P R O G E T T O    C O M E N I U S 

E' con orgoglio che il DS comunica che il Progetto Comenius che con tanto lavoro è stato messo a punto dall'Istituto e in particolare dal prof. Bartholomew è stato accettato dalla Commissione europea. L'agenzia Nazionale LLP di Firenze lo ha reso noto con notifica formale. E' la prima volta che l'Istituto mette in campo le proprie risorse in questa direzione e il primo passaggio di approvazione è davvero il più importante per realizzare una progettualità che va nella direzione della internazionalizzazione del Liceo.

LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAM

Il Programma d'azione comunitaria nel campo dell'apprendimento permanente, o Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP), è stato istituito con decisione del Parlamento europeo e del Consiglio il 15 novembre 2006 (vedi GU L327), e riunisce al suo interno tutte le iniziative di cooperazione europea nell'ambito dell’istruzione e della formazione dal 2007 al 2013. Ha sostituito, integrandoli in un unico programma, i precedenti Socrates e Leonardo, attivi dal 1995 al 2006.

Il suo obiettivo generale è contribuire, attraverso l'apprendimento permanente, allo sviluppo della Comunità quale società avanzata basata sulla conoscenza, con uno sviluppo economico sostenibile, nuovi e migliori posti di lavoro e una maggiore coesione sociale, garantendo nel contempo una valida tutela dell'ambiente per le generazioni future (Strategia di Lisbona).

In particolare si propone di promuovere, all'interno della Comunità, gli scambi, la cooperazione e la mobilità tra i sistemi d'istruzione e formazione in modo che essi diventino un punto di riferimento di qualità a livello mondiale.

Il Programma di apprendimento permanente rafforza e integra le azioni condotte dagli Stati membri, pur mantenendo inalterata la responsabilità affidata ad ognuno di essi riguardo al contenuto dei sistemi di istruzione e formazione e rispettando la loro diversità culturale e linguistica. I fondamenti giuridici si ritovano negli art. 149 e 150 del Trattato dell'Unione dove si afferma che "La Comunità contribuisce allo sviluppo di un'istruzione di qualità incentivando la cooperazione tra Stati membri e, se necessario, sostenendo ed integrando la loro azione..." (art. 149) e che "La Comunità attua una politica di formazione professionale che rafforza ed integra le azioni degli Stati membri..." (art. 150).

La struttura si presenta come un insieme composto da:
4 Programmi settoriali (o sotto-programmi) che mantengono i nomi delle precedenti azioni dei programmi Socrates e Leonardo
un Programma Trasversale teso ad assicurare il coordinamento tra i diversi settori, e
il Programma Jean Monnet per sostenere l’insegnamento, la ricerca e la riflessione nel campo dell’integrazione europea e le istituzioni europee chiave.

IL COMENIUS

  Il programma settoriale Comenius riguarda tutto l'arco dell'istruzione scolastica, dalla scuola dell'infanzia fino al termine degli studi secondari superiori: risponde alle esigenze didattiche e di apprendimento di tutte le persone, gli istituti e le organizzazioni coinvolte in questo tipo di istruzione.

Obiettivi specifici

- Sviluppare la conoscenza e la comprensione della diversità culturale e linguistica europea e del suo valore
- Aiutare i giovani ad acquisire le competenze di base necessarie per la vita e le competenze necessarie ai fini dello sviluppo personale, dell'occupazione e della cittadinanza europea attiva.

 Gli obiettivi operativi del programma sono i seguenti:

• migliorare la qualità e aumentare il volume della mobilità degli scambi di allievi e personale docente nei vari Stati membri

• migliorare la qualità e aumentare il volume dei partenariati tra istituti scolastici di vari Stati membri, in modo da coinvolgere in attività educative congiunte almeno 3 milioni di allievi nel corso della durata del programma

• incoraggiare l'apprendimento di lingue straniere moderne

• promuovere lo sviluppo, nel campo dell'apprendimento permanente, di contenuti, servizi, soluzioni pedagogiche e prassi innovative basati sulle TIC

• migliorare la qualità e la dimensione europea della formazione degli insegnanti

• migliorare le metodologie pedagogiche e la gestione scolastica.

Le attività previste

Mobilità degli individui

rientrano in questa attività gli scambi di alunni e personale della scuola, la mobilità individuale degli alunni, l'assistentato per futuri insegnanti, la possibilità per il personale docente di effettuare tirocini presso istituti scolastici o imprese, la formazione in servizio per il personale docente e le visite preparatorie per mobilità, partenariati, progetti o reti. 

