Through the European Charter Classroom Activities (the ECCA project), schools can work on activities from the European Charter for Regional Languages of Minority languages in the classroom. The ECCA project aims to develop classroom activities and bringing young people and teachers from different language regions closer together through an exchange program
What are we going to do?
Developing classroom activities
Exchanging students and teachers
In February 2019 the Council of Europe developed a tool for European schools in order to be able to work more actively on the European Charter for Regional or Minority languages. Meanwhile, this tool, the so-called ‘educational guidelines to bring in linguistic diversity in the classrooms’ is being translated into several different languages. As seven partners of the ‘Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity’ (NPLD) we have started up this ECCA project to further develop this tool into more specific classroom activities suitable for use in the area of language. Schools interested in the educational material can download it here.
The ECCA project brings young people and teachers from different language regions together. By looking at the way language is handled in another country, you also find out more about what you feel and think about your own language. Why do young people in Udine and Fassa Valley still speak Friulan and Ladin with each other in their schoolyard, instead of just Italian? And what is it, that makes Catalan and Hungarian young people of Romania proud of their language? In this ECCA project we will set up an exchange program in cooperation with different schools. By meeting local people at school and at home in a country where a language is spoken that is, like your own language, not the only language in a region or country, you get to find out more about what language can mean.
Which schools are joining?
News
ECCA closing conference on 1 October
On 1 October 2021 the closing conference of the pilot European Charter Classroom Activities (ECCA) project will be held in the province of Trento (Italy). During this conference the ECCA partners will present the results from the ECCA project. Also they will visit Luserna, a small village that is the home of one of the smallest minorities in Europe: the Cimbrians. In 2019 the ECCA project received a grant from the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD). However, due to Covid-19 a part of the activities unfortunately had to be cancelled.
After the closing conference, the partners of the ECCA project will decide if and how to continue with a follow-up of the ECCA project. For more information about the project and the partners involved see: www.thisismylanguage.eu
ECCA lessons for Frisian schools published
For the ECCA project the province of Fryslân, together with Afûk and Cedin, developed three lessons about the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. The lessons are created to stimulate students between the ages of 11 and 16 to think about the place of their own language within the European context. The digital lessons for the secondary schools of Fryslân are all available in three different languages: Frisian, Dutch and English. For more information see: https://ecca.edufrysk.nl/. In September all of the schools in the province of Fryslân will receive the ECCA poster, a map of Europe with all of our languages on it, to be used in combination with the lessons.
Partners of the ECCA project who would like to translate or adapt the lessons, the poster or the flyer about the Charter for their own use, please get in touch with the advisor of the province of Fryslân, y.boersma@fryslan.frl.
Exchange programme ECCA project cancelled
Before the start of this summer the ECCA partners finally decided to cancel the 2019 exchange programme of the ECCA project. As part of the project, students from different language regions joined the 2019 video contest and created a video about the meaning of language. The winners of this contest were selected to go on an exchange programme in one of the other language regions. For more information see: https://youtu.be/cHpS6UcYbpo. Because of the reverberations of Covid-19 the exchange programme had been postponed several times. Unfortunately, the organizers finally had to decide to cancel this part of the project. The students involved have been rewarded with an ECCA certificate and/or a voucher instead. Depending on further Covid-19 developments in the next few years, there might be a new ECCA exchange programme for new students in the future.
Archive
Visit our ECCA YouTube channel for more new videos
Follow-up on covid-19
Over the last three months, most of the students and teachers who participate in the ECCA project were not able to go to their schools because of the covid-19 virus. All of the participant have been informed that because of the virus we couldn’t go ahead with our planned exchange programme this spring. Together with the NPLD partners involved, we recently decided that we will try to organise the exchange in the beginning of 2021. We will keep the students and teachers informed about further developments through our ECCA newsletter. This summer we hope to be able to get to know each other by arranging some digital ECCA activities. We will publish some of the results of these activities on this website.
Covid-19 comic in our languages
The famous Italian artist Fabio Vettori created a colourful comic about the preventive measures for covid-19. Several partners of the Network to Promote Linguistic Diversity (NPLD) have translated the poster with the comic into their own languages and dialects. Sietske Poepjes, Chair of the NPLD: “We think it is very important that the information about the covid-19 crisis is also available in our own languages, like Furlan, Magyar, Catala, Ladin and my own language Frysk. This kind of relevant information should not just be available in official EU languages, but also in the languages of our hearts.”
You can find the comic in the different ECCA project languages here.
FRYSK FURLAN CATALA MAGYAR LADIN ENGLISH
Overview ECCA activities
Although we were not yet able to realise the exchange programme, some classroom activities have been realised in the first part of the school year. For more information about the ECCA programme so far, click on the links.
Influence of the corona virus on ECCA
The ECCA project aims to develop classroom activities and bringing young people and teachers from different language regions closer together through an exchange program. Through the corana virus so far our first part of the exchange program planned for the end of March from Spain and Italia to Romania, has been cancelled. The exchange part for other students and their teachers to different language regions is planned for the coming months, April and May. All the involved NPLD partners are in contact about the follow-up with the schoolteachers, students and their parents. If possible the ECCA program will go ahead, but it all depends on further virus-developments in the whole of Europa. If it will not be possible or reasonable to go ahead with the ECCA program before this summer, we will try to do so in the new schoolyear with the same selected students and teachers. We hope one day we will be able to cross borders with our own languages.
Join our contest and win an exchange!
Do you want to cross borders with your own language? If your school joins the ECCA project and you speak Friulian, Frisian, Catalan, Ladin or Hungarian in Romania: make a short YouTube video about the following question: what does your language mean to you, now and in the future? The person who produces the best YouTube video will be invited to participate in a short student exchange program! In cooperation with your school you will get to go on an exchange program to another linguistic region in Europe for a few days in 2020. You will stay with a family who speaks Friulan (IT), Hungarian (RO), Ladin (IT), Frisian (NL) or Catalan (ESP). Join this contest and cross the border of your own region with your own language!
Kick-off meeting on 15 November 2019 in Brussel
On 15 November the kick-off of the ECCA project will take place in Brussels during a special conference. All NPLD partners who are involved in this project will be present in this first meeting. Representatives from the different schools who are joining the project will also be in Brussels. Speakers at this Conference will be: Mr Sixto Molina, Head of Secretariat, European Charter for Minority and Regional Languages, Mr Fernando Ramallo, Vigo University Spain, and Mr Vicent Climent, NPLD. During this conference we will be exploring how to go ahead with de classroom activities concerning the European Charter and teachers will be trained in this meeting.
Kickoff ECCA programme 15.11.19
Kick-off meeting ECCA 15 November 2019
“Language is not just a means of communication, it is part of who you are. The European Charter gives rights to young people in language regions, something they often don’t even know about. This ECCA project would like to raise awareness about the European Charter and make it better known.”
Sabrina Rasom, project-leader ECCA
Comun general de Fascia – Province of Trento