The project entitled “the Vineyard at the crossroads of Latin cultures” was started by 3 teachers at Victor Louis Secondary School in Talence, France. They have long been involved in school projects linked to Europe and how adolescents envision it. For example, they have participated in the European Citizenship Competition organized by the Conseil Géneral de la Gironde (Regional Council of the Gironde Department), which has regularly rewarded their pupils. The Regional Council has acknowledged their commitment and awarded them a grant which enabled the teachers to go and meet European colleagues so as to initiate the Comenius project they had in mind. As a consequence, the present application is the result of these three years of preparation and reflexion, and also participation in training courses on European Exchanges. The starting point of the team was a Franco-Romanian collaboration, as the Regional Council was keen to encourage links with new members of the European Union. The organising team went to Iasi in November 2012. The exchanges with the Romanian colleagues were rich and highlighted the natural relationship between French and Romanian, two very close Latin languages despite the distance between the two countries. The other key point for people from Bordeaux was the presence of a vineyard next to both cities. These common features marked the path for our future work: 'so far, and yet so close'. That is the objective of our project: how can we reach out to others through our immediate environment? Our goal is mainly patrimonial but also cultural, scientific and linguistic. It should enable us to explore how Latin we are, what our common heritage is as far as the environment/background is concerned, that is, the vineyard the Romans bequeathed us. We tried to find partners with the same cultural features. Several Italian secondary schools answered our ad on eTwinning and we chose Aversa as soon as February 2013 and since then, we have been in communication regularly. Thus, the team in composed of three highly motivated schools in France (Talence), Italy (Aversa) and Romania (Iasi). All are urban schools which cater for a public that is heterogeneous both in terms of levels and of social and economic background. It is composed of adolescents in need of references and difficult to motivate. The themes of our three-year project are the following: sciences and technology for the first year; arts and literature for the second year; human and social sciences for the third year. They will result in a production each year: 'Vino Dico', a 4-language dictionary of wine-growing vocabulary; an exhibition of photographs of the vineyards with texts by writers and our pupils; the production of a wine bottle label and a map of the wine trade. Each production is carried out jointly by pupils from the 3 countries, which makes it necessary for them to meet annually. Depending on the theme and the curiculum, pupils of different ages and levels will work on the project, so that as many adolescents as possible are involved. Each month, groups of pupils will write newspaper articles for the web journal of the project. The project will have different impacts depending on the countries and the participants. Generally speaking, we wish their practice of ancient and modern languages to improve. The multidisciplinary approach should enable low-performing students to progress and should keep them motivated. Besides, the participant from the three urban secondary schools should be able to explore, even sometimes discover, their wine-growing environment and the job opportunities it offers. This common cultural heritage is the driving force that will guide adolescents in the construction of their European citizen identity by enabling them to discover what makes them both similar to, and different from, others. The project should also give teachers the opportunity to enrich their teaching practices and to discover other forms of teaching. The multidisciplinary themes and the number of teachers involved each year require annual meetings to see the project through. During the third year, we will assess the results of our project and propose a training period for our foreign colleagues and also French teachers on “archaeology and territory: archaeology as a link between territories”. For the teams of teachers involved, it could be the starting point of other collaborations, other projects.
The originality of « the Vineyard at the crossroads of Latin cultures » project lies in the fact that it is not only cultural, scientific and linguistic, but above all patrimonial. The idea is to envisage our shared heritages, what it is that makes us Latin, in a study of the immediate environments of the pupils from the participating schools, the vineyard. This cultural heritage enables us to link three geographically distant European regions: the West Atlantic, the Mediterranean and the eastern confines of the European Union. The coordinating school : the Collège Victor Louis (Talence, France) was at the outset of the project. Teachers there had regularly been involved in pedagogical actions such as the European Citizenship Competition, organized by the Département de la Gironde, and three teachers were awarded a grant enabling them to travel to meet European colleagues with a view to initiating a Comenius project. The organizing team thus travelled to lasi (Romania), in November 2012. This meeting brought to the fore the natural cultural proximity between French and Romanian, both Latin languages despite the geographical distances. The presence of vineyards around both cities was an obvious centre of interest to be worked on: “So far and yet so close”. How can we reach out to others through our immediate environment? The college d’Aversa (Italy) joined the project through eTwinning. Thus, three schools in France (Talence), Italy (Aversa) and Romania (lasi) worked together. All are urban establishments which cater to a public which is heterogeneous both in terms of levels and socio- economic backgrounds. They all work with young people in need of references and motivation. Hence the desire to have them open up to others, to transcend their differences, the distances and their representations. Another aspect specific to the project: the annual themes which enable us to approach the different aspects of the subject gradually, but also to involve larger numbers of pupils and staff over time. Each school year has its theme: science and techniques the 1st year, arts and literature the 2nd, and finally human and social sciences the 3rd year. There is a transversal production linking all the work over the three years: the “Vino dico” a quadrilingual dictionary of wine making terms, and the annual productions: a book of photos and texts about the scenery of the vineyards, maps of the wine trade, calendar…. The annual meetings offer the possibility to enrich this work and to discover the different patrimonies first hand. The objectives have been greatly surpassed with numerous other productions added to enrich the project, adapting to the desires of the staff and partners and allowing more leeway and creativity. This is an important point as the implementation of the recent school reform in France has meant adapting the project to the new curriculum (eg: the setting up of an interdisciplinary project on wine as a globalised product) Two meetings have been organized each year: a learning activity for the pupils and a transnational meeting, except in the third year when a learning/training activity was added for the teachers. Generally speaking, we have observed progress in foreign languages with inhibitions lowered. For certain pupils with learning difficulties the multidisciplinary approach inherent in the project has enabled them to make progress and maintain their motivation. The aim was to guide these young people in the construction of their European citizen identity through the discovery of what bonds them to others or what makes them different. This is the primary impact of the project: to reach out to others and to raise barriers which were more numerous than those identified at the outset. The project has also enabled the teachers to progress in their teaching practices, to discover other teaching realities. The training session on the subject of mediation in archaeology in partnership with Cap Archéo has been a keynote in the project. Numerous cultural and institutional partners have helped, supported and publicized the project, making it ever richer. Moreover, in France and Italy this partnership was marked out when the college Victor Louis was awarded the prix du college européen de Gironde by the DAREIC and the MEBA (Maison de l’Europe Bordeaux-Aquitaine) As a result of these meetings between the schools involved new projects for exchanges between the three partners are already emerging. Our patrimony remains a constant, with for example work on the 1st World War. Italy already has two Erasmus projects in the making.