Christmas Dinner in Scotland

This week, it's all about Christmas traditions on the blog !

Have any idea what it's like to spend Christmas in Poland, Germany, France or Scotland ? Stick with us this week to learn about all the fantastic Christmas traditionnal meals in our countries !

Let's start by wandering up north and enjoy a Christmas in Scotland, an answer the crucial question : do they add haggis to their Christmas pudding or not ?

The Scottish Christmas dinner would generally be a family event that would last for most of the day.

Mince Pies

The meal could consist of a starter of smoked salmon or a hearty soup like cock a leekie.

Smoked Salmon Mousse

This would be followed by a roast bird of turkey or goose or maybe even venison stew or beef .These would be accompanied by roast potatoes, roasted vegetables, stuffing and gravy.

Roast Turkey

Dessert would most likely be trifle, Christmas cake or clootie dumpling (a fruit cake similar to Christmas pudding). This would be followed by shortbread and tablet.

Christmas Pudding

Drinks are generally plentiful especially the famous Scotch whisky.

Ecuisine and IdA in the newspapers !

At the begining of Ecuisine was IdA, a program meant to enable german students from TGz, our partner in Neuruppin, to spend one month working in the kitchen of some top notch french restaurants in Bayeux.

Last month, 8 new students came to France to live the french experience. This experience proved once again to be a life changer for these students and the people that worked with them.

Last week was their "graduation ceremony" and it was very moving to see those kids surrounded by their host families and new co-workers : you could actually grasp how grateful everybody was in every word.

As we mentioned before, their coming was for the Ecuisine project an opportunity to run a few test on some of our products and their graduation ceremony was a great opportunity to say a few words about Ecuisine and explain how this will become an essential tool for the forthcoming editions of the IdA exchange program.

Here is the support we used for that presentation. We made using one of my new favourite tools : Prezi. It's a clever way to spread a message using pictures, text and videos. Nothing too exceptional it seems but just try it and you'll never open Microsoft Powerpoint again.

Ecuisine, apprendre la cuisine et les langues en ligne on Prezi

Testing, testing, 1, 2

We're so happy to have some of our products ready (or almost ready) that we decided we would show it to some students and get their feedback.

A first test was organised in Germany at the begining of September. They gathered a few students that were already involved in the Hoogatrans Project and told them a little bit about our project.

They were able to show them :
The german videos for the soup recipe
The french videos made for the desert recipe
The glossaries made with Engage explaining some of the terms used in the french videos.



The results of this test is on page 12 of the following presentation :

Präsentation 27092012 scotland from Ecuisine

Another test was conducted at the begining of Octobe. This time it was in France and the Guinea pigs were also students involved in the HoogaTrans project : they had been working in France for two weeks, in some of the most prestigious restaurants in Bayeux (Normandie, France).

We decided to test the Language Module that we will use as an introduction to our course. It is mainly about getting them used to french and helping them to find strategies to guess new words from the context.

The testing lasted for a full hour and students were really excited about the project. They also pointed a lot of points we will be working on in the forthcoming days and weeks. This will be very helpful for all partners.

The experiment and the conclusions are detailed in this document (in French) : https://docs.google.com/open?id=0B5CuuqC9k_8OYVdGOW5pWjV6R2s

Everybody's talking about it...

Good news from the Polish partners this morning !

Kowesiu.edu.pl is one of the most significant portals on vocational education in Poland and they just published an article on Ecuisine !

Read the full article (in Polish).

The outcome of the Glasgow Seminar

The seminar for the end of WP2 was held last week (27/09->29/09) in Glasgow.

All partners were looking forward to this special event as it is both an opportunity to get together and discuss crucial points of our collaboration.

On the first day, partners took term in presenting the results of their work for WP1.


Download the presentation from Google Docs

A great opportunity to compare approaches and share advices on what-to-do-when-and-how-?
Watching the partners video was a revelation since the pedagogical power of these videos (especially when subtitled) was huge.

The leading partner - GIP-FCIP - then invited all partners for some hand on practice of the first module produced by the french team.

Though all agreed that this was a fantastic tool, many criticisms and concerns arose. The main concern had to do with linguistic help: there were too many words in the glossaries and that involved a lot of image searching, sound recording and creation of the language quizzes, not mentioning all the translating process that would prove to be overwhelming. All in all, this was simply too much work and we needed to find a simpler approach.



This also was a big concern for the french partner and we anticipated such remarks. They then presented an alternative version of the course that didn't involve the creation of complicated wordbanks. By using a tool called Quizlet (as mentioned in this early blog post) we would be able to easily generate wordbanks and quizzes without having to spend too much time on handpicking free and roylaty free pictures or having to record the audio entries. Integration into the course also becomes simpler since it's only about copy-pasting an embed code from the website.

All agreed that this tool was a life saver and decision was unanimous that we would switch to this tool and still offer a few more hand-made and custom-made quizzes to assess basic vocabulary issues and prepare foreign students for an experience abroad.

Next step is the Polish Seminar in April. By then all partners should have 2 recipes fully ready. Everyone is very excited (and a little worried too) about this new step forward.

One last word to mention the formidable hospitality of our Scottish partner, Anniesland College, who had a special surprise for us in store : they prepared the 4 recipes on their menu.

Haggis, Neeps And Tatties With Drambui Cream, the entry course of the Scottish menu

Moreover, they served in the beautiful, cosy and very Scottish setting (Tartan carpet on the floor !!!) of Steven Anderson, one of the Chef involved in the project. For more information on Chef Steven's place, visit Steayban's website)

Tartan carpet on the floor ! And very cosy setting.

 

EcuisineBuddy - The social network

We recently started working with Ingenium, a Caen based compagny that specializes in Elearning.

They've been very helpful and suggested we use a social network since it combines ease of use (for students to find the courses but also for teachers to reach their students) and adds a social layer to the learning experience. Also, we just love the hype, and what is more trendy than having your own social network ^_^ ?

Here's a preview of the website as it will be. We received it this morning.

I don't want to go into details, but it comes with many features that we really like. For example, German students will be able to connect and interact with French students wether it is to practice French or make enquiries before visiting France.

The site will also enable students to publish blog posts or pictures of the recipes they made.

There will be a special section devoted to the chefs who worked on the project where they can publish their details and advertise for their restaurants if they want to.

Of course, the page redirects to our LMS, this blog and a special snakes and ladders boardgame that we will soon tell you about...

From a technical point of view, it is made using Buddypress, a Wordpress offspring.

Getting there ! A few news before Glasgow Seminar

A few news from the project as the 4 partners are about to meet in Glasgow for the WP2 seminar.

Our dear Scottish friends in Anniesland college is still in the process of filming their 4 recipes. They will be hosting the next seminar and I'm sure they'll have plenty of exciting things to show us.

German team has been working hard on its own courses.
Following the model set by the french team, they've been able to finalize all the videos for their first course : the Berliner Kartoffelsuppe, AKA the famous The Potato soup, Berlin style. You'll soon know everything to know about what makes german soups so unique.

The Polish team took a different approach : they decided they would start by shooting all the videos for their 4 recipes. And they did. They sent the files and they are perfectly neat : nice fast pace editing, clear pictures and sounds and yummy recipes featuring pierogis, beetroots, cottage cheese and cabbage... and if you thought there wasn't such a thing as "Polish food", prepare to be amazed !

In France, all videos have been shot, edited and uploaded to the YouTube Channel. All the courses for the first recipe, "the norman pie" is ready and being translated in German in order to be tested by beneficiaries of TGZ OPR GmbH. Those lovely guinea pigs are soon coming to France and they shall be prepared in the best way possible for this experience !

Also, we started working with a compagny based in Caen in order to find a solution for the deployment of the course. We found many ! And I'll tell you all about them... but just not now :-)

Happy cooking from the Ecuisine team !

Looking for pictures on the web - The dirty leek connection

"Dirty leek !" or "Sâle poireau !" in French. It could be a way to make fun of your little brother but it's not ! If you're lucky, you're leeks grew in dirt and you'll need to wash them properly before cooking them.

But don't worry ! Julie from Burnt Carrots ("Les carottes sont cuites!") wrote a whole article on how to clean and prepare leeks ! It comes with great pictures so we asked her if we could use some for our course !

http://www.burntcarrots.com/recipes/how-to-clean-a-leek/

Visit the blog, it contains tons of recipes and more mouth watering pictures for vegetable lovers http://www.burntcarrots.com

Language Help inside the courses

There are 2 main aspects to the Ecuisine project :

1. Teaching the basics in cooking 
2. Teaching the basics in language to prepare students for a work placement abroad

To achieve that, each course contains 2 layers :

1. the cooking course
2. a language help

This language help comes in the form of :

• a glossary of the terms that are used in the cooking course (we, French, decided to call it "Dico")
• and a quiz to help students get familiar with and memorize this vocabulary.

We're currently working hard on these glossaries for our test course. Here's what it will probably look like.

Screen capture of the glossary in the language help module

On the left side is the list of the words to learn.

On the right is a nice, yummy and zoomable picture to illustrate the meaning and reinforce memorization. As one of my mentor puts it "Something to which you can hang the word to."

On the center is the "definition" of the word.

For now it only has the English translation but it will soon feature the German and Polish translations.

We also added a couple of exemples with their translations.

Our Scottish partner Anniesland College will proof read the English parts and the other partners will translate in German and Polish.

You can't quite here it from where you are but we will also reccords the entries (fleurer, fondu, pâte,...) so that students learn to recognize the word and get familiar with the sounds of French and their graphical representation.

All this was made using Articulate Engage, quite a bit of electricity and our brains.

This is such an exciting adventure !

... though I'm afraid I've gained a few extra pounds since I started working on this project ^_^

The mystery of the little russian - Explained

Do you know what a french cook means when you tell him that you need "a little russian" ?

In French, "La petite russe" is the name cooks use to talk about your normal everyday pan...

Our french teachers team just uploaded pictures they made of all the ustensils they use in their kitchen ! This is gonna be super useful for our project ! Thanks !

Une petite russe

Programme IdA et Ecuisine - Communiqué de presse

Programme IdA

Projet „HOGATRANS RUPPIN“

et Leonardo Ecuisine

Bayeux, avril 2012

Communiqué de presse

Réception organisée en l’honneur des jeunes stagiaires

du Brandebourg allemand

le mardi 3 avril 2012 à 17h00

Les stagiaires seront accueillis par la Mairie de Bayeux à l’Hôtel du Doyen,

salle du conseil municipal

pour un cocktail de l’amitié et une remise de certificat de stage

Depuis plusieurs années, des hôteliers et restaurateurs de Bayeux accueillent des jeunes stagiaires allemands au sein de leur établissement.

Un dispositif d’insertion professionnelle allemand qui fait le pari de l’ Europe

 

Dans le cadre du programme FSE Allemand « IdA, Integration par l’Echange », financé par le fonds social Européen, 12 jeunes stagiaires allemands en formation hôtellerie-restauration ou souhaitant confirmer leur projet professionnel, encadrés par deux formateurs, sont aujourd’hui en stage dans 9 hôtels ou restaurants de la ville. Ces stages ont été organisés par le centre technologique de Neuruppin, en Allemagne, en partenariat avec l’UMIH du Calvados et le réseau des GRETA bas-normand, en France. IdA fait le pari que le stage dans un pays européen permet d’acquérir des compétences professionnelles mais aussi de développer des compétences sociales qui facilitent l’insertion professionnelle. 80% des personnes ayant bénéficié du programme IDA ont trouvé du travail ou ont poursuivi une formation en Allemagne voire en Europe à l’issue du dispositif.

Des outils e-learning pour préparer un stage en Europe en polonais, allemand, anglais et français.

De plus, dans le cadre du projet Leonardo Ecuisine, des outils e-learning de formation à la cuisine de base sont en cours d’élaboration par le réseau des GRETA bas normand,  le centre technologique de Neuruppin, 36.6 competence center de Lodz en Pologne et Anniesland College, établissement de formation professionnelle écossais. Quatre langues sont concernées : le polonais, l’allemand, l’anglais et le français. Les outils ont un double objet : préparer le stage en acquérant les connaissances linguistiques de base et compléter son parcours professionnel par un dispositif e-learning en cuisine. Le programme repose sur l’étude des recettes des quatre pays et sera expérimenté par les bénéficiaires allemands de  la prochaine session de stage IdA en octobre 2012.

Neuf entreprises du Bessin partenaires

Les établissements de Bayeux accueillent les stagiaires allemands pendant 4 semaines, du 7 mars au 5 avril 2012 :

Vous pouvez les rencontrer si vous le souhaitez, au sein des entreprises qui les accueillent :

§  Le Pommier : Nikolaus Rötzer

§  Le Lion d’Or : Christian Jautel

§  Au Trou Normand : Christophe Barsewitz

§  Le Novotel : Robert Bäskow et Sven Wehrmann

§  Le Luxembourg : David Sielski et Ulrike Szepat

§  Le Relais des 3 Pommes : André Behnke

§  La Reine Mathilde : Manuela Vandrey et Susann Schulz

§  Le Churchill/Villa Lara : Diana Noßke

§  Le Bayeux : Patricia Günther

Les jeunes sont hébergés au "Moulin Morin" à Vaucelles, un gîte aux portes de la ville de Bayeux, d'où ils se rendent au stage en vélo.

Le jour prévu de regroupement des stagiaires est en principe le lundi, mais les horaires de travail varient selon les accords passés avec chaque entreprise et stagiaire. 

Nous vous remercions de faire écho à cette initiative originale des acteurs du tourisme dans le Bessin.

 Bien cordialement.

Thierry Lhuillery, UMIH, 06 08 60 31 51

Alain Tambour, rectorat de Caen

We're in the Newspaper !

Ouest France is one of the big local newspaper here.

They came to visit us during the IDA graduation ceremony and they published an article about it yesterday !

It also mentions Ecuisine and a few words from Alain Tambour, the heart and brain of the Ecuisine project. Read the article below or get it from our web album !

Ecuisine Spring Training and IDA project graduation ceremony

Last two weeks were really busy since we organised 2 training sessions for our partners from Germany and Poland.

For some it was a time to discover the project, for others a time to learn about the tools we'll be using for the project or the project structure and requirements.

We tackled all subjects from using Articulate Storyline to create content for project to the different hand gesture to say that someone is drunk in Polish and French :-)

It was a time to meet and get to know each other. It was also a time to raise questions and challenge the decisions that have been made... but always in a very constructive way.

Almost everybody gathered in Bayeux yesterday for a special graduation ceremony for all 12 german students involved in the IDA project : a one month work placement in 12 restaurants around Bayeux.

It was a great time to mention the Ecuisine Project and how useful it will be in preparing future exchanges. So we decided we would make the kakemono you can see on the right.

Also, thanks to Jakub from the Polish team, you can view some pictures from the event.