Sviluppo di partenariati

rientrano in questa attività i progetti di cooperazione che nel Programma Socrates erano denominati scolastici linguistici e  di sviluppo della scuola ed i partenariati Comenius Regio, per incentivare la cooperazione tra regioni trasfrontaliere. 

Progetti multilaterali;

(azione centralizzata gestita dall'Agenzia Esecutiva)

Reti multilaterali

(azione centralizzata gestita dall'Agenzia Esecutiva)

e-twinning
e altre iniziative volte a promuovere gli obiettivi del programma Comenius
(‘Misure di Accompagnamento

Chi può partecipare?

Comenius si rivolge a:

• Allievi dell’istruzione scolastica fino al termine degli studi secondari superiori

• Istituti scolastici

• Personale docente e altre categorie di personale di tali istituti scolastici

• Associazioni, organizzazioni senza scopo di lucro, ONG rappresentanti dei soggetti coinvolti nell’istruzione scolastica

• Persone e organismi responsabili dell’organizzazione e dell’erogazione dell’istruzione a livello locale, regionale e nazionale

• Centri e istituti di ricerca che si occupano delle tematiche dell’apprendimento permanente

• Istituti di istruzione superiore

• Organismi che forniscono servizi di orientamento, consulenza e informazione

Partenariati

I partenariati Comenius hanno l'obiettivo di incrementare la dimensione europea dell’istruzione promuovendo la cooperazione transnazionale tra istituti scolastici in Europa: offrono ad allievi ed insegnanti provenienti di tutti i Paesi partecipanti al Programma la possibilità di lavorare insieme su uno o più temi di comune interesse nell’ambito della normale attività scolastica.

Partecipare ad un partenariato con scuole di diversi paesi offre l’opportunità ad alunni ed insegnanti non solo di acquisire e migliorare le proprie conoscenze dell’argomento o della disciplina su cui si basa il partenariato, ma anche  di accrescere la propria capacità di lavorare in gruppo, di programmare, di intraprendere attività in collaborazione, di utilizzare le tecnologie dell’informazione e della comunicazione di migliorare la capacità di comunicare in altre lingue e accresce la motivazione all’ apprendimento delle lingue straniere.

PARTENARIATI MULTILATERALI E BILATERALI
I partenariati possono essere incentrati sulla partecipazione attiva degli alunni,sull'apprendimento delle lingue oppure sulle questioni attinenti alla gestione scolastica e ai metodi pedagogici e coinvolgere principalmente insegnanti e personale amministrativo della scuola: una differenza nel target del progetto ma non una differenza formale al momento della candidatura.
L'unica differenza formale è data dalla distinzione tra partenariati multilaterali, laddove siano coinvolti almeno tre paesi, o bilaterali, cioè soltanto tra due paesi per attivare uno scambio di classi, nell'ambito di progetti incentrati sull'apprendimento delle lingue.

Partenariati multilaterali
coinvolgono almeno tre scuole di tre diversi paesi partecipanti  e possono essere:
- Focalizzati sulla partecipazione degli alunni
- Focalizzati sulla gestione e sui metodi pedagogici

Partenariati bilaterali
coinvolgono due scuole di due diversi paesi 
Sono incentrati sull' apprendimento delle lingue
e prevedono uno scambio di classe di minimo 10 giorni tra allievi di almeno 12 anni di età.

Anche i partenariati scolastici multilaterali possono prevedere visite degli allievi alle scuole partner, durante le quali gli studenti trascorreranno un periodo all’estero, parteciperanno alle attività in classe e avranno l’opportunità di esercitare la lingua del partner.

ALCUNI ESEMPI DI ATTIVITA'
Possono essere effettuate nell’ambito di un partenariato Comenius:

Incontri di progetto tra tutti gli Istituti coinvolti nel partenariato

Scambi di docenti e allievi coinvolti nelle attività del partenariato (es: scambi di insegnanti, visite di studio del capo d’Istituto, scambi di allievi)

Scambi di esperienze e buone pratiche con scuole partner

Ricerca-azione, lavoro di ricerca sul partenariato

Pubblicazioni e attività di documentazione sul progetto

Realizzazione di disegni, oggetti artistici

Rappresentazioni teatrali, spettacoli musicali

Organizzazione di mostre, produzione e disseminazione di materiale informativo

Preparazione linguistica di insegnanti e allievi per assicurare le competenze necessarie nella lingua/e di lavoro del partenariato.

Cooperazione con altri progetti legati alle stesse aree tematiche (incluse le reti comenius ), incluse le mobilità agli eventi di rete se pertinente e la condivisione di esperienze con altre istituzioni nella regione.

Attività di autovalutazione.

Disseminazione delle esperienze e dei risultati del partenariato.

PARTNER ASSOCIATI
Possono partecipare a queste attività anche partner associati, come autorità locali e regionali, organizzazioni dei genitori e degli alunni, istituzioni per la formazione degli insegnanti .

IL PROGETTO

 The aim of the project is to help students to increase their awareness of their self-identity through the development of a critical approach to film, by comparing and sharing the different cultural realities that emerge from this analysis, and through the collection of data relating to the students’ values and aspirations. This will give students a chance to enter into contact with linguistic diversity in a concrete and practical context, thus enhancing their ability in the target language and reinforcing their confidence in the use of both the spoken and the written language. The project also wishes to create a more tolerant and open-minded approach towards elements of diversity in a national and European dimension and we intend to show students how film can offer an authentic representation of the way of life of other countries, with particular reference to the European context. This project also sets out to make students conscious of the value of the visual and verbal elements of cinema as a universal language and to provide them with the necessary tools and knowledge for producing a film, thus introducing a more progressive, dynamic and creative approach to secondary school teaching.

SUBJECTS DEALT WITH:

- The description of adolescence as reflected in contemporary cinema with particular

   reference to the themes of family, school, love and friendship, racial and social

   discrimination

- Teenagers’ perception of their identity at a personal, national and European level

- Aspirations and expectations of young people in Europe

- The sharing and comparison of values and ideals amongst teenagers in different

   European countries

APPROACH:

-  The use of visual stimuli, in particular film, with the help of a jointly fomulated

   questionnaire, prepared in advance, which will guide the analysis and response of the

   students and stimulate and direct the discussion about the themes presented and help

   students focus their attention on the values that emerge

- Sharing and discussing the results by means of ICT such as e-mail contact, texting, a

   blog, discussion forums, videoconferencing; the organisation of project meetings

   between partner schools

- Production of illustrative visual material and video documentary in workshop sessions

  at both local and trans-national level

Partners:

• Liceo Classico e Linguistico “Daniele Crespi” – Busto Arsizio, Italy

• Fatih Secondary School Diyarbakır, Turkey

•  Lessing-Gymnasium Doebeln, Germany

JOINT ACTIVITIES:

All schools have been involved in the formulation of the project (including a meeting which took place in Leipzig from 28^th-30^th December), in preparing the activity schedule and in planning the impact that the project is to have on pupils, teaching staff, other members of the school community and all those people coming from the local area who have some degree of direct or indirect contact with the school. All the schools are responsible for obtaining consensus for the project from the official representatives of the schools – the teaching body as a whole led by the Head Teacher, the teachers directly responsible for the students involved, the School Board and the student and parent representatives. All the partners will also work together to decide how best to monitor and measure the progress and ultimate efficacy of the project (a qualitative evaluation) and to assess the results and the level of satisfaction amongst all those people who have been directly or indirectly involved (a quantitative assessment). They will act in unison to define the expected outputs of the activities which will be collected and pooled  so that they can be shared together. The project envisages a constant exchange of ideas and experiences between students from each partner school and the final product will also be the fruit of active collaboration between all the partner schools who will maintain regular contact with each other throughout the project through the exchange of e-mails, the publication of progress reports and results on the partnership blog and the organisation of videoconferences. Each school will also be responsible for establishing and maintaining links with the local/national press in order to keep the public informed of the initiative as well as for involving the local authorities in the promotion of the project outside the school.       

SPECIFIC ACTIVITIES:

ITALY: TASKS

• Draft the outline of a short/documentary which will be shared with the partners and be an object of analysis, discussion and definition in the project meetings between the representatives of the partner schools
• The assembling and editing of the three contributions
• Putting the finished product on U-tube and on satellite channels (Arcoiris in Italy)
• Organising a public event within the context of the Busto Arsizio Film Festival to exhibit and publicise the fruit of the collaboration
• Organise and host the project meeting in the month of November, 2008 and of February, 2010.

