by professionals, the students strengthened their historic knowledges.
In the two countries, the students were able to meet different people working at school: students, teachers, instructors. In Sweden, the students were hosted by the families, who kindly made them discover the Swedish gastronomy (which it was sometimes surprising). In France, the students stayed at the boarding school, that allowed the Swedish to experience the life of the French students, with a lot of enriching surprises. It goes without saying that all the students discovered a lifestyle different from their own.

To conclude, this project was very rich and responded to our expectations since all the students gained more independence and improved their relation, historical and linguistic skills : these personal and social skills will clearly help them in their future adult life, to be more mature.
Regarding the teachers, realizing this project was very beneficial since they managed to build strong links between them.
The opportunity to discover a new way of teaching made them question themselves and evolve in their daily practice.

EU Grant (Eur)

Funding of the project from EU: 32136 Eur

Project Coordinator

Lycée militaire d’Autun & Country: FR

Project Partners

• Internationella Engelska Skolan i Eskilstuna