Case Studies

The information for the Case Study was collected during an interview with Stéphane Ravera, teacher at the “Chateaubriand” Lycée Français of Rome. Stéphane Ravera represents the promoting institution of the Tomorrow’s World project.

The background of the Tomorrow’s World project is based on the fact that languages today can represent an useful tool in order to make children responsible citizens. The project combines an important topic, the environmental one, with a debate based educational method. Once identified the subject area, students were prepared to hold up a public speech through practical exercises. This way, students were able to publicly assert their own thesis. This is a practice widely used in overseas countries (first of all in the US), but it is not equally used in France or Italy. Then, thanks to the school’s network of contacts, the sessions of the debate contest are held in the Plenary Hall of the FAO. The second part of the programme concerned a writing contest of science-fiction short stories.

The project target group is represented by the students of different schools: the “Chateaubriand” High School of Rome, the “Jean Giono” High School of Turin, the “Stendhal” High School of Milan, the “Virgilio” High School of Rome, the “Luciano Manara” High School of Rome, the “Vittorio Gassman” High School of Rome.

The project target language is English.

The Tomorrow’s World project has different objectives. From a linguistic point of view, it aims to develop students’ communicative skills, motivating them to interact and to use the foreign language to assert their own thesis. From a didactic point of view, it aims to develop a scientific and literal knowledge. From a civic point of view, the project suggests making students more responsible and sensitizing them to the European values.

The main idea of the project itself is to encourage students’ communicative and rhetorical skills, involving different subjects on the discussion of a sensible theme. English language is usually considered as a boring subject rather than a communicative tool to make one’s own point. The project showed all the potential applications of this language, through the realization of practical experiences and the production of science-fiction short stories.

The project attained the expected results: students had the opportunity to familiarize with the communicative tool of the debate, developed a scientific knowledge and produced science-fiction short stories. All those results confirm the usefulness of a foreign language as a precious tool in the personal and civic growth of the students.

The “Chateaubriand” High School, the Tomorrow’s World project promoter, decided to submit the application for the European Language Label with the aim to give its own contribution to the European environment.

The project gave its contribution to the European environment, developing the civic sensibility of each student, promoting the participation of different teachers on European themes, starting a constructive cooperation with other European institutions.

First of all, “Chateaubriand” High School, the project promoter, put the Label on the project portal. Then, the award was used as official “business card” of the school itself, a qualitative tool in order to present its own activities and the best way to lay the foundation of future partnerships.

The project acquired a quality legitimacy through that award. The European Label of Languages also allowed further forms of transnational cooperation, because it “sounded good” to those who did not know the Label at all (still too many) and was a confirmation of quality for those who already knew it. In particular, the European Language Label represented the direct way to start a constructive partnership with other winning realities, in a constant and positive dialogue for both the realities involved.

In order to develop a quality project in the field of Language learning, “Chateaubriand” High School, the project promoter, advices to make sure of the generosity of the project itself. A good project should be “language-oriented”, but it should also contain a civic objective and reinforce the European values it has been written for.

The logo is the best way the exploit the award of the ELL. An official award, received by the European Commission, is a convincing argument for those who do not know it and an added value for those operating in the field of language learning.

The NELLIP Network selected the Tomorrow’s World project for its consistency with the political priorities of the European Commission in the field of language learning. In particular, the Tomorrow’s World project has been chosen because it promotes a new approach to language teaching and learning through the realization of science-fiction short stories as an additional tool within the pedagogical process. It also develops a non formal and informal education through the debate based educational method. Also the project focuses on linking between VET qualifications and the CEFR because the language levels in the “Tomorrow’s World” initiative is consistent with those indicated in the Common European Framework of the Council of Europe.

The project was selected as case study by the French National Agency “Europe-Education-Formation”.