Case Studies

Name of the teacher

Aline Nevez

Country:

France

Subject taught:

English and Socio-Cultural Eduction

Name of the School:

Institut des Sciences de l’Environnement et des Territoires d’Annecy

School Typology:

Lower Secondary School, Upper Secondary School, Vocational School

Country:

France

City:

Poisy

Web site:

Background and Context:

The ISETA is a private agricultural secondary and higher education school, located in Upper Savoy (south-eastern France). It specializes in environmental professions.
The school has boarding facilities and offers many cultural and sports clubs.

The ISETA has participated in several educational projects funded by the European Commission (Comenius, Leonardo, Erasmus+ mobilities...). The school has obtained the Erasmus Charter for Higher Education.

Students can complete internships in other countries and benefit from the international partnerships of the ISETA to pursue their training.

Factual Description:

The project was initiated in January 2015, a little after the Charlie Hebdo terrorist attacks. The teacher Mrs. Aline Nevez suggested to her Terminale class (students aged 17-18) studying for a professional baccalaureate in Aquaculture, that they meet Khairollah, a young Afghan student of their own age who had to leave his country at the age of 11.

Khairollah was then engaged in a apprenticeship since 2014 and would come across the other students at the school. He was part of a Shiite minority in Afghanistan, and lost his parents at the age of 10. Separated from his younger brother, he traveled thousands of kilometers and survived the crossing of the Mediterranean sea before reaching France. He experienced the migrants' road and was at some point in jail. His younger brother stayed in Afghanistan.

After hearing his story, the class of 15 students was overwhelmed. They spontaneously decided to record Khairollah's testimony of exile by writing a book; in spite of the huge challenge, their teacher agreed, supported by the school direction.
Their goal was to create a book where there would be writing, drawings, photographs and maps, and which could be used as teaching material to talk about immigration to other young people.

The project lasted 2 years in total. The students and their Afghan classmate were helped by several of their teachers, citizens, the writer Nabil Louaar, and local educational associations.
With the financial help of the Region of Rhône-Alpes, the network Development and International Solidarity Education, and an online fundraising campaign on the website KissKissBankBank, they were able to fund their work and the printing of the book, entitled "Carnet d'exil" (Diary of Exile).

Activities carried out:

After class, the students would interview Khairollah, record the discussion and then transcribe everything on paper. Sometimes their teacher let them work alone, so they could talk more freely as teenagers of the same age.
They split into four working groups, each one of them in charge of working on a country crossed by Khairollah: Afghanistan, Iran, Turkey and European countries.
During a year, the conscious writer Nabil Louaar helped them too.

In May 2016, the students traveled to the Glières plateau, in the Bornes mountainous massif (Eastern Alps) where they stayed for one day and a half in a location made available by the Fédération des Oeuvres Laïques (Federation of Secular Works). There, they were able to finish the writing of the story, in this symbolic place where the national monument to the Glières plateau Resistance is located. The press was there for the occasion.

Furthermore, an online crowd-funding was launched on the website KissKissBankBank for the project: the money raised (126% of the goal was reached) made it possible to print a thousand copies of the book.

Finally, other activites were organized relating to the writing of the book:
- A two-day event at the ISETA to discover Afghanistan : a conference on Aghan migrations, several testimonies, Afghan cuisine prepared by the students, a parade of traditional costumes.
- An exhibition on migrations at the school library, in the context of the Week of Education against Discriminations and Racism. The project was presented there.
- A launch party for the book: a picnic, traditional dances taught by asylum seekers, reading of excerpts of the book, a roundtable, a signing session...

Assessment and lesson learnt:

According to their teacher, the students of the Terminale class were not interested by literature at first, but they committed themselves deeply to the project they started.

They insist on the fact that immigrants should be welcomed to France and that the prejudices against them, and even more so hateful ideologies, have no reason to be.
Khairollah expressed his wish that this book will serve to raise awareness among as many people as possible about the difficulties of migrations.

The writing of the book was related in several press articles (Mediapart, Amnesty International, the official website of the Catholic Education).
A filmed documentary about the project will be released in the Spring of 2018.

The book "Carnet d'exil" can be ordered through the ISETA website: https://www.iseta.fr/carnet-exil-khairollah.html

Description of the Case Study in National Language: