This project arose in the context of an association, the Douzelage, created in 1991 and which today links twenty-eight European towns. During one of the annual general meetings, in May 2019, teachers from two of these towns, ours in Granville, France, and Asikkala in Finland, had the idea of setting up an educational and social project on active citizenship in our two schools. On an individual level, our schools are each committed to citizenship and environmental initiatives, and their geographical situations make them both particularly aware of the problems of global warming: Granville situated in the Cotentin Peninsular is especially concerned with changes to the seashore line and the protection of the coast, while Asikkala is in the south of Finland, a region of lakes which is very sensitive to the prospect of a rise in sea levels. Our establishments are also engaged in reflection on “sustainable food choices” with students being involved in a number of projects which we feel are complementary, and therefore it will be rewarding to exchange ideas on existing practices and consider joint actions. Our aims: - To make our students more aware of the opportunities open to them in Europe and teach them to work on a project with other Europeans in a foreign language, i.e. English (key skill: multilinguism). - To get the class working as a team on this project and give meaning to the label “European Class”. - To move from awareness to putting it in practice, encouraging commitment (European Union key skill: active citizenship) at a local level: protection of a beach (sea or lake) near the two schools. - To develop life skills as far as food and diet are concerned and to learn to eat responsibly, through concrete actions. - To promote and raise the profile of the European “Douzelage” network. - To foster links between the high schools, partner companies (key skills: initiative and entrepreneurial spirit) and associations. The project will involve forty French and Finnish student participants and their teachers, but will also include the entire educational community in the two establishments and in partner companies and associations. First the students in both schools will study the shore environment and changes to it resulting from global warming on a world scale, in a non-language geography class. Then, supervised by their teachers, they will carry out an investigation of local effects in their town and transmit their data in English via eTwinning to their correspondents in the other country. Secondly, in collaboration with local authorities and associations, they will choose a concrete action to carry out in the field with the aim of protecting a section of the shoreline. Concurrently, students will be made aware of the issues of eating responsibly and will engage in a practical project targeting their peers: devising a vegetarian menu, reducing waste, finding alternatives to junk food and working with the school bursar to establish local sourcing contracts. French and Finnish students will again share their experiences on the actions they have carried out, in English, via eTwinning. Two meetings are also planned, to exchange views and carry out joint actions, one in Granville in spring 2021 and another in Asikkala in autumn 2021. - This project will create a team spirit in the European classes in the French lycée, and in the Finnish high school classes, with the young people from both countries co-operating in a long-term exchange and a concrete project. - The project will contribute to the level 2 E3D label award for the French high school. - This action should complement the schools’ development plan, notably in terms of its educational component of opening up to Europe and encouraging mobility. - The results will be shared within the partnership on the internet (via eTwinning ) and during the two planned meetings. - The actions will be reported in the local press (print, radio, and blog) - Both schools’ open days will be important opportunities to promote the project and its results. - The local authorities and associations will be kept informed. We trust that this project will be the starting point of a long-term cooperation between all the various stakeholders involved, not just the educational institutions, and that it will encourage the lasting involvement of the educational community and the inhabitants of our respective regions in similar projects.
This project arose in the context of an association, the Douzelage, created in 1991 and which today links twenty-eight European towns. During one of the annual general meetings, in May 2019, teachers from two of these towns, ours in Granville, France, and Asikkala in Finland, had the idea of setting up an educational and social project on active citizenship in our two schools. On an individual level, our schools are each committed to citizenship and environmental initiatives, and their geographical situations make them both particularly aware of the problems of global warming: Granville situated in the Cotentin Peninsular is especially concerned with changes to the seashore line and the protection of the coast, while Asikkala is in the south of Finland, a region of lakes which is very sensitive to the prospect of a rise in sea levels. Our establishments are also engaged in reflection on “sustainable food choices” with students being involved in a number of projects which we feel are complementary, and therefore it will be rewarding to exchange ideas on existing practices and consider joint actions. Our aims: - To make our students more aware of the opportunities open to them in Europe and teach them to work on a project with other Europeans in a foreign language, i.e. English (key skill: multilinguism). - To get the class working as a team on this project and give meaning to the label “European Class”. - To move from awareness to putting it in practice, encouraging commitment (European Union key skill: active citizenship) at a local level: protection of a beach (sea or lake) near the two schools. - To develop life skills as far as food and diet are concerned and to learn to eat responsibly, through concrete actions. - To promote and raise the profile of the European “Douzelage” network. - To foster links between the high schools, partner companies (key skills: initiative and entrepreneurial spirit) and associations. It was planned that forty French and Finnish student and their teachers would take part, but will also include the entire educational community in the two establishments and in partner companies and associations. Finally 50 pupils were involved and a whole bilingual (classe européenne) could work on this project. First the students in both schools have studied the shore environment and changes to it resulting from global warming on a world scale, in a non-language geography class. Then, supervised by their teachers, they carried out an investigation of local effects in their town and transmitted their data in English via eTwinning to their correspondents in the other country. Secondly, in collaboration with local authorities and associations, they have choosen a concrete action to carry out in the field with the aim of protecting a section of the shoreline. It was a beach (saint Nicolas beach). They shared the report of their cleanwalk by videoconference. Concurrently, students were made aware of the issues of eating responsibly and engaged in a practical project targeting their peers: devising a vegetarian menu and cooking it at the high school, reducing waste, finding alternatives to junk food and working with the school bursar to establish local sourcing contracts. French and Finnish students shared their experiences on the actions they have carried out, in English. Two meetings took place to exchange views and carry out joint actions, one in Aisccala in spring 2022 and another in Granvilles in fall 2022. - This project has created a team spirit in the European classes in the French lycée, and in the Finnish high school classes, with the young people from both countries co-operating in a long-term (events several times postponed because o of the pandemic) exchange and a concrete project. - The project will contribute to the level 2 E3D label award for the French high school. - This action should complement the schools’ development plan, notably in terms of its educational component of opening up to Europe and encouraging mobility. - The results were shared within the partnership on the internet (via eTwinning ) and during the two planned meetings. even if we can regret that pupils have often prefered to communicate by other mediums (socialnetworks) - The actions were reported in the local press . - Both schools’ open days were and will be important opportunities to promote the project and its results. - The local authorities and associations were kept informed. We trust that this project will be the starting point of a long-term cooperation between all the various stakeholders involved, not just the educational institutions, and that it will encourage the lasting involvement of the educational community and the inhabitants of our respective regions in similar projects.