COMPETENCES

• Work inside the area of moving images: knowledge of film syntax and the specific related language
• Assemble and edit a series of sequences, also of a documentary nature, invent a story outline (general script) and a storyboard in the event of fictional elements being included
• Organisational skills: contact and negotiate an agreement with specific objectives with representatives of the local Film Factory; plan and realise a public event in the context of the Busto Arsizio Film Festival
• Use of IT skills: publishing on-line files containing both written and visual material, including video

TURKEY:TASKS

·         Set up a homepage  for a website for publicising the project in the partner countries and for the publication of developments and results

·         Create a log in which to record the various stages of the project; collect material and information which detail each partner’s activities, experiences and reactions and their contribution to the project

·         Collaborate towards the creation of a public event in Italy to be held in the context of the International Film Festival of Busto Arsizio

·         Organise and host the project meeting in the month of September, 2009

COMPETENCES:

• Use of IT skills: publishing files containing both written and visual material, including video,  on-line blogs, doing research on the Internet; Internet techniques
• Work inside the area of moving images: knowledge of film syntax and the specific related language, improving the viewing skills regarding camera work, content and film technique
• The computer  team in our Institute is responsible for the operation of the school’s website and the computer system of our Institute in addition to teaching students about the use of computer, internet, etc. Moreover there is a computer room to provide students with opportunities for using internet, as well as being used for computer courses.

GERMANY: TASKS

• Host a meeting in December, 2008 for planning the project
• Organise videoconferences for joint activities between all the students involved in the different partner schools (debate forums) by getting the support of a regional city-carrier in Leipzig who will provide us with the appropriate technical equipment
• Set up a blog for the exchange, sharing and discussion of ideas and experiences amongst partner schools
• Devise a monitoring system in the light of feedback from partner schools and fix in connection with the other partners the time schedule and the methods for evaluating the effectiveness and success of the project (customer sastisfaction, validation of out put and outcome)
• Organise and host the project meeting in the month of May, 2009

   COMPETENCES: 

• Use of IT skills: publishing files containing both written and visual material, including video,  on-line blogs, doing research on the Internet; Internet techniques
• Work inside the area of moving images: knowledge of film syntax and the specific related language, improving the viewing skills regarding camera work, content and film technique
• Work inside the area of drama: knowledge of atmosphere, setting, characterization, props, language and dramatic dialogue, stage directions, interpreting and creating poetry, plot etc.
• Use of writing skills (story, comments, summary, reports, reviews, letters etc.)
• Giving a talk or presentation in front of an audience (video conferences; local meetings, school meetings with parents etc.)

The coordinating school will maintain regular contact with the project staff of the partner schools through the blog and an e-mailing list and where necessary by means of video conferences. There will also be a regular exchange of ideas, information and experiences between groups of students, the organisation and realisation of which will also represent one of the activities pursued by teachers during English lessons as this type of activity offers an excellent opportunity for turning the theoretical study and acquisition of knowledge of a language into dynamic learning and authentic communication. We also hope that as the students involved in the project get to know each other better, they will also begin to communicate spontaneously with each other.

Co-operation between partner schools has been built into the project so as to meet the need for a balanced participation in the activities and the production of the final product.

Each institution will prepare their reports about the way the project is going at each phase of the partnership. By sharing them on the website and blog, it’ll be possible to evaluate whether the aims of the partnership have been met.

To this end, in planning the tasks and activities, care has been taken to ensure that all partner schools are required to make an equal contribution to the project and will share a joint responsibility for the task of evaluating the project at different stages and for the drafting of reports based on material and information collected from class activities and questionnaires.

Each school has brought into play its own internal and external resources, both in human terms and as regards its professional competences. A particularly favourable set of circumstances makes it possible for the co-ordinating Institute, the school in Busto Arsizio, to share with its partners the professional skill and know-how of the cinema experts who co-ordinate the Busto Arsizio Film Festival, an event of considerable cultural importance in the Lombardy region, one of whose objectives is the involvement of and co-operation with schools in the area. This presence in the town can offer locations and experts in scriptwriting and the preparation of storyboards, thus offering valuable help and guidance towards the realisation of the project’s outputs.

Furthermore it will be possible to organise a public event inside the context of the Festival with a public presentation of the initiative. The experience will also be reported in specialist film magazines (e.g. the monthly magazine Blow up).

