Luxembourg

E-thru-B

Vácziné Arnold Éva, Kelemen Hajna and Rob Dawson visited Deikirch, Luxembourg this May as representatives of Poli on the EU sponsored E – THRU -B (Equality through Borders) program.

As a reminder E – THRU – B focuses on equal rights for women in the European Union, through, that is, across borders. The program is tasked with setting up curriculum on equal rights for EU high schools. Participating countries include Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany and Hungary.

This trip was a continuation of the curriculum development process started in Asuturias, Spain in Janurary. The format of the meeting was very similar, ie. we split into teams and worked out the final kinks on the first two modules to be taught in the early stages of the 2009 – 2010 academic year. These are Sexism in the Media and Future and Work. We also began outlining the materials for the final two modules on Immigration and Multiculturalism. In addition to this we had workshop sessions on video conferencing and set up a blog for the program.

One of the fascinating things about this conference was the school. It was huge, there are over 2000 students in three buildings in two towns. The building we were in was very modern with state of the art facilities. Whatmore, the students were very diligent and hard working.

The other very interesting thing in Luxembourg was language. Grammar school is taught in german, high school in French. Everybody speaks both languages. I saw many examples where one person spoke German and the other French, or groups where both languages were used interchangably. One other thing regarding language was their attitude. No matter who I spoke to they spoke English and they were willing to, no matter how old they were. Everybody, young and old, no matter what their level was, yes, even beginners, gladly spoke English.

E – thru B is a long term program, there are 2 more meeting sessions for teachers. The next one will be November 13 – 18, here at Poli

We will be posting calls for applicants for TEACHERS. If you are interested in equal rights for women and in working with international students, then keep an eye out for our posters.