How can we, by teaching a foreign language, transform our students into travelers who will be willing to give up any prejudice they might have towards the “different”? The purpose of this educational scenario, therefore, is to create a learning process that, in addition to the communication objectives that a language course contains by definition, also tries to make the students reflect on the irrational prejudices may have about those who must “travel” by force or for any other reason must leave their homeland. The starting point of our journey will be different paintings and the students will be asked to identify the purpose of the journey in each of them. As the paintings will be by painters of different nationalities, students will still be called also to reflect on the history of their homeland and of the world and identify this travel purpose during the centuries around the world. It will be a journey through language, art, and history.
This learning scenario has been developed during the “Digital Education with Cultural Heritage” online course. The course aimed to improve teachers’ understanding of cultural heritage in order to efficiently integrate it into their lessons and practices. The courses can be accessed here.
Author: Maria Tymviou
Age of students: 14-15
Subject and topic: Italian as a foreign language, art, history/Understanding others and breaking down prejudices through a foreign language lesson