The project meetings in the different partner countries are planned around concrete aspects of the project and will be prepared together in advance. A preparatory meeting has already taken place:  representatives of the Italian and German schools met in Leipzig from 28th-30th December to draw up the project but with direct contact also with the Turkish partner. 

THE OPPORTUNITY

The schools taking part in the project are eager to exploit the opportunity to work with schools in other parts of  Europe because they all recognise how important it is for their cultural growth and for strengthening their links with a united Europe that they should familiarise themselves with new didactic approaches and give their teaching a more international dimension. Indeed the policy adopted in these schools is already moving in this direction in such areas as the introduction of a standard European system for the assessment of foreign language skills or in the promotion of exchanges with schools in other European countries for study purposes and with the CLIL project,  which has already been experimented with in Germany and is likely to be adopted soon in Italy, too.   

The teachers in the schools involved will have a chance to experience first hand the beneficial results of following the LLP, thereby acquiring and spreading good teaching practices, or at least to witness them, which should encourage a reappraisal of their own teaching methods, priorities and system of evaluation.

The new emphasis which the project places on ICT and media language, which are readily accessible to present-day teenagers, is seen as offering a valuable chance to reinforce trends in our schools which are likely to prove vital for efficient communication in the future and for overcoming cultural barriers.

We also consider it important that the study of images and film should become an integral part of the normal teaching timetable instead of being confined to short courses or after-school activities enjoyed by a privileged minority. We feel that the production of a video is an effective way to ensure that “learning by doing” is not just an abstract concept that everyone supports in theory but one that can actually be put into practice and shared by the schools taking part in the project. Furthermore we are convinced that our participation in the project will help transform our schools from places where students simply acquire notions passively, into ones where they are actively involved in practical and stimulating activities.This will help motivate students and contribute to the construction of a more positive attitude towards education and the learning process and hence create a more positive climate inside our schools.

The discovery of the different cultural realities in which adolescents are growing up in different parts of Europe like Germany and Italy, which are already members of the E.U., or like Turkey, which is undergoing a profound social and political change as it reassesses its links with the rest of Europe, raises important questions about national and individual identity which will determine the future of the continent and its role in the world.

In particular, the thematic focus on adolescent experience is intended to serve as a reminder that it is on today’s youth and on their ability to recognise a common cultural identity which binds them together but without  cancelling the national realities that distinguish them  that the future success of Europe depends.

THE PROTAGONISTS 

The students are the true protagonists of the project: even though the active participation in the mobilities is confined to a limited number of students, they will be responsible for sharing their experience with the others, thus involving a wider group of students, which in at least one case will be a whole class, who will in turn communicate what they have discovered and experienced to other members of the school and of the community of which it forms part. In addition, the students in Germany who have shown an interest in the project  have already started working on a CD introducing their neighbourhood, surroundings, schools to the other  participants to arrange the first contacts in the run-up to the project.

The role of the teachers is principally that of “tutors” who will assist and guide the team of students in the exchange and shaping of the ideas that emerge during open discussions on the various aspects of the project.

For this reason, the role of forming and coaching a working group will initially be taken by the teachers, who will then hand over the running of the project, as far as possible, to the students, giving them an opportunity to learn by doing, but with adult support and in a protected environment.

Italy: Courses introducing students to the language of film have been held for some years in normal teaching time and will be followed by those students taking part in the project. These will be reinforced by afternoon workshops on the production of videos,  by collaboration with local projects aimed at spreading the culture of cinema (BAFF), and by contributing articles and reviews to film magazines. Regular curricular subjects like Italian literature, History, Philosophy and Religious Studies will also be involved in the discussion of the theme of adolescence, analysing it from different points of view – social, historical, ethical – but using the students’ own experiences and perceptions as a starting point. During English lessons, emphasis will be placed on activities connected with the project – e.g. the writing of reports and the preparation of subtitles for the video, while support will be given during Maths lessons and in afternoon courses to extend ICT skills, both to facilitate the communication and presentation of material connected with the project and to meet the requirements of the ECDL programme.  

