Last encounter from 9 to 13 May 2017 at Lyceè Jean Baptiste de Baudre in Agen, France. The purpose of the activity was an intercultural exchange, where students were hosted by local families, and close the two-year project.
We visited Toulouse on our arrival. It was a historical date, 7 May, elections in France (Macron-LePen). Students were really excited!
At school:
A little statue of a "Tamborilero", typical from Huelva, was given to the Headmaster as a present.
Students made their presentations in English:
...and participated actively in one of the activities (a game) involving people from the different partner countries:
IIS Benedetti Tommaseo, Venice. Elisabetta Battistel – Stefania Rizzo / Recycling words – description of the project from Febr to May 2017.
Five classes of students of IIS Benedetti Tommaseo were given scrap pages from old books or magazines and invited to find meaningful sentences by canceling words with all sorts of materials (e.g. felt pens, plasters, ink, lipstick…). The resulting sheets were temporarily hung on lines with pegs in the classrooms and eventually glued on a 10x1m thick paper scroll at a suitable distance for viewers to read them at ease. During the final meeting in Agen, viewers were invited to “extract” the sentences by copying them on A5 sheets that were then hung on a string for people to read.
The project was inspired by the artwork of Emilio Isgrò, who cancels words with black ink to revive the meaning of language, and the children book Charlotte’s Web, by EB White, about a spider who saves her pig-friend from slaughter by weaving on her web helpful words, collected from trash thanks to the joint work of all farm animals.
The aims of the project were developing awareness for the meaning of words and training the patience necessary for paying attention to details, both in the “artists” and in the “viewers”. The attitude of awareness, patience, attention is necessary to cooperate for the safeguard of our Earth, focus of the Erasmus project.
The careful layout and the final performance have shown the power of transforming materials and involving large groups of people that art may trigger.
There were two motivating workshops by the association "Au fil des Seóunes" which everyone enjoyed:
NGO web page: https://aufildesseounes.jimdo.com/
- Eco-car workshop. Students were split into groups pf mixed nationalities. Different types of waste were provided so that every team
had to make an eco-car, a car moved with no batteries. The person in charge of the activity explained in a video (link to Mega):
https://mega.nz/#!V4dDhZyB!muaNQPbfYer_Ltl_GrHyFfvGbb3FOdHfnv-EfgVGz6Y
- Culinary workshop. Again, groups of mixed nationalities, headed by teachers, had to make delicious recipes. The ingredients were ecological products donated by an association. The results were to be tasted in the farewell party.
Guilaine, explained the activity in this video (link to Mega):
https://mega.nz/#!ctUhmYRT!eLWESpYGAdiGtG2Dtz9Hu-Wz1LUE9iMiH3m2upJdr-4
Organic waste, for compost. The school in Agen has a huge cafeteria where hundreds of students have lunch every day. They are an example of waste management. When you finish lunch, everyone queues to deposit waste in different bins, organic waste is used to make compost.
We had a guided visit in Bourdeaux, where students enjoyed its architecture and history (especially those who study Art):
- And La Romieu, there, we visited a Sunday market full of natural products ( we bought saffron seeds for our eco-garden) and some upcycling!:
- Au fil des Seóunes, gave us an interesting chat on how their organization works, they are an NGO selling second-hand furniture, clothes and so on:
There was an entertaining Treasure Hunt around the city. We were split up into teams to find facts about the city of Agen.
A reception at the Town Hall, and .....in the local newspaper!
- Students showed their works. Presentations were focused on the main topics of our project as stated in the Strategy 2020. Our Spanish students insisted on the 3 Rs (Reuse, Recycle, Reduce), particularly at school and at home, giving facts and figures as well as useful advice to avoid spending too much energy or water. The French made a performance recycling relevant authors in Literature. Others presented videos of some of our experiences abroad, parallel projects in their countries, like The Mug Project in Hamburg. The quality of these presentations show how involved they are in The Art of Recycling and Reuse:
Some presentations in Mega:
Rocío's: https://mega.nz/#!FhljyT7b!5_MzWwduNPQEEEi-qhpFOMR-MuCHdsZMr9bDWMGIjsg
Pepe and Manu's: https://mega.nz/#!RklAkRxB!uUst9UoCKq1mOIm_mNz0VdiIMuaF9u7ZYc6nqcGfRAE
Agen's theater performance:
https://mega.nz/#!QxkRBLjS!cMeTX_GE2iJFQcdwp8ektyjTu0r0DGkn41PfsZOWjng
Also, we went to the cinema to watch a film on Biocoop supermarkets, interesting philosophy. You need to be a member in order to buy products, besides you have to be a volunteer worker for certain periods of time. Fair Trade:
http://goodgoal.org/review/biocoop-2/
- Recycling, upcycling, reusing everywhere, a pub where you can buy recycled material....
Finally, the farewell party. One at school facilities for students and teachers. Rocío and Stephany made us have a great time dancing salsa.
Presents and a nice meal in the best company:
