For the past two years, 80 students from Germany, Spain, Croatia and Switzerland have had the opportunity of travelling to these countries and learning a lot in different ways than what we’re used to thanks to Erasmus+.
The project is called “The Image of the EU in the Post-truth Era” and it’s been financed by the European Union for the German, Spanish and Croatian students. But how are Swiss students in the project if they don’t belong to the EU? Well, there are an associated partner subsided by movetia.
The project goes from March 2018 to November 2019.
We’ve had four meetings, one in each country, and everytime we’ve focused on different things. Our topics have been fake news, the European Elections that were held last May, and the relationship between Switzerland and the EU.
BRÜHL
Our first meeting was in Brühl, in March 2018. We spent a week there talking mostly about fake news and learning how to work on our blog and on the eTwinning platform. To do so, we did activities such as visiting German newspapers, radios or TVs and there they explained “How to carry out a thorough research”. We also had to learn to distinguish facts from fiction. One day, we visited Brussels and the European Parliament, where we discovered how everything works there. It was really interesting.
BINISSALEM
Our meeting in Mallorca was exactly one year ago, so it took place in November 2018. That meeting was focused on Fake News. We learned a lot about social networks, media manipulation... thanks to many people that spent their time giving us some advice to learn how to identify fake news.
One example would be when Barcelona’s police, Mossos, came and gave us their recommendations about how to prevent fake news.
Another example could be when one of the Spanish teachers made an exposition about how to distinguish between information and opinions. It was so useful.
Thanks to that, although it is still difficult to us we’ve got some tips to recognise and to keep away from fake news.
ZADAR
The third transnational meeting took place in Gymnasium Vladimir Nazor Zadar, from March 31st to April 6th 2019. On the first day of our time in Croatia, after a short greeting programme, we did preview of the presentations which included what we have worked on since our last meeting in Binissalem. Tuesday and Thursday were provided for many of workshops which included creating news, writing blogs, ethics in posts on various social networks, fake news and their impact on our thinking in politics. Wednesday was scheduled for a trip to Croatian capital city, Zagreb. There we visited the House of Europe and was welcomed by Branko Baričević, Head of European Commission Representation in Croatia. Friday was reserved for making the presentations of the whole week which were presented at the Puppet theatre in the afternoon.
LUZERN
In this 5-day week we talked mostly about the relationship between Switzerland and the European Union. We did it through some activities. The first one was on Tuesday, the school organized a panel discussion with some Swiss politicians: Lukas Blaser (JFDP), David Roth (Socialist Party) and Christian Huber (JSVP) , journalist:Jérôme Martinu and the president of the EYP: Aurel Gautschi. They discussed some political issues amd mostly about if Switzerland should be in the EU and why. Then, they came to our tables and we asked questions.
Another activity was on Wednesday, when we visited the Communication Museum at Bern. There the communicators did a presentation about the relationship between Switzerland and the EU and talked about the positive and negative parts of belonging to the EU. They also explained that although Switzerland is not in the EU, it’s still in the middle of Europe, so it’s involved in political issues, so they have to pact with the EU.
In conclusion, we’ve learnt lots of things about the European Union and how to spot fake news. We’ve made a lot of friends during the project and some especial connections with people from other countries. Now, we’re more critical and independent than before and it has helped us to grow as persons. It has been an amazing experience that we’ll never forget! Thanks to everyone who has been involved and have made this possible!
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