Case Studies

Name of the teacher

No teacher

Country:

Greece

Name of the School:

2nd High School of Intercultural Education at Hellenico (2ο ΓΕΛ διαπολιτισμικής Εκπαίδευσης Ελληνικού)

School Typology:

Upper Secondary School

Country:

Greece

City:

Athens

Web site:

Background and Context:

School is functioning 30 years. In 1989 it was titled as "School of repatriates" and had children of repatriate families from former soviet countries but in 1996 was transformed in an intercultural school and accepted also children of migrants and political refugees too. Students composition is different every year based on nationalities or countries of origin. Generally students of all the years come from 85 different countries. The last school year a total of 170 attended the school programme.
School's program is equivalent to that of other public or private high school schools operating in the country. Students are taught the same lessons but are classified in individual departments based on their Greek language rather than alphabetically as in other schools. Students are transported free of charge by chartered buses. The books are provided free of charge while a lending library is continuously enriched.
Training is provided free of charge. School has a computer room and a specially equipped screening room.

Factual Description:

Returning to the first edition of the school newspaper "Without Borders" we find a declaration on the first page. By transfering what is said there we can probably understand the frame of the project . The first idea was of the third grade of the high school. The teacher who was respondible for the implementation of the idea says on the first lines, " when i first heard the idea, i accepted with some important strict conditions :
1) The newspaper to be distributed with no charge to the students of the school (or at least a very small price). For me, the creative activity and the creative excitement is not a trading product. So i than for this the school administration, not only for the material support, which in reality makes the idea to function.
2) The newspaper to be edited and writed not only by the third grade class but by all the students of the school.
3)The newspaper must open be for all the school community , teachers and students. In oredr to achieve this we want your support also.
4) The newspaper must be not a news production mean but a mirror of the persons that pass here maybe the most time , maybe the most creative hours of their day...It would be a delinquency , i believe, if on this didn't exist literary texts such as the lurid text of Aiza (for the historic facts of dictature in Polutechneio) or personal documents such as the lurid testimony of Klementina, a text that its simplicity and reality outdo the fantasy of human mind and makes you feel ashamed (yes, somtimes its good to feel ashamed , for our own good) for living in this world.
If you hold in your hands, this newspaper, it means that we succeded- not absolutely of course, we shouldn't be so egoists... It suceeded to the point that all them that worked for it with their creativity, with their enthusiasm achieved to overpass the problem of being a student or a teacher in high school. A school with much antagonism , stress, reading pressure and limited time. They worked by fighting all the disappointments, they coworked ( clashed?), overpassing the borders that divide us all, one from other.

Activities carried out:

The online edition of the newspaper has 42 issues.
There are different themes and categories and a quality transformation on the insight of the themes through the passing of the time.
In the first years editions we can see some interviews with schools teachers and administrator, personal testimonies, music news even cooking recipes. A the first glance it looks like a school newspaper with standard themes and appearance. But moving on the next editions of the next years , there is a great maturity context of the newspaper. Most pages are decorated with paintings of the students. Narrative texts, poems (translated also in the language of the students who writes it) and problematics on different subjects. The pages seem like a safe space of expressing the most introvert thoughts or memories. The numbers of the pages varies but usually is up to 50.
Depending on the time period , different social issues are included through the analysing eyes of the students. In the lasts issue there is an extended feature on refugees. Actually is a special edition in the context of the school theme week established by the ministry of education " We fight racism with poems". It's interesting how different students analyse, describe, make a call and react to refugees issue. All the fantasy is diffused in words and paintings.

Assessment and lesson learnt:

The newspaper "Without Borders" is a safe, creative space for students with different backgrounds, cultures and languages. Offering such a "protected "place, where anyone can express himself freely and deeply, can be a very strong base fro the formation of the children characters. It doesn't matter if someone cannot handle greek language perfectly because one can write in english, can work on a small text, can paint or can participate in different ways achieving the inclusion of all the students.
Moreover not only students feel as a part of society by expressing their self in different social and school issues but the are trained to form opinion. Teachers have a very important didactic assistance. The newspaper is a "gate" of understanding deeply each student by reading what they write and how they feel for things they cannot maybe express in other context. The united persons involved in this project consist a big example of good coexistence despite the differences. Metaphorically talking, is the puzzled nature of the newspaper that makes it so interesting such as all the persons who participates in the newspaper project. The success is represented by the duration of the newspaper and the following presentation paragraph on the newspaper website affirm this:
"It's been nine years since "Without Borders" newspaper joined its first coward appearance at our school. Even if it created reactions, ironical comments and admiration, it continues its contradictory course . During all this time it became a mean of expression (especially creative expression) for each member (and old member) of the school community, adorned with praise and prizes, with friends and enemies.
Above all, it has consistently proved that young people living in this country without having as their native language Greek and without being treated as equal members by much of our society are people who keep all of them talents, creative skills and their dreams - it is a good opportunity for them: a suitable school, and appropriate means of expression. "Without Borders" is one of them. All of us who have worked together for 9 years in order this to become a reality, we present you the corrected issues in their electronic form and we promise to be more consistent from now on to the renewal of our website ...".