We have observed that our students are not attracted by high culture and that the gap between high and youth culture is widening. Indeed, students are reluctant to take part in cultural events, they are not much interested in drama and most of them would never attend a play at a theatre. On a personal level, this lack of intellectual curiosity triggers a social isolation: youngsters become more and more withdrawn and introverted; therefore they lose their self-confidence. On an educational level, their lack of motivation to learn and speak foreign languages stops them from discovering other cultures and has got similar consequences.That is why for us, project-based learning on a European scale is paramount. Our prime objective is to make youngsters from 5 European schools work together on a play which belongs to our world heritage and conveys timeless values, Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare. Students will naturally and spontaneously have to interact in English in order to study the play, take part in acting workshops, stage and perform together Romeo and Juliet. Besides they will meet professionals in drama training who will introduce them to the world of culture. That should stir up their interest in their national drama history and incite them to research on it. Therefore, it should help them broaden their minds, open themselves up to the world and strengthen their self-confidence. On top of that, using IT to interact with other European youngsters will help them strengthen their computer skills.The number of participants is not definite yet: it will depend on how many students get involved in each school in France, Spain, Germany, Italy and Greece. Some teachers will take part in the project as well as professionals in drama training, theatrical producers and for each country there will be a person in charge of finance.Here is an action plan. Each country will be responsible for the staging of one act of Shakespeare’s play. They will be free to choose the language they use and can even adapt the text provided the adaptation remains faithful to Shakespeare’s plot. An English website and blog will be created. Each country will be in charge of their own national page where students can provide information on how drama is taught at their schools and on their national drama history. A special page called Juliet@Romeo will be an interface through which all students can interact about the development of their work on the play: they can post photos, videos of the rehearsals and chat about how they are getting on. The reports of each seminar and meeting will also be posted on that page.Moreover, each country will create and edit postcards which will be used to advertise for the project for the attention of the students’ families: starting from a quote from Romeo and Juliet, students will have to take a photo illustrating their interpretation. On top of that, there will be a competition for the best poster to advertise for the final performance that will be staged in France. There will also be an exhibition about the history of drama in each country. The blog will be used for students and teachers to interact while there will be videoconferences and email exchanges between the organizers on a regular basis.There will be 3 seminars for teachers to organize and assess the project: during the first one in France, the objectives of the project will be explained and work will be distributed. The website will be set up on that occasion. The intermediate seminar will focus on the rehearsals and the preparation of the performance. The last one will be the final assessment of the project. When students travel abroad to meet (6 mobility periods), the program will be based on similar activities: drama training with professionals, visiting a theatre and attending a performance and organizing an exhibition about the history of drama in the host country. The fifth mobility period will be different: students will perform the play in France.The result expected is first and foremost the performance of Romeo and Juliet, which will be filmed so that each country will have a DVD of the show. Teachers expect their students’ skills in drama, languages and IT to improve, all the more so as they will have had the opportunity to exchange on different pedagogies in drama and language teaching. The project will incite students to attend theatre performances and it will permit them to develop intercultural skills thanks to drama thus to gain self-confidence. Such a project may establish strong links between the 5 schools and lead to further common cultural projects in the near future.
After taking part for the first time in a Comenius project, we decided to become the leaders of a project about drama. We made the following assessments : a gap between so-called high culture and youth culture, the small proportion of youngsters in the artistic field, little room for non formal teaching in our pedagogical practices, the lack of motivation of our students for learning a foreign language, their lack of knowledge about cultural venues, about the history of theatre, be it French or European, their low self-esteem and above all their lack of tolerance towards other people due to poor knowledge of their cultures. We therefore made the decision to work on Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet, because first of all, it is one of the only plays that has been translated in every language and furthermore, it is a play dealing with issues which are still very relevant today and which reflect some of our initial assessments. Our aims were therefore to reduce the gaps by showing that, whatever the form and the era, the values conveyed have remained the same. We also made a point of having the play be performed in front of an audience, in the real conditions of a show. Working on drama has therefore enabled us to demonstrate that non formal learning doesn’t stand in the way of formal learning but on the contrary, complements it and even makes formal learning easier. Moreover, as all the target students were involved in a common project around a common work of art, where speech was at the heart of the various artistic approaches, the situation of communication was established straightaway and allowed students to overcome the language barrier, and during the mobilities, we were able to notice this willingness to communicate with other people, from the students as well as from the accompanying teachers. Another goal was to create or reinforce partnerships with the creation field and to make sure students would get to grips with their culture and the cultural heritage of their country as well as with the culture and cultural heritage of the other European countries. This project strengthened the students’ self-confidence thanks to team work during which other people, belonging to the same nationality or not, brought their skills and their drive into the common project. Difference was thus no longer an obstacle but an added value, which enabled all of us to put to the test the European motto : « United in diversity ». The main activities that were carried out around this project were the following ones (they can all be seen on the website juliet-romeo.eu): a logo was made (it was used on the website from the start), postcards were created which included a quotation from Shakespeare’s play illustrated in a contemporary way (see ‘free figures’ tab on the website juliet-romeo.eu). These postcards were sent to the different countries and thus allowed students to keep exchanging. Posters were made for the final performances (see ‘the play’ tab). Very precise requirements had to be fulfilled during each mobility : an acting training session for the target students, the visit of one or more cultural venues in the host country, an outing to see a show chosen from the cultural offer in the host country, an exhibition on the history of the theatre of the host country created by the students of the said country, the discovery of the city and of the daily life of their exchange partners (see ‘mobilities’ tab). One week was devoted to rehearsing and then performing the juliet@romeo play, adapted from Romeo and Juliet by Shakespeare. The performances took place in France at Jean Vilar theatre in Saint-Quentin (see ‘the play’ tab) and were filmed in order to create a DVD. Each activity was carried out and we can emphasize the high quality of each of these achievements, which are visible on the juliet-romeo.eu website. The parents and the audience were for that matter really impressed by the performances : they didn’t expect such high standards. Students and teachers had to make use of and highlight their creativity, they had to work in teams using their mother tongue as well as English and they realized how important pulling together is for such a project. The teachers involved were able to work in multidisciplinary teams and also discovered other ways to teach thanks to the various mobilities. Of course we have all improved our language skills and now have a much less inhibited attitude to speaking a foreign language. We have all learnt about the history of the theatre of the participating countries. Our partner schools and cultural partners have but one wish : turning these partnerships into long-term ones. Website of the project : juliet-romeo.eu