Turkey: The students participate actively in putting the project into practice through answering the questionnaires and analysing and processing the results, analysing the films and using ICT for communication with the students of other partner schools and exchanging their ideas. These activities which form an integral part in the planning and realisation of the project will be integrated into some school subjects – Foreign Language lessons (the English course), Computer and Technology lessons (which is an optional course), Turkish Literature lessons and Counselling periods (which include some activities to provide information about occupational guidance, study skills, communication skills, decision making, etc.). In the Computer lessons the aim is to extend  the use of ICT skills to a greater number of students and to study video tecniques.  During the Counselling periods, workshops and/or debates are planned regarding students’ self-identity and cultural diversity related to the findings  emerging from the project. During the Turkish Literature lessons, the assignments connected with the preparation and filling in of the questionnaires and the drafting of reports related to the project’s topics and outcomes will be evaluated and discussed in class. During the English lesson, prepation of the subtitles of the film will be carried out.

Germany:  The curriculum in language classes/ courses expects  students to analyse film, literature and drama, to develop appropriate viewing skills and to give presentations on various topics/ issues. Students should be enabled to increase their cultural awareness and develop an intercultural competence. Thus the interaction between students from different nationalities and cultures will support those objectives fixed in the curriculum.

Additionally the extension of  ICT skills ( e.g. the dissemination of the findings on our school website and the project blog) and  language skills (such as writing reports, exchanging  e-mails, communicating in a foreign language while having a video conference, preparation of sub-titles in French and Russian for our own creative film production in English, publishing and presenting the findings of the project in our school magazine or the local newspaper) and the elaboration of cultural diversities throughout the course of the project will meet the requirements of the curriculum.

Furthermore issues concerning Social as well as Religious Studies are covered by the project since students have to discuss themes focussed on teenage identity, philosophy, adolescence and the different system of  values and aspirations. 

Finally the extraordinary language experience will support our CLIL project and highly motivate the students involved.

LE SCUOLE COINVOLTE

Liceo Crespi

The school, a traditional grammar school with a very good academic record, is situated in a catchment area with a high rate of immigration from areas outside the EU, both from Eastern European countries and from other continents. Furthermore, the majority of the students attending the school are enrolled in the linguistic course, where English, German, French and Spanish are taught. As adolescents, they have to face problems of anxiety and stress connected with coping with the demands made on them by the course they have chosen which involves the study of a considerable number of academic subjects to a fairly high level. In addition, there has been a steady increase in the number of pupils affected by eating disorders, in part due to the inadequate amount of time that can be devoted to helping students to acquire a greater degree of introspection and self-awareness and to come to terms with their bodies and their individual identity (to this end a project, Ben-essere, has been set up). For this reason there is a growing conviction amongst the teaching staff about the need to introduce innovative teaching methods which are more relevant and readily accessible to the latest generation of students and therefore take into account the new media, teach and exploit the new Information and Communication technologies, and promote the study of images and the language of cinema as part of the enhancement of the students’ skills. The policy directed towards the “internationalisation” of the school, adopted by the Head Teacher, sees the introduction of the LLP, which has received the formal approval and backing of both the teaching body and the School Board, as a fundamental step in this direction. Our students have for some time been involved in exchanges with schools in other European countries, organised by the school itself, which also promotes study holidays in term-time and short exchanges with neighbouring countries as an integral part of the language courses. In addition, the interest in
cinema, which represents the starting-point and constitutes one of the themes of this project, has been fostered in the school in the last few years: selected classes follow courses on the language of film in normal teaching hours and take an active part in the regional Cinema Festival which is held in Busto Arsizio where the school is situated. No attempt has been made so far, however, to combine this activity with the learning of foreign languages.

From the project we hope to achieve:
• The spreading of good practices
• The introduction and extension of alternative and innovative teaching approaches and techniques
• The reinforcement of motivation for learning both inside and outside the classroom
• An improvement in the knowledge and practical use of foreign languages
• The introduction of teaching methods based on workshops and practical activities (learning by doing)
• The teaching of skills in the field of ICT and the Media, which will have a feedback inside the classroom
• A broadening of the cultural horizons and interests of our students, which tend to be confined to their restricted local environment and a deeper knowledge and greater curiosity regarding the social reality of other European countries: while the area our pupils come from enjoys quite a high level of material prosperity, there nevertheless exists a fairly widespread degree of what we could perhaps term as cultural introspection or even “cultural poverty”.

