France

Collège des Albères is located in Argelès sur mer, both a rural and a touristic place, on the Mediterranean sea, 30 km from the Spanish border. Even if its location seems attractive for holidays, it is geographically distant from English-speaking countries and from European-minded cultural centres such as Paris or Strasburg. There are around 600 pupils (aged 11-16) and over 50 teachers.

Our pupils come from different backgrounds such as farmers, craftsmen, shopkeepers, jobs linked with catering ( hotels, restaurants, campsites…) but although they all have connections with foreign countries ( tourists mostly come from Northern Europe and many families have relatives in Southern Europe), the European dimension is often absent from their daily preoccupations. In this way, our pupils would find it exciting to get connections on a collaborative work basis.

Also, some languages are taught in our school: English, Spanish, and Catalan. We have bilingual classes / European-oriented classes. Practising English as a language for communication, but also discovering a great variety of other languages linked with their history and the history of their mother tongue would be of great benefit in creating real-life situations. 

Our school has been  involved in environmental projects each year due to the special location of our town: between sea and mountains. The Science teachers are very active in these fields. Moreover, our local authorities give the schools the opportunity to organise field outings in areas which are classified as natural reserves.  As a matter of fact, there are three natural reserves in our town ( sea and countryside) , and many more in the high mountains close by, which offers very different environments to study. Our pupils could share / compare  their acquired knowledge with the European partners'.

There are also special needs classes willing to take part in the project with a double aim to give pupils more motivation to study and increase their general level and get the different teams of teachers to work together and exchange on ways of learning and assessing.

Finally, we have existing and established links with European schools from a previous project and wish to maintain them.