La 5AL a EUROSCOLA – 17/20 dicembre 2015
On 18th December 2015 22 students from 5AL Liceo Linguistico, accompanied by their teachers Walter Ornaghi and Silvia Paglierini, took part in a Euroscola Day at the European Parliament in Strasbourg.
It was a trip partly funded by the European Parliament. The invitation to travel to Strasbourg came about as a result of our school’s proud record of participation in many E.U. awareness programmes. In the past years Liceo Erasmo da Rotterdam has in fact promoted great interest in the European Union which includes Comenius, Erasmus+ Projects and cultural exchanges.
Euroscola is a prestigious and unique annual event for schools to learn about Europe, the European Union and European integration. Each year Euroscola welcomes thousands of students aged 16 to 18 from the 28 European Union Members States to spend a day in Strasbourg and work as Members of the European Parliament. The Euroscola day gives students the opportunity to interact and exchange information in a foreign language (English, French or German) and also highlights the importance of cross-cultural cooperation.
On 18th December twenty different European Union Member States were each represented by 22/24 students.
After the official welcome each school was introduced by a student representative who gave a brief account of the school and its location in a language other than their own mother tongue. (Chiara Milan was our spokesperson).
After the presentation, just like the deputies of the European Parliament, the students worked in groups discussing the following topics, which had been previously prepared at school:
- Environment and renewable energy
- Freedom of information and active citizenship
- 2015 – European Year for Development
- The future of Europe
- Migration and integration
- Youth employment.
They discussed these issues and made proposals that would later be voted on in the plenary session.
Following the group session the students were led into the Hemicycle where they had the opportunity to debate and vote on the resolutions. This allowed them to practice their English, German or French language skills.
The closing ceremony at 6.00 pm at the end of a long and unforgettable day was most impressive: the students who had introduced their schools at the beginning of the day entered the Hemicycle holding the flags of their countries and all the other students and teachers stood in solemn attention for the rousing European Anthem.
The event was a wonderful opportunity for our students to learn about the work of the European Parliament and to make friends with other young people from across Europe.
The day was important also for the accompanying teachers who participated in a roundtable discussion with EU officials and had a chance to share ideas and discuss them with the EU representatives.
The following day 5AL completed their journey by visiting two important historic sites:
- the memorial site of “Fort de Schoenenbourg”, the most important Maginot line fortification built by the French during the run-up to the Second World War to give their army the time to mobilize in the event of an attack
- the former Natzweiler-Strutthof concentration camp situated near Strasbourg
These visits enabled our students to learn about two of the places which, in a not-so-distant past, witnessed the horrors of the war and inspired the founding fathers to work out their vision and the ideas at the heart of the European project to secure lasting peace.
All in all the four-day journey was a success and a wonderful opportunity for the young people of our school to learn first-hand about Europe and its recent history.
