PUBLIC
This pedagogical approach was experimented and worked out in the Gardens of Versailles and of Saint-Germain-en-Laye (Yvelines, France) by European teachers during a peer-to-peer training course, from 4 to 8 June, aimed at the development of the key-competences of their students.
These methodology has also been utilised with different categories of learners
 young students from 15 to 18 risking school drop-out who participated in a learning mobility in the Botanical Garden of Granada (Spain)
 unemployed young adults from 18 to 25 from the Local Mission of Saint-Germain-en-Laye in need to improve their qualifications and key-competences in view of a future job
 primary pupils and college students of the municipalities of Sant-Germain Boucle de Seine, France.

KEY COMPETENCES
 Communication in the mother tongue
 Social competences and citizenship
 Humanist culture and expression of sensitivity

OBJECTIVES
 To discover and experiment simple, though productive and motivating techniques related to creative writing
 To develop skills apt to empower expression by acquiring cultural enrichment and techniques related to verbal and visual language
 To work out communicative situations apt to raise self-confidence and fluency

GARDENS EXPLORED

 Petit Parc of the Castle of Versailles, France
 Park of the Castle of Saint-Germain-en-Laye
 Botanical Garden of Granada, Spain

MATERIALS
 Writing material : notebook, crayons
 For Haiku : scented leaves and flowers
 For Centones : photocopies of a selection of works from different artists on the subject of the garden, notebook, scissors, glue, pastels.

DEVELOPMENT
 Sensory exploration in the garden, choose a place, some flowers or a tree that attract you. Approach them. - Touching, feeling, observing them are all actions allowing the ’possession’ of them.

1. HAIKU
Writing words
 With the plant in your hands, write 5 words as they come to your mind, first using the sense of sight, then of touch and finally that of smell.
 On the same paper write down some infinitive verbs with the same prevailing sound. Then the learners will be asked to identify soft and harsh sounds, followed by a debate whenever the identifications are in contrast. Here the teacher will supply the appropriate explanations.
 This will create a continuous exchange from individual and collective actions.This will also account for the fact that all answers may be acceptable, and no answer is ’wrong’.
Writing haiku
 After creating a ’bank of vocabulary’, you can pass to the writing of a short text. The haiku poem linked to sensations will not be difficult for a learner presenting poor linguistic skills.
 An individual production of 20/30 minutes will take place before going back to the collective activity represented by the reading of the texts. This action carried out together will highlight the level of unconscious creativity present in each individual and will have an effect on his/her confidence thanks to words and poetry.

2. CENTONES Presentation of the cento and its rules : select some excerpts of poems or prose and combine them together in order to create a new text. The word has a Latin origin and originally it referred to a sort of fabric patchwork.

 Verbal cento
Select many short texts from different works. Put them together like in a collage. Make sure they rhyme or are compatible and add the linking words. Rewrite the sentences to compose a personal text.
 Visual cento
Start from a selection of works to compare, especially on the subject of the interpretation of the garden and technical methods.

Following the same outline of the verbal cento, cut some pieces from each work, put them together and create a new and original work.

EXTENSION
 Create a collection of haiku poems. Take photos, drawings or paintings at your will
 Write the haiku poems on dried autumn leaves. Arrange a performance in the garden where to scatter the ’written leaves’. Realize a ’Herbarium of Haiku Poems written on Leaves’
See the herbarium realised by the students of the college Marcel Roby, Saint-Germain-en-Laye
See the centones realised by the professors in the gardens of Saint-Germain-en-Laye and Versailles
See the centones realised by the pupils of the Elementary School André Bonnenfant, Saint-Germain-en-Laye

EVALUATION
It takes into account the ability to :
 master the oral and written mother tongue : convey orally and in writing the vocabulary discovered related to the garden, create the haiku poems and the centones respecting syntax rules, re-use the same writing models in other contexts
 develop awareness and cultural expression : get some keys useful for reading works of art, express points of view on the techniques employed, grow interest in the artists discussed and their works
 develop social and civic competences : get confidence, dialogue, debate

AUTHORS
 Alexandra Koszelyk, college teacher, writer and trainer in Humanities
 Aline Rutily, essayist, visual artist and trainer in Visual Arts, Association Paysage et Patrimoine Sans Frontière, Saint-Germain-en-Laye, France

TRANSLATER
Mary Gino
Association Acquamarina, Trieste