2005

During the class council meeting at the end of 2005, a student expresses her wish to go on an educational trip with the school, as previous years had done – an idea that the school group immediately embraces with enthusiasm. This enthusiasm is then carefully nurtured and cultivated by the teaching team.

May 2007

After lengthy and intensive joint preparations – in terms of content, mindset and finances – this idea becomes reality in the form of a daring trip through Morocco.

The two local tour guides, Stefanie and Haddou Tapal-Mouzoun, a German-Moroccan couple with their own travel agency, lead the twelve-member Scuola Vivante group – with students between the ages of 9 and 15 and accompanied by Veronika Müller Mäder and Jürg Mäder – through this diverse country for ten days.

Stefanie and Haddou Tapal-Mouzoun are impressed by the students and the educational approach. This encounter rekindles their desire to start their own school. As they say goodbye, they remark: ‘And if you want to build a school like the Scuola Vivante in Ait Bouguemez, we’re here for you.’

2007/2008

The pupils and teachers are deeply moved by this trip. In lively discussions with the management of Scuola Vivante, Stefanie and Haddou Tapal-Mouzoun begin to develop the idea of setting up their own school in the High Atlas.

A school that fosters and promotes intercultural and interreligious dialogue in difficult times of growing mistrust. An educational institution that offers children and young people in the remoteness of a high valley the opportunity to receive a comprehensive education; rooted in their native culture and language, while at the same time opening them up to the world. An educational centre that encourages people to take a forward-looking approach to the problems they face.

November

A group of ten children and young people travel with their two teachers, Cecile Damien and Veronika Müller Mäder, to the remote valley of Ait Bouguemez for a second time to join Stefanie Tapal-Mouzoun in exploring what a school like the Scuola Vivante would mean in Ait Bouguemez, what conditions would need to be in place, and what priorities and educational goals would need to be set.

2008

Pupils organise a sponsored run together with their teachers. In an hour-long relay race, they raise 10,000 Swiss francs. The foundation stone for the launch of the école vivante is laid.

Further fundraising activities followed, including a stall selling felted products made by young women from Ait Bouguemez, a lunch and short talk for the Kiwanis Club, flea markets and choir performances.

Together, they produce an advertising and fundraising brochure that provides an insight into how the idea came about, the situation in the valley and the purpose that the establishment of an ‘école vivante’ can fulfil against this backdrop: The école vivante in Morocco – Towards new horizons.

During the summer weeks, a leisure programme with simple games and painting activities is offered in Ait Bouguemez to gauge the need for a new type of school. The afternoon courses are quickly filled to capacity. An intensive period of telephone and written consultation begins, mainly between Veronika Müller Mäder and Stefanie Tapal-Mouzoun. The students of the Scuola Vivante are repeatedly involved in the process.

2010/2011

Start of the école vivante

Further training for the école vivante team in Buchs

Scuola Vivante is accepted into the UNESCO-associated schools in Switzerland. Planning and preparation of a new educational trip: the upper school goes on a marine biology week to the Hydra Institute on the island of Elba. The primary school spends four days on the Via Spluga to the Splügen Pass.

A delegation of pupils and teachers attends the annual conference of UNESCO-associated schools in Schaffhausen.

2011

Vernissage Knowledge booklet ‘Mare nostrum – an educational trip’, evaluation of the educational trip to Elba and the HYDRA Institute for Marine Sciences. Further training for the director of the école vivante in Buchs; part of the Scuola Vivante team travels to the école vivante, bringing material and expertise with them, and enjoys hospitality and further training. Concert for peace ‘Orient – Occident’ together with Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI in Buchs SG. Intensive preparation takes place in class beforehand. Introducing the children to early music is a challenge for the team, as most of the children and young people are unfamiliar with this type of music and consider it ‘uncool’. Voice training, engagement with topics such as history, geography, languages, maths and culture, and interesting encounters, such as with Noam Hertig in the synagogue in St Gallen, open the students’ minds to new things. A detailed reading programme booklet is produced. The performance is a success. The encounter with Jordi Savall and the three world-class musicians leaves a deep and lasting impression on the students. This is immediately followed by the desire to perform with Jordi Savall again.

With the above-mentioned Elba brochure, the collaboration with the école vivante and the concert ‘Orient-Occident’, the Mediterranean region becomes the focus of the educational work. This highlights one of the great strengths of Scuola Vivante: the ability to focus on a theme together and integrate it into everyday school life across different disciplines and subjects. Whether in geography or history, algebra or geometry, music or art, in discussions about the Arab Spring or Islam, in Mediterranean cuisine or in the preparation of educational trips and events. The team has the great skill to lead the group in all its impressive diversity and to lovingly guide the individual students through their chosen topics. It goes without saying that this educational approach gives foreign language learning a whole new meaning. The motivation to learn another language is much greater thanks to these encounters with the world. It grows from within. Phil Hotchkiss, a British language teacher who studied German and French, is rightly proud that two of his ninth-year students have passed the First Certificate – a qualification that goes far beyond the required curriculum objectives.

2012/2013

Everyday school life and the further development of the school(s) take their course. Consultations for the école vivante and assistance in fundraising remain intensive. In autumn, the upper school travels to the école vivante together with Veronika Müller Mäder and Gregor Engel. The students bring along learning materials they have developed themselves and suitable games. They actively participate in lessons, make contacts and are able to give valuable impetus to the local teachers, who know little else from their training than frontal teaching with repetition and parroting – not only in conversation, but also in the way they interact with each other, move among the Moroccan schoolchildren and work with them. Once again, the travellers return touched and impressed.

Further training for a Moroccan teacher in Buchs.

A second concert is scheduled with Jordi Savall’s agency: the ‘Mare Nostrum’ programme with 18 musicians and pieces from around the Mediterranean in April 2014.

2013

A group of students and teachers takes part in the conference of UNESCO-associated schools in Bern and presents the cooperation with the partner school in Morocco. Together with the group ‘Solidarity for One World’, students and teachers are involved in a joint fundraising campaign to finance the construction of a studio (Brütwerk) for the école vivante. Three singing performances with the choir Con Tigo, stall sales and project presentations in religious education classes in various schools raise CHF 31,000.

The preparations for the ‘Mare Nostrum’ concert with Jordi Savall and Hespèrion XXI require no further persuasion. Children and young people of all ages – from primary to secondary school – are actively involved in the various areas of concert organisation. In class, the focus is on the musicians, their home countries, the political situation, the languages and the instruments. Filming of the concert directed by Stefan Haupt and Georges Gachot. Preparatory work for the two educational trips. Educational trip for secondary school level 1, overland to Morocco to the partner school école vivante (the depth of the encounter with the Mediterranean on the Elba trip and the two concerts with Jordi Savall created a common ground on which the trip to Morocco could grow).

Educational trip for primary school pupils, Via Spluga II – Splügen Pass to Genoa. The ‘Basisstufe unterwegs’ (Primary School on the Move) is based in the historic town of Werdenberg, in the garden and in the forest.

The visit to the school by students from the PH Graubünden with students from Casablanca provides additional preparation for the long journey to Ait Bouguemez. Training of the Morocco travel group by camerawoman Carlotta Holy-Steinmann in camera work, by sound engineer Marco Teufen in sound recording and by director Stefan Haupt in questions relating to film subjects and directing.

Also worth mentioning: financing an educational trip is an important part of the curriculum. Drawing up a budget is a comprehensive and challenging task in the preparation of the trip. It is generally one of the objectives that the participants finance the trip themselves. As a rule, around half of the travel costs are covered by the school from the class fund. This fund is financed by activities organised by the pupils (e.g. flea markets, repair cafés, sponsored runs, etc.). The school covers part of the costs and, depending on the duration and length of the trip and the age of the child, the children and young people work in their free time or their parents cover the costs. Most travellers manage to cover the entire costs without financial assistance from their parents.

Experience shows that coming back from an educational trip always takes some time. And mindfulness. Young people should be able to take the space they need to let what they have seen and experienced sink in, to arrive at their own pace and in tune with those who stayed at home. Personal evaluation at one’s own level of expression is helpful in this process: verbal language, creative language, musical language, body language. The result is a feature on Tele Südostschweiz with interviews, newspaper reports, blog posts, thank-you letters, a first film clip for the parents and, of course, the co-creation of the film: through stories, further diary entries and viewing of the extensive film material. The important questions here are always: What am I taking away with me? What am I keeping? What experiences have enriched me? Was it worth it?

2014

Production of the film ‘Mare Nostrum – Ein Konzert. Eine Reise.’ (Mare Nostrum – A Concert. A Journey.): A small storage room in the school building is converted into a workspace for editing. Michelle Brun, co-director and editor, viewed the countless hours of film footage and began editing the film together with Stefan Haupt and in close collaboration with Veronika Müller Mäder and Jürg Mäder. The continuation of the project in the form of film editing and contact with various film professionals kept the memories of the trip alive and deepened the experience on a new level. The students are involved every step of the way. In their language classes, they learn the technique of transcription. They transcribe all of the interviews conducted in German, English and French. Stefan Haupt and Michelle Brun hold a voice casting for the voice-over. In Zurich, the selected voice is recorded by Sina Loop in a recording studio. Other classmates are present as listeners. Small groups spend two days accompanying the grading – the colour mixing of the final version. Michelle Brun gives the first courses in the professional film editing programme Adobe Premier. Sound mixers and graphic designers also invite the students to look over their shoulders. And again and again, the young people are invited to watch the rough cut and give their opinions during the intermediate stages. A student from the final school year who actively participated in the film work on the trip to Morocco is creating his final project with a film contribution.

In June 2015, a first final version with German subtitles is available, and the film celebrates its preview at the Kiwi Kino Werdenberg in the presence of directors, crew, students, parents, teachers and invited guests. The screening at the cinema and the celebration afterwards bring back memories and bring the school community even closer together. Summer 2015 Working days with the school management of the école vivante – Stefanie and Haddou Tapal-Mouzoun – in Buchs. Joint viewing of the film. Ceremonial conclusion of the intensive support during the development phase, transition to a new form of cooperation. Start of translation work by the company ‘diction’ of the voice-over and interviews for subtitling in eleven languages – the native languages of all participating musicians: French, English, Catalan, Spanish, Arabic, Hebrew, Turkish, Armenian, Greek and Italian.

2015/2016

Start of the film class ‘Tele Vivante’. First products are posted on YouTube, submitted to a competition and awarded a prize by the Fondation Eduki.

Participation of a delegation of students in the annual conference of UNESCO-associated schools in Lucerne. Participation in the conference in Thun ‘Fragt doch uns’ (Just ask us), where a group of students provides information about the film project, the school, the educational trip(s) and the film class ‘Tele vivante’. Interviews with students and teachers in magazines and online articles.

First screenings of the film in Buchs, Salzburg, Vienna, Tuttlingen, Graz, Ait Bouguemez, Herisau, Martigny, Lyon, Wettingen and elsewhere. People are impressed and moved. Summer 2016: Zurich film premiere at the Stüssihof cinema. Further screenings in preparation: cinema, cultural events, educational events, television stations.

Outlook

Brainstorming with the students and the team for new projects, further educational trips, initiatives and ideas. The team responsible for Scuola Vivante is excited and open to seeing which direction the project will take.

Buchs, April 2016