The project MAP (Migration Analysis Project) is based on the interest in migration shared by the partner countries. The six partner countries – France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Spain - have very different historical and geographical backgrounds, and all involved are aware that • migration greatly affects our societies (culturally, politically, economically) • it touches our students’ lives in many ways and • migrants often face extraordinary challenges in their host countries – even when they immigrated many years ago. Our aim is to analyze the current situation of migration and migrants in Europe; to investigate its causes and consequences in the pursuit of deeper awareness; to spark debate and encourage students’ self-esteem; to fight against prejudices and promote mutual enrichment through international partnerships; and to give voice to relevant experiences, bringing forth and recognizing real human dramas. All of the students’ experiences, including relevant stories and even pertinent quotes, will be collected and edited, with the goal of producing an exhibition and a MapBook highlighting to main experiences and insights we gain in relation to the project. As a last and closing action, a letter will be written to European Parliament Representatives to inform them of the project’s outcomes, and to express students’ utopian views and hopes. The staff of MAP is composed of 12 dedicated teachers (some of whom have a personal migration history) who will work with approximately 90 students; many of them also have a migration background. Therefore, MAP has bearing on the individual lives of quite a large number of our students and their families. It promotes understanding and helps improve young people’s social integration. Our acronym MAP (Migration Analysis Project) refers to time as well as to place, and a family map will reveal connections to individual family origins and assist in the development of personal identity. However, a map also shows the routes which lead us to different places and the different paths to follow in each migrant’s story. A journey is always an experience that changes people, and we all hope to be touched by this journey. Maps are therefore perfect “visualization tools” for our project to help us to understand both migrants' individual migration histories and the way our countries are affected by migration as a whole. Our approach will always begin with personal experience, but also cover relevant background information to deepen our students knowledge and help them to develop criteria to assess the complex issue of migration. Due to its demanding subject matter, MAP will greatly improve our students' oral and written expertise in English. In addition, their IT skills will improve through the application of various software tools used throughout the project (blogs, presentation software, survey analysis software, etc.). At various stages we will involve experts from “outside” (politics, government and cultural life). We will also contact and interview refugees in camps and document personal histories. We will analyze how the topic of migration is being dealt with in printed and online media. On top of that we will initiate creative processes by having our students prepare and stage plays and film movies based on the insights they have gained during the project. The project will have both intangible results (knowledge by the participants, improved learning in some areas, new skills acquisition) and tangible results (material products). Maps, personal accounts, pictures, reports and presentations will be shared on Twinspace – which we will use as our collaborative online platform - and will also be documented in a MapBook which will be presented at the final exhibition. We will use the outcomes to measure the extent to which the project has contributed to the learning experiences of those involved and the quality of education on offer in the schools that participate. The partnership will have a positive impact on the participating institutions by building a community of teachers and students who have a strong commitment to and sense of ownership in the project, and by creating and carrying out several creative dissemination techniques and activities. It will also enable a broader community (parents, school authorities, local authorities, associations) to benefit from our partnership in the long term.
The project MAP (Migration Analysis Project) was based on the interest in migration shared by the partner countries. The six partner countries – France, Germany, Greece, Italy, Lithuania and Spain - have very different historical and geographical backgrounds, and all involved were aware that • migration greatly affects our societies (culturally, politically, economically) • it touches our students’ lives in many ways and • migrants often face extraordinary challenges in their host countries – even when they immigrated many years ago. Our aim was to analyze the current situation of migration and migrants in Europe; to investigate its causes and consequences in the pursuit of deeper awareness; to spark debate and encourage students’ self-esteem; to fight against prejudices and promote mutual enrichment through international partnerships; and to give voice to relevant experiences, bringing forth and recognizing real human dramas. The students’ experiences, including relevant stories and even pertinent quotes, have been collected and edited for an exhibition at our last meeting and a MapBook highlighting main experiences and insights we gained in our project. The staff of MAP was composed of 12 dedicated teachers (some of whom have a personal migration history) and approximately 90 students; many of them also have a migration background. Therefore, MAP had bearing on the individual lives of quite a large number of our students and their families. It promoted understanding and helped improve young people’s social integration. Our acronym MAP (Migration Analysis Project) refers to time as well as to place, and we also used family maps to reveal connections to individual family origins and assist in the development of personal identity. However, maps also showed us routes which lead us to different places and the different paths taken by migrants we got to know during our project. Maps were therefore perfect “visualization tools” for our project to help us to understand both migrants' individual migration histories and the way our countries are affected by migration as a whole. Our approach always started with personal experience, but also covered relevant background information to deepen our students knowledge and help them to develop criteria to assess the complex issue of migration. Due to its demanding subject matter, MAP greatly improved our students' oral and written expertise in English. In addition, their IT skills improved through the application of various software tools used throughout the project (blogs, presentation software, survey analysis software, etc.). At various stages we involved experts from “outside” (politics, government and cultural life). We also contacted and interviewed refugees in camps and documented personal histories. We analyzed how the topic of migration is being dealt with in printed and online media. On top of that we initiated creative processes by having our students prepare role plays about refugee situations and stage plays and a movie based on the insights they have gained during the project. The project has both intangible results (knowledge by the participants, improved learning in some areas, new skills acquisition) and tangible results (material products). Maps, personal accounts, pictures, reports and presentations are documented in a MapBook which was made and printed in Germany and presented at the final exhibition. The partnership had a positive impact on the participating institutions by building a community of teachers and students who have a strong commitment to and sense of ownership in the project, and by creating and carrying out several creative dissemination techniques and activities. It also enabled a broader community (parents, school authorities, local authorities, associations) to benefit from our partnership in the long term.