The project is called XENOS - (in Greek both the foreigner, the refugee and the host, the one who receives). This word was used as an acronym to define the outlines of the project: Xenophilia, Education, Numerical (Digital) platforms, Odyssey, Scene. In 2019, the Paul Verlaine College, located in Paris, began an exchange with the 2nd college of Koropi, located on the outskirts of Athens, as part of a pairing agreement between the Paris Academy and the County of Attica. A postal exchange began between the students, but the COVID-19 pandemic abruptly interrupted this process. The agreement and educational convergences were immediate between the French and Greek teams. Erasmus+ would allow us to expand this initial partnership and to reinforce again the common dynamic. To present our project, we explain the acronym XENOS. Xenophilia: (from the Greek xenos- [ξένος], "foreigner, unknown" and -philia [φιλία], "love"), at the heart of our project, it refers to a strong taste for cultural and 'civilizational' aspects, foreign to its own nation, which we wish to cultivate in our students. Education: We are launching an Erasmus+ project to raise awareness and educate young people about common European values, promote inclusion, combat school drop-out and engage them in a transnational project to develop their cultural and civic openness. The audiences who will take part in the project's activities are 20 student volunteers enrolled in the theatre workshop of Verlaine College, some of them with disabilities. They will be supervised by four teachers, one nurse and one actress. In Greece, 20 students from the 2nd Koropi College participating in a cultural workshop that promotes the Francophonie will be supervised by two teachers and the principal. Numerical (Digital) platforms: the primary tool throughout the project, including the eTwinning platform, it will allow exchange, collaboration, production and communication between peers but also with anyone concerned or interested in the project. Odyssey: mobility is a powerful lever to introduce students to other ways of living but also to a common cultural heritage. This is not a school trip but an adventure, for today's Ulysses, who returns to the roots of the European Union and its values "of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, (...) including the rights of minorities." (Article 2 of the Maastricht Treaty). Scene: the aim is to go through the theatre to acquire civic and cultural values and enrich the Franco-Greek exchange. Theatre is a universal language, that of the body and words. It was born in Greece and founded the values of European humanism. By studying the "Suppliants" of Aeschylus, we will carry out a work of reflection and adaptation on refugees. History is made by the victors and by men, except in some cases, as in Aeschylus, where the notions of democracy and asylum rights are viewed through the struggles of women for equal rights. We chose this tragedy because the subject of this work is still a persistent issue. The planned activities are linked to a collaborative show created from the tragedy of Aeschylus. Our methodology is based on regular electronic exchanges and punctual mobility. A first mobility of French teachers will take place in November 2020. The partners will meet four times over the two years and will interact through digital media like eTwinning on a regular and progressive basis. They will prepare the final show to be given in France in April 2022 following artistic rehearsals and documentary research. These activities will achieve the project's objectives insofar as young people will develop their personal culture, build together an artistic and cultural project and understand in a concrete way citizen and humanist issues. Mobility activities will be highlights as they will be able to discover a country, a culture, lifestyles that are both close and different from their own, which will encourage exchanges and questions. The expected results are both individual and collective. We anticipate every student to make academic progress (mastery of the French language - both oral and written, digital skills, appropriation of cultural knowledge) and good personal inclusion regardless of the obstacles. At the collective level, laying the groundwork for international openness, creating emulation around theatre and European collaborative projects among peers and disseminating the best practices acquired during this experience will be the expected benefits that will contribute to the long-term influence of our institutions.
The project is called XENOS - (in Greek both the foreigner, the refugee and the host, the one who receives). This word was used as an acronym to define the outlines of the project: Xenophilia, Education, Numerical (Digital) platforms, Odyssey, Scene. It was a partnership between the Paul Verlaine College, located in Paris and the 2nd college of Koropi, located on the outskirts of Athens. What does XENOS mean ? Xenophilia: (from the Greek xenos- [ξένος], "foreigner, unknown" and -philia [φιλία], "love"), at the heart of our project, it refers to a strong taste for cultural and 'civilizational' aspects, foreign to its own nation, which we cultivated in our students. Education: With this project we raised awareness and educated young people about common European values, we promoted inclusion, combated school drop-out and engaged them in a transnational project to develop their cultural and civic openness. The people who took part in the project's activities were 28 french students volunteers, one of them with disabilities, enrolled in the theatre workshop, in the choir and the club of philhellenes of Verlaine College. They were supervised by six teachers and one actress. In Greece, 28 students from the 2nd college of Koropi participated in a cultural workshop that promotes the Francophonie and were supervised by three teachers and the principal. Some of the participants from both parts had learning and financial difficulties and were socially deprived. The project enabled them to meet young europeans, to travel, to participate to collective experiences and to retrieve the lost meaning of their school life. Numerical (Digital) platforms: the primary tool throughout the project, including the Twinspace platform, allowed the exchange, the collaboration, the production and the communication between peers. This mode of communication and exchange was favorised in 2021, because of the lockdown and the restrictions resulting from the sanitary crisis. Odyssey: mobility was a powerful lever to introduce students to other ways of living and the common cultural heritage, the roots of the European Union and its values "of respect for human dignity, freedom, democracy, equality, (...) including the rights of minorities." (Article 2 of the Maastricht Treaty). The mobilities were powerful meeting moments of exchange beyond our expectations. Scene: the aim was to go through the theatre to acquire civic and cultural values and to enrich the Franco-Greek exchange. The theatre was born in Greece and founded the values of European humanism. By studying the "Suppliants" of Aeschylus, we carried out a work of reflection and adaptation on refugees. The students overcame their stage apprehensions, trusted theirselves and learned theatrical practices techniques which will become useful throughout their school life and their life in general. The planned activities were linked to a collaborative performance created from the tragedy of Aeschylus. Our methodology was based on regular digital exchanges and punctual mobility. The partners met two times over the two years and interacted thank to the digital media Twinspace of eTwinning on a regular and progressive basis. They prepared the final show which was presented in Paris, in May 2022 after artistic rehearsals and documentary research. These activities achieved the project's objectives to that extend that young people developped their personal culture, built together an artistic and cultural project and understood in a concrete way citizen and humanist issues. The mobility activities managed to create powerful moments as they were able to discover a country, a culture, lifestyles that are both close and different from their own, which encouraged exchanges and questions. The results were both individual and collective. We noticed that every student made academic progress (mastery of the French language - both oral and written, digital skills, appropriation of cultural knowledge) and good personal inclusion regardless of the obstacles. At the collective level, the project layed the groundwork for international openness, created emulation around theatre and European collaborative projects among peers and disseminated the best practices acquired during this experience. These benefits contributed to the long-term influence of our institutions. In the two following years we continue our partnership between Paris and Koropi with a new validated Erasmus+ programme (2022-1-FR01-KA220-SCH-000088805). On the strength of this first fruitful experience, we are going to participate in a consortium with new partners from Normandy, Romania and an association of journalists.