Targeted to Intermediate English (B1+) speakers.Read more
This is the standard requirement for most courses. Participants at this level can participate actively in discussions and manage everyday and professional situations. If they are unsure about their English level, they can test it here or explore our courses facilitated in Basic English.
Cross-Curricular.Read more
The listed audiences are those for whom the course is especially recommended, but courses are not exclusive to them and are open to everyone. In fact, most of our workshops are built around the collective sharing of participants’ experiences and having a variety of profiles enriches the learning process and is highly encouraged!
Description
Nice is a city shaped by “crossings”: between the Alps and the Mediterranean, between France and Italy, and between different cultures, languages and traditions. Its own story, after all, is no exception.
From its Greek and Roman origins (founded as the Greek colony of Nikaia by settlers from Marseille, and later built up by the Romans as Cemenelum on the hill of Cimiez) to the influence of the House of Savoy (back since the end of 14th century), from the growth of tourism on the Riviera to its contemporary urban identity, Nice offers a rich context for exploring cultural heritage as something layered, living and constantly transformed.
This course helps teachers and educators use cultural heritage as a meaningful educational resource for their students.
Using Nice as a case study, participants will explore how history, architecture, art, landscape, food traditions and tourism can become starting points for lessons on identity, intercultural dialogue, sustainability and local-global connections.
In order to do that, the course combines guided visits, outdoor learning, museum-based activities, group reflection and practical workshops.
In fact, a key focus is the educational transfer of heritage experiences. Participants will not only visit cultural sites but also learn how to turn them into classroom activities: observation tasks, thinking routines, storytelling prompts, interdisciplinary projects and discussions on sustainable tourism and cultural identity.
They will explore Nice’s historic landmarks and urban heritage, from the old town to the Belle Epoque villas of the Promenade des Anglais, and reflect on the challenges of preserving a historic center shaped by more than two centuries of tourism.
They will also take part in a hands-on workshop on local culinary traditions.
Furthermore, they will discover how Nice became one of Europe’s first winter destinations, attracting British, Russian and other wintering visitors known as the “hivernants” (literally “winterers” in French) from the eighteenth century onward, and will reflect on the balance between heritage, mass tourism and environmental sustainability along the coast.
By the end of the course, participants will have developed practical ideas for teaching cultural heritage in engaging and transferable ways.
They will leave with strategies to connect urban history, art, landscape and local traditions to their own subjects and educational contexts.
What is included
Learning outcomes
The course will help participants to:
- Understand Nice as a Mediterranean crossroads shaped by French, Italian, Greek, Roman and Savoyard influences;
- Use urban heritage, art, landscape and local traditions as resources for teaching and learning;
- Design classroom activities based on observation, storytelling, place-based learning and cultural interpretation;
- Take part in intercultural exchanges with participants from different countries, sharing experiences and teaching practices;
- Gain practical skills through hands-on workshops, including a Nicoise cooking session and the design of heritage-based classroom activities;
- Strengthen pedagogical approaches by learning how to use urban heritage, art, landscape and local traditions as tools for teaching;
- Exchange teaching practices with colleagues from different European countries.
Tentative schedule
Day 1 – Introduction to the course
- Introduction to the course and the Academy;
- Introduction to the host city and the week’s cultural activities;
- Icebreaker activities;
- Presentations of the participants’ schools and institutions.
Day 2 – Historic Nice and urban heritage
- Guided walk through Vieux Nice, the old town, including Cours Saleya market and Sainte Reparate Cathedral;
- Visit to the Colline du Château for a view over the old town and the Bay of Angels;
- Squares, markets and religious buildings as expressions of Mediterranean urban life;
- Reading the city: architecture, daily life, memory and identity;
- Reflection on the preservation of historic centres under the pressure of tourism;
- Thinking routine: See Think Wonder, applied to a building or square in the old town.
Day 3 – Art, Museums and creative identity
- Visit to one museum, chosen from the Matisse Museum, the Marc Chagall Museum or Villa Arson;
- How artists have represented and reinterpreted the light, landscape and cultural life of Nice;
- Art as a tool for identity, memory and intercultural dialogue;
- Museum-based learning strategies: observation, questioning, interpretation and creative response;
- Workshop: designing a classroom activity inspired by one artwork, artist or museum visit;
- Group reflection: connecting cultural heritage to creative teaching practice.
Day 4 – Sea, landscape and sustainability
- Visit to the Villa Massena Museum on the Promenade des Anglais, tracing the urban growth of Nice and the rise of tourism on the Riviera since the eighteenth century;
- Walk along the Promenade des Anglais, exploring the relationship between the city, the Mediterranean Sea and its coastline;
- Excursion to Villefranche-sur-Mer or the coastal path, observing coastal ecosystems and urban development side by side;
- Discussion on sustainable tourism and the balance between heritage and environmental responsibility;
- Outdoor learning: using landscape observation as a place-based education tool;
- Reflection on linking environmental awareness with cultural heritage teaching.
Day 5 – Gastronomy, tradition and educational transfer
- Visit to a local market, discovering Nicoise culinary traditions such as socca, salade nicoise and pissaladiere;
- Hands-on workshop: a Nicoise cooking or tasting session with a local guide or producer;
- Discussion on food heritage, markets and intangible cultural heritage;
- Workshop: designing a classroom project inspired by the cultural heritage of Nice, to bring back to participants’ own schools;
- Reflection and exchange: parallels between Nice and participants’ own cities, their heritage and their teaching challenges;
- Course evaluation: round-up of acquired competencies, feedback, and discussions;
- Awarding of the course Certificate of Attendance.
Day 6 – Structured cultural activities
- Structured cultural activity(ies) according to the hosting location;
- Learning journal: individual written reflection on the course experience;
- Course reflection: self-reflection and review of course materials and resources.
All entrance fees, guided visits, and workshops included in the programme are covered by the course fee.
These activities are exclusively reserved for enrolled participants.
Accompanying persons may not participate, even upon payment of an additional fee.
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