Euroscola days take place around 20 times each year and give the young people of Europe a chance to discuss a variety of themes including sustainable development, education, environment and citizenship. Today 21 countries are represented and there are some 520 students in the hémicycle of the European Parliament.

By way of preparation for today, the Scottish students have undertaken a series of activities which have helped to develop their confidence in speaking French. These have included language workshops, street questionnaires and a cultural and linguistic challenge. Radio Lingua Schools has supported all of these activities. It’s also been our responsibility to maintain a blog throughout the visit and parents, friends and teachers back at home have been following the visit through EuroscolaOnline.com. Earlier today each delegation was presented to the chamber by one or two students from each country. We broadcast the proceedings live from the hémicycle and parents and school friends at home in Scotland were able to join us in Strasbourg.

For further information about the work of Radio Lingua Schools in Strasbourg, see also Projet Citoyen.

In November 2009, Radio Lingua Schools supported Projet Citoyen, an East Dunbartonshire initiative which aimed to raise awareness about European citizenship. With the help of a grant from the European Parliament, a group of sixth year students spent six days in Strasbourg finding out about the work of the Parliament. Radio Lingua Schools’ role was to support the project both in terms of language input on the visit, and by helping the students to document their experiences through a blog which was maintained throughout the trip to Strasbourg.

A key feature of Projet Citoyen was that the students had to disseminate their learning to other students in their own schools, and on a wider basis. They designed a web-based video quiz aimed at younger learners (11-13 year olds), asking questions about Europe and the European Union. The The quiz was developed in conjunction with the History and Modern Studies departments in their schools, and all students contributed by providing questions. During the visit to Strasbourg, the top ten questions were chosen and three students volunteered to present the quiz, working with Radio Lingua Schools director Mark Pentleton to film the questions in various locations around Strasbourg.

The quiz is now being released on the Projet Citoyen website, and it is hoped that schools throughout the UK and further afield will find it a useful resource to help younger pupils learn about Europe. Take the quiz yourself and let us know what you think of the resource!

Staff at St Mark’s Primary in Irvine (North Ayrshire) wanted to build stronger links with parents and the wider community and create an on-going media record of the activities in the school. Working with Radio Lingua Schools, they undertook a pilot project in which a group of primary 6 pupils planned and recorded a news report using iMovie with a view to enlarging the scope of the project in future months.

The project began with an initial workshop where the children involved learned how to create a basic news report using a studio anchor, voiceover and additional footage. They then planned the content of their pilot show to include information about whole-school events, activities of particular classes, and curricular developments. Each pupil was allocated a role in the production of their “Monthly Media Report”, and the group worked together to identify a filming schedule for the production day.

Part of the project involved CPD with teachers in the school, delivered by Radio Lingua Schools. This CPD focused on developing a culture of recording video footage during the day-to-day activities of the school. Teachers learned the value of recording a number of short clips on tripod which could subsequently be used as illustrative footage with a voiceover.

In preparation for the production day, the lead teacher in the school had organised filming of a number of activities. Having learned how television news reports work, the pupils decided which stories to include in their show, and carefully planned scripts and links based around their decisions.

The production day began with the finalisation of the scripts and links. The pupils edited their scripts using Pages and used the full screen function in order to display the text in the style of an autocue as the presenter spoke. The children were encouraged to plan the production around strict time limits, with “broadcast time” being 2:45pm. They filmed the studio materials and links first, then went “on location” in the primary 1 classroom to film an interview with two younger children. Finally, they filmed the “outside broadcast” material in the school grounds.

The final stage involved combining their newly recorded material with the footage previously shot by the teachers in the school. The children used iMovie to edit together their news report and learned to use the voiceover and titling/graphics functions of the application to enhance their show. Finally, they exported the movie and invited their head teacher to the “première” of their first news report.

The movie has been displayed on the television screen at the school entrance, so all parents and visitors to the school can watch it as they arrive. The school also plans to feature the movie on their website which is currently in development.

The lead teacher in the school now hopes to develop the work done in this initial pilot stage of the project and for the next news report will increase the size of the group in order that each of the original participants will work with another pupil, sharing their knowledge and skills. Radio Lingua Schools will continue to support the school through these developments.

This project was about sharing the work of each class in the school with other pupils and parents. Over time it is hoped that all classes will be featured in some way, and the enlarged production team will be responsible for planning future shows accordingly. Throughout the workshops the children involved were extremely focused on their task and worked together enthusiastically to produce the final product.

The pupils’ work can be seen in our media gallery:

• St Mark’s Media Monthly – May 2009

Teacher Clare Fallon coordinated the project at school level:

“The children thoroughly enjoyed working with Radio Lingua Schools. This project allowed them to use a variety of skills which they had acquired over their primary years but in an unusual and original way. The project encouraged the children to work independently and collaboratively, making decisions as a group and encouraging one another as they went along. They were amazed and so proud of their final movie and couldn’t wait to show it off at the next school assembly. The children now hope to work on their next project and will involve a group of children from the new primary six class.”

If you would like to find out more about running a Radio Lingua Schools workshop in your school, please visit our Workshops area.

Radio Lingua Schools regularly supports foreign visits involving young people from Scottish schools. We are uniquely placed to provide technical expertise, enhancing visits with social media and interactive elements, and to design engaging activities for the learners involved.

Most recently 32 young people selected from across the country by Rotary International travelled to Strasbourg. There they met young people from 26 EU member states and took part in a debate in the hémicycle of the European Parliament. Working in conjunction with EP Projects, we designed the programme for the visit to maximise the learning experiences of the young people on the trip, and to provide an interactive blog used throughout the vist by friends, parents, classmates and teachers back home. This blog featured news updates in French and English and audio and video podcasts of the activities carried out in Strasbourg.

All students involved in the visit were in their final year of secondary school and were studying French at Advanced Higher level. Throughout the visit they were encouraged to use their French at every opportunity, and the programme of activities was carefully planned to allow the students to build their confidence in the language, working towards the Euroscola day.

One particularly popular activity was the Street Survey during which the students stopped passers-by in the streets of Strasbourg and asked them questions about various issues. In addition to being an excellent opportunity for the students to communicate with native speakers in a way they had never done before, this activity also helped the students to develop a deeper understanding of the opinions of people from other countries.

Part of Radio Lingua’s role in this particular visit was to prepare a video introduction to the survey for use in future visits. The students themselves planned the video and presented their advice to future participants in the streets where they had been carrying out the survey a few hours previously. This video can be seen below:

The highlight of the visit was the Euroscola day in the Parliament during which the students worked with their counterparts from the other countries involved and took part in a number of debates and discussions. Each delegation had to be presented to the Parliament, and our Scottish students did so with a suitable bagpipe accompaniment! The live blog ensured that this video was being shown in the schools of the participating students a few minutes after it had been filmed in Strasbourg.

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