Moi, Ulysse / Εγώ, ο Οδυσσέας

Through this project, we wanted to achieve several objectives. First, promote the inclusion of UPE2A pupils within the school, but also within their new European environment (indeed, the 3 UPE2A p...

Through this project, we wanted to achieve several objectives. First, promote the inclusion of UPE2A pupils within the school, but also within their new European environment (indeed, the 3 UPE2A pupils taking part in the project came from Angola, the Dominican Republic and Algeria). Then, set up a cultural exchange with a European Union country to broaden the cultural and linguistic horizons of all our students. Finally, engage in innovative teaching practices by setting up multilingual theater workshops and creating shows.

Throughout the year, a weekly theater workshop was set up with the help of an actress/director, enabling volunteer high school students to work ahead of the cultural exchange and familiarize themselves with the play. The 3 UPE2A students immediately took part in these workshops. Also in November, a poetry workshop was set up in the UPE2A class for the school's 15 allophone students. Led by a poet, the workshop introduced the students to the French language by writing poems about their own experiences of travel and exile. These texts were read by the students themselves during the show on March 3, 2023. In this way, all allophone students participated in part of the project. During the 2 weeks of cultural exchange, multilingual theater workshops were held every morning to finalize and put on the shows: on this occasion, Greek and French students were able to cooperate actively, taking the initiative in terms of staging, sets, costumes, music and background music, etc. Prior to the 2-week exchange, the pen pals exchanged information via social networks, to get to know each other better.

We produced two high-quality multilingual shows based on Ulysses' voyage: one in France on March 3, 2023 60 students were on stage (47 exchange students and 13 students from the UPE2A class), the other in Greece on March 31, 2023, for a total audience of 600. We also performed part of our French show at the Rectorat de Lyon on Wednesday, May 31, 2023, to host the prize-giving ceremony for ARELAL's 2023 competition on the theme of " Odyssey, Aeneid: unpublished episode” before an audience of around 100. Finally, the UPE2A students taking part in our project sang the songs from the show during a performance specific to UPE2A students at the Juliette Récamier high school on Monday June 5, 2023, in front of a hundred persons (students and staff).