Fatih Lisesi

Fatih Secondary School is located in a socially and economically disadvantaged area. In recent years the population of the city has grown dramatically. The movement has been from rural to urban areas. In our institute there are pupils whose families have migrated from the countryside to the city center of Diyarbakir. As a result of this dramatic movement, the unemployment rate is extremely high. Many students´ parents are unemployed, while some of the students’ fathers have been forced to move to other cities in Turkey to find work. Another social disadvantage of the students attending our institute is that most of the students have to live in crowded families with from four to nine children. In some families, grandparents or married siblings with their own children have to live together with the rest of the family because of the unemployment situation. For these reasons, students do not have an opportunity to travel abroad and to discover what life is like in other European counties, so the partnership will give some of them a great chance to travel abroad and many others will be able to share and exchange their experiences with teenagers from countries in the EU which Turkey is hoping to join in the not so distant future. Our institute’s goal in taking part in such a partnership - " Teenage Identity as reflected through Contemporary Cinema" - is to encourage students, teachers and other school staff to become better acquainted with and to respect other cultural values and identities. We are keen on taking part in such a partnership so that students will be able to have an opportunity both to accept cultural diversity and to discover what they have in common with other European countries. Moreover, students will be able to develop some important skills such as working in a team, taking decisions and accepting responsibilities and improving creativity. In addition, they will be motivated to learn foreign languages and to improve their use of ICT.

Lessing-Gymnasium

Our school is a traditional grammar school situated in the heart of Saxony, a fairly rural area with a relatively high unemployment rate since our industries have gradually been closed down since the change in Germany in 1990. A lot of our young people are constantly on the move towards western regions because in our area there is a lack of job prospects for young generations. The influx of immigrants especially from Eastern European countries has increased steadily. Consequently we do have more and more students with a migration background who on the one hand enrich our cultural diversity but also need to be involved in our cultural and social life. Our school has established a high academic reputation for more than 130 years with students being able to take social, scientific as well as linguistic courses where English, French, Russian and Latin are taught. Aged 10, our students start in Year 5 when they are given the opportunity to take special language classes to be prepared for a CLIL course in Year 7. This new project was successfully introduced in 2004 and offers a new, more authentic approach towards the learning of foreign languages. Besides, there is a growing awareness among teachers and parents in our region that languages are of crucial importance in a united Europe, as well as for the future prospects of young people. From year 7 to 10 our students are given the chance to have CLIL tuition in various subjects such as Chemistry, Geography, Music and History whereas in Year 11 they can take a History course in English. Thus the project will certainly encourage the students to keep up their interest in the CLIL approach to language learning and enable them to use the gained knowledge in a practical way. Our school has partner schools in Russia/Moscow, the USA/Seattle and France/Evron where exchanges and return-visits are organised every year. The partner school in Moscow is very interested in being involved in the making of our final film which will be one of the outcomes of our Comenius project and the French Department of our school has also agreed to support us in organising a multilateral presentation (in English, French and Russian) at the end of the second year. Consequently the LLP will have the positive side effect of creating a multilateral outcome at our school which involves and motivates all language departments. 10 years ago we successfully founded a theatre company in our school which has proved very popular among students aged 13 – 18 and has acquired a reputation for its performances in our neighbourhood and surroundings especially during the summer season. There is a growing interest and demand amongst young people to find a creative approach for discovering themselves and expressing their own identity through acting and/or an analysis of the medium of film when becoming adolescents. Thus I am convinced the introduction of the LLP will meet the demands of our students and the teaching staff alike when trying to find one’s own identity and introducing innovative teaching methodologies, that should bring students of different nationalities together while working together in a more authentic and practical way. Doing the project we hope to develop a more critical approach and awareness among our students regarding different nationalities and cultures. Students should be encouraged not to be prejudiced against foreign cultures and ways of life but instead learn to be open-minded and tolerant. The fact that all participating countries offer a wide variety of differences (location, culture, religion, history, social life etc.) will be beneficial to the final outcomes. Furthermore, extracurricular activities, such as our video and ITC course and the theatre company, offer a very practical touch while aiming at a specific goal and thus arousing the students’ curiosity and developing a high level of motivation.

Vedi atri dettagli del progetto nel file LIFELONG LEARNING PROGRAMME COMENIUS :

1. Dati della candidatura e Informazioni generali

2. Dati del Coordinatore

3. Dati del Partner

4. Dichiarazione

5. Descrizione della proposta di partenariato

6. Dati sull'attività proposta

7. Richiesta di finanziamento

8. Allegati

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Ultimo aggiornamento: martedì, 13 novembre 2